Category Archives: Short Stories

Broken and strewn: Friday Update

22 Friday Aug 2025

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News:

Stuff is happening, but nothing that I can share yet.

Works in Progress:

I wrote one short story. It was supposed to be flash, but it’s too long to cut it down that far. I set it aside in the trunk to wait for something more appropriate for it. I’ve started on another flash fiction piece, but because I had stuff I was doing Wednesday, I didn’t get as much done on it as I’d hoped, and I want to get it done before I start Never & Forever (Meridian Book 8).

It doesn’t help that my attention span is still suffering and I seem to be suffering a case of the writer yips. I’m nervous I won’t be able to write the novel that I promised, especially since the last time I tried to write a novel, it didn’t work at all.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan (finished)
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

Pop music playlist
Abyss/Ascent playlist
Wonderland soundtrack
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection by Sarah Brightman
Beauty and the Beast live action soundtrack
The Best Damn Thing by Avril Lavigne

Things I’m Watching:

Weapons
Will Trent series
CSI series
Private Practice series
9-1-1: Lone Star series
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
America’s Got Talent series
Hoarders series
The Rookie series
NCIS series

Poem of the Week: (throwback)

it’s important to really
probe at the issue
find the origins of the trauma
let’s really dig deep down
into the meat of things
with a serrated spoon
widen the incision
let the blood and lymph
and creamy pus out
carve your way to the
bottom of your behaviors
and figure out why on earth
you’d be in pain

Persist: Friday Update

15 Friday Aug 2025

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News:

On August 10, “Growing Things” was posted for this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters contest theme Eco-Horror. It’s available to read for $5/month tiers and up. This is a solid month for entries and a generally popular theme. I’ve really enjoyed reading them so far.

Works in Progress:

I finished the proofreading edit of Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) and sent it back to my editor. As you can see above, it’s available for preorder at Totally Bound and Amazon, for general release October 28—just in time for Halloween. All about a young veteran hunter who learns the facts of life from a vampire and a werewolf. Getting back to my Sanctuary trilogy and Nocturnal Creatures trilogy roots, I guess.

I’m taking a short break to work on two flash pieces and hopefully finish up reading Langan’s The Fisherman. Then I’ll dive into Never & Forever (M8), the last Meridian novel. Hard to believe I’ll have two trilogies, a serial, and two series under my belt with my other name once that’s finished.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

Pop music playlist (I’m pretty much just biding my time until I feel comfortable turning on my Halloween/horror playlist, which will be immediately followed by my Christmas playlist after Thanksgiving or whenever I finish my next horror work)
Wonderland soundtrack

Things I’m Watching:

CSI series
Private Practice series
9-1-1: Lone Star series
Home Town: Takeover series (finished)
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
America’s Got Talent series
The Rookie series

Poem of the Week: (throwback)

lurking deep
in steaming trench
slumbering
in the womb
of earthen heat
waiting out the cold
tentacles drift
with venting exhalation
the quaking rumble
of its snores
may it continue
its sweet dreams
and never wish
to wake

Not too hot for cake: Friday Update

08 Friday Aug 2025

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Due to some problems in transit (now I know better how to transport this particular cake, which has unique issues in comparison to others), I had to buy a new cake for my customer, deliver it again (successfully this time), then take the one with significant icing damage home. So I had unpaid time to replace it and paid for the replacement out of pocket, but at least I got cake out of everything. Better than the last few shopping catastrophes.

It’s a tres leches cake, and it’s quite good. But man, I’m exhausted.

News:

My flash fiction “Growing Things” will be one of this month’s Eco-Horror finalists at the Crystal Lake Patreon for the Shallow Waters contest. It should post around August 11.

Works in Progress:

Got some reading done, but not as much as anticipated. My proofreading edit for Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) came in a few days ago, so I’m deep into that right now. I should finish next week, when I’ll write a few short things before tackling Never & Forever, the final book in the Meridian series.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

TTW playlist
Drift playlist
Vicious by Halestorm
When It’s All Over by RAIGN

Things I’m Watching:

CSI series
Found series (finished)
9-1-1 series (finished)
9-1-1: Lone Star series
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
America’s Got Talent series
The Rookie series

Poem of the Week: (throwback)

there’s nothing in the bathtub
nothing but bubbles to brim
steaming water and feet gray
needs more sun refraction
angle doesn’t hurt nor
the ankle despite the scab
or white of bone broken through
toenails yellow cracked and thick
nothing in the bathtub sink
beneath brim bubbles submerge

It’s too hot for theft: Friday Update

01 Friday Aug 2025

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The title reference is that someone took items out of my cart and stole it, along with 2/3 of a large iced chai latte on the hottest day yet. I had a meltdown in the middle of Market Street. I realized how ridiculous it was while it was happening, but usually by that point, it’s too late to stop and most often an accumulation of grievances that goes beyond the instigating event. So I’m tired today, but I feel better. (I did buy another iced chai latte, but I wasn’t happy about it.)

