Not One of Us - Liesel

 

It's October and this Halloween month sees the publication of my story LIESEL in Not One of Us. I have a wealth of rejections from this fabulous magazine, which is edited by John Benson. A real motto of never give up. 

That last sentence is ironic, as I've pretty much given up writing at the moment. The pandemic? A broken brain? A seeing no point to it all? Who knows, I certainly don't. Maybe you'll see more stories from me and maybe you won't, but in the meantime, please support Not One of Us and buy a copy of the magazine. 

Read 2020 - 13 - A Miscellany of Death & Folly

My story The Bone-Cage Blues is the opening tale in this anthology, A Miscellany of Death & Folly, edited by Mark Beech and published by Egaeus Press. I was ecstatic when Dom (my number generator) picked this book to read. It's a beautiful looking book, and as only 300 copies were printed it is a must for collectors. Inside there are stories, essays, poetry and artwork.

Glorious, glorious, glorious.

My favourite of all the tales was Kaaron Warren's Anodyne Solutions, an extraordinary tale about death omens and the girl who must neutralise them. So beautifully written. If she were a crueller woman she'd take them apple blossom, and yew, and mother-die, and parsley; all the plants that might bring them death, just to see their faces.

Other favourites include:

Angela Slatter's The Promise of Saints, featuring a bejewelled ancient saint and a bride with an ending to reveal all. The Hallowed Girl, it's said, was once a bride herself.

A sad wee tale Darkness by Ismael Espinosa set in the Paris catacombs.

The Greatest Folly by Leena Likitalo. Death learns about dying and grief courtesy of his not-so-pale horse. It follows the four horsemen/women over millennia.

I am so proud to be a part of this book - and I don't care if it's a deadly sin.

Happy Old Year

Happy New Year! Here are some of the things I had published in the grand old year 2019. I'm very proud of all of them (makes a change).

 

The Bone-Cage Blues in A Miscellany of Death & Folly

 

The Iron Curve of Thorns in The Woods

 

The Mute Swan in Terror Tales of Northwest England

 

In the City of Concrete Dandelions in Industrial Horror: Threads of the Infinite

 

 

Infant Whack Jobs

While browsing the internet - procrastinating - I came upon a forum discussing Paul Finch's Terror Tales series, and absolutely loved this description of my characters - How will a public performance of Swan Lake by infant "whack jobs" play out? A Tutu terror dark fantasy.

Read more: http://vaultofevil.proboards.com/thread/6918/finch-terror-tales-northwest-england#ixzz65oNLiPfu

Thanks, Dem Bones.

You can buy the anthology over at Amazon in kindle or paperback format.

Concrete Dandelions

I'm delighted to announce that my short story 'In the City of Concrete Dandelions' is now available to read in the Snowbooks anthology 'The Thread of the Infinite: Tales of Industrial Horror', edited by Dean Drinkel and available at the usual places.

The anthology contains stories by Phil Sloman, Steven Saville, Adrian Cole, Marie O'Regan, Adrian Chamberlain, Allen Ashley and Stephanie Ellis.

If you...

The Hersham Horror Books anthology 'The Woods' was released last weekend at Edge Lit - Yay! - and contains my story 'The Iron Curve of Thorns'. I'm going to be doing a serious of small reviews on my blog to entice you to buy the anthology because it totally rocks. Trust me! I'm in it. :)

James Everington’s ‘A Short Walk Round The Woods’

“…the movement of hunting bats became visible, scouting the border where the turf ended and the shadows began.”

The woods are getting bigger.

New to the village, our protagonist, a man haunted by loss, develops a nightly routine of visiting the local pub and talking with a man who is obsessed with the woods.

An unnerving tale tinged with sadness and of how sorrow can trap us in many ways.

Check it out in The Woods, a new anthology from Hersham Horror Books.

The Mechanical Heart of Him

My story, The Mechanical Heart of Him, is now available to read over at the Daily Science Fiction website. Here there be little folk and visible hearts.

Thank you to all subscribers who read, tweeted and emailed me about the story last week.

