Hold Your Fire

Hold Your Fire

Hold Your Fire: Stories Celebrating the Creative Spark is the sixth anthology edited by Lisa Mangum and published by WordFire Press in support of the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship fund for the Superstars Writing Seminars.  

Creativity comes from many places, but often the initial spark of inspiration can be traced to something or someone who challenged us to first put pen to paper or brush to canvas, to pick up a camera, to look at the world with new eyes. Maybe it was the lyrics of a favorite album. Maybe it was the encouragement from a beloved teacher. Maybe it was seeing a wonder of the natural world.

Maybe it was just a feeling deep down inside that demanded to be set free, a voice ready to be heard, a story begging to be told.

Hold Your Fire is a collection of nineteen short stories celebrating the power and influence of inspiration in all its forms—art, literature, music, astronomy, science, inventions, epiphanies.

Here you will find stories of people being inspired as well as stories of people inspiring someone else. Stories not only of artistic inspiration but of scientific discoveries. The “Eureka!” moments that change the whole world and the small moments when someone dares to fight one more day.

From a romance about a teenager’s attempts to win over his first crush with poetry to musicians and artists harnessing the inspiration of unexpected muses to a fairy tale princess seeking for happiness, every story in this anthology shines brightly. And since every fire casts a shadow, there are also a few horror stories that thrive in the dark.

Table of Contents
The Seeker’s Tale, by Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart
The Fire Sermon, by Mary Pletsch
One-Hit Webster, by Brian Corley
The Door, byKristen Bickerstaff
The Burren of Mars, by CJ Erick
White Feather, by Shannon Fox
Into the Valley, by Wayland Smith
The Last Waking Princess, by S. K. Kellermeyer
The First Problem, by Alicia Cay
Mi Jaculpo, by October K Santerelli
One for Hunger, Two for Joy, by Tanya Hales
The Hunter and the Hunted, by Raphyel M. Jordan
Take Me for a Ride, by Mike Jack Stoumbos
Hyde Park, by Shannon Fox. Originally published in Monsters, Movies, and Mayhem (WordFire Press, 2020).
Bow Drill, by Jace Killan
Dream Girl, by Kitty Sarkozy
White Sails and Stormy Seas, by M. Elizabeth Ticknor and Rebecca E. Treasure
Check Yes or No, by Melissa Koons
Don’t Ignore It, by Tanya Hales

Hold Your Fire was released on February 19, 2021.
Trade paperback $14.99. ISBN 978-1-68057-174-5
Ebook $4.99. ISBN 978-1-68057-175-2
Hardcover $24.99. 978-1-68057-176-9
258 pages

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About the Book
Endorsements
Hold Your Fire is an exceptional collection of stories, written by an all star cast of authors, that kept this reader turning pages in anticipation from one story to the next.
– Kaye Lynn Booth at Writing to be Read
Readers looking for short bursts of inspiration will be pleased.
– Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Lisa Mangum

Lisa Mangum has worked in publishing since 1997. She has been the Managing Editor for Shadow Mountain since 2014 and has worked with several New York Times best-selling authors. While fiction is her first love, she also has experience working with nonfiction projects. Lisa is also the author of four national best-selling YA novels (The Hourglass Door trilogy and After Hello), several short stories and novellas, and a nonfiction book about the craft of writing based on the TV show Supernatural. She has edited several anthologies about various magical creatures, pirates, and food for WordFire Press. She regularly teaches at writing conferences, including hosting a writing weekend in Capitol Reef National Park through UVU. She lives in Taylorsville, Utah, with her husband, Tracy.

Visit her at https://www.facebook.com/lisamangum or on Twitter at @LisaMangum.

Click here for a high resolution photo of the author.