In case you hadn’t heard, I am the Biggest Loser.

I lost the Bet.  Big time.  My horse came in last. LAST!  How did I go from Numero Uno last year to…to…THIS.

The shame. The shame.

So, as a result, I had to write a short story using a title supplied to me by the inimitable Catherine Ryan Hyde.

You will find that story here. All 1,200 words of it.*

If you’ve read WITH OR WITHOUT YOU or maybe you’ve gotten your hands on an ARC of THE VENGEKEEP PROPHECIES, I think you’ll find this is a bit…different from my other stuff.  My husband, who is my biggest cheerleader, kept watching me out of the corner of his eye for a week after he read it.

Yes. I have a dark side.

I am, however, not alone in my loserdom. Catherine and Kimberly Pauley also lost (leaving Andrew Smith to bask in his non loserness) and they have also written stories as penance.  Check them out too. Please. Hey, it’s three free short stories. What’s it gonna hurt?

And if you feel like it, leave a comment below to let me know what you thought.  I don’t do a lot of short stories so feedback is appreciated.

*I was tempted to tweak the title and call it “All of Nature Abhors a Vacuum…But Not Nearly As Much As My Cat” but 1) the rules of the Bet don’t allow for title tweaking and 2) the story has nothing to do with a cat.