News:

Nothing to share this week.

Works in Progress:

I wrote, edited, and submitted two short stories, and now I think I’m going to take a short break until I get the proofread of Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7). I have books I want to finish and a tired brain. I’ve still been submitting in the background, but you just never know what’s going to stick.

I also made an e-book cover for a story that I have trouble categorizing. I’m not even sure if it’s more representative of this name or my other name, although I wrote it for this one. It’s pretty cool that I made a cover, though. It’ll be ready when I figure out what to do with the story.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Texas Bigfoot by Lyle Blackburn

Things I’m Listening To:

Fourth of July playlist
Under My Skin by Avril Lavigne

Things I’m Watching:

Found series
CSI series
9-1-1 series
The Amazing Race series (finished)
Say Yes to the Dress: Tan France series
America’s Got Talent series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series (finished)

Poem of the Week:

the trees are tired
yet still majestic despite
the abject failure of
heedless curators
whose denial is their
greatest betrayal
to themselves and those
they are charged to serve
if we must use the ax
we must also bear the spade

Like ants in a hill-fire: Friday Update

27 Friday Jun 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novels, Poetry, Series, Short Stories, Writing

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News:

My plague poem “Sacrificial” came out in The Cleansing Power of Fire from Infested Publishing on June 21.

“From Black Clouds” comes out today in Kosmos Obscura from Graveside Press. If you buy it directly from Graveside, it’s $1 cheaper, so if you have a yen for some cosmic horror, head here. Storm horror is my jam. It haunts my dreams, so it haunts my fiction.

We’re nearing the end of the opportunity to submit for next month’s Shallow Waters contest, under theme Mystical Listicles, with yours truly selecting the finalists. The sub call ends at the close of June 30.

Works in Progress:

I finally finished editing Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7), worked up the synopsis, and sent it in, but I’m kind of ashamed that I kept missing important emails from my publishers while I was struggling to get things done the last two months. I check that email regularly for a few weeks at a time, then stop for a while, and naturally, that’s when the emails were sent. So embarrassing and unprofessional of me—a tragedy of errors. I swear I’m not ignoring emails on purpose.

I’m supposed to work on May Cooler Heads Prevail next, which is a harder and harder story to handle as cooler heads continue to not prevail and actions continue to not have consequences. I can’t deal with this world at all. I don’t know how to function when things don’t at least sometimes work as they should. Maybe Cooler Heads will end up autobiographical if things keep making my brain short out.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Haunted Plano, Texas by Mary Jacobs

Things I’m Listening To:

The Blacklist playlist
Reputation by Taylor Swift
The Shadow Theory by Kamelot
Showtime, Storytime by Nightwish

Things I’m Watching:

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Jurassic World: Dominion
Nefarious
28 Weeks Later
Trainwreck: Poop Cruise
Ocean’s Thirteen
CSI: NY series
Doctor Odyssey series
America’s Got Talent series
Home Town series
Home Town Takeover series
Abbott Elementary series (finished)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

Poem of the Week:

smoke on the horizon like clouds pluming to the atmosphere
into anvils with black underbellies with static electricity
smoke on the wind without the benefit of hickory breathe
in the poison particles piercing filters and penetrating cilia
smoke on my mind with a fire in the sky and poison in my blood
scattering in the cells like atmospheric ice released in rain

Breathe: Friday Update

20 Friday Jun 2025

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News:

My steamy little horror flash fiction, “Origami,” posted on the Crystal Lake Patreon for this month’s Shallow Waters theme of Satanic Panic. ($5/month tier and up)

Works in Progress:

I feel like I’ve been working on Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) forever, but I’m close to the end. I think I’m just tired. Once it’s done, I’ll probably write a few short stories before hitting May Cooler Heads Prevail, hopefully to prepare for self-publishing. I have a few short pieces I might put together as well, to hold until I can afford something more substantial.

