Maddy Dune’s First and Only Spelling Bee

Back in 2011 my short story, “Maddy Dune’s First and Only Spelling Bee” won a first prize in the Writers of the Future contest. A few years later it was published as a standalone story.

Recently I’ve been trying to get the price down on the standalone version.

Why would I want to do that?

Well, because the full text of the story is available for free simply by downloading the “try before you buy” sample of my novel, Flame in Shadow from Amazon. The Maddy Dune short story is the first chapter of the novel, largely without changes.

So, you can read the story for free by downloading the Flame in Shadow sample (and maybe you’ll like it and want to read the rest of the novel), or you can still pay some nominal fee for the story as a standalone title.

Maybe I shouldn’t let stuff like this bother me, but it does. I’m proud of my work and I expect to get paid for it. But I remember what it was like starting out, when every penny counted. You can pay for the short story if you want (I’d like you to), but you don’t have to.

Here’s the cover for the standalone short story:

And the blurb:

A dozen of the best young spellcasters in the land. The heir to the throne, determined to beat them all. And Maddy Dune, a half-human enchanter who’ll settle for getting through the competition without killing anyone.

This story was first published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 27.

Should you want a shortcut to this story there are links to the various online retailers under the “Books” tab at the top of this site.