Short Story Ebook Release

It's a short post today just to let ya know that I've got a short story on Kindle and Nook now. A little under 10,000 words, Ordinary Folk released this weekend. It's a werewolf story with a twist.

Here's the description:


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?

Ordinary Folk was originally published in the Dark Heroes anthology by Pill Hill Press (which sadly has recently shut its doors).

The awesome cover art was done by a talented teen photographer named Alexa Williams. You can see more of her work on her Dallas Valley Photography Facebook page.

You can find Ordinary Folk on Amazon and B&N.com for 99 cents.

PS--if you read it, I'd much appreciate a review :).

Got Horror? You Must Be Glorifying It...Right?

Sigh...

I woke up this morning to find an email in my inbox--a post on a fiction writers loop of which I am a member--that contained a nifty little diatribe against The Hunger Games, touting it as horror and as a book that promotes teen gang violence.

Oh. My. God.

Seriously???

A story in which teens must hunt to survive, and are FORCED by a corrupt GOVERNMENT to participate in a brutal game in order to not have their district starve. Teens who are not violent by nature, and who want nothing more than to not have to participate. Sure, some are raised as warriors, but they have it drilled into them their whole lives--it is not a choice they make.

The biggest issue I had with this person's take is that she's judging the whole series based on the first book. If she continued, she'd see that the story turns to one of rebellion against this government that has oppressed the people for so long. It's about abolishing the violence of the Hunger Games, not encouraging it!

I recently posted on THE CHEESECAKE THICKENS about this very thing--people taking certain things, like violence and horror, out of context. Not reading the whole story, not listening to the whole song, not watching the movie through to the end--and then making the judgement that the book/song/movie is glorifying those things. Go check it out and tell us what your take is on the topic.

Future Stories and Past Interviews

OK, taking another pause today from the art series to play catch-up. Although, there's some seriously cool art in this post, too.

I've got stories coming up in two anthologies. The first is a fantasy called "The Guitar" and will appear in While the Morning Stars Sing, to be published by ResAliens in February. Here's the gorgeous cover art:

Next is my horror story, "Delete," that will appear in Feckless, edited by Ellen C. Maze, who also has a number of stories in the book, along with several other writers. Ellen is author of what she terms "Curiously Spiritual Vampire Tales," so I'm sure you can see that the anthology is going to be, well, curious and spiritual for sure. I've been proofreading and the stories range from dark and macabre to quirky and down-right-dirty-fun. Click HERE for complete info on the February antho ;).

Even more art-related is The Book of Sylvari: An Anthology of Elves by Port Yonder Press, due out mid-2011. I am illustrating two stories in this anthology. More detail on that in a later post, but for now I wanted to give you a sneak peek at the cool cover. No, not my art, but cool nonetheless:

In the mean time, check out the interview of me that Ciara Knight graciously posted on her blog the other day. CLICK HERE.

And if you're just bored, or disturbingly curious about me, I've also been interviewed in the past several times:

Osprey Observer ("turn" to page 6)

Brandon News and Tribune (about my Chicken Soup for the Soul story)

Brandon News and Tribune ("Valrico mom pens inspiration and horror...")

20-20 Faith Sight (Sheryl Young, author of What Every Christian Should Know About the Jewish People puts me in the spotlight)

Katiedid (aspiring teen writer's blog--and my first ever interview)

Alright, that should keep ya busy this weekend.

Tear down the walls...

Some of my work, like the story I had published earlier this week ("Frog Face"), was written purely for fun. Mean fun, maybe ;), but it's just a story.

Today my story "Fire Wall" was published in The Absent Willow Review and it was not written for fun. At all.