I’m really excited to introduce a brand new flash fiction collection I’m working on! The title of it is The Mirror’s Son: Love and Shadows in the Glass, and it is an original fantasy romance flash fiction collection based on my Miraculous fanfic, Can the Son of a Villainess Ever Be Happy?.

I appreciate how genres work in fanfiction because I feel like they do a really good job of describing the tone and the content of a story. For example, in traditional terms this story is simply a fantasy romance flash fiction collection. But in fanfiction terms, this story would be classified as fluff (kind of like sweet romance), angst (traumatized characters), and crack (as in, some moments of this story are so crazy, the writer must have been on crack while they were writing it. When it comes to fanfiction, this is my favorite genre). Technically, this story would fall into “crack taken seriously” but whatever.

But enough chat about genres. What is this flash fiction collection about?

Once upon a time, Lady Thornfield came to possess a magic mirror, and the magic mirror…drove her mad! Her intrigues ruined the reputation of the Thornfields of Rosecroft, and after her death, her son Kaelen is now left to pick up the pieces and rebuild the family legacy.

With the weight of her curse and family responsibility on his young shoulders, his life is one of endless perfectionism. But all of that changes when he meets free-spirited Rowena, the daughter of the local baker.

This collection of flash fiction follows Kaelen as he unravels the mysteries of his mother’s mirror and learns through friendship and love that he doesn’t have to be flawless to be powerful.

The nice thing about this being a collection of flash fiction is that each story is mostly self-contained. It doesn’t have to be read in order, and it’s okay if you come into this collection late. The stories are loosely connected to each other, so the more you read, the richer the story becomes, but it’s not something that has to be read from start to finish.

Where can it be read?

I will be posting selected pieces of flash fiction for this collection here on my blog, but the entire collection of stories will be available though a Substack newsletter that I’m dedicating to this project. And I hope that over time, as this collection grows, I can publish it to ebook retailers, but we’ll see how it goes.

(UPDATE: The Substack is now live! Sign up to get this flash fiction collection in your email by clicking here)

Is this project done?

No, it’s a serialized work in progress. I’ll be sharing each part of this project to Substack as I create it. Currently, I don’t have a set schedule for updates, but I’m thinking it may end up being biweekly. One important thing I want to point out is that I am pulling material from my almost 80,000 word fanfic to create these stories, so it’s very likely that I’ll be updating this project for a while.

I’m not creating these flash fiction stories in chronological order, and it’s kind of experimental in nature, so be prepared for that as well.

So are you ready to read the first story of this flash fiction collection? Here it is:

A Father’s Promise

Mr. Aldemar Thornfield believed it was impossible to apologize enough.

He couldn’t imagine what it must be like for his son to face every day knowing that his mother, despite starting out as a kind and well-loved lady of the house, had become irrevocably twisted by the magic mirror she had held in her possession. It was her optimism and innocence that kept her from seeing the mirror’s malice and what she had become as a result of it.

Even in an age of trains and typewriters, the shadow of unsavory enchantments lingered, no matter what skeptics claimed. On his way to his son’s room, he couldn’t help but overhear the whispers of the servants.

“Magic mirror? Please. The lady simply went mad.”

“Poor child. To lose his mother so young…”

“And everyone knows madness runs in families. He won’t escape it, mark my words.”

Although Aldemar would never admit it, their words struck like well-aimed arrows, sharp with the fears he refused to name. Yet, he straightened his back, pushed open the door, and stepped inside.

He wanted to give his son something so much better than a future of carrying a ruined reputation.

He sat on the bed next to his son, and the young boy took his hand. “Papa, people will forget. We’ll be okay.”

He gave his father an encouraging smile. Aldemar sighed and gave the boy a gentle pat on the head.

“Regardless of what happens, Kaelen, keep in mind that your mother’s mistakes are not yours. I want you to remember that.”

He looked into his son’s soft, ocean green eyes and saw too much of her–his forever lost wife. Her optimism had blinded her. Her innocence had ruined her. A deep ache bloomed in his chest.

Naivety was the enemy, and Aldemar would drive it out of his son, even if it cost him the boy’s love. He would not let his son fall victim to the same fate.

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