Nothing But Flowers, is literally hours away from launch.

From NBF/LMT editor Jodi Cleghorn’s blog:

The 26 stories which make up the entire collection (24 will be published on the web and 25 will we published in the eBook and paperback, including stories by Paul Servini and myself)not seen on the web) run the full gamut of post apocalyptic life, both on terra firma and in space. The stories range from dealing with cancer to fleeing a fundamentalist government; there are floods, earthquakes, viruses, war, disappearing animals and the open road. Love takes the reader from a take-away coffee mug to a gun to the head, from a fortune cookie to a guitar. You’ll never think of love in the same way again.

The 26 writers involved have pushed the barriers of apocalyptic thought and peeled back the layers to the most intimate level, to explore the way people love and allow themselves to be loved. The stories are horrifying and heart warming; they will rip at your soul, tug at your heart strings and make you laugh out loud.

I’m am awed at the stories in this collection and believe the stories are ones readers , reviewers and critics will be talking about for a very long time. There is not one soppy line, nor a single contrived piece of dialogue. And while the stories are littered with references to flowers, the only ones carrying bouquets are the walking dead.

You can like the official facebook page to get hourly updates with links to the stories.

Attend the virtual launch on facebook and go into the running to win one of four eBooks or a signed paperback, mingle with some well known names in fiction and see a bunch of authors behave badly without fear of a virtual hangover.

You can read and comment on the stories at Literary Mix Tapes.

And head to Jodi’s blog to read the full story on how this idiosyncratic Valentine’s collection was born.

The Valentines Day, 2011 schedule is (AEST):

09:00 The Sound of Silence by Laura Eno

10:00 Daisy’s Cafe by Sam Adamson

11:00 Alone by Janette Dalgliesh

12:00 The Gift by Emma Newman

13:00 I Dream of Cherry Pie by Jen Brubacher

14:00 Two Fools in Love by Graham Storrs

15:00 This Was Paradise by Icy Sedgwick

16:00 On the Corner of Clerk Street by Rebecca Emin

17:00 Click by Annie Evett

18:00 Headlines and Post-It Notes by Adam Byatt

19:00 Escape From Paradise by Rob Diaz

20:00 The Rose Garden by Jim Bronyar

21:00 Diana the Phoenix by Christopher Chartrand

22:00 The End by Emma Kerry

23:00 Golden Opportunity by PJ Kaiser

00:00 Grey, Like Stone by Lily Mulholland

01:00 Warrior by Rebecca Dobbie

02:00 Nothing Else Matters by Carrie Clevenger

03:00 Sophie Solitaire: Confessions of an End Time Girl by Maria Kelly

04:00 Empty Shelves by Benjamin Solah

05:00 Driver and the Beautiful Highway by Dan Powell

06:00 Absent by Jason Coggins

07:00 There But For Fortune by Dale Challener Roe

08:00 Dinner at Paphos by Susan May
Two additional stories are available in the eBook and paperback – Paul Servini’s “Deux Sots” and Jodi Cleghorn’s “Scarecrow Man”