Do you have a writing bug?
I do, apparently! I was reading my then-newest short story to a couple of friends on my back porch, and this cool little guy landed on my manuscript. I loved seeing the words through his wings! 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.
Bye bye, beach!
An amazing storm appears on the horizon at Scusset Beach, MA, September 10, 2021.
I’ve been privileged enough to enjoy a week at a writer’s retreat with some friends in Cape Cod, and I head home today.
I wanted to just work my butt off, but I quickly realized that what I needed was just some peace, and some relaxation. I got a few things done—a fraction of what was on my worklist—but if you know me at all, you know that, if I’m going on a retreat, I bring three times as much work as one human can do in that amount of time.
Even my horoscope told me I needed to just relax!
It was a week full of surprises, too! Among them Read the rest of this entry
“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 4th OF JULY!
Hope your 4th of July is full of joy and fireworks! Everyone at our house hopes everyone at yours spends the day with those you love doing something amazing!
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!
Father’s Day Bird Update!
Happy Father’s Day!
On May 21, I got pictures of a Carolina wren nest we found that had four eggs in it. Fourteen days later, on June 5, we checked in to see how things were going. There was a sleeping baby–at least two sleeping babies! The other two we couldn’t see, but there was a chance that they were snuggled up underneath the others. They didn’t have feathers yet, so they needed to huddle together to keep warm. Still, there was also the possibility that the other two eggs didn’t hatch, or that the hatchlings didn’t make it. Here’s a photo of the front most sleeper (I drew a thin red circle around his little developing beak).
Today, we have confirmation that at least three of the fledglings survived! I wish I’d gotten a picture, but Nathan didn’t have his camera. There were three fluffy, grumpy-looking baby wrens (that’s how you tell, other than the fact that they waggle their wings, make a lot of noise, and beg for food), and they were being fed by Mommy (Daddy–whom we call Fattypants–was singing elsewhere). We are very excited to welcome these little ones!
Also, Carolina wrens usually breed twice in a summer, so hopefully there will be another batch in a few weeks!
UPDATE: It’s confirmed–there are three little ones, but there was one egg left in the nest, which means it probably was inviable. I’m glad those that hatched are all alive and happy! Here’s the egg that was left:
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.
