The guys at Purple Toga are happy to announce that we are releasing this month our second anthology: Rainbows Aren’t Just For Leprechauns!

Why is red so crucial for the making of Red Riding Hood? Or, how could emperors distinguish themselves without the color Purple? What would the Discworld be without octarine?

This time we set out to re-imagine the meaning of colours, and boy were we amazed at the submissions we received! From stories centering on your traditional Red, Green, Blue, to some unique ones like bioluminescence and the yellow of sandstone, to those encompassing the whole rainbow, and ending with all the colours we cannot see.

My contribution, as you could guess from the title, is Sydney Sandstone — a full novella featuring DI Jack Finkel, Unusual Crimes Squad!

Jack is called to a most unusual crime scene (the details of which I will post soon 😉), and the warm yellow with swirling reds of Sydney’s architectural cornerstone (ha!) features heavily in the story. So prominently, in fact, that this is the case that got him sent down to Tassie…

This is a story that brings together Sydney’s architecture, history, ghosts, and crimes, together with modern-day police procedural spanning magical forensics and reality TV! All coming to what — I hope — is an emotional catharsis that should bring a strong sense of place as well as a curious occult mystery.

Anyway, enough about me. Some of the other stories include:

Here is the full table of contents, to give you an idea of the breadth of colourful interpretations included. The anthology is in memoriam of Phil Foster, a dear friend who will be missed. We have included several of his poems as interludes.

• Foreword
  • Eyes as Blue as Heaven – Gary Every
  • Philip A. Foster
• Red
  • Wedding Song – Philip A. Foster
  • The Prophecy – Kayla Damaer
  • Lil Red’s Xmas Birthday Alts – Andrew Paradiso
  • Little Red Robbing Hoods – Eric Klein
• Orange & Yellow
  • The Color of Happiness – Christian Bieck
  • The Tower – Jim Webster
  • Sydney Sandstone – Assaph Mehr
  • Here’s Your Record Back – Margaret A. Treiber
• Green
  • Cold Cruel Day – Philip A. Foster
  • Successful Colors Have Their Costs – Bill McCormick
  • And The Colour Of My Death And Birth Was Green – Cindy Tomamichel
  • I Dream of Seafoam Green – Eric Klein
  • Ghosts in the Mountains – Ulff Lehmann
• Blue
  • World for Wolves – Philip A. Foster
  • Bluebeard the Hipster and the Painted-Shut Drawer – Jonathan Maas
  • Blue Consequences – Scott Branchfield
• Rainbows
  • The Colors of the Rainbow – Michael B. Fletcher
  • Take Me Over The Rainbow – K. R. Moore
  • Blindsided by Color – Joyce C. Mandrake
• All The Colors We Cannot See
  • ? – Philip A. Foster
  • Falling Knight – Philip A. Foster
  • Fear of Color – Anamura Alententa
  • Roger of Tree, Miriam of Thistle- Joyce C. Mandrake
  • Moonlight Feels Right Michael – H. Hanson
  • Fifty Grey Shades – Assaph Mehr
  • Where Have All The Rainbows Gone? – Brent A. Harris

Some of the stories and themes are for adults, those who grew up not just old. We noted the rating in the introduction to each story.

The anthology was released on March 17th (St. Patrick’s Day, because it ain’t easy being green 😉🍀).

(Depending on time-zones, Amazon may still show it as a pre-order. But I swear it’s publication party time here already!)