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 →