Aftertaste

Issue 3 of Phantasmagorium is now available to buy. (Beware happy dancing occurring in the Liverpool area). It contains a reprint of my story 'The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon' along with stories by Edward Morris, Cody Goodfellow, Ann K Schwader and Michael Cisco, and is edited by Joe Pulver.

So excited to see Olive Lemon in print again.

Photo stolen from the Phantasmagorium web page. Go check them out (please).

I shall now return to daydreaming about summer days and Mr Whippy ice cream.

September 22nd

Coming soon to an inbox near you... Here's the line up for this month's Daily Science Fiction stories and the dates they'll be delivered to your email (assuming you're a subscriber), and they'll be available to read online a week after email distribution. I'm especially looking forward  to Amanda C Davis and Ken Liu's stories.

1 September: "Dragons" by Mahon Wakefield
2 September: "Now Until" by Jonathan Fredrick Parks
5 September: "Everlasting" by Fran Wilde
6 September: "Losing One's Appetite" by Sarina Dorie
7 September: "Modification or Mutation: 8 Ways a Parent Can Be Sure" by Marissa Kristine Lingen
8 September: "Test Drive" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
9 September: "Requiem Duet, Concerto for Flute and Voodoo" by Eugie Foster
12 September: "HETERO3" by Robert Reed
13 September: "Beauty, Deconstructed" by Adam Colston
14 September: "Spiral" by Sarah Stasik
15 September: "In Vivo" by SJ Driscoll
16 September: "The Ritual of Names in Prague in the Last Days of the New Empire" by Bernie Mojzes
19 September: "In Memoriam" by Amanda C. Davis
20 September: "This Always Happens Here" by Richard Larson
21 September: "Ten Speeds at the End of the World" by Guinevere Robin Rowell
22 September: "Exit Stage Life" by Cate Gardner
23 September: "Volition" by Alec Austin
26 September: "The Last Seed" by Ken Liu
27 September: "Regret Incorporated" by Andy and RJ Astruc
28 September: "Totemkill" by Sean Vivier
29 September: "Her Majesty's Guardian" by Donald S. Crankshaw
30 September: "Wonder" by Matthue Roth

A Kaleidoscope of Stories

My story 'Dead Green Glow' - an odd tale of Icarus and radiation - is available in print and e-book format from Kaleidotrope.

And, another tale 'The Quiet of the Hour Glass' - about the Hourglass Girl and Old Father Time - is available in ebook format in In Space No One Can Hear You Scream.

And thus, we conclude our public service broadcast.

Ashes

My story 'And, the Bride Wore Ashes' is now available to read at Phantasmacore.

It's a tale of a jilted Buster Keatonesque groom, a wedding dress made of moths and a snow globe.

I hope you like it and I also hope you'll comment over at the site if you do (or don't). It's my first story available to read online since last September. I need to pull my socks up.

Tangent

Over at Tangent Online they've reviewed the anthology 'The Company He Keeps', here's a little of what Maria Lin had to say about my story 'The Hollow Framework for the Cotton Man'...

“The Hollow Framework for the Cotton Man” comes at a perfect time of year, and adds a little more creepiness to farm fields already made terrifying by prior horror stories. While having a scarecrow chase you is rather high on the scary factor, the toll man in the story is one of those insane and amicable sorts..." Read the rest of the review here...

Daily Word Count: 1944 (I can live with that)
Total Word Count: 5043

Googled: How to board a zeppelin?
Where I insist: Despite the steampunkish presence of zeppelins this book is not, I repeat not, steampunk.
Reference to Famous Person: Glenn Miller
Things determined to scupper me: New starter at work absconded which means I'm on overtime duty. Bah Humbug! I'm trying to write a book, people. WTF. You couldn't do this to me in October. Digs in heels. I will win this battle even if I have to get up at 3 a.m.

I see Red Things

This is my weekend. This pretty pile of paper. Draft two of a story with ugly sentences in red and notes on things to fix in the margins. By the end of Sunday, I want to have almost no red and most of the comment boxes deleted.

