Two of my stories—Me, a Hero and Leftovers—have been accepted by the Lunatics Radio Hour podcast. Their recent production of A Sinking Feeling was exceptional, so I’m looking forward to hearing what they do with the next two.

• Me, a Hero is about a man who joins the search for a missing girl in hopes of making an appearance on the local evening news.
• Leftovers is about an elderly woman living in a rapidly-declining urban neighborhood who subsists on an unconventional recipe from the old world.

My historical horror story Breathtaking has been accepted the The Taborian. Set in 1930s Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl, it tells the story of a young girl and her brother who see a mysterious woman in white screaming outside their house during a dust storm.

The dust storms were getting worse.

People in town called them “black blizzards.” That’s exactly what they were like, too, like snowstorms made of soot and ash. One minute, the sky would be as clear as glass. The next minute, the dust would billow up so high that it blocked out the sun. It would go from noon to midnight just like that, right in the middle of the day. The wind would pick up out of nowhere, first whistling, then moaning, then shrieking.

“Like a banshee,” was how Papa called it. “Man, listen to that,” he would say. “Wind’s screaming like a banshee.”

My dark fantasy story It’s What’s Inside That Counts has been accepted by Space Squid. It’s about a young girl who dissects a pig in science class, only to discover something unexpected inside.

I didn’t know how I’d react to the dissection. I couldn’t imagine poking around in a dead pig’s guts. I wondered how they would feel. Would they be squishy and warm, like spaghetti? Or cold and jiggly, like Jello? My stomach turned at the thought.

I was definitely gonna barf.

My obscure cryptid horror story No Bones, Just Skin has been accepted into the Children of the Dead: Lost Lullabies anthology by Wicked Shadow Press. 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.

My creature feature horror story Baby Food has been accepted into Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium by Treeshaker Books. It’s about a man who convinces his wife to overcome her fear of bears to go camping with him, only to discover that what awaits them in the woods is much, much worse.

“I’ll make you a deal. You spend one night camping with me, and if you don’t have the best time of your life, I’ll book a trip to Cabo the second we get home.”

“If we get home,” she corrected.

“One night.” I squeezed her hands. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”

My non-horror story Dawn Patrol has been accepted by Written Tales Magazine. It’s a simple story about a surfer seeking the next wave.

Scott steered his bike one-handed into the empty parking lot at Salt Creek Beach and coasted toward a row of palm trees inked black against the soft pink sky. He lowered his bike to the ground, then gazed at the water. The ocean was polished glass. Scott sighed. The surf report had promised chest-high swells. Normally, he would have been disappointed at having woken up extra early for nothing. Today, he didn’t care. He was awake anyway. He had never gone to sleep.

My pregnancy horror story Before has been accepted by Tales to Terrify. It’s about a baby in the womb who suddenly realizes she’s not alone.

I don’t know where she came from, or when she appeared. I just know that I’m not alone in here anymore. There is another now. A Not-Mother. A Not-Me. A Third.

This will be my fourth story on Tales to Terrify, following Those Who Turn From God (my very first podcast ever), Something’s Wrong With Mom, and Baby Food.