Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Free Short Horror Reads: Or, a Taste of My Dark Side

I tend to focus most of my writing posts on my YA fantasy series. But from nearly the beginning, back when I first wrote Finding Angel, I was writing short horror stories as well.

They were published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, but over the years the rights reverted back to me, and I've posted them on Wattpad.

In honor of Halloween, I've posted a list of them here so you can have some bites of my dark writing.

In other words, you can read them for FREE by clicking the titles below.

A Day Better Spent

Death has just taken hold, but John is given a chance to relive his last day.









Cat Call

They say you hear the voice of the dead just before you are about to die...









Fire Wall

Day after day they gathered, clustering to watch the fire as it encroached. It moved impossibly slow, like a wall of advancing soldiers surrounding the city.








Frog Face

Just a mean little story about a mean little boy...and the little girl he shouldn't have crossed.








Clay's Fire

A bedtime story...










Hope you found something you enjoyed!

Maybe now, you'd like to try my ebook novella, Ordinary Folk? It's only 99 cents:

Ordinary Folk (on Amazon.com)*

Janey's symptoms are getting stronger, and stranger. Nothing her doctor and Dawson say can get the idea out of her head: It's all tied to the full moon. She knows they think she's being irrational, but she feels the connection in a way she can't even begin to explain.

She needs answers, and the only way she can think to get them is to visit the town where her parents grew up. But the visit is nothing like she expects...the odd looks, the whispers behind her back. And the old man who seems to know her secrets. Is there something in this tiny town's history--and Janey's--that's not so ordinary?

(novelette, 26 pages)

*Also available in Nook format on BarnesandNoble.com


Monday, October 19, 2015

A Time Vortex Ate September: Or, why I haven't posted in a month, plus Necronomicon 2015 photos

Well, snap. I really didn't realize it'd been THIS long since writing my last blog post. September was apparently sucked into some sort of time vortex. In truth, it was eaten away by birthdays, homeschooling, and writing.
Giving out awards!

Yeah, that last one--working on Toch Island 3.

October's a little different. It's been eaten away by conferences. I spent the first week of October prepping for the Florida Inspirational Writers Retreat. Being on the planning committee, I had to help set up the space and pick up all sorts of things...discovering I had a nail in my tire while doing that running around was kinda panicky.

 Also, I and my buddy Rick Christensen were in charge of running and judging the creative writing contest -- a contest in which entrants have to tell a story in 55 words or less. Not that we like putting pressure on writers or anything. (One of the winners was author friend Kerry Johnson, pictured here.)



The very next week was the Necronomicon!

It started off with an awesome writing panel called "Yes, Mom, Science Fiction and Fantasy are Real Literature."



The guy there in the middle was one of our guests of honor, Eric Flint. Super nice. And his wife bought a copy of Finding Angel. Yes, I totally did a happy dance, right in the middle of the conference area!

This was the first of SEVEN panels I was assigned. 
The others were:

What a Girl Wants in Sci-fi/fantasy
The Perils of Premature Publishing
Marvel Universe
Harry Potter
Zombiemania
What Star Trek Means to Me

They were all loads of fun, although only one person showed up for Zombiemania. As I said to my fellow panelists...."Well, we knew this would be dead."

Yeah, sorry.

Anyway...as usual, the Necro was AWESOME. I had a blast hanging out with friends, participating in panels, selling books (my best year yet!), and shopping the vendor hall.

Here's my haul from this year's shopping:


The dragon print is by Stanley Morrison. If you are not already a massive fan, go check out his work here. NOW,

And the leather wrist cuff was created by the same guy (Modern Armour) who made this awesome dog armor:

FYI--the guy with this sweetie-pie dog is Timothy Zahn.  Yes, *that* Timothy Zahn.
The dog, of course, was not the only one dressed up. There were loads of costumes everywhere, especially on Saturday. This group was my favorite:


Plenty more to check out though in the Necronomicon 2015 album on my Facebook page and TONS of photos on the official Necronomicon Facebook page.

So, again I've shared about Necronomicon. If you haven't come to see me there, maybe this has convinced you? If not, well....you're just missing out. So, come next year! I'll be there!