'Hard Place Rock' is Zoe Marie Bel's debut short story collection.

Seven short stories and two novellas are brought together in this sweeping collection of unconventional love stories.

A traveling salesman and his wife in 19th-century Illinois stumble upon an abandoned town, whose terrible secret will test their love in the worst way. Two attorneys with a romantic history are brought face-to-face again, in a troubling free-speech case that questions the extent to which imperfect love is forgivable. A protest outside an abortion clinic briefly connects two young people, each forced out of the shadows by their will to survive.

That's just three of the stories you'll find in 'Hard Place Rock'. (There's also 'Black Wax', the story for which Bel was shortlisted in the 2023 Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.) While the collection is mainly set in the United States, there is also a story each for Latin America and France.

A website for the collection will launch soon, with background information and multi-media related to the stories. You can sign up there to be notified when the story collection publishes.

To follow developments with 'Hard Place Rock' in its approach to publication, sign up to the Zoe Marie Bel newsletter below.