Remembering Sandra Seamans

I knew Sandra Seamans, but I didn't know her. It's amazing the impact a person can have on your life when you never meet them in real life. I wish I had met her in real life because in our email exchanges and online interactions, she was warm, supportive, and encouraging. When I was first starting to write fiction she introduced me to everybody, hosting my blog by adding it to her blogroll. And when Joy Sillesen, Joanne Renaud, and I started Dark Valentine Magazine, she became a

contributor, which helped give us street cred as a fiction site and also helped us spread the word. I am really sorry that Dark Valentine is no longer archived because she wrote some great stories for us, including "Abiding Guilt," about a widower escaping from a nursing home. He misses Gloria. He misses sex. And the nurses at his facility have confiscated his phone after finding out he's been calling 1-900 numbers.

I was a daily visitor to her site My Little Corner, looking for places to send my work. I'd sometimes sent her tips when I found markets on my own that she hadn't highlighted. She always gave me a hat tip and I was always pleased because I'd been able to give her something in return for the many tips she gave me. (I sold one or two stories to markets she'd listed over the years.)  I also liked reading the occasional story she posted and sought her fiction out on other sites. Here's a link to the short stories she wrote for Shotgun Honey.

When I conceived the idea of a charity anthology called Nightfalls (benefiting Para los ninos, she Nightfalls.  And that's a shame. (It's a wonderful collection of stories that should be read.) I will gift digital copies of the book to the first ten people who comment on this post. (And if the comments are giving you problems--email me at: katherine@storyauthority.com.) Because you will be richer for the experience of having read "The Memory Keeper."
was one of the first people I contracted. She graciously agreed to contribute a story.  The tale she wrote for me was "The Memory Keeper," a lovely feminist tale set in an epic fantasy world. As far as I know the only place you can find it is in

R.I.P. Sandra Seamans. Thank you for everything. You will be missed.