"I Tell You Things, You Tell Me Things...

 ...Quid pro quo, yes or no?"

If you didn't recognize that quote, then you need to watch it again.  Little Starling, fly, fly, fly.

I write A LOT of stories.  So many that I often forget that I wrote them, stumbling upon them later and thinking, "Is that one of mine?  Is that one I finished?  Is that one any good?"

So, today I'm mentioning a story I wrote called "Quid Pro Quo," and the answers are Yes, Yes, and No.

But you know what is pretty good?  The cover Big made for me.  I mean, he may speak Portuguese instead of Spanish, he may not like Tina Turner or food on Wednesdays, and he may occasionally worship Belial, Nephew Of Beelzebub, but the man definitely has a knack for cover design.    

It would NOT create "a man and a goblin shaking hands, standing in a doorway,"
so I had to generate the two images separately.

Last week, I sent him an image of a goblin and an image of a man, and told him to combine them, so it looked like they were shaking hands.  I gave him this mockup (which I recognize is pretty shaky, but it wasn't meant to be seen, not even on this blog):

The rough mockup.

And this was the finished product:

Big's finished, combined version.  They ALMOST look like they're together and touching.

Then, I was pot-committed, as they say in Cricket circles.  

I'll be honest, I would not have published this story AT ALL if Big's cover hadn't been so solid.  He just keeps doing it, too, and that's an enabler of the finest/worst kind.

Speaking of the worst kind, "Quid Pro Quo" is a short story about a man, Alex, who gets a knock on his door by a little man who turns out to be a goblin.  The goblin has a proposal, if Alex will do him some mischief.  

And that is all.  The story can be found HERE.  I recorded it the other night, and tried to "make up" a foreign accent for the goblin to speak in, and ended up sounding like Martin Short's character in FATHER OF THE BRIDE.  On behalf of goblins everywhere, I heartily apologize.

*Write?  Yes.  Finish?  No.