I’m delighted to share a new book by my Story Empire colleague Denise Finn. She lives in the magical forests of Northern California among the bears and coyotes, and she writes in a wide range of genres from middle-grade fantasy to horror, from speculative short stories to poetry. I hope you enjoy this introduction to her latest release. Take it away, Denise.

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Thank you for having me here today, Diana, to discuss my short story collection, In theTree’s Shadow.

“Effervescent Potion” was part of my personal short story challenge. I’d request a word from a family member and then use it to find an image to work from. I asked my son, Jeffry, the youngest of the children, for a word. Our biology graduate from Oregon came up with effervescent.

Bubbling pictures popped up, and from there, I went to a potion in a lab. What if it…