About The Cellist Stalker

I am thrilled to have one of my short stories, ‘The Cellist Stalker’ featured in Fenechty Publishing’s Anthology of Short Stories: Autumn 2021. If  you’d like to read the anthology, all profits from the paperback version go to Water Aid. All eBook versions are free.

You can find the eBOOK on Smashwords – Kobo – Apple Books – Barnes & Noble – Scribd . For Smashwords, the ePub version can be downloaded and viewed on a computer or handheld device. The Mobi file is for Kindle, but you’ll need to connect your Kindle to your device to download it.

The paperback is available on Amazon.com (USA)  Amazon.co.uk (UK) or Amazon.com.au (Australia)
Paperbacks may be available in other countries by adding your own country code to the following URL
https://www.amazon.YourCountryCode/dp/B09HVGPHHQ

Let me know if you have any problems accessing the anthology and I’ll try to help.

If you’re interested in the conception of my story, read this after you’ve read the story.

The brief pitch of my story evolved to be:

Every day, Marcy watches a man with a blue cello case walk past her window. Fascination becomes obsession. When she starts following him, what is she hoping to find?

I really did see a man walk past my front window with a blue cello case, and I was tempted to follow him. Rather than being arrested for stalking, I invented a character who did the detective work for me. As I was writing, I realized the story wasn’t really about the cellist at all, it was about the stalker – what motivated her to follow him? Why was she so intrigued by him?

What came next was all fiction (I promise!) but I did draw on two specific things from my life experience.

I was a violinist at high school and when it came to choosing a university degree, I narrowed it down to music or engineering. After I graduated as an electrical engineer, I only lasted five years in the industry before moving to work in career coaching. I’ve since morphed back to a creative career in editing and writing. I’ve always wondered … what if I’d chosen music?

The incident at Hanging Rock is also inspired by a real event, although I’ve amplified it for the story. We had a school excursion to Hanging Rock, where I slipped and landed on my hand. I dislocated my little finger. Fortunately, there was no lasting damage, but I didn’t know that until later. I suffered some dreadful moments thinking I’d never be able to play violin again.

At its heart, this is a story about broken dreams and the quest for happiness. I hope you enjoy(ed) it. Thank you for reading.

Next time: an interview with Maura Pierlot on Writing about Mental Health and her new release, Fragments.
Next writing blog: Short Fiction: The Hit