New From Christine Bagley –
In her first collection of fictional short stories, Christine Bagley
demonstrates her exceptional talent for diverse storytelling. So intimate
are the inner lives of her characters; it’s like peeking through your
neighbor’s window or eavesdropping at a closed door. In these tales of
love, murder, and misfits lies the complexity of life and the decisions we
make because of it.
A woman unable to conceive a child, struggles to accept her husband’s infidelity and a child by
another woman. A man’s lengthy isolation on a deserted beach drives him to the brink of
insanity and an unspeakable act. A desperate, elderly woman who loses her husband resorts to
changing her appearance to a famous movie star in order to win him back. A wealthy recluse
hires a young artist to paint him as King Ludwig II, who he believes is his doppelganger. A
woman hung in a shameful event from the past returns to right history through the author who
is writing about her.
Available now on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Apple
About the author
Christine Bagley is a short story fiction writer and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University. She was a 2016 fiction contributor to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and from 2011 to 2019 she taught writing and presentation skills to foreign national physicians and scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute (SERI), affiliate of Harvard Medical School. She is the former editor of The Medical Services Review for Massachusetts General Hospital, and Eye Contact for SERI. Bagley is also the former co-editor and co-publisher of Crime Spell Books, where she will return as co-editor and co-publisher in
2025. Her short stories have appeared in Briar Cliff Review, Bryant Literary Review, Untoward Magazine, and Fiction on the Web, UK. Additional work includes: seven stories in Best New England Crime Stories published by Level Best Books, and two stories in Best New England Crime Stories published by Crime Spell Books. Bagley was also a finalist for the 2012 Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction Award. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Sisters in Crime.
Recent Work
Mystery
The Woman in the Woods
appears in the 2023 edition of Best New England Crime Stories 2023: Wolfsbane, published by Crime Spell Books.
Excerpt-
“I hear two shots ring out and a flock of crows cawing loudly as they flee from the sudden blast. I assume it’s some hotshot deer hunter trespassing. But what if it’s not?”
The Beauport Incident
appears in the 2022 edition of Best New England Crime Stories: Deadly Nightshade, published by Crime Spell Books.
Excerpt-
“Coming out of Gloucester Harbor, the boat passed Hammond Castle, a gloomy medieval structure made of rough granite. The gory image in the dining room of St. Romanus having his tongue cut out was jarring. What kind of weirdo hangs a gruesome painting where he eats?”
Valhalla
appears in the 2021 edition of Best New England Crime Stories: Bloodroot, published by Crime Spell Books.
Excerpt-
“Jay Cauley stands in his briefs in front of the bathroom mirror with a collander on his head. He’s wedged a spray of seagull feathers in each handle, and imagines himself jumping off a Viking longship.”
Literary Fiction
With Grace
appears in the April 2020 issue of the Briar Cliff Review.
Excerpt-
“For two months there were gunshots all around us, car bombs, screaming and crying. For the first time in my life I thought I was going to die.”
The Madness of Ida Mae
The award-winning story appears in the 2014 issue of the Bryant Literary Review (BLR), a literary journal that “…expect readers to be sophisticated, educated, and familiar with the conventions of contemporary literature.”