Category Archives: News
“Incubation” accepted for ANGELA’S RECURRING NIGHTMARES
ANGELA’S RECURRING NIGHTMARES was looking for scary stories involving penguins. I have lots of penguin stuff … here’s my newest T-shirt from my most recent trip to the Bronx Zoo.
Excited to announce that my short story, “Incubation” has been accepted for the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers’ anthology, Angela’s Recurring Nightmares!
This one had an interesting theme: it had to include a person named Angela, and the horror story had to involve penguins.
Release is slated for December. I’ll keep you posted!
“Carving Grace” accepted for WICKED CREATURES anthology!
Woman with Roses, a ship figurehead from the permanent collection at Mystic Seaport. It is believed to be a likeness of Belva Lockwood, a women’s rights advocate who did too many important things to list them all here. Of all the figureheads I saw in the exhibit, this one reminded me the most of the creatures in “Carving Grace.”
I’m thrilled to announce that my short story, “Carving Grace”—about vengeful figureheads—has been accepted to the New England Horror Writers’ Wicked Creatures anthology, slated for publication in this fall! If you love haunting stories set by the sea, you’ll like this.
I’m sharing this TOC with many talented writers; here’s the complete list:
“Weatherman and the Monk” – Nick A. Zaino III
“Silver Leaves and Moth Wings” – Dave Bernard
“It Whispers in My Brain” – Peter Dudar
“Massive Entity-17 Bernardo Carpio” – Ken Vaughan
“The Ookie Birds” – Paul McMahon
“Wood You Love?” – Rob Smales
“Ulcinium” – Frank Raymond Michaels
“Kobold” – John Foster
“Flutter” – John Grover
“Burning Bright” – Errick Nunnally
“The Night has a Chill” – Katherine Silva
“Birth of a Creature” – Cindy O’Quinn
“Heart of Frankenstein” – Trisha Wooldridge
“Harvest” – Morgan Sylvia
“Quality of Mercy” – Richard Alan Scott
“Dragon’s Scales” – Victoria Dalpe
“Lavinia” – Patricia Gomes
“The Thing in the Window” – D.E. Ladd
“Carving Grace” – Kristi Petersen Schoonover
“There is no 21:38 Westbound” – John Buja
“Sick and the Cursed” – Timothy Flynn
“The Mumble Man” – James A. Moore
“Keep on Trucking” – Daniel R. Robichaud II
“Fifteen Years From Now” – Howard Odentz
The anthology will be edited by Dan Keohane, David Price & Scott Goudsward.
I’ll keep you posted on when it’s available!
“The Digging Place” now available in FORNEVER AFTER!
My short story, “The Digging Place,” is now available in Jolly Horror Press’ romantic horror collection, ForNever After.
Kali adores the odd treasures her husband brings home from The Digging Place, a warehouse full of discarded junk. Until the day he shows up with something that belonged to her former lover …
“The Digging Place” is one of sixteen stories about love gone not just wrong, but God-awfully wrong. From the back cover, written by editor Jonathan Lambert:
True love…a soul mate? Desired by most, found by few. What you are up against… is A LOT. For love to stay true, and endure. And that’s without the doom and gloom and horror that falls upon the lovers in this anthology.
These are stories where two people nearly find everlasting bliss and happiness.
NEARLY. You didn’t miss that word did you? It was never meant to be. That makes it hurt worse. They were THE one. The one to grow old with, but also the one that never saw it coming.
FORNEVER AFTER includes 16 tales of tragic love, surrounded by all kinds of horrors. If you are looking for stories with happy endings, this isn’t the book for you….
ForNever After is available in Paperback and Kindle here: https://bit.ly/DigPlace
Happy July–34 ORCHARD is open for submissions!
The cover of 34 Orchard’s Spring, 2021 Issue. COVER ART: “Please Pray,” by Jen Connic.
34 Orchard is now open for submissions from July 1 — July 31, 2021, for our Fall Issue, to be published November 10, 2021.
Please check out our guidelines here. If you’d like to look at prior issues, our Spring issue is posted here.
We look forward to reading your work!
Story accepted and I went and did THIS yesterday …
Yesterday was interesting! I got a short story accepted (cannot release details yet), I went over a friend’s and she made me a genuine malt (that tasted like the way my dad used to make them!), and … I did this…
I love my recent X-Men’s Rogue-inspired hair, so I’ll definitely go back to that, but I wanted to try something different for summer. I wanted something a little lighter, but this’ll fade as I wash. I’ve never tried crazy color before, but I figured, why not?
On another note, post-Tidings, I have an idea for a second Romantic Ecothriller, one that involves the sea. I thought it might be cool if my main chick has this color for hair.
