Shadows at Dusk was a riff on the Mothman, a West Virginia legend. A few years back they even made a movie out of the Mothman story, starring Richar Gere. The premise has always been, when the Mothman appears–bad things happen. Wikipedia has some background on the legend. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman
The Monsters Next Door is a well-produced anthology with superb stories by a collection of creepy/horror writers. None of it is splatter horror, in fact, I think most of the stories would make good ghost stories that are scarey but not frightful. Book is available in paper form and ebook from both Amazon and B&N.
This one went out around 11 times before finding a home. I truly don’t remember how the idea popped into my head but I’d first introduced the piece in a Write Pittsburgh online workshop. Comments were favorable so with suggestions from the group, I edited it a few dozen more times. The idea of killer unicorns just wouldn’t leave my head. Delighted that it found a home.
One of my first published stories appeared in 365 Tomorrows a few years back. Some time ago a magazine called for stories about or taking place on the moon. I ended up scribbling a few pages of notes on ideas, Summer Help was a little piece of flash fiction that grew out of that page of notes.
Life Of A Lesser Demon
Mystery and Horror, LLC published this piece in August. Link takes you to Amazon. I’ve had a character in my head for over twenty years, Billy Lee Ray Bob, a compilation of guys I’ve met through the years. BLRB is a good ole boy who accidentally hangs himself in a tree stand while hunting. He is then required to find gainful employment in hell.
Ghost Bike very nearly popped into my head full blown and complete. We were on our way to Cape Coral for the winter and had just turned off I-75 and off to the side of the road was a bicycle in a little flower garden. A short road led to a house back behind the trees. Eyes couldn’t have seen that for more than 5 or 6 seconds at most. Bye the time we got to the first stoplight, the story was taking shape and I knew, in general terms how it would go and end. I was so pleased that the editors at Onyx Publications thought it was worthwhile.
This story went through a series of changes, first it was a paranormal story but it didn’t feel right. Re-wrote it a couple dozen times. Not sure where the inspiration came from, in those dark, late at night thoughts where you wonder how you would react to the loss of your life partner. It may have come from something like that.
99 Tiny Terrors, November 24,2021
Bad Milk, my contribution was inspired by a local newspaper article discussing that a local middle school’s parents had petitioned and finally brought about a change in the milk supplier at their kid’s school. It seemed that a number of kids had gotten sick after drinking the milk. My head ran with it.
The anthology is available from Pulse Publishing, here.
Cosmic Horror Monthly, March 2021
Mother Is an homage to the style of HP Lovecraft. I’d stumbled on his works (not knowing how old they were) as I expanded my reading into horror. I never meant to dive into that genre, it kind of just happened. Saw Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son) at a book fair a few years back and he talked about writing horror.
Sunshine Superhighway
Uncomfortable Rain Is my attempt at a straight space opera but with a little of the ole tough detective character. You can find it on Amazon, here.
Desire of Vampires and Order Now For Free Shipping
The Sirens Call, Halloween, Issue #51
The founders and editors of The Sirens Call specialize in dark fiction and really care about the authors and stories and it shows in the quality of the stories and design of their magazine. My story, Desire of Vampires, is purposefully ambiguous, leaving the resolution to the reader’s thoughts. I have at least two other stories in construction featuring Norm from the comic book shop. Order Now For Free Shipping is just a flash fiction romp inspired by accidentally pausing the remote on one of the shopping channels. Please let me know what you think of these stories.
Subsidence
Oyster River Pages, September 2020
This is a non-fiction piece about my mother’s struggles when the family first moved to West Virginia in the late 1950’s. It is a very personal piece and in it I attempt to examine how the circumstances of life move us.
This particular story had multiple roots, I’d been re-reading some bits of Greek mythology and became enthralled with the idea of the Sirens luring sailors to their demise on the rocks. The second motivator was a concert I’d attended by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra on a brutally rainy night.
Garbage
What happens when we run out of space for our trash in 100 words or less.
This little piece in Story Pony was inspired by an image of a homeless person toting a bag of cans.
365 Tomorrows, March 2016.
Hack was my first published work in and online magazine called 365 Tomorrows. They actually paid a few bucks which was even more of a rush. I was teaching Mechatronics at the time at Pierpont Community College and robotics was part of our curriculum.
The Ginger Collect, Summer 2017
Valentine Flowers was published in the Summer 2017 issue of The Ginger Collect. I wanted to write a anti-valentine story set in the mountains of West Virginia.
Aurora Wolf Magazine, September 2016: Vol 7 Issue 10
Time travel stories are fascinating. It is an old science fiction trope to have our character go back in time to fix or undo some mistake. Coupon Expired has our character trying to fix the worst prom night. What could go wrong? Aurora Wolf was gracious enough to publish it in the September 2016 issue.