I’m still waiting on an acceptance/rejection for some poetry before publishing A Nightmare for All Seasons. Sigh.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
Haunted Plano, Texas by Mary Jacobs

Things I’m Listening To:

Silent Hill playlist
The Blacklist playlist
Reputation by Taylor Swift

Things I’m Watching:

Smile
Jurassic World
Jeopardy Masters series (finished)
CSI: NY series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Equalizer series (finished)

Poem of the Week:

that thing in the field was once a tree
in a field of green it is surrounded by gray
darkening to the black of obsidian glass
where lightning has charred it a hundredfold strikes
into a stub of gnarled bark and twisted rings
above the tangle of roots as though it tried
to climb from underground to escape
and curls there now like the memories of corpses
in the excavated ashes of Pompeii

We all float down here: Friday Update

06 Friday Jun 2025

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News:

My story “Floaters,” accepted for Stories to Take to Your Grave, through Undertaker Press, is available to read for free here. It’s not so creepy as Pennywise. Instead, it’s a hopeful little thing imagining a different kind of interment after the oceanic ecosystem collapse.

Works in Progress:

I did manage to finish the edits for Masque on Friday night and pared down the synopsis and wrote the pitch on Saturday before sending it out on submission, so I met my deadline and my goal. After that, I was worn out and had work to do, so I haven’t gotten a lot done, but I’ve made a few alterations on Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7), and I should finish up the fixes on it before doing the second edit, which shouldn’t take too long.

And I’m starting to do flash poetry again, after a break of a few months.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin

Things I’m Listening To:

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall album
The Phantom (Maury Yeston) Original Cast Album

Things I’m Watching:

Moana 2
Fear Street: Prom Queen
The Equalizer 3
Earthstorm series (finished)
Jeopardy Masters series
Say Yes to the Dress series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Equalizer series

Around the bend: Friday Update

30 Friday May 2025

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News:

“The Devil’s Bathtub” won this month’s Shallow Waters flash fiction contest. I think the link leads to an open post where you can read the story for free, if you like.

Because I won, I got an Author Spotlight interview, which you can read here. And one of the perks of winning that started literally the month after the last time I won is that you get to decide the next theme for everyone to work on next month and curate the finalists—kinda like training wheels for editing an anthology, which I’d love to do someday. (And it comes with a decent honorarium, which I’m also excited about.)

We’ll share the theme and start taking entries next month, for posting in July.

Last weekend, I attended Texas Frightmare with a friend. I want to be a vendor there someday. Maybe next year?

Works in Progress:

The deadline for Q&C’s open submissions is the end of May 31, so I’m scrambling to finish Masque edits tonight so I can pare down the synopsis and put together the pitch before work tomorrow. As a result, I’m taking yet another day off from work (and I haven’t worked out since last week), but I put in some extra work on other days of the week, and I’ve determined that I’ll still make more this week than last (when I had to take time off for Frightmare), especially with the prize money for “The Devil’s Bathtub” added on.

I have about 33 more pages to edit, which is…doable. The narrative is speeding up from the emotional climax to the plot climax, so I’m editing faster, too. Honestly, it hasn’t required a lot of extra effort. Minimal cutting, mostly punctuation decisions and breaking up some sentences for readability’s sake. But it still takes time to go through everything.

After Masque has been submitted, I’ll go back to Tooth & Claw (M7) for the second round, and I think I figured out how to fix the Chekhov’s gun problem. And, of course, I’ll be reading for the July Shallow Waters contest.

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin
He Left Her at the Altar, She Left Him to the Zombies by Katie Cord (Frightmare, finished)

Things I’m Listening To:

Delain
Kamelot
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall album

Things I’m Watching:

The Equalizer 2
Stranger (1991) (Frightmare screening)
Damsel of the Doomed (Frightmare screening)
Jeopardy Masters series
Home Town series
Home Town Takeover series
Say Yes to the Dress series
CSI series
CSI: NY series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

Lips of honey: Friday (kinda) Update

16 Friday May 2025

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My audacity for being late comes from being social this morning and afternoon, when I’d usually be drafting the update. This happens so infrequently that I can’t refuse it when it does happen.

Then, due to heat and humidity, I had a massive headache coming home after working, so I needed to wait for that to settle down, too.

News:

“The Devil’s Bathtub” posted on May 11 at Crystal Lake’s Patreon. Those familiar with Bluebirds (Thorns Book 3) might have recognized the locale for the horror story—not the same place, but the same inspiration.

