Category Archives: Short Stories
Give us an hour, we’ll show you new worlds — today at 5pm!
Hello all!
End your work day right — a Strong Women-Strange Worlds Quick Read is happening today at 5pm!
**6 Authors * 8 Minutes Each!** Check out the line-up of fabulous women and non-binary science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors at this VIRTUAL live reading. Bring a beverage, relax, and let them entertain you. There will be prizes/giveaways as well. You won’t want to miss this! The program is FREE via Zoom, but you must sign up here: https://bit.ly/3aOXDuR
I’ll be sharing the beginning of “Attempted Delivery,” which appears in The Shadows Behind.
One randomly chosen winner will get a free copy of Shadows, and anyone who attends and signs up for this blog will get a randomly chosen chapbook–which I only send out to my Holiday mailing list (if you’re already signed up for this blog and you attend, no worries, I’ll send you one too!) All writers are offering prizes, so this is a great opportunity to find something new or grab a gift!
Give us an hour, we’ll show you a new world. Hope to see you there!
34 ORCHARD Issue 4 is LIVE!
Issue 4 is up! You can get your copy here: https://34orchard.com/issues/issue-4/
There is so much fine work in this issue, our largest yet. Don’t miss it!
Announcing the Table of Contents for the Fall 2021 issue of 34 ORCHARD!
We’re thrilled to announce the Table of Contents for the Fall 2021 issue of 34 Orchard, which will be released on November 10, 2021!
This is our biggest issue yet. Here’s what we’ve got in store for you: Read the rest of this entry
A visit to Mystic Seaport’s Figurehead Exhibit
“Carving Grace” has an enormous back story of inspiring experiences. One of them was a visit to Mystic Seaport’s Figurehead Exhibit, which Nathan and I visited in February 2021. At that point, I’d started the story, and I felt I needed a kick.
While vaccinations had started to happen, we wouldn’t be eligible for ours until March. We desperately needed to get away, and because most of the seaport is outdoors, it seemed the perfect place to secure a change of scenery (we’d also gone there in September of 2020 for our anniversary).
Nathan and I on our way to Mystic, CT for a special birthday/Valentine’s Day escape (to also do research for “Carving Grace”). The weather was beautiful. Winter overcast, but definitely not too cold; it was the perfect atmosphere. In my mind, Mystic Seaport itself is what the community of Timber Inlet—to a point—looks like.
“Toxic Snap” is finalist in Crystal Lake Publishing’s Special Halloween Challenge!
Remember the poisoned Halloween candy scare of 1982? I do, and as the already terrified big sister to three siblings, it wasn’t fun. (Read more about it here: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/candy-tampering.htm)
That was the inspiration behind my flash fiction piece “Toxic Snap,” which is one of sixteen finalists in Crystal Lake Publishing’s Special Halloween Challenge for its Patreon supporters!
All 16 stories posted starting yesterday—“Toxic Snap” appears today—and Patreon supporters of Crystal Lake Publishing will be able to vote for their favorites. The three top stories will receive a cash prize and also be published in CL’s 2022 Shallow Waters Halloween anthology.
I’m going to put a plug in here for Crystal Lake’s Patreon, simply because I’ve been a supporter there for a few years now and I love the benefits—while there are tiers for readers, there are tiers for writers especially, and I’ve found Read the rest of this entry
“Mating Call” accepted for parABnormal Magazine’s December issue!
The heath hen. This is the saddest story of all, but right up my alley in terms of romantic tragedy. From the NBS Lost Bird Project brochure: “Heath hens usually only flew to the lower branches of the trees…in 1929, ornithologists witnessed a hopeful male fly to the top of a tree and call out, loudly and repeatedly, across the island. There were no heath hens to hear his plea.” That final male was last seen in 1932.
I’m thrilled to announce that my short story “Mating Call”—written last summer, set on Halloween and putting an urban-legend-esque twist on the sad tale of the extinct heath hen—has been accepted at parABnormal Magazine!
Publication is slated for December 15! I’ll let you know when you can get your copy.
“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!
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!
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.
