There’s always a risk when posting a call for submissions. What if no one responds? I need not have worried. In all, there were 107 submissions from 8 countries: US, Canada, UK, Scotland, France, Germany, Argentina and Australia. With so many quality stories to read, read, and reread, it was very difficult to come to a decision. Eventually, I was able to cull the 107 stories down to 32, and then 25. Mega thanks to my good friend Vicki Gladwish (Gladwish on Demand Editing) for her insights into the final few.

There are a lot of factors that go into evaluating each story. Here are the top few:

Does it meet the theme of Heartbreaks AND Half-truths? There were a number of submissions that met one or the other, but not both. One of my favorite stories included neither. It was really hard to pass that one up.

Did it meet the criteria of having no overt sex, violence or bad language? I aim for a PG-rating. Don’t get me wrong, I can swear with the best of them, but it’s just easier to market a book that’s PG.

Was the premise unique? Mark Twain is quoted as saying that there are no new ideas, but then Mark hasn’t read this collection. That said, there were two stories I loved, both with settings in seaside Maine. Because the setting played such an important part of each story, I had to choose between the two. But let me tell you, it wasn’t an easy choice to make.

Word count. The word count range was 1,500 to 5,000, with some flexibility on either side. But a good anthology has a mix of short, medium and long. So sometimes, especially at the long list stage, when two stories are “battling it out,’ it came down to what word count was most needed to round out the collection.

A great ending: I love a good twist or clever ending. I guess you could say that “you had me at good-bye.”

And now, without further ado, here’s the final lineup:

Blair Keetch

Buzz Dixon

Chris Wheatley

Christine Eskilson

Edward Lodi

Gustavo Bondoni

J A Henderson

James Blakey

James Lincoln Warren

John M. Floyd

Joseph S. Walker

Judy Penz Sheluk

Kate Flora

KM Rockwood

Paula Gail Benson

Peggy Rothschild

Rhonda Eikamp

Robb T. White

Sharon Hart Addy

Steve Liskow

Susan Daly

Tracy Falenwolfe

Congrats to all, and thank you to all authors who submitted.