Important Firsts

Florida Writers Association Collection, Volume 6

Paperback
Published by Peppertree Press, 2014

Person of Renown: Mary Burton

Mary Burton is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist. She has been intrigued by investigative work and the people who do it since Virginia, her home state, was stung by a string of serial killings that spanned more than twenty years. Not surprisingly, many of her suspense novels are fueled by the acts of multiple killers and the people who pursue them, as is You’re Not Safe, which completes the trio of stories set in and around Austin she began with The Seventh Victim and continued with No Escape. Mary is the author of 24 novels and five novellas.

Important Firsts, FWA’s sixth collection of sixty winning short stories by FWA members, features New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary Burton’s own short story and top ten favorites at the beginning of the book.

This volume also includes the winning contributions of our first-ever Collections contest for youth members. The youth contest is modeled after the adult Collection, but has its own Person of Renown, FWA’s Director Emerita, Chrissy Jackson.

Mary Burton’s Top Ten Picks
  1. Karen Dillon, Wild Rose
  2. Mark McWaters, Hunger Pangs
  3. Micki Browning, Wreckage
  4. Robert Alan, A Walk In The Park
  5. Michael Goldcraft, It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
  6. Judy Harte, Lethal Injection
  7. Ian Darling, High Flight
  8. Frank T. Masi, Shadows of War
  9. Charles Harris, My First Day on the Job
  10. Catherine Giordano, Te Amo
Youth Contributions
  • Michaela Bender, Aftermath
  • Dana Bobkova, The Cat Behind the Door
  • Juliet Cook, First Loss
The First Step Contributions, Listed Alphabetically by Author

Randy Ames, Amber Catches a Water Sprite
Carol Anderson, Glad, Sad, Sorry
Laura Andrews, Coming of Age
Linda Barbosa, Party of One
Monika Becker, Algebra
Dawn M. Bell, Grief Rises
K.C. Bonner, The Sponsor
Teresa Bruce, Stained Glass
Claudia Chianese, First Step Back
John B. DeJordy, My First Success
William E. Dempsey, The Beach Bum, and the Pelican
Barry Dimick, Letting Go
Walter John Doherty, II, First Step to the Big House
Mark Douglas, Jr., Toes in the Sand
Dianne Neral Ell, At Home, At Last
Kimberlee Esselstrom, Parenthood
Jane Ellen Freeman, Delayed Launch
Fern Goodman, The Eviction
Chris Hamilton, A Writer’s First Steps
Bob Hart, Explosive Respect
Veronica Helen Hart, The Suitcase
Christine Holmes, BSVA Meeting Tonight
John Hope, Free the Elephant
Jennie Jarvis, Waking
Sharon E. Johnson, Guess What’s in My Pocket

Joshua Aaron Jones, Run Club
Beda Kantarjian, Earth Angel
Karen Kilpatrick, The Envelope
Stephen Leitschuh, Never Again
Joan Levy, Line-Dried Laundry
Frank T. Masi, Shadows of War
Jane Ann McLachlan, A Life of Crime
John Charles Miller, Morning Walk
L. Dean Murphy, The First Page
Elizabeth Nebergall, The Magician
Jean Axtell Nelson, First Flight
Samuel K. Parish, The Field Guide
Tricia Pimental, Trial by Fire
Olive Pollak, Naked Feat
Roger Poppen, Sex Rules
Pat Rakowski, Wings
Dottie Rexford, A Family’s Gift
Dana Ridenour, The Bridge
Kathleen Spalding, Right Place, Right Time
Katherine Starbird, Iced
Tom Swartz, Azaleas and Oaks
Gayle Swift, Bad News, Good News
Jane Tichenor, First Step to Happiness
M.D. Vance, Acceptance
Marie Vernon, They Promised Me a Sister
Linda C. Wright, Escape Into the Storm