What is Shade of the Morning Sun?

Shade of the Morning Sun is a collection of linked short stories chronicling the lives of a Scottish-American family over three generations. Currently focusing on the years 2015+.

It’s about love and loss, families and special needs, hope and dreams, and endless road trips. 

Who is writing?

The stories are written by Christopher Marcus, who also maintains the website.

How do I read the stories?

Check the Reading Guide.

Do I have to read all the stories?

No, each story can be read as a stand-alone story. 

Is Shade of the Morning Sun an online novel or really big short story collection?

It is neither.

Shade of the Morning Sun is a (constantly growing) collection of linked short stories, also known as a novel in stories or short story cycle.

Linked short stories can be read independently of each other, but when read together it affects your experience of each of the individual stories.

Linked short story collections you may be familiar with include Sherman Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad.

What kind of books are like Shade of the Morning Sun?

I’m very inspired by Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge books, which are incidentally also linked short story collections.

Also, I’m inspired by Andre Dubus III’s Garden of Last Days and House of Sand and Fog, Paul Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky, and Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption, just to name a few.

Oh, and movies … like Thelma and Louise, Winter’s Bone and Paris – Texas. And I could go on 🙂

So there is no big plot?

No. But there are some events and associated themes that come up again and again, like  Carrie’s recovery from addiction and abuse. Or Jonathan’s PTSD from the Iraq war. 

As the collection grows, there will be sequences of stories that resemble novels.

Why are these stories published on a blog?

The short answer is that I like to write stories in public and get inspiration from readers as I go.

Are there books collecting the stories?

There will be an upcoming print collection in 2025!

Why is the layout different in some stories?

I started to experiment with layouting some of my stories in a more reader-friendly way, especially for mobile. This means more images and bold sentences.

When I settle on a format that works, the rest of the stories will gradually be updated to reflect that.

Why did you create Shade of the Morning Sun?

I started writing a traditional novel 20 years ago with some of the characters but was not able to finish it, being occupied with education, work, and a period of serious illness. 

It soured on me around 2009 but I wanted to do something with the story ideas and characters, so I started writing short stories. I was impatient and just put them out on the internet and it sort of took on a life of its own since.

This site is the latest platform for these stories.

What is behind the name: ‘Shade of the Morning Sun’?

I’ve borrowed the title from the lyrics of New Order’s 1987-song “True Faith”:

I used to think that the day would never come
I’d see delight in the shade of the morning sun

The song is about drug use, but I also see it as a song about wanting to escape from life and searching for “the sun” – whatever that means to each of us.

How will I know when new stories come out?

You can follow Dependingonthemorningsun.com via the WordPress.com follow system if you are a member. 

You may also follow the site via RSS feed in an RSS Reader.  The feed URL is dependingonthemorningsun.com/feed/

You can also subscribe by email:

How often will there be new stories?

I strive to get new stories out weekly.

Why are there different people posing for the same character photo?

I can only afford to use photos from Unsplash and Pixabay and similar sites, not to pay a series of models! However, I feel that it is rather fitting that the models sometimes vary for the same cast member, as I like to think that many of the Reese-family’s experiences are universal.