Open House is published on the Storyteller Series podcast!

It’s up! It’s up! It’s up! SQUEE!!

Ahem.

Let’s try that again.

I’m delighted to announce that my short story, “Open House,” is published on Night Shift Radio‘s The Storyteller Series podcast. The Storyteller Series presents original short stories (like mine! SQUEE!) as audio dramas with a full cast of voice actors. Check it out on Spotify (use the player above) or your favorite podcast player (and while you’re there, check out the other great stories on the podcast. I especially liked Tom Witkowski‘s, “The Guardian Devil”).

So why am I squeeing all over the place? Because I’m a teenager trapped in a 50-something body (Get me out of this damn thing. It’s wrinkly, everything hurts, and certain parts are located several inches south of where they should be.)

Ahem.

I’m also squeeing all over the place, because this story and this podcast represent some big firsts for me:

• My first story free online (squee!)
• My first audio production (SQUEEEEEEE!!!)

So humor me and go check it out. And if you prefer to read rather than listen, you can find the print version here.

Wait, you want to know what it’s about? You don’t love me enough to just go listen to/read it? *sigh* *eyeroll* OK, *fine*.

When very pregnant Kim Idlewood attends an open house with her husband in an expensive Portland suburb, she hates the place. The décor is hideous (The 1980s called. They want their mauve curtains back. And their mauve walls.), the kitchen hasn’t been remodeled since the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Idlewoods can’t afford it anyway. But Kim’s husband loves the house–a little too much.

“Open House” is what I call light horror: no gore, no gruesomeness, but one of my critique partners said it scared her so much she could only read it once. She, however, didn’t spend her teen years reading Stephen King, so she might have a lower tolerance than some of us. Other content warnings: some profanity and light sexual innuendo. There’s one last content warning that has to do with pregnancy, but it hints at a spoiler, so I’m going to hide it so you can check it if you want to, but you won’t see it by accident. Yes, I’m one of those people who hates spoilers with the fire of a thousand suns–like this guy:

Frank Costanza’s classic anti-spoiler stance, still quoted regularly at my house.

Now, here’s that sort-of spoiler: Immediately below is a line of white text. If you highlight it with your mouse, you’ll be able to read it.

The story includes a threatened (but not actual) pregnancy loss.

Now go check it out and make this overgrown teenager happy, so I can forget about the wrinkles, the aches and pains, and the displaced body parts.

Oh, and one more time for the folks in the back:

SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!