Win a book contract! An Honest LIe Anthology - call for short story submissions - closing March 15

Before I begin, a plug for my entry in the Race for 200 Contest. I posted it today. Please go here to read/comment. Thanks.

Well, I told you I was getting into my writing and I have been hitting the books and sent off one short story yesterday, woo hoo! And for my next Donna Hole generously  pointed me to Open Heart Publishing short story anthology.Over there in my side bar is a symbol for Open Heart Publishing, and the link for the current anthology requirements for An Honest Lie Volume 3; Justifiable Hypocrisy. I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone who enjoys writing short stories to send a submission. But be quick!

Open Heart Publishing is a small press, and the stories they pubilish are top class. It is a paid gig.

So get writing, or dust off one of your short stories of between 3,000 and 5,000 words. For further info go to the link.

EricW Trant, a previous winner of the best story in a  volume, (the prize is a book contract with Open Heart Publishing!)  has posted the first 330 words of his own submission here, and invites others who are wanting to submit to post up to (not to exceed) their first 330 words as a way of promoting the call for submissions. You can read Donna Hole's extract here and Roland D Yeoman's here.. I am entering the full rejigged text of my Perfect Silence of the Night vampire story. Some of you may have read excerpts. It was my first attempt at paranormal and I loved writing it. It's great to try a different genre. My opening is below:

The Perfect Silence of the Night

The hazy moon hovered in the inky sky, asking the stars to dance.

The milky brightness shone upon the earth, lighting the way for two cloud-shadows who swiftly passed by the trees.

The cloud-shadows drifted through the forest in the perfect silence of the night, onto the bright green carpet of the upland grasses.

Vipunin and Cuchulain, strolling through the trees from the opposite direction, paused, alert. Camouflaged by foliage, they watched, their pale, stony faces rapt, eyes starry bright.

‘Something delicious this way comes,’ murmured Vipunin to his companion.

‘Hmm, delectable...oh, Vipunin, the journey has been tedious thus far. May we feast?’

‘No, Cuchulain, you are too impatient. Let’s watch awhile. Humans are endlessly fascinating. It takes me back...’

The two hungry vampires tugged their cloaks around their tall, slim bodies, blending into the cobalt night.

They watched, bodies twitching, eyes burning, thirst raging within their breasts.

Vipunin and Cuchulain looked at each other and nodded, knowing each other’s thoughts. Yes, the two humans were uncommonly beautiful as they stepped from the shadows into the Verdant Valley, a male and a female.

The male was strikingly handsome, so much so that Vipunin, who considered himself the most arresting representation of the male form on this earth and the next, was instantly awash with jealousy. He clamped his teeth, his jaw fixed in a scowl. This human could be his double, with his thick black curly hair falling to his shoulders and his features etched with pride and strength.

This male pretender will not live, Vipunin mused. He continued his incantation inside his head:

Oh proud one

The darkness awaits

It will claim your soul

then the darkness will eat you whole

Beware Vipunin…

‘The male’s mine,’ Vipunin spat.