It’s finally here! Shortwave Publishing has released their newest anthology, Deathrealm: Spirits, edited by Stephen Mark Rainey. Buy the paperback or ebook today at shortwavepublishing.com/catalog/deathrealm-spirits/ so you don’t miss my story “To Fear and To Rage”.
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
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”.
Recently printed in issue #35 (May 2023) of CHM Magazine, “The Yellow Carousel” is now available on their website to read for free, to give folks a taste of the scrumptious fiction offered in their magazine: https://cosmichorrormonthly.com/fiction/the-yellow-carousel/
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.
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.
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
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
"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.
New short story alert: "The Apocalypse of Moses" has been produced for audio by the good folks at Tales to Terrify.
This episode of Tales to Terrify includes two short stories, the first being "Red Lotus" by Leah Capgras (read by Brian Dobyns), followed by mine, "The Apocalypse of Moses" (read by Scott Fulps).
