“The Boxtie Apocalypse” was published in the Storyteller, volume 18, issue 2, April, May, June, 2013.

“Out of the picture.” According to my daughter Lisa that was my role in her son’s life until her little problem. Now I’m the best she has. Better than foster care. Better than Billy’s father who’s even further “out of the picture.”

“It’s one of those things,” she sits at the kitchen table, where every important decision was made when she was a little girl. She forces eye contact with her father, points to a seat. Does the same for me.

 

You can check out the Storyteller or order back issues here: http://thestorytellermagazine.com

author excerpt

“Nesting Dolls” was published in print and kindle versions in The Speculative Edge, issue 9, April, 2013. This story also won second prize in the SF, Horror category in the 2012 OWFI competition.

 

“Nesting Dolls” opening paragraphs”

 

Jack knew being innocent didn’t carry much weight in the judge Randolph Bailey’s courtroom. It didn’t mean much in his living room either, especially if you were married to his daughter.

So when the judge told Jack, “I want you to be a professional man.”

Jack said, “Yes, your honor,” without giving it much thought.

“A distinguished jurist can’t have his daughter married to a deliveryman,” the judge said. “Besides, it’s not fair to Jeorgia.”

Never mind that Jeorgia had more scar tissue in her head than brains and couldn’t dress herself without help or be left alone for ten minutes, and the only words she ever said were, “Okay Jack.”

 

You can find books published by The Speculative Edge here: https://sites.google.com/site/thespeculativeedge/issues

 

Issue 9 is also available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Speculative-Edge-Issue-April-2013/dp/1484051319/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1365629889&sr=8-1

 

Print versions are available on CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4235360

author excerpt

“Boomerang” was published on line in Schlock Webzine, 104th edition, April 15, 2013. This story won an honorable mention in the SF Horror category in the 2011 OWFI competition.

The first thing I feel is a woman’s lips on mine, soft, supple. Her breath flows across my eyelids in a warm stream that stirs vague memories of things I always meant to do. Her tears fall on my face, and someone says: “Please Miss, the make-up isn’t water proof.”

“Sorry.” Her crying changes rhythm but it doesn’t stop.

I’m beside her now, a single floating point of incomplete awareness, looking into a polished oak coffin at a face I’ve seen before—in a bathroom mirror, when I brushed my teeth, when I covered my bald spot with a cleverly positioned lock of hair.

You can read “Boomerang” free at Schlock Webzine’s website, here: http://www.schlock.co.uk/pb/wp_c578e59a/wp_c578e59a.html

author excerpt

“Following Footprints” was published in the on line flash fiction site, Lightning Cake, on April 3, 2013.

“Following Footprints” opening paragraphs:

Mary sits on a pink sandstone boulder, watching Momma and Daddy argue with the radio. Momma waves to her; Daddy tries to smile but only one side of his mouth goes up.

Mary says, “I’m getting wet.”

It isn’t rain exactly. The air is like the vaporizer Momma use to use when Mary’s throat got sore.

Daddy points the radio in different directions, listening for words mixed with the hissing sounds.

“Maybe the electricity is gone for good,” he says. “No more broadcasts ever.”

You can read this story free on the Lightning Cake website, here:

“Sassafras” was published in the trade paperback an ebook, Shadow Masters, Imajin Books, May, 2013.

 

“Sassafras” opening paragraphs:

 

Smell is the simplest sense. Awareness enters through the nose without an invitation, an unwelcome guest with a master key. An injured brain needs only a few molecules to remember everything there is to know about disinfectant, urine and adhesive tape.

Sound comes next: distant conversations, wheels with bad bearings, compressed air hissing at regular intervals. Fifteen times a minute, but who’s counting.

Then vision. Two of everything—separate images that won’t come together without a struggle. The first thing is acoustic tile on a ceiling a thousand miles away. Then a pair of faces merging into one. A man I recognize but don’t remember.  A lover? A brother? Something else entirely?

 

 

You can find Shadow Masters on Imajin Books website, here: http://www.imajinbooks.com

 

or on Amazon, here: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Masters-Anthology-Horror-ebook/dp/B00CYWNTBY

“The Dreaming Moon” was published in Clerics, Charlatans, and Cultists, by Gothic City Press, July, 2013.

 

“The Dreaming Moon” opening paragraphs:

 

My almost mother-in-law brushes a hint of red onto her cheeks while she recites a poem about lost youth and dying flowers. That jar of blush might be the last one in the world, and Mona is careful to make it last. Sunscreen went stale long ago; moisturizer turned to dust. People never considered the cosmetic implications of worldwide disaster.

Mona stumbles over a few more lines of her poem but stops when the meter goes wrong. “Really Karma. What are you and Joseph waiting for?”

Lipstick lesbians like Mona are full of advice for heterosexual girls, but we have to deal with men—sexually supercharged creatures with penises and facial hair and attitudes that have made women’s lives miserable since the Garden of Eden.

 

You can find Clerics, Charlatans, and Cultists on the Gothic City Press website, here: https://www.createspace.com/pub/simplesitesearch.search.do?sitesearch_query=%22gothic+city+press%22&sitesearch_type=STORE

 

It is also available in print and Kindle version at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Clerics%2C+Charlatans%2C+and+Cultists