I don't write many short stories, but I did this one with talented fantasy writer Christie Golden for an anthology Jennifer Roberson edited for DAW Books. The anthology was titled "Highwaymen: Robbers and Rogues," and it began when a group of writers in Jennifer's old Genie topic began talking about how much they loved Alfred Noyes' poem, arguably one of the most tragic romantic poems ever penned.

Jennifer thought it might be fun to do an anthology about Highwaymen, so she sold the idea to DAW Books, her publisher. Writers began coming up with all kinds of ideas for highwaymen - and highwaywomen - stories. There were fairy highwaymen, and vampire highwaymen, and modern-day highwaymen, and highwaymen from all cultures and times past.

My comment was, "Well, someone should write a sequel to the original poem." And Jennifer's reply was, "Go right ahead!" I talked the idea over with Christie Golden, so we decided to write the story as a collaboration. I'm putting the story on my website as it's one few of my readers have ever read, with Christie's kind permission.

You can visit Christie's website here: www.christiegolden.com.

So here is "Though Hell Should Bar the Way." I'm including the poem that inspired it, because it's now in public domain. Enjoy!

-- Ann Crispin