Waking Accidentally in the Dark - Margot Miller

Waking Accidentally in the Dark by Margot Miller is a collection of flash fiction stories, recently published at Lulu. Nearly all the included stories have been published in various Zines and print publications in the last five years.

Margot Miller’s stories are honest, hard, and believable, sometimes dark, always enriching. Not all her characters are sympathetic but they will all remind you of someone you know. In “I Am Not a Back-Up Plan,” the character's struggle for her dignity is written with subtle grace and sneaks up on the reader again and again, long after putting the story down. Miller's stories identify for us how we feel. The conflict, complications, and resolution of each story are served up in a gratifying emotional package requiring less time for you to read than for you to drink your morning coffee.

Miller has earlier published at Lulu Blackbird Calling, a collection of her longer fiction, stories from 2000 to 6000 words, nearly all previously published. Her poetry collection, Telling, is also available at Lulu.

Asked why she published at Lulu, Miller responded: “I didn’t think I’d live long enough to get published by a so-called “real” small (or large) press unless I started my own, as many people have done, and I didn’t want to deal with the set-up logistics or the rest, including the inevitable IRS designation as a hobby if I didn’t’ make money after five years. Lulu's publications are gratifying as well as very reasonably priced for consumers; the downloadable version is also available at the same time as the print version. I am looking into an audible version, which will be marketed elsewhere, of course, and that might be available in a few months."

Margot Miller lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the United States. She writes fiction and recently took up painting, at which she has had some modest success. She holds a Ph. D in French literature and teaches French women writers (for the most part) in translation to members of the Academy of Lifelong Learning and the International Academy of Learning (Chesapeake College).

Margot Miller: Waking Accidentally in the Dark
paperback, 94 pages
ISBN 978-0-557-40896-2

related links: short stories