“Arrivals at Hope Station Have Been Indefinitely Postponed” accepted by Stupefying Stories

My dark sci-fi story Arrivals at Hope Station Have Been Indefinitely Postponed has been accepted by Stupefying Stories. It’s framed as an urgent announcement on an interdimensional travel platform.

Attention, Travelers. Due to circumstances entirely within our control—but beyond our collective will to change—all arrivals at Hope Station have been indefinitely postponed, and the Station is now closed. Travelers entering the Station should abandon Hope and proceed to the exits immediately.

“Me, a Hero” published in FABLE: An Anthology of Horror, Suspense & the Supernatural

My psychological horror story Me, a Hero has been published in FABLE: An Anthology of Horror, Suspense & the Supernatural by Aurelia Leo. It’s a story about a man who joins the search for a missing girl in hopes of making an appearance on the local evening news.

The story is also available as an audio production by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights.

Content warning: stalking (implied)

Since the girl disappeared, some of her friends had turned her regular table in the corner of the coffee shop into a makeshift shrine, with a large 8×10 photo, plus a few flowers, candles, and even a teddy bear. A hand-made sign reading “Have you seen me?” was affixed to the wall above the table.

“Yes,” I thought as I paid for my coffee this morning. “Plenty of times.”

Listen to “No Bones, Just Skin” on the Scary Stories Told in the Dark podcast

The audio production of my cryptid horror story No Bones, Just Skin has been published by Scary Stories Told in the Dark, a podcast by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. It’s about a brother and sister who have a terrifying encounter with an abúhukü, a rainforest demon known for dissolving the bones of its prey and leaving the empty skin behind.

Content warning: gore

My story is the first in the episode, starting around the 5:00 mark.

“A Piece of the Sky” accepted by The Lost Poetry Club podcast

My sci-fi horror story A Piece of the Sky has been accepted by The Lost Poetry Club podcast. It’s told through the testimony of the surviving member of a two-person asteroid mining crew that picked up an unfortunate souvenir during their expedition.

With all due respect, sir, you don’t know what you’re talking about. There was no way Bakely could’ve known what the thing was when he picked it up. It looked like a rock. Hell, it was a rock, just a hunk of the asteroid’s crust that he grabbed as a souvenir for his kid. There’s no way he could’ve known it was a nest.

“No Bones, Just Skin” accepted by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights

My cryptid horror story No Bones, Just Skin has been accepted by the Chilling Tales for Dark Nights podcast. It’s about a brother and sister who have a terrifying encounter with an abúhukü, a rainforest demon known for dissolving the bones of its prey and leaving the empty skin behind.

Manuel’s older sister, Liliana, stood next to him, looking up at the body hanging high in the tree overhead. The carcass was little more than a shriveled husk of a man, a wrinkled bag of skin draped boneless and formless across the jungle’s dense lattice of vines and branches. It was almost as if the man had been turned into a garment, as if someone had slit him down the back, extracted his skeleton, then tossed him carelessly into the tree like an old bathrobe.

“Dragonsbreath” published in Dragon Gems (Winter 2024)

My modern dark fantasy story Dragonsbreath has been published in the Winter 2024 Dragon Gems anthology by Water Dragon Publishing.

It’s the story of a teen forced to wear a fireproof mask to protect himself and others from a power he can’t control.

This story is an odd one for me: a little bit fantasy, a little bit horror, and a little bit (gasp!) romance. 

Content warning: mild gore

The woman’s head lurched forward as her SUV slowed to a jarring stop, its bumper only inches from the police car parked sideways across her lane. Half a dozen emergency vehicles crowded the street ahead of her. There were police cars. Fire trucks. An ambulance.

The woman watched with mounting horror as a pair of paramedics lifted a gurney out of the ambulance and began wheeling it up the driveway of a nearby house.

Her house.

Listen to “Coherence” on Tall Tale TV

The audio production of my short sci-fi story Coherence is now available on Tall Tale TV. It’s the story of a synthetic assigned to replace an elderly widow’s deceased husband, and what happens when it refuses to replicate the bitter resentments of a loveless marriage.

Tall Tale TV previously produced my post-apocalyptic horror story Close Your Eyes, which is also available for free.

“An Open Letter To Those Who Declined My Facebook Event Invite” selected as Top Pick of the Year

My short humor essay An Open Letter To Those Who Declined My Facebook Event Invite has been selected as a Top Pick of the Year for 2023 by the editors of The Weekly Humorist. It’s a heartfelt letter to those who felt they had something better to do than attend my Game of Thrones Footie Pajama Bar Crawl. You know who you are.

Of course, some of you had legitimate reasons why you couldn’t attend. Frank couldn’t come because he wanted to spend some time with his kids. He’s a family man, which is hardly a crime. Well, in this case it was, hence the Amber Alert. But his heart was in the right place.

“A Perfect Fit” published in Shooter Literary Magazine

My psychological horror story A Perfect Fit has been published in The Unknown, Issue #17 of Shooter Literary Magazine. It’s the story of a middle-aged woman who will do anything to maintain her youthful appearance.

I stepped back to admire Poppy’s frame, noting the slight swelling of her hips and the fine vertical lines above her upper lip. The ghost of a gray hair peeked out from the bangs she had added to hide her creased forehead.

“Poppy! Look at you!” I gushed. “How are you so perfect?”