🌻 So turns the Yellow Carousel 🌻

It was a warm September evening in High Point, West Virginia, when Silas first saw the Yellow Carousel.

Early September is upon us—summer’s last gasp, anticipation of autumn, maturing sunflowers… And, for a certain retired surface miner and his wife, the Yellow Carousel’s arrival.

Though squash vine borers have decimated my wife’s acorn squashes, zucchinis, and delicatas this year (still holding out hope for a couple of pumpkins that look okay), it’s been a good year for the rest of the garden, including our sunflowers.

Sunflowers are my favorite flowers. I’m big on Russian Mammoths, but we tried some new ones this year to add more color and variety in size. Can’t help smiling whenever I see them. How can those big, bright petals bring a person anything but joy?

Say a giant sunflower-shaped carousel sprouts suddenly in your back yard. Weird, sure. But would you really think it such a bad thing? You can forgive a lonely old guy like Silas if he’s not overly wary when it happens to him. But beauty is often as dangerous as it is alluring.

If you haven’t yet read my story “The Yellow Carousel” (Cosmic Horror Monthly #35, May 2023 – read online for free), September is the perfect time. Take it out on the back porch after work, while the evenings still have a touch of late summer heat. If you have a sunflower garden like me, plop your chair right there among their heavy heads nodding in the breeze. Maybe make yourself a cup of tea to sip as you read, to fight off that chill when the sun goes down behind the pines.

And if something strange appears in your lawn, or in the playground across the street, or your neighbor’s backyard…

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Silas and Emma have settled into a quiet retirement in High Point, West Virginia. There’s nothing so peaceful as a September sunset painting the pines that edge their field. From this magic twilight emerges the Yellow Carousel, as if planted and grown just for Silas. Why shouldn’t he climb its sunflower petals and mount its undulating deer?

🌻 🦌 Read it now for free 🦌 🌻

cosmic horror #cosmichorror #sunflowers #sunflower #weirdhorror weird horror #appalachianfiction west virginia rural horror #ruralhorror #cosmichorrormonthly

Dim Shores Presents Volume 2 second edition ebook and paperback now available

My weird horror inspector story, "AV_NEST.CASEFILE," was published February 2021 in the limited edition anthology, Dim Shores Presents Volume 2. Those copies are now sold out.

If you missed out, have no fear. You can now get the second edition paperback, as well as the e-book! Buy it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or order directly from the publisher’s website.

If you’re scared of birds, or if you want to be, you’ll dig my story. If you don’t, I’m sure you’ll find a favorite from any of the other fantastic writers in these pages!

#weird #horror #scifi #darkfantasy #smallpress #indiepub #dimshores #weirdart #weirdfiction #weirdhorror #shortfiction dim shores presents vol 2 ebook #ebook #kindle #nook #epub #dimshoresvolume2

★★★★★ review from HorrorAddicts.net for my weird novella UNKNOWING, I SINK

A new review from HorrorAddicts.net has come out, written by Daphne Strasert, who has some very kind words to say about my strange little book:

One of the most literary horror books that I’ve picked up in the past year. Huguenin takes a subtle hand in guiding the reader through the story, letting tension build organically, before punching them in the gut with the reveal. . . . If you’re looking for creeping horror with a satisfying twist and excellent writing, pick up Unknowing, I Sink.

I’m so glad folks are enjoying this book. If you haven’t yet read it, it is the perfect size to take with you and read on the beach this summer. This chilling story will help cool you down as you lay sweating (like Mr V!) in the hot sun. It’s available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats. Don’t forget to review it on Amazon and Goodreads.

Click the book cover below for more information and to purchase:

#HorrorAddicts #books #horror #bookreviews #horrorbooks #weirdfiction #weirdhorror #fivestars #literaryhorror #horrorbookreviews #novella #horrornovellas ★★★★★ review #beachreads #★★★★★

Listen now to “Drifting Into the Black” on Tales to Terrify

The folks at Tales to Terrify have done it again! My scifi horror short tale, "Drifting Into the Black", has been given new life in audio. Just released today, Episode 486 of the Tales to Terrify podcast is sure to meet your dark scifi/space survival horror/action/dread needs. Give it a listen on your way to work, or sitting at home alone in the dark.

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Dim Shores Presents Vol 2 shipping now

We all expected the preordered copies of Dim Shores Presents Volume 2 to have been printed and shipped out by the end of 2020. Personally, I also expected that the limited edition run would sell out quickly, or at least before publication date. Neither of those things happened, because nothing happened according to plan in 2020.

It was a rough year, all right?

But, finally, some good news: for all of you who did preorder this exciting new anthology of strange and dark tales, I’ve received word from the publisher that they’re rocking and rolling again. Delays are in the past, awesome stories in your future! I’m sure you’ll hear from Dim Shores soon with shipping info, if you haven’t already.

And for any of you who thought, "Gee, I kinda wanted that book before the limited run sold out, but it’s probably too late now . . . " Guess what? Good news for you, too. They still have copies that haven’t been claimed (I’m not sure how many). Only $18.00 gets you this delicious beauty:

Dim Shores Presents is an anthology series spotlighting some of the best new writing in speculative fiction. Weird horror, strange science fiction, and dark fantasy rub shoulders with each other here, weaving a tapestry of uncanny beauty and fearful wonder.

+ 6” x 9” trade paperback
+ Printed on 60# natural paper
+ High-quality print of front cover art
+ New Dim Shores vinyl sticker
+ This edition limited to 150 hand-numbered copies

https://dimshores.bigcartel.com/product/dim-shores-presents-volume-2-anthology

So don’t be dumb. Order yours and find out why Dim Shores is one of my favorite small presses in the genre!

#weird #horror #scifi #darkfantasy #smallpress #indiepub #dimshores #weirdart #weirdfiction #weirdhorror #shortfiction dim shores presents vol 2 shipping now