The First Two Pages: “Fire Drill” by Lisa de Nikolits

In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.

Today kicks off a series of essays by contributors to the anthology The Best Laid Plans, which releases officially next Tuesday, June 18. The collection features twenty-one authors and cover a wide range of locales, including “a subway station in Norway, a ski resort in Vermont, a McMansion in the suburbs, or a trendy art gallery in Toronto.” Gathering all these stories together is editor Judy Penz Sheluk, author of the Glass Dolphin Mystery and Marketville Mystery series as well as number of short stories as well.

The First Two Pages will be hosting three contributors to The Best Laid Plans, one each week to frame the launch. First up is Lisa de Nikolits, author of eight novels, with a ninth, The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist’s Solution, scheduled for publication later this year. Her short fiction and poetry have also been published in various anthologies and journals across the country. Originally from South Africa, de Nikolits now lives and writes in Toronto. You can find out more about her work at her webpage, and follow her on Twitter here. (Photo above by Bradley Dunlop.)

And stay tuned over the next two weeks for essays by Mary Dutta and Chris Wheatley as well!

Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay to read off-line.