Ellenore preferred a quiet life leaving the romance to her fictional characters. Unfortunately, her Muse had different plans.

When spinster and romance author Ellenore Mishner discovers the Muse sleeping on her porch, her first mistake is to invite it into her home where it takes up residence in the spare bedroom that doubles as her writing nook.

With the help of Ellenore's lifelong invisible friend, the Muse encourages her to live a little.

"How can you expect to write stories about life, love and romance when you've hardly lived, much less loved or experienced romance?" the Muse had said as it eyed her fridge on that first day.

"What…what are you talking about?" She'd asked indignantly. "I'm forty-seven years old. That's plenty of life."

"No, that's plenty of time," the Muse replied heading to the fridge. "Plenty of time to have lived, but you've sequestered yourself in this tiny cottage for most it. It's time for Ellenore Mishner to get out and live a bit. Who knows, maybe there's even a little love and romance in your future."

Ellenore attends the Bingham's Circus and Sideshows where her life takes a dramatic turn when she falls for the handsome and debonair lion tamer, Royce Royal.

If you're a fan of such contemporary fantasy stories as appeared on The Twilight Zone and those told by writers like Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman, you'll feel right at home in Ellenore's home town of Foster Flat where meeting a Muse on your porch isn't all that unusual.

Pick up this short story excerpted from Fantastic Fables of Foster Flat: Suspenseful Tales with a Twist today.