My dystopian political thriller Unarmed has been chosen by MetaStellar for their Best of MetaStellar (Year Two) anthology. It’s a story about a citizen fighting back against a cult-like authoritarian leader who is driving the country toward another Civil War.
The amputation was the easy part.
My techno-horror story Blame has been published in Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Vol 1 (in print and ebook) by Tenebrous Press.
Blame is 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.
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 may change your interpretation of the ending.
Content warning: misogyny, sexual assault (mentioned), suicide (mentioned)
Blame also made the preliminary ballot for the Stoker Awards, for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction. Voting closes next week, so if you’re an HWA member, please check it out and (hopefully) give it your vote!
My humor piece Wine List for the Apocalypse, Courtesy of Your Olive Garden Sommelier has been selected by Weekly Humorist for their Best of 2022 list. Tonight, our sommelier, Giovanni, reviews the wine list against a backdrop of flickering firelight from our ruined, smoldering Earth.
Our Pinot Grigio? Unfortunately, we’re unable to properly chill it to our satisfaction, mostly due to the lack of refrigeration and basic human sanitation. Without electricity, the closest thing we have to refrigeration is the cold realization that all is lost.
I am beyond thrilled to announce that my techno-horror story Blame has been selected by Tenebrous Press for their anthology, Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Vol. 1.
We define New Weird Horror as a Horror subgenre focused on progress, creatively capturing themes and questions that bleed into fiction straight from the modern reader’s life and future. It acts as a challenge to break new ground in terms of form and content and to engage with the unknown.
This collection features 22 stories selected from over 700 submissions of previously-published works from the past year. The final Table of Contents is a who’s-who of incredible talent—I’m so honored to be listed among such amazing writers and friends.
My short horror story Baby Food from the All Dark Places 3 anthology was selected as one of the three Editor’s Picks for 2021 by the editor of Dragon Soul Press.
Warren Benedetto 