Works in Progress:

It took a little longer to finish up the first round of edits for Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7) than anticipated, so I’ve only been working on Masque second-round edits for a few days.

T&C (M7) had about 13K words cut, from 89K to 76K. I’m not satisfied with the climactic scene, because I feel like I didn’t use Chekhov’s gun, but I don’t have time to address it right now. I’ll muse over possible solutions until I can return to T&C.

I’ve only been working on Masque for three days, and I’m about a tenth of the way through, but I’m still charmed. I’m really fond of this piece. There’s something about the writing that tickles my brain. I think it’s because the alt-history style allows me to embellish and play without being as jarring as in contemporary.

20 pages in 2-3 days is not going to cut it if I want to make the deadline, so I have got to buckle down. Could this country not have a crisis for a few weeks, please?

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin

Things I’m Listening To:

Old Favorite Playlist
Delain
Cindy Morgan
Let’s Talk About Love by Celine Dion
Live Around the World by Queen + Adam Lambert
Live for You by Rachael Lampa
Lost Whispers by Evanescence
Love and War by Fleurie
Lover by Taylor Swift
Lover. Fighter. by Svrcina
Mean Girls Original Broadway Soundtrack
Midnight in the Garden by Lily Kershaw
My December by Kelly Clarkson

Things I’m Watching:

Home Town Takeover series
Say Yes to the Dress series
Spring Baking Championship series
Elsbeth series (finished)
NCIS series
CSI series
The Equalizer series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series

The endless poison: Friday Update

02 Friday May 2025

Posted by in A Few Thoughts, Novelettes/Novellas, Poetry, Short Stories, Writing

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News:

A Coup of Owls announced their 2025 line-up of novelette collections, and my raw, grimy, sexy story “Glory to God,” about a displaced goddess at a gloryhole, comes out in their Halloween 2025 collection featuring Othered horror romance. This is a story I conceived of over fifteen years ago but didn’t have the inspiration or guts to write until I was initially putting together my bathroom horror collection.

My body horror poem “Exhibit” is featured in this issue of Memento Mori’s free newsletter Morsus Vitae.

I did an interview roughly a year ago with the Merry Writers Podcast, and they posted it earlier in April, but I missed it. You can find it at a number of podcast places, but also here on YouTube. I talk a little about Question Not My Salt but mostly about my writing process and my love of the horror genre.

In addition, although “Turning Tail” didn’t win anything last month, my story “The Devil’s Bathtub” is a finalist in this month’s Crystal Lake Shallow Waters flash fiction contest, featuring the theme Fools. It should post for $5/month tiers and above on May 12. This one is a story I’ve wanted to write for a while, loosely based on a place on my grandparent’s land in the Ozarks.

Works in Progress:

I’d hoped that gig working during the afternoons and early evenings and being too tired during the nights would lead to more focused work during my mornings and my Wednesday ‘weekend.’ This has not been the case. I’m sorry, but this administration (federal and state) is soul-sucking, and the anger and helplessness I feel all the time is not conducive to productivity. When logic, reason, and compassion don’t work as arguments, my brain gives a near constant 404 error. It’s not good for me.

I’ve managed to make a dent on the first round of edits on Tooth & Claw (Meridian Book 7), but not as big of a dent as I would have wanted. My plan to finish the first round before doing second-round edits on Masque, however, remains. But I have to remember that Texas Frightmare is this month, and that takes at least three days off my schedule for writing. I want the world to be a better place so I can do my work, damn it.

Concerned that tariffs will eventually lead to less gig work for me as it finally hits inventory or to skintier tips (which we’re heavily dependent on, so remember to tip your gig workers).

Books I’m Reading:

The Fisherman by John Langan
Playlist of the Damned edited by Willow Dawn Becker and Jess Landry
Raising Loki: A Memoir by Elliot Manarin

Things I’m Listening To:

Old Favorite Playlist (basically everything I listened to in college)
Svrcina
It’s No Secret Anymore by Linda Eder
Jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection Soundtrack
Joanne by Lady Gaga
Josh Groban by Josh Groban
Kaleidoscope by Rachael Lampa
The Last Five Years Original Cast Recording

Things I’m Watching:

Mufasa: The Lion King
Talk to Me
Ghosts (US) series
Will Trent series
Watson series
Elsbeth series
NCIS series
CSI: NY series
CSI series
Criminal Minds series
Slasher: Guilty Party series
The Equalizer series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine series
The Bondsman series