Janet Alcorn

My suburban gothic horror novelette, Open House, is serialized on Substack this week. I’m posting one part each day, with the finale dropping on Halloween. All parts will be free to read, and I plan to leave them up (and free) for the foreseeable future. Here’s the blurb: 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…

My short story, “Proof Text,” was just published in Kings River Life! “Proof Text” is a short suspense piece about an exhausted farm wife who must finish one essential chore. I thought up the idea when I was doing farm chores on a windy fall day in Flagstaff. Read “Proof Text” free on the Kings River Life site. I wrote “Proof Text” in 2019, when I was still very new to fiction writing. In fact, it’s the first short story I ever wrote as an adult. With much fear and trembling, I shared it with my newly-formed critique group, expecting them to think it average at best. They loved it!…

New short story published! My new short story, “Adam Carmona and the Case of the Saguaro Ripper,” has just been published in the Trouble in Tucson anthology. What’s it about? Thanks for asking! When Det. Adam Carmona of the Tucson PD arrives at the scene of the Saguaro Ripper’s latest grisly killing, the details look the same as the last 5 murders–until Carmona recognizes the corpse. Here’s the beginning: On a bright January morning, Detective Adam Carmona of the Tucson PD exited his unmarked SUV and surveyed the latest scene. Another killing, the sixth in as many months. “Detective Carmona,” one of the uniforms inside the cordon of tape called.…