UPDATE: My story did not win the contest, but it was an honor to be a finalist. You can read my story “The Curse of the Spider” here, in the Facebook group Con-Tinual: The Con That Never Ends.
Original post: I’m very proud to be a finalist in the August flash fiction contest. If you are a Patreon supporter of Crystal Lake Publishing, you can read my story “The Curse of the Spider” and vote on it this month! Here’s the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/CLP/posts
My story “What My Family Should Know in the Event of My Demise,” which originally appeared in Daily Science Fiction, is one of the stories on the Planet Raconteur podcast. It’s the second story in episode 2. Check it out!
2018 was a great year for me as a budding author! I did my first two author readings, moderated my first-ever DragonCon panel, got to be on two DragonCon panels with my friend James Tuck, and was on a panel at Monsterama for the first time. I had 4 story publications, and I released my first collection of short stories, the horror/crime chapbook, I Never Meant to Start a Murder Cult and Other Stories.
Some highlights of 2018:
Getting involved in the Atlanta Chapter of the Horror Writers Association
Reading my story “The Curse of the Spider” at Scary Fireside Stories for Halloween, on October 27th at the Lake Clair Land Trust in Atlanta. Good times and s’mores were had by all! Authors reading their spooky tales were (L-R): Lynne Hansen, Nancy Collins, me, Michael Wehunt, Gini Koch, Peter Salomon, Jessica Nettles, Jeff Strand, Amanda DeWees, and Brian Kirk.
Being on the Occult Detectives panel at Monsterama with Amanda DeWees and John Hartness:
Being on a DragonCon panel with my literary idol Katherine Kurtz:
According to Goodreads, I read 104 books in 2018. Several were multiple books by the same author: 2 by Amanda DeWees; 2 by E.J. Stevens; 2 by Katherine Kurtz; 2 by M.C. Beaton; 4 by Bobby Nash; 6 by Gail Z. Martin and her pen name Morgan Brice; and most disturbingly, 13 by Jeff Strand. A spookily large percentage of these books were ghost stories.
Looking forward to an awesome 2019!
The Kindle version is here now, and (UPDATE) so is the paperback! Foreword by Jeff Strand and cover art by James R. Tuck! Check it out!
Here’s a preview from my upcoming short story collection, “I Never Meant to Start a Murder Cult and Other Stories.” Two of the stories will be illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Brian MacGregor from Savannah. Here’s one of Brian’s awesome illustrations! The collection will be a chapbook of horror and crime fiction: four short stories and five flash-fiction stories. All of the stories have been previously published except for one, a brand new ghost story set in the Victorian era. The collection will be available in paperback as well as eBook. I’ll post links as soon as the book is available (sometime before the end of August).
My latest flash-fiction story is all dialogue. This is my second appearance at the crime fiction site, Near to the Knuckle. Check it out here: “Gun, Hypothetical.”
My flash-fiction crime story “I Never Meant to Start a Murder Cult” is now online at Shotgun Honey. I’m proud to say that this is my second publication on this esteemed crime fiction site, following “The Bag in the Corner” from May 2016. Thank you to friend and author Bobby Nash for creating this cool graphic!
My macabre semi-autobiographical story “What My Family Should Know in the Event of My Demise” is now online at the flash-fiction site, Daily Science Fiction! Be sure to click “Display Entire Story” to see it all!
Starting off the new year with a new story publication! My dead-body-in-the-trunk story, “Moonlight Sonata, With Scissors,” is now online at Story and Grit: Southern Fried Crime. Check it out!
My dark supernatural monster story “We Ride On the Wind” has now been unleashed upon the world! It’s in the new issue of Eldritch Tales (Vol. 2, No. 1, October 2017), edited by Robert M. Price. You can buy a copy from Necronomicon Press via eBay. I’m especially honored to share a Table of Contents with Sam Gafford, whose story “Chrysalis” is also in this issue.
Ghosts in the Kudzu 