My First Published Story...

I wanted to be a writer when I was a teenager, but life happens. Before I knew it, we had a critically ill infant son. Then, three small children under the age of five. Life continued. The kids grew up. Moved out.

Last year, I decided to just do it. I wrote a story called "Tessa's Wish", for an anthology. It survived the first, big cut, but not the final selections.

Next came a submission to an anthology called "Hell is for Children", through Off the Beaten Path Press. Unfortunately, the man who was going to edit the anthology developed medical problems. The anthology went belly up. The owner of OTBP Press said they were starting a line of digital shorts and would be glad to evaluate the story for that medium. Which led, eventually, to the story "It is the Sweetest", pictured at left. You can click on the photo to access the epublication. It is part noir-ish detective thriller, part horror story.

I submitted a story back in the first week of March to the anthology, "The Pickman Gallery", to be published by Ulthar Press, the hosts of this year's Necronomicon Providence. They recently indicated we should hear about our stories next week, after the convention. This one is a Cthulhu Mythos anthology, concerned with Lovecraft's infamous Richard Upton Pickman.

I'm also waiting to hear about my submission for the anthology, "The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias", from the folks at Lycan Valley Press. I sent that one in toward the end of June and it is currently under review. Fingers crossed. Writers had to select a phobia from a list and make it central to their story. I went with the fear of razors and a bit player in my first story who captured my imagination. Fingers crossed.

We're getting ready to move cross-country, so my time is at a premium. I am working, sporadically, at a follow-up tale to "It is the Sweetest", however. There is a whole list of projects awaiting completion of our move, however.