“To Fear and To Rage” from DEATHREALM: SPIRITS praised by KIRKUS and THE HORROR REVIEW

Reviews are coming in for Stephen Mark Rainey’s anthology, Deathrealm: Spirits, in which I’m honored to have my short story “To Fear and To Rage” appear among other stories by all-star writers much more worthy than myself.

And reviews are good! Kirkus Reviews had favorable words for it upon its release a few months ago, calling it “Spine-tingling and sometimes stomach-churning… unflinchingly tense… a solid compilation that will satisfy avid fans of a range of horror subgenres.”

Carson Buckingham, writing for The Horror Review and its associated websites, says, “There is something for everyone here; so whether you enjoy splatter, suspense, or paranormal, you can’t go wrong with Stephen Mark Rainey’s Deathrealm: Spirits. This would be a wonderful Christmas gift for any horror aficionados on your list.”

Both reviewers call out “To Fear and To Rage” specifically. Kirkus says, “[Deathrealm: Spirits] hits its stride in its third offering, Timothy G. Huguenin’s ‘To Fear and To Rage,’ about a father and son whose remote mountain town is slowly overrun by unsettling faceless, eyeless creatures.” Carson is even more positive, listing my story as one of her favorites and claiming, “I had to remind myself to breathe reading this one.”

Christmas is almost here, everybody. So if you’re still trying to find that last-minute gift, follow the advice of these reviewers and grab yourself a copy today. Anybody out there who are already fans, don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Thanks for reading!

🌻 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

Cover Reveal for DEATHREALM: SPIRITS, edited by Stephen Mark Rainey, coming this October from Shortwave Publishing

Shortwave Publishing has released the cover for their upcoming antholgy, Deathrealm: Spirits, edited by Stephen Mark Rainey. Loving that artwork by J. Edward Neill! Preorder the paperback or ebook today at shortwavepublishing.com/catalog/deathrealm-spirits/ so you don’t miss my story “To Fear and To Rage”.

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Take a spin on the Yellow Carousel in CHM Magazine #35

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?

Join Silas’s and Emma’s encounter in my new short story “The Yellow Carousel,” out now in CHM Magazine #35.

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Listen now to “She Will Come to Brood” on CREEPY

In February 2021, “AV_NEST.CASEFILE” appeared in the horror/dark fantasy anthology, Dim Shores Presents Vol. 2. I’m pleased to say that it’s now been released as a podcast episode on Creepy! The wise folks at Creepy suggested the title “AV_NEST.CASEFILE” might be a little awkward when read aloud (and maybe a little awkward read silently), and it now is named “She Will Come to Brood”.

The truth is, I’m late to my own party here; this episode came out about a month ago. February is busy, okay? I miss stuff. But you shouldn’t miss this. It’s got creepy birds, giant eggs, and an eighty-foot nest.

Click the image above to be brought to the episode on their website, or find it on any of your favorite podcast apps, like Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify. Don’t forget to leave a review if possible.

“We Suckle” makes The Saturday Evening Post’s Top 10 of 2022 👀

The Saturday Evening Post’s Most Popular New Fiction of 2022 – Number Ten Might Surprise You 👀

The Saturday Evening Post has rounded up their Most Popular of 2022 in various categories. Last night I was surprised and happy to see that “We Suckle” snuck into their top ten short stories!

(Can’t figure out why my screenshots are turning out with such poor resolution, sorry)

Thanks to everyone who read and shared this story. It is only because of you that it made this list. If you haven’t read it yet, find it here: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2022/10/we-suckle/

🔥🔥🔥

#thesaturdayeveningpost #topten #top10 #horrorauthor #horrorwriter #wesuckle #weirdhorror #shortstories #shorthorror #augustusvalley

New #OctoberReads Short Story: “We Suckle” in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST

October is my favorite month for so many reasons, but here’s a new one: my short story, “We Suckle,” has been published online at The Saturday Evening Post. Click here to read about a young family that moves to Augustus Valley to ease their financial burden and finds something strange happening in their basement. Rather, they think there’s something weird going on, but they can’t ever quite remember what…

# spookymonth #NewFictionFriday #TheSaturdayEveningPost #SatEvePost #shortfiction #shorthorror #octoberreads #shortstories #spookyreads #horrorfiction #horror #weirdhorror #weirdfiction

read “The Station Agent’s Wife, 1927” for free on The Dread Machine

"The Station Agent’s Wife, 1927" is the strange story of a new mother living in Augustus Valley at the peak of its heyday as the mining capital of West Virginia. All things are looking up when her husband gets a new job with the C&O Railroad as the station agent. But we all know how fast things can go south in Augustus Valley. Soon she finds something terribly wrong with the house provided by the railroad.

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