Reflections releases today!

Today, Shadowfire Press releases Reflections, my short dark fantasy with a Halloween theme. Halloween's my second favorite holiday of the year.

Reflections was such a fun story to write, too. A well-written detailed description in a novelty catalog actually sparked the idea for it. Among the pages of Halloween costumes, the photo of a crystal ball caught my interest. Set on a three-legged scrolled pedestal which, according to the description, symbolized "beginning" or "birth." The ball represents the universe and what is to follow.

Of course, after reading that, I had to research crystal balls. The practice of scrying, or gazing into crystal balls, dates back to the Druids. The other story components just fell into place from there. Hope you'll check it out!

At Lissa’s Halloween party, all hell breaks loose – literally.

Here's the story excerpt:
When Lissa removed the pan of popcorn shrimp from the oven, the tiny forms reminded her of mangled body parts, twisted and mutilated. She scraped the image from her mind as she transferred the shrimp onto a serving platter. Such thoughts had plagued her since Selena had set her grandmother’s old crystal ball on the dining room credenza and hung the matching mirror above it.
“Did you remember the cocktail sauce?” Lissa called to her roommate, who was still fussing with her costume in the bathroom.
“It’s in the bag on the counter.” Selena’s voice carried across the living room like a disembodied spirit.
A chill passed over Lissa. She had to stop this, it was ridiculous. She shook off the chill as she carried the platter to the table, but halted in fear. Out of the corner of her eye, dark shapes moved inside the mirror, escaped its confines, then soared to the ceiling. When she gasped and whirled to face it, the mirror was flat, static. The only image in it was hers.
That scared her more than anything.
She wasn’t even ready, and people would be showing up soon.




Cate Masters’ novels, novellas, short stories and flash fiction appear at epublishers The Wild Rose Press, Eternal Press, Wild Child Publishing/ Freya’s Bower and Shadowfire Press. Her flash and short stories appear at such web zines as Cezanne’s Carrot, The Battered Suitcase, A Long Story Short, Dark Sky Magazine, and The Harrow. Visit her online at www.catemasters.com, www.catemasters.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.