I’ve only just stumbled across the table of contents for Tales from the Bell Club (edited by Paul Mannering for KnightWatch Press), in which I’ve managed to place a story entitled ‘The Kiss’.

It was one of those yarns that popped up out of the ether, a happy collision between a visit to the gallery to see an exhibition about the Secessionist painters of early 20th century Vienna and the announcement of the anthology. In particular, a painting of Count Verona by Oskar Kokoschka and the unavoidable if enigmatic presence of Emilie Floge. It took a while to get this one to come together; I was dreading trying to reconfigure it if it missed the mark for the Bell Club. I realise now that, with last year’s riff on the disappearance of Harold Holt, I’ve definitely joined the ranks of alternative history; bless you, Emilie Floge, and your crazy band of artists! It will be interesting to see who else is rubbing shoulders in the Bell Club halls…

The TOC:

The Adventure of the Laboratory – Kathleen Brandt
Tell Tom Tildrum – Edward M. Erdelac
The Quarrantine Station – Lee Zumpe
A Gentleman’s Folly – Phil Hickes
The Kiss – Jason Nahrung
Divine Providence – Robert J. Santa
The Widow Dotridge – Jason D. Moore
Spawn Of The Crocodile God – John McNee
Life and Limb – Andrew Freudenberg
The Girl In The Cabin – Richard Barnes
The Wager – Jeff C. Carter
Sayuri’s Revenge – Helen Stubbs
Fluke (originally: untitled) – Lynne Jamneck
The Shrieking Woman – Doug Manllen