Back in Action
Those were the weeks that were....
Hey all, here I am again. I’ve recovered enough from my hernia surgery to be able to sit at my desk for a while, so I wanted to hop on here and provide an update for those who may be wondering what happened to me. (Folks on Facebook saw me continue posting, but then it’s easy to post from a phone while you’re flat on your back on the sofa, wiped out on painkillers.)
But while I was indisposed, life continued moving on, so here we go with the latest news.
THE EMBER update
Regarding the novel I’ve been serializing here, THE EMBER, I actually have a nibble of interest from a publisher, so I’ll be taking down the existing posts. I apologize to anyone who’s been enjoying it, and I appreciate your interest so very much—I hope that when it eventually finds physical publication, that you’ll want to follow up on Raven’s adventures with the American Metaphysical Circus as they traverse the alternate realm of The Ember.
SPOOK HOLLOW: TALES OF OZARK HORROR, VOLUME TWO
“All the Best Hauntings Are Sad,” the story that gave its title to this Substack, has been accepted by the lovely folks at Parlor Ghost Press/Watertower Hill Publishing for the September 2026 anthology, SPOOK HOLLOW: TALES OF OZARK HORROR, VOLUME TWO. A pair of honeymooners go chasing the Hornet Spook Light, which isn’t exactly the best idea.
CORSAIRS AND CUTLASSES
My ghost ship yarn, “The Testimony of Anne Bonny,” features in the upcoming Raconteur Press anthology, CORSAIRS AND CUTLASSES. I’m proud of this one, as it was a stylistic push outside my comfort zone… but thematically it’s absolutely one of my “sad hauntings.”
Here’s the evocative blurb:
Where’d ye stumble in from, mate? Ah, ye’ve come for the second round o’ tales from the black deeps and starry voids? Don’t let the ‘droid spook ye—Qular’s got a chassis like a freak, but a heart o’ pure gold... and murder.
Up, ye dogs! Shake off that thirteenth round o’ grog, ye curry-livered weaklings. There be more yarns to spin, more laughs to howl, more horrors to plumb. Cross swords at the glacier altar, retake yer ship from scurvy captors, flee the cursed ghost ship. Beware deals with depths’ creatures and them magical rocks what twist fates.Most of all, learn what it means to be a pirate with a heart o’ gold.
Dive into this thrilling space pirate anthology, blending sci-fi adventure with dark fantasy sea monsters! Interstellar smuggling quests, nautical betrayal adventures, stories full of revenge, betrayal, and survival—from deep-sea leviathans judging desperate captains to golden-uniformed heroes in heroic space battles against alien invasions.
Follow rogue pirate space captains in empire-spanning nano-tech assassination stories, outer rim traders, raygun duel chronicles, and empire sabotage adventures fueled by vengeance. Fantasy sea monster thrillers explore abyssal awakening horrors, artifact curse legends, and transformation thriller sagas blurring human and monster. Heroic interstellar rivalries pit the Pirate Queen against tarjan empire conflicts, interstellar hero rivalry tales, alien invasion war stories, and commonwealth resistance sagas.
Grab yer mug o’ ale and set sail on unforgettable journeys!
POISONS & POTIONS
Another story that pushed me out of my comfort zone was the mythical “The Hatred of Calon Arang,” about the most infamous witch in Indonesian legend. I wrote this novelette as a tribute to South Asian horror films that I adore, and hopefully I’ve done justice to the tale. This is in POISONS & POTIONS, coming soon from Dragon Soul Press.
The blurb:
Whether hiding from the law, trying to live a simple life or diving into danger, each of these witchy stories drags you along for an adventure. And when you have magic, nearly everyone wants your help. Attachments – like friendships, relationships – can be woven like threads of pretty silk, only to strangle victims later.
MOONDUST WILL COVER YOU: A LITERARY TRIBUTE TO DAVID BOWIE
From the literary collective over at Nocturnicorn Books, MOONDUST WILL COVER YOU is due any day, and includes my story “Give Me Your Hands,” featuring a junkie priest, a lost love, London tower flats and a corner shop. Look at that lineup - David J. from Bauhaus! Poppy Z. Brite! Caitlin R. Kiernan!
BLACK DIADEM MAGAZINE, Vol. 1, Number 1
And also from the Nocturnicorn folks comes BLACK DIADEM. You can view this over 300-page trade paperback as a sampler of what Nocturnicorn has to offer, featuring exclusive work as well as work that has featured in other Nocturnicorn titles. It includes the first story in my “pen pal coven” sequence, “Dead Souls,” and also features “Give Me Your Hands” from the Bowie tribute above. Published just a few weeks ago, but strangely not available on Amazon at the moment… I’m assuming it’s to correct the error that there were no page numbers in the table of contents.
PLAYLIST
And finally, just for the hell of it, here’s what I listened to while composing the above.
