Two of my horror drabbles—Everything You Know About Witches and The Fog of War—have been published in Tiny Frights, Vol. 3 No. 1.
My short horror story They Say Crows Can Remember Faces has been published by The Afterpast Review. When a bully kills one of Ava’s favorite crows, he quickly learns that some animals never forget a face.
Content warning: bullying, animal death, mild goreThe stone hit Ava in the back of the head. She stumbled and fell, spilling her schoolbooks out of her arms and onto the dirt road in front of her. Gravel dug into her palms as she threw out her hands to break her fall. Her knees skidded painfully across the ground.
“Have a nice trip!” a boy’s voice called out from behind her, to a chorus of laughter. “See you next fall!”
My sci-fi horror story A Piece of the Sky has been published in Strange Skies, Weird Worlds by Apocalypse Confidential. 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.
Content warning: goreWith 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.
The audio production of my horror story Feed the Worm is now available on Scary Stories Told in the Dark, a podcast by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. If you like stories about carnivorous cosmic murder worms, this is the one for you!
Content warning: domestic violence, mild goreMy story is the second in the episode, starting around the 32:40 mark.
The animated version of my dystopian sci-fi thriller I Hope You’re Happy has been released on the Storiaverse app, which combines original animation with text to create a unique interactive reading experience. The app is now available for free on both iOS and Android.
In the State of Bliss, the only crime punishable by death is crying.
It isn’t a difficult law to enforce, given the rarity of the offense. In fact, there hasn’t been an execution in Bliss for decades—nary a tear has been shed in over 50 years. Babies in Bliss are born quiet and serene, passing through their mothers’ hips like wet grapes through pursed lips: just a soft little pop sound, and the newborns emerge into the world with smiles on their faces and birdsong in their lungs.
That’s what made Fiona’s reaction all the more unusual: she was absolutely sobbing with despair. Uncontrollably, inconsolably sobbing.
My psychological horror story Me, a Hero has been published by Apocalypse Confidential. 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.
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.”
My post-apocalyptic horror story Die on Your Feet has been published by Antipodean SF. The story is about a group of survivors huddling close to the ground to avoid whatever is lurking in the fog just overhead. It’s an allegory about what happens to people who deny the reality of their situation, despite all the evidence telling them they are wrong.
Content warning: mild goreIf you were to ask me to list the Top Ways I Might Die Someday, “decapitation in a Safeway parking lot” wouldn’t have been at the top of the list.
What a difference a couple of days makes.
The full-cast audio production of my psychological horror story A Perfect Fit is now available for free on the Chilling Tales for Dark Nights podcast. It’s the story of a middle-aged woman who will do anything to maintain her youthful appearance.
The story starts at around the 21:00 mark.
In honor of President’s Day, my dark sci-fi story Arrival at Hope Station Have Been Indefinitely Postponed has been published by Stupefying Stories. It’s framed as an urgent announcement on an interdimensional travel platform. Any resemblance to the unfolding disaster in American politics is purely coincidental.
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.
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: goreMy story is the first in the episode, starting around the 5:00 mark.
Warren Benedetto 