Published Short Stories

Published Short Stories

Dec 05

Here’s a very, very short list of stories I’ve had published that are currently available, in order of the most recently published.

“Giving Grounds” – Arkham Tales issue #8

I know some writers who hate the question of “where do you get your ideas?” I love it, even though sometimes the answer is uninteresting, bizarre or embarrassing. The idea for “Giving Grounds” sprouted (pun unintended, probably) from a throwaway joke from an episode of Family Guy of all things. I know, it’s trendy to hate Family Guy on the internets, so let me preemptively apologize for having seen a minute of the show at all, and with that out the way, it was the episode where the family is sent to live in the south in the Witness Protection program. Inside their new home, Chris finds a hand inside a jar and says he’s going to plant it outside to see if a human grows. Because I’m a horror writer, my mind immediately latched onto the interesting, grotesque idea of growing a human beings by means of traditional agriculture. And so from a lowbrow animated sitcom, a grim, serious short story was born. Available in Arkham Tales issue #8.

“Miss Branson Calling” – Pseudopod

The first story I ever sold that was based on a nightmare. I actually used to work with the lady Miss Branson was based on. An eccentric chain smoking, overall harmless elderly woman who coughed like she had a lagoon in her lungs and had skin that seemed like it might disintegrate at any second. Based on the comments, many of the Pseudopod fans didn’t care much for this one, but I think it’s a solid effort at trying to draw fear from something that’s more melancholy than aggressively terrifying.

“Thanks For Using Forced Honesty Assassinations“  – From the Asylum

Damn shame that From the Asylum is closed, because they housed some excellent stories during the years that they were open. I had been trying to break into their ranks for quite a while before they finally accepted this flash fiction piece. I really like this story, short as it is. I can’t remember where the idea came from, but I love the slight ambiguity of the ending.

“Civilized Monsters” – Pseudopod

I received a lot of comments about how graphic this story was, which sort of surprised me. I actually tend to think myself a bit squeamish and didn’t think I lingered on any exceedingly gruesome parts here. Could it be that I’m mistaken? Me? Perish the thought. Can’t remember where I got this idea from. If I could go back and touch up some parts here and there I would, but I still like this story, particularly the ending.