It’s finally here: “Ghosts on the Sand”
I’m pleased to announce that my story, “Ghosts on the Sand,” was one of twenty-six winners in the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival’s 2020 Microfiction Contest last October … and the anthology of winning stories is now available!
The anthology also includes the “Challenge from Beyond” round robin cosmic horror story, which features the grand prize winner and a stunning line-up of writers and artists.
This special double book is only $10, and it supports the annual Oregon festival, which features indie filmmakers from around the world. If you’re a short film buff—especially in the horror genre—then it should, at the very least, be on your radar.
“Ghosts on the Sand” can’t be read anyplace else, so if’ you’d like your copy, you can pick one up here: https://arkhambazaar.com/books/the-challenge-from-beyond-2020-lovecraftian-micro-fiction-double-book/
Only 250 copies were printed, so once they’re gone, they’re gone! Be sure to get your copy today if you enjoy cosmic horror.
Today’s the day: StokerCon 2021
Very excited to spend the next four days attending StokerCon 2021–the Horror Writers Association’s annual conference. It’s being done virtually, and the amount of work that went into planning this was probably gargantuan. I’m so grateful!
The conference runs through Sunday. There will be three hang-out bars (like Zoom calls where you basically pop in and pop out to have cocktails and socialize with other con-goers), and over 200 programs, both live and on-demand. They cover the gamut from academics to the writing biz, the horror genre, and the craft. I’m especially excited to attend Horror after COVID, Financial and Literary Estate Planning for Writers, Portrayals of Mental Illness in Horror, and A Revelation in American Horror film: Intergenerational Traumas and Transmissibility in Ari Aster’s Hereditary. Right now, I’m watching a YouTube tutorial on StokerCon 2021 Spirits (cool mixed drinks to enjoy with the con–I may have to try that Blood Orange Bourbon Sour)!
I also can’t wait for the Final Frame Film Competition–14 short horror films (I love me some horror shorts!). I’ve got my Jiffy Pop at the ready!
A fave coffee’s back!
I live on coffee (and wine, too, but that’s not what I’m discussing today). I frequently will drink as many as five cups, even late into the night. It’s the fuel that keeps me writing.
That said, I have my personal favorites. Back in the 1980s, I was a huge fan of International Coffee’s Suisse Mocha. In the early 1990s, Dunkin’ Donuts French Vanilla was my jam.
ONE of my favorites these days is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Island Coconut, which starts appearing on store shelves in March and is sold through June (after that, I’ve found you’re out of luck). I usually get my K-Cups at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but I’m sure if you hunt the shelves of other stores like Target, you’d probably find it.
Game on, people! Time for me to stock up!
If you love Island Coconut and can’t find it after June, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND H-E-B’s Houston Blend, which is a little more coconutty, but damn close. You can order some of that online here (and yes, they have K-Cups too): https://www.heb.com/product-detail/cafe-ole-by-h-e-b-houston-blend-medium-roast-ground-coffee/2337503
DARK DISCUSSIONS turns 10! We visit ALIENS …
Dark Discussions, the horror film discussions podcast, turned ten years old last month!
For our big episodes, we usually talk about a “tent pole” film, asking our listeners to vote for a title they’d like us to cover—this time around, it was 1986’s Aliens.
I came to the Alien franchise later in life, as I wasn’t allowed to watch scary movies when I was a kid (even though I did sneak in a few here and there at my grandmother’s house, because no one was paying attention). While I enjoyed Alien—which I saw in my twenties—I really liked this sequel better. Wonderful allusions, a solid story, a slight shade of a burgeoning romance, an oppressive atmosphere, a James Horner score, a really young Bill Paxton and a gorgeous rendering of an abandoned station—this one rung all my bells.
To listen to our discussion, visit here: https://www.darkdiscussions.com/podcasts/dark-discussions-podcast/dark-discussions-podcast-episode-479-10th-year-anniversary-aliens-1986/
Fan of alien films? Also on that page is a listing of all of the other Alien and extraterrestrial films we’ve covered thus far.
Pfizer Shot #1 Accomplished!
My husband Nathan and I got our first Pfizer shots today up at the Xfinity Center in Hartford (over an hour away). The process was smooth and easy! I’m really impressed with how well organized it was compared to how tough it was to get an appointment in the first place, and the cool guy that checked us in has the same birthday as my dad (2/17), which I took as a positive sign.
No side effects. I had some weird tingling in my arm, but I’ve had shots for lots of other things because I’ve worked at aquariums and have had more than my share of bouts with possible tetanus and exposure to strange animal diseases. So it wasn’t anything I hadn’t experienced before.
Our second shots are scheduled for Saturday, April 17. We plan to stay overnight the night before and make an adventure out of it, because hopefully a global pandemic will only come once in our lifetimes …
