Last week I was informed I’d won a prize. I never even win the lottery, so I was more than thrilled. And when I found out the prize was an anthology, “Sins of Autumn,” with stories by DJ Manly, AJ Llewellyn, and Serena Yates, I was even happier.

It just came in the mail yesterday and I only had a chance to read a small part of AJ’s story late last night. But trust me on this, AJ’s story has a hook that drew me in and I can’t wait to return to it late tonight.

The mc is sort of a quiet, friendly guy who has what I always refer to as “the love.” It’s the love of food. He’s five seven and weighs in at 250 pounds. In the beginning of the story he’s picking up a birthday cake for his trendy LA sister, he gets stuck in traffic on the freeway, and winds up trapped with a delicious birthday cake that’s sending him signals he can’t resist. He winds up eating a few roses off the cake and smoothing out the frosting with his credit card, hoping his sister won’t notice. He’s even worried about the credit card contaminating the cake. But he’s left with no choice. At the birthday party, when he notices one of the guests he winds up stepping on the dog’s foot and then tripping over his own big feet. I laughed until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. And as I write this post, I’m wishing I could stop working right now and go back to the story.

I’d like to thank AJ for the prize. It’s also a well designed book, with great cover art and it looks great on the coffee table. The photo I took above is a little blurry, but you can get a good idea of what I’m talking about. If you’re looking for something both interesting and funny, check this antho out. It’s rare for me to start reading a story and take to the character so soon. I usually need more time. But I fell in love with him right away.