Testing the Ties That Bind: A Mini Collection of Short Stories

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Silly Hobby Justina is a wife and a mother to a toddler. In her spare time she writes. At her son's birthday party, she's also waiting to hear from her literary agent about selling her manuscript. Her excitement is tested when hoity-toity neighbor Lola makes an offhand comment about her passion project. Fragile-19 Carissa is prickly to everyone, even to her favorite cousin Lyle. When Lyle enlists in the US Army and gets deployed to Afghanistan, Carissa falls prey to a depression, leaving her family worried. When she fakes happiness for the sake of her therapist, everyone is pleased -- except Carissa. When cousin Lyle returns from active duty and contracts covid-19, Carissa's joy turns to guilt since she's the most likely person who gave it to him. Shattered Hernando wants his proposal to Divashni to be utterly flawless, and it would be, except Divashni has his intentions all wrong. Cherry Italian Ices for Summer All Mark and his pregnant wife Cerise want is a relaxing day at Rockaway Beach. When Mark's mother shows up to tag along, the day is nearly ruined. When Cerise unexpectedly goes into labor on the way to the beach, she confesses a secret irrational fear around cherry Italian ices. They all need a miracle from each other, but can they stop bickering? Under the Mulberry Tree at the Center of the Universe An elegant string of prose describing yearning to be with one's love in an ordinary place that becomes magical in the anticipation and consummation, except it's forbidden.

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About the author

Mackenzie Littledale

Mackenzie Littledale’s writing career started in September 2017 when she began writing her semi-autobiographical manuscript This Darkness is Mine. Her work has appeared in Conscious Life Journal, the VSS365 Anthology, the Bipolar Battle blog, Reedsy’s blog, and TYWI Black Lives Matter journal. She’s been interviewed on the AskWin Podcast, Diffusing the Tension blog, Wendi Blum Weiss, and Gestalt Media. Her short stories Freedom 500 and It was an Accident won Gestalt Media’s monthly contests. She is a class of 2019 PitchWars mentee. Her essay Lessons in Personality Integration from the Movies The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz placed second in the International Oz Group’s 2019 writing contest in nonfiction. Second Chance at Heaven earned an honorable mention in the Texas Observer 2020 Short Story Contest. This Darkness is Mine will be her first novel. Littledale is represented by Serendipity Literary Agency.