I have occasionally written short stories for my online literary project, Shade of the Morning Sun, that connect to other short story cycles, usually by referring to a character, a theme, an important object, location, or similar elements of a story in another cycle.

This is an artistic experiment or an indulgence, if you will, on the surface and I won’t pretend to call it more than that. However, I do like the idea that all short story cycles in contemporary or near-contemporary settings in fact take place in the same shared universe.

For copyright and similar reasons, I won’t have named characters from other cycles pop by and participate directly in my stories. It will be more like the so-called ‘easter eggs’ in popular movies. If you have read a particular linked short story collection that I refer to then you will probably be able to guess what the connection is, and let your imagination do the rest. It is an invitation to view all short story cycles as ultimately connected, as part of the same shared world – our contemporary world – but it is not an edict. If you dislike the idea, simply ignore it.

Here are the first couple of stories. More might follow, as life permits.

“Someone Else’s Dream” – published October 2022. Connecting to a story in Alice Munro’s Runaway: Stories

“Working Class Hero” – published October 2022. Connecting to a story in Bobbie Ann Mason’s Nancy Culpepper: Stories