With Painted Words Magazine, April 2016.
With Painted Words is a delightful site that features a monthly picture or painting to serve as inspiration. It’s flash fiction under a 1000 words. With this one I speculated what life would be like on a hunk of space rock where the time between sunup and sunset was very short and sunset was not a time to be caught outside. April 2016.
With Painted Words, December 2016.
Another one in With Painted Words. The image was a snow covered field under moonlight. There were round depressions in the pristine snow. What if something came in the night and planted seeds. December 2016
Literary Hatchet #16, December 2016.
The story is titled, “A Cat Crossing the Street” and has a high creepiness factor. Link to the online version is broken right now but the entire magazine with a barrel full of great stories is available on Amazon,
The Broadkill Review, Sept/Oct 2017
The Broadkill Review published “Crazy Henry.” It is a more literary story. I worked for a gas utility company for a number of years, the back roads in West Virginia and some of the characters I met, inspired this story. It was my first experience with a back and forth exchange of ideas with an editor.
Astounding Outpost, Zombie Tales Anthology Book 1. October 2017
My attempt at a submission call for zombie stories. A different, more human take on zombies published in the October 2017 issue of Astounding Outpost. Print copy of their zombie anthology, called Zombie Tales is available on Amazon.
Event Horizon, Dec.2017,Issue 2 Winter 2018.
Event Horizon published this one in their Winter 2018 issue. It’s another literary type story about running into a someone you used to work with who has fallen of very hard times and is living on the street.
Literary Hatchet, February 2018
My House was also published in The Literary Hatchet, this time issue #19, also available on Amazon. What happens when fear takes over your life because of a relatively minor incident and drives you off the cliff into the irrational rocks.
Event Horizon, March 2018, Issue 3
For several years my wife and I spent Christmas on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. There are beautiful little seacoast towns on the Chesapeake Bay, places like Oxford, Easton and our favorite, St. Michaels. Early one morning, I stood in the kitchen of our rental cottage with a cup of coffee enjoying the morning sun over the trees. That morning, three large black vulture type buzzards sat on a fence across the way. Magnificent birds. The night before we’d taken a moonlight walk and walked on a small pier near the inlet. Dark waters swirled under the old wooden beams. Jacob Duchaine had been a student at the small university where I taught and somehow our paths crossed on line. Jacob agreed to do the art work for my short comic book script. Page 114, (you’ll have to scroll through the pdf). April 2018, Issue #3.
Aphelion Science Fiction, April 2018
Aphelion Webzine of Science Fiction and Fantasy is one of the oldest online sci-fi magazines around. It started way back in 1997. I’ve been lucky enough to have a few stories selected for them. Not because they’ve published me (okay maybe a little) but the quality and breadth of the stories in Dan Hollifield’s labor of love is first rate.
Philosophy of Black Holes and Time Warps
Molotov Cocktail, May 2018
Linda and I traveled quite a bit for a few years when she did seminars for a nursing organization. No matter how much we flew, there is/was a moment of tension as the play erupted skyward from the runway. This story came from that. The Molotov Cocktail specializes in flash fiction. Their subheading says they are, “A Projectile For Incendiary Flash Fiction.”
The Ginger Collect, Summer 2018, Issue 6
This one took a long time from creating the story, to acceptance and finally to publication. It was worth the wait. Jennifer Brozek did such a great job of editing and putting the book together. It is a delightful, professional little anthology of creepy stories.
This particular issue of The Ginger Collect published two of my flash pieces. Simulation illustrates the consequences of not reading the fine print.
The Ginger Collect, Summer 2018, Issue 6
I’ve been fascinated with explorers, those souls who go on out past the safety of the known world. In the far future, the edge of our galaxy may be where the new explorers go. Then there is the issue of loneliness, how do we cope? There is also an author interview in this issue. Summer 2018, Issue 6.
The Ginger Collect, Winter 2018, Issue 8
The Ginger Collect seemed to like my stories. I was really happy to see this one placed. We often travel I-68 from WV into DC & MD. One early evening on the interstate as we were heading home, the yellow glow from the Golden Arches could be seen along the top of a small rise. I-68 meanders over what was once the Cumberland Trail. What if two guys were making the trip a hundred years ago and something freaky happened?
Flash Fiction Magazine, April 18, 2019
Flash Fiction Magazine had finally accepted one of my stories. Flash is difficult but a lot of fun. Write a complete story with a beginning, middle and end along with characters the reader can identify with and reasonalble dialog is daunting and under 1K words. Extrapolating on current tech from skewed angles opens up so many avenues.