My techno-horror story Blame has been published by The Dread Machine. It’s a “found footage” story consisting of emails, Slack conversations, Reddit threads, phone transcripts, and more unusual artifacts like git commits, JIRA tickets, door entry logs … even a Walmart receipt.
Also, like many found footage tales, the story is ultimately pieced together based on incomplete information. Multiple reads of the story should reveal new hidden details that change the your interpretation of the ending.
The Tales to Terrify podcast has produced my short horror story Baby Food as a standalone episode. It’s a story about pregnancy, giant insects, and a camping trip gone horribly wrong. As usual, the narrator did an incredible job, perfectly nailing the pace and tone. The story starts at around the 6:40 mark and runs for just under an hour. You can listen to it on any of your favorite podcast apps and websites:
You can also read the story online, or buy the All Dark Places 3 anthology where it originally appeared.
And if you missed the earlier Tales to Terrify episodes featuring my stories, check out their productions of Something’s Wrong With Mom and Those Who Turn From God.
The third and final installment of my cyberpunk thriller Override has been published in Dark Matter Magazine Issue 009. Override is a three-part serial novella that started in Issue 007 and continued in Issue 008.
In Part One, Delek Foster volunteers himself to Syntech be converted into an AI-driven automaton in exchange for Syntech taking care of his wife (Neera) and his sickly son (Sev) for the rest of their lives. But something goes wrong, and the deal falls through. Delek is taken away by Syntech, leaving Neera and Sev with nothing. Part One ends with Neera setting out on a mission to free Delek from Syntech.
In Part Two, Neera finds a shady underworld boss who has an interrupter technology he claims can override Syntech’s AI. She cons him into giving her an interrupter in exchange for a useless bank auth key that he thinks he can use to undermine his criminal rivals. After hijacking a Syntech van, Neera is able to track Delek to the location where he is stationed. She attempts to use the interrupter to free Delek, but things don’t go as planned. Neera is captured by Delek himself, who seems to have no memory of his wife. To make matters worse, Delek is working for the very underworld boss that Neera just conned. And he is not happy.
What happens next? You’ll need to read Part Three to find out.
My short horror story Genie’s Last Wish has been published in the Beyond, Volume 1 anthology by The Great Void Books.
My body horror short story A Thing of Beauty has been published in the Screaming in the Night anthology by Sinister Smile Press. When a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, the memories of the pain inflicted upon it before the metamorphosis persists, despite its new physical form. The same happens to people as well …
The second installment of my cyberpunk thriller Override has been published in Dark Matter Magazine Issue 008. Override is a three-part serial novella that started in Issue 007 and will be concluded in Issue 009 in May 2022.
In Part One, Delek Foster volunteered himself to Syntech be converted into an AI-driven automaton in exchange for Syntech taking care of his wife (Neera) and his sickly son (Sev) for the rest of their lives. But something went wrong, and the deal fell through. Delek was taken away by Syntech, leaving Neera and Sev with nothing. Part One ends with Neera setting out on a mission to free Delek from Syntech.
You can read a free sample of Part Two here (scroll down).
The audio version of my folk horror story The Churchyard Grim is now available exclusively to Patreon subscribers of The Creepy Podcast. For only $7 per month, you’ll get access to four bonus episodes per week, in addition to the weekly Sunday episode.
The audio version of my underwater horror story A Sinking Feeling is now live on The Creepy Podcast. It’s the story of two men trapped in a small pocket of air as their ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean. But they’re not alone.
You can listen to it for free on your favorite podcast service:
If you’d prefer to read the story instead of listening, you can find it here.
My post-apocalyptic sci-fi/horror story Close Your Eyes has been published in MYTHIC #18, available today in print or ebook format from your favorite bookseller. Grab your copy here!
Also, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to the audiobook version of Close Your Eyes narrated by Chris Herron at Tall Tale TV, I highly recommend it.
Warren Benedetto 