Category Archives: Short Stories

A Review Is In!

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Wanted to drop a quick note to share some cool news with you:

My latest story, “A Look at the Rise of Jihyun “Sardonicus” Layne From Pirate to Chancellor Through the Official Communiques of Her Predecessor” has been reviewed along with the other ten stories in the latest (and for now last) issue of The Sockdolager over at Quick Sip Reviews.

To say I’m thrilled to see that reviewer, Charles Payseur, liked the story would be a serious understatement. If you’ve read the issue, or are the sort who doesn’t mind spoilers, I strongly suggest heading over and checking out the full issue’s review. It’s a big post for a big issue, but it’s well worth your time.

Might I also suggest considering checking out Charles’ patreon and consider lending some support there? Supporting good markets is obviously incredibly important, especially in the face of losing venues such as The Sockdolager, but reviewers like Charles are also playing a really important role in the field. There’s no point to having good stories out there if no one is reading them or talking about them and reviewers help raise visibility and get the conversations started.

120 Authors – 230 Tales – 1.1 Million Words! All Free!

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Check out that title! That is what you’ll find if you go download yourself a copy of Up and Coming: Stories from the 2016 Campbell-Eligble Writers.

This mega-anthology was put together by writers SL Huang and Kurt Hunt, themselves Campbell Eligible this year, to showcase the vast range of new talent out there in the speculative fiction field. Continue reading →

“Next Time On…” aka The Series I Can’t Wait to Read More Of

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I’ve always intended this place to be partly fro talking about the various rabbit holes I’ve fallen down. The stories and media that have sucked me into their worlds, set up a little home for themselves in my consciousness, and made me love them.

Unfortunately, sharing stories I love is just one of the many things I haven’t been doing around here with much consistency. So today I thought I’d do a little mental housekeeping and tell you about some of the things I’ve been reading (some recently, some less so) that I not only enjoyed, but that have more coming down the line for their continuing series.

If you haven’t read these things yet they get my strongest personal recommendation. Go get them, read them, and join me in jittery anticipation waiting for the next fix these authors have lined up for us.

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2012: My Year of Horror (Fiction)

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I’ve always been a fan of horror movies. Old school horror movies anyway. The Shining is one of my favorite movies ever. Alien and Aliens were both great. Psycho! What a movie. I also enjoy a good scream-queen fronted b-level horror or slasher film. The Nightmare on Elm Street series, for example. I am not a fan of the more modern gore and gross-out centered “torture-porn” kind of movie though. Assume I’ve never and will never watch most things that fall in that category. Until last year though, I’d never really read horror.

I don’t know why that is. Before 2012 I think I had read exactly two horror novels: The Shining by Stephen King and Dean Koontz’s From the Corner of His Eye, and one of those may not even really qualify as horror. While I didn’t hate either of them I didn’t love them either. I’d also read a handful of short stories that could be considered horror – all written by Harlan Ellison. That was the extent of my literacy in horror prose. 2012 was the year that changed.

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Review: Fireside Magazine Issue #1

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Let’s get something out of the way right now: I love short stories. I’m a big fan of anthologies and magazines. The root of this love for the short format can be found in my adoration for the writing of Harlan Ellison. Even though it’s never going to bring me the kind of money it takes to support a family I fully intend to devote a noticeable chunk of this writing career I’m trying to develop to short fiction. For that reason I’m all for jumping in on crowdfunding projects looking to get new fiction magazines off the ground. At the time of this writing, I’m supporting the Fireside Magazine Issue 2 & Beyond kickstarter and the Nightmare Magazine kickstarter. The way I see it, supporting a new magazine (or an established one for that matter) benefits me and other writers in two ways.

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