I need this story out the door by next week so I can concentrate on finalising my NaNoWriMo plans. Walter (my dictaphone) is also holding three stories for me--one most definitely pants, one WTF, and one shiver-down-my-spine-creepy. I'd also like to edit one or two of the stories on my jingle bell line before hibernating in my new book. Ooh, new book. Excited now. Excited is so much better than overwhelmed.

In pretty news, Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits is now available to buy at Amazon.com - treble the excitement. I expect to be a millionaire by next week. In the ranking sense that is. My book's rank started (okay, first time I checked in) at 97,677, and has steadily dropped to 153,853 during the day. Boy, those guys sell a lot of books. That's 60,000ish shifted in about 7 hours. Bloody hell. Of course, I might be getting the math totally wrong, but still, they're mega busy and that's good for us right. People are buying books. Now I need to torture people into buying mine.

Something is wrong with that last sentence.

Pretty Little Totem

The second issue of Shock Totem is now on sale (insert several woots! here) and contains my story Pretty Little Ghouls.

You can purchase the magazine at the Shock Totem site or on Amazon.

It also contains delights from Kurt Newton, Vincent Pendergast, John Boden and Mercedes M Yardley amongst others.

Events at the Wigwam Rock Diner, Nevada

Well I'll be darned, my story Events at the Wigwam Rock Diner, Nevada is available to read over at Dark Recesses.

That was a nice surprise - for me - for a Monday morning.

My Soul Ain't Dead

I may have squealed in work today when I got a phone call to say that there was a delivery of books waiting for me. The word may is an absolute lie. How beautiful are the below specimens...

Dead Souls, edited by Mark Deniz, contains my story When the Cloak Falls, along with stories by Michael Stone, Ramsey Campbell, T A Moore, Paul Finch, Gary McMahon, Bernie Mojzes, Carole Johnstone, and Bill Ward. And Mark had my contributor copy signed for me at FantasyCon by himself, Gary McMahon, Paul Finch, Ramsey Campbell, Rebecca Lloyd and Carole Johnstone. Carol also signed my copy of Grants Pass, which alas I'm not in, but the wonderful Katey Taylor is.

And I know I've shown this before, but how can you resist buying this book after watching the trailer:

Beware of Scary Circus Folk

My story 'Parasol Dance with the Chalkstripe Man' is now published in issue one of Sideshow Fables. Here's a short teaser:

Sally Stevens seizes upon an opportunity to use the magic parasol that was a parting gift from her father.

I can't wait to get my contributor's copy.

And in a sidenote: check out the latest issue of Arkham Tales where Olive Lemon has a whole page dedicated to her... Well an advert at least.

Plus TTA Press are offering a free copy of the wonderful Black Static. Get a copy now while stocks last.

I'm Smiling

... But you may not be after this.

Nobody Smiling is this weeks story over at the wonderful 52 Stitches, edited by the even more wonderful Aaron Polson. Beware teachers, beware.

You can also pre-order the anthology at the Strange Publications website. I'm excited, chances are (being that many of you are in it) you are too.

Trench Foot Part I

Bouncing in my seat and putting this post up prematurely. My story Trench Foot is now live over at Fantasy Magazine. Oh my goodness!

I'll be running a bumper competition later today (and all week) to win prizes. All you have to do is head over to the Fantasy Magazine site and leave a comment on the story. More details when the shackles are unbound and I can fly home from work.

Blood-Spattered Blog Post

My flash story A Blood-Spattered Letter from Mr. Grim is today's story over at the wonderful, Everyday Weirdness making July 1st full of goodness. Those with weak dispositions or scary spouses should ignore the link.

And don't forget Necrotic Tissue and Apex Magazine reopen today for submissions. What did I say: July 1st full of goodness. I've had two stories burning a hole in my inbox all week.

Starting Saturday, I'm going to be adding a new regular blog feature - Somebody Else Saturday - where I intend to pimp other people instead of me, me, me. I've already composed this Saturday's post for the first victim person I want to promote. Maybe it's you, then again, maybe it isn't.