Writing Update, Spring 2023

The Atlanta-area premiere of Moonlight Sonata, with Scissors, the short film by Chris Ethridge based on my story, was awesome! The film was very well received, and the audience laughed at the right places and gasped in horror at the right places. You can read my original short story in my collection, I Never Meant to Start a Murder Cult. Chris made several changes in adapting the story to film, including making the main character female instead of male, but all changes were made with my approval and they all worked out well.

It was such an honor for the film to be screened at the Renegade Film Festival on March 4, 2023! The film is still making the rounds in the film festival circuit, with several screenings in other states still to come. Here’s a photo from the red carpet:

L-R: artist Lynne Hansen, authors Bridgett Nelson and Jeff Strand, me, filmmaker Chris Ethridge

Also, I’m honored to announce that I will be an Attending Professional at DragonCon 2023 (August 31 to September 4) and I’ll be an Author Guest at Multiverse 2023 (October 20-22), both in Atlanta!

I’ve also had several publications since my last update:

The Werewolf and the Vampire Priest, a flash fiction story in the anthology Clarity from Queer Sci Fi

Ghost Child of the Creek, a poem in the horror anthology Georgia Gothic

Squatch and Behr: Not a Love Story, a homoerotic crime fiction tale in Pink Triangle Rhapsody, an anthology of pulp fiction by gay writers (this was especially cool since I was on the same Table of Contents as David Gerrold, one of my literary heroes!)

Selfie in the courtyard of Cool Beans Coffee Roasters on Marietta Square, during the Renegade Film Festival, March 4, 2023. Behind me is the Kennesaw House, one of the most haunted buildings in all of Georgia.

The Curse of the Spider

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

2019 New Year’s Day Review

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.

2018 Scary Fireside Stories

Being on the Occult Detectives panel at Monsterama with Amanda DeWees and John Hartness:

2018 Monsterama Occult Detectives

Being on a DragonCon panel with my literary idol Katherine Kurtz:

2018 DragonCon 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!

Ghost Ship!

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).

Ghost Ship