My microfiction horror story Before has been published in Dose of Dread by Dread Stone Press. It’s about a baby in the womb who suddenly realizes she’s not alone.
Content warning: PregnancyI 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.
Two of my drabbles—Showtime and He Has His Father’s Eyes—have been published in the Year Four anthology by Black Hare Press. Both were previously published on the Dark Moments website: Showtime for the Circus theme and He Has His Father’s Eyes for the Nephilim theme.
My Christmas horror drabble Trapping Santa has been published by Hungry Shadow Press as part of their Deadly Drabble Tuesday series. If you ever set traps to catch Santa as a kid, then someday your skills may just come in handy…
“You sure this’ll work?” my brother asks.
My short horror story Die On Your Feet has been published as part of Havok’s Thriller Thursday series. It’s only free to read for the next 24 hours, so catch it while you can.
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(s): mild gore“It ain’t real,” Grady insisted. “Think! Have you ever actually seen one of the things up there?”
“No, but I’ve seen what it does to people.”
My microfiction horror story Scrapple is featured as the cold open on this week’s episode of The NoSleep Podcast. The story starts at 2:07. Listen for free on your favorite podcast app.
Content warning(s): domestic violence (implied)
My techno-horror story Blame has been shortlisted for the upcoming Brave New Weird anthology by Tenebrous Press, a collection of the best new weird horror stories of 2022. With over 700 stories submitted—all of which have already been published—it’s an honor to be included in this shortlist with so many other incredible authors and stories. The final table of contents will be announced on December 1st.
Two of my favorite horror stories, They Say Crows Can Remember Faces and Something’s Wrong With Mom, have been published by The Literary Hatchet. The entire issue is free to download for the next month, so grab a copy while you can.
My weird horror story The Man Who Ate the Road has been published in Haven Spec Magazine. When a woman tries to return home after visiting her abusive father, she discovers that the road is closed … but just for her.
It wasn’t until I had already steered onto the narrow shoulder and rolled to a stop that I began to realize how risky it was for me to pull over. I was a woman driving by myself down a deserted highway in the middle of the night, in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere. I was completely and utterly alone.
The audio production of my sci-fi horror story A Piece of the Sky has been released by The NoSleep 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. The story starts around 33:00.
The story was originally published by The Dread Machine in October. It’s free to read online now and will appear in their Issue 2.4 print issue soon. The print magazine is gorgeous and copies sell out fast, so you should pre-order one now while you can.
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.
My post-apocalyptic eco-horror story From Below has been published in Parsec #5. In the flooded remains of Old Manhattan, the wealthy live in penthouses and dine on fresh meat, while everyone else is left to fend for themselves against the unseen horrors lurking just below the surface.
The boy from the boat—the one who had spoken to him only minutes earlier—was at the window, pounding on the glass. His face was a mask of pure terror. Panicked, the boy looked over his shoulder, then down at Jeremy. He screamed, his lips forming two words that Jeremy easily understood, even through the thick, soundproof glass.
“Help me!”
Warren Benedetto 