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My short story, “Woe is Me, Poor Child, for Thee,” is published!
My Christmas horror story, “Woe is me, Poor Child, for Thee,” is published in the 2021 Deathlehem anthology! One foggy Christmas Eve, an ex-con mall Santa seeks camaraderie in a California Delta watering hole—and learns that the spirits of the season don’t always rest easy. Billy Foraker had it all: lovely family, big house in the ‘burbs, good job making good money. Then he lost it all and traded the American dream for a prison cell. Now he’s a free man again, trying to rebuild his life, but his past is still out there, waiting for him in the Delta tule fog. The Colour Out of Deathlehem contains 24 holiday…
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Snippet from “Open House,” my newly-published short story
Good morning, and welcome to this week’s Weekend Writing Warriors post! Today’s snippet is the first 10 sentences of “Open House,” my 80s haunted house story that JUST GOT PUBLISHED on the Storyteller Series podcast! Why yes, I am just a wee bit excited. Yes, I did squee all over this blog announcing it. Those of you who are veterans may shrug, but this is a big ol’ deal for little ol’ me. OK, on to the snippet: The woman in the Nike jacket was staring at Kim Idlewood’s husband. Oh, she was trying to be discreet about it—they usually tried to be discreet, unless they were young, hot, and…
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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…
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Beginning of an as-yet-unnamed Christmas horror story (#WeWriWa #2)
Good morning, and welcome to my second post for the Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop (see all my Weekend Writing Warriors posts here). Right now I’m revising the first draft of a Christmas horror story I hope to submit to the Deathlehem anthology–if I can get it done quickly enough. I’m horribly slow at revising. Here are the first 10 sentences: Lully, lullah, thou little tiny child.Billy Foraker lifted the little boy off his lap, gave him a half-hearted, “Ho, ho, ho,” and rubbed his temples.Bye bye, lully, lullay.Ugh, that song again. He’d heard some version of it at least six times since his shift started at Stockton Galleria Mall.…
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Snippet from “Collateral Damage” (WeWriWa #1)
Welcome to my first post for Weekend Writing Warriors! Yes, I’m joining yet another blog hop. If this keeps up, I’m going to have to find a support group for people addicted to blog hops. Anyhoo, I’m especially excited about WeWriWa, because it involves sharing snippets of writing, published or unpublished, and since my search for an agent is about as successful as New Coke (if you’re under 40, ask your parents), these posts might be the only time anyone outside my critique group gets to read my work. For my first post, here are the first 10 sentences of my postapocalyptic short story, “Collateral Damage.” This story won first…