New Fiction: "Bad Doors" at Uncanny Magazine

It's New Story Day! "Bad Doors" is live at Uncanny Magazine.

Kosmo is a simple English teacher with no interest in evil magic doors. However one day they take an interest in him. A burgundy door with a shiny black knob appears in his hallway, where no door has ever been.

Kosmo does what he thinks anybody would do: he grabs his dog, runs out of his house, and never goes back in. He thinks it’s over, but the door isn’t finished with him, as they pursue him everywhere he goes. They beckon old Kosmo. He struggles with why they’re appearing, but refuses to ever look inside one. Everyone in his life chides him to be adventurous and not be so afraid. However, this is 2020 and it’s the same time when everyone around him isn’t taking this “COVID thing” seriously. What’s a man to do to dodge a cursed door and a pandemic?

“Bad Doors” is the story of a man who refuses to be in a Horror story. What happens to you when you refuse to answer the call of a nightmare?

“Bad Doors” is free to read right here on Uncanny Magazine’s website.

This one is for everybody who thinks they'd just walk out of a Horror story. For people who'd say, "Nah."

New Fiction: "The Coward Who Stole God's Name" at Uncanny Magazine

Today I'm happy to present to you my newest short story: "The Coward Who Stole God's Name." 

It's a story about the most popular man in the world - even though nobody can actually remember why they like him. He's summoned one special journalist to his home to reveal his secret.

But a warning: that secret will get inside your head.

It's a story written out of the many cultural betrayals we've had over the years, and out of the cultural struggles with authority failing us, as well as the tides of toxic fandom. There's quite a stew in this little journalist's journey. I hope you'll enjoy it.

I want to give special thanks to Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, who test read this after I wrote it in a white heat of anger. Merc is such a good influence.

Content warnings: psychological manipulation, contemplation of self-harm, contemplation of animal cruelty, and violent crowds.

Patrons may remember they got a sneak peak at this story a while back. Now the full text is free to read on Uncanny's website. You can read it by clicking right here.

Awards Eligibility Post 2021

2021 is almost in the record books! I can't say it was an easy year, but it was a busy one. I published nearly as many stories and essays this year and as last year, and I'm hard at work on stories for 2022. 

If you're catching up on work for awards, I've collected links to all of my fiction and non-fiction right here in this post. Where possible I've included the categories, lengths, and dates of publication. See anything you like?

NOVELETTES

"That Story Isn't The Story" at Uncanny Magazine Issue #43,

9033 words, November 1st, Fantasy/Horror 

Direct Link

Anton has long been a familiar for the abusive Mr. Bird. He finally attempts escape with the help of the last friends he has, and tries to break his bond with Mr. Bird through therapy and healing rather than magic. But Mr. Bird isn't done with him.

SHORT STORIES

"For Lack of a Bed" at Diabolical Plots,

2724 words, April 16th, Fantasy 

Direct Link

Noemi has suffered from chronic pain for years, but she's found a cure: the most comfortable sofa in the world. The trouble? It might be alive - and eating her.

"We Are Not Phoenixes" at Fireside Magazine,

817 words, March 1st, Fantasy 

Direct Link

Pyromancers seek to entertain and bring some last comforts to the patients in hospice - a place all pyromancers will one day wind up.

"Gender Reveal Box, $16.95" at Fireside Magazine,

755 words, June 1st, Fantasy/Horror

Direct Link.

So what if gender reveal parties are actually cosmic horror events? With this hot new product, you'll have the *best* gender nightmare possible.

"Guidelines for Appeasing Kim of the Hundred Hands" at Fireside Magazine,

552 words, August 1st, Fantasy

Direct Link.

A list fiction about problems with the wish-granting statue at a local university, told via all the rules students have been breaking about her.

 

"Godfather Death, in His Own Words" at Fireside Magazine,

964 words, November 9th, Fantasy

Direct Link.

Death himself drops by to give the account of his godson, and how Death's plan to help him get ahead in life backfired.

"The Tyrant Lizard (and Her Plus One)" at Drabblecast,

2617 words, August 2nd, Science Fiction

Direct Link.

 A deaf security guard realizes that the tyrannosaurus that's been attacking her settlement might also be disabled. Could this be the beginnings of a buddy comedy?

"The Best Part" in the Curtains: Concert Visions to Benefit #SaveOurStages,

540 words, February 1st, LitFic

A grip working to set up stages for touring bands has slowly gone deaf over his career. He hasn't heard a note in years. This story follows one day in his life, and what he still loves about music.

 

NON-FICTION

Weird Plagues: How Fear of Disease Mutated into a Subgenre at Uncanny Magazine Issue #38,

1322 words, January 1st 

Direct Link.


Arnold is a Survivor Girl: Why Predator is a Slasher Movie at Nightmare Magazine, 

1331 words, June 1st

Direct Link.

What Are We Supposed To Be Afraid Of In Blair WitchProject? at Uncharted Magazine, 

1197 words, August 11th

Direct Link.

 

So, dear readers. See anything you liked?

New Fiction: "That Story Isn't The Story" in Uncanny Magazine

Hello my dear readers! I'm happy this month to bring you my first-ever novelette. It's the longest piece of fiction I've ever published, and tells the deepest story of someone psyche.

"That Story Isn't The Story" follows Anton, a familiar who seeks to break his connection to his abusive master. He runs away with the help of the last friends he hasn't been estranged from, still bearing the marks of his curse. But as he tries to rebuild himself and find how to tell the story of what's happened to him, the shadow of his master follows him.

You could say this is a Wiswellian Horror Story - foreboding, grim, and yet compassionate and hopeful. Survivors are believed; friends genuinely try to understand rather than going straight to conflict. The length of the story let me dig into what recovery looks like, especially when that recovery is threatened.

I couldn't ask for a better home for this story than Uncanny Magazine. They previously published my story "The Bottomless Martyr," as well as a few non-fiction pieces. I always enjoy working with them for how professional and respectful they are.

You can read the entire novelette for free on Uncanny's website right here.

Please enjoy it, and let me know what you think.

2020 Awards Eligibility Post

This year is actually almost over! Sure, some part of you says it's still March, but that part is sleep deprived and needs a hug. 

And because 2020 year is almost over, awards nominations are starting to open up. That leaves us writers with the nervous task of collecting our awards-eligible material.

Below, I humbly present the stories and articles I've written this year. This has been the most fruitful year of my career, with more publications and fan outreach than ever. I'm profoundly grateful to everyone who has enjoyed my weirdo stories. "Open House on Haunted Hill," for instance, is the single most popular thing I've ever written, despite being exactly the sort of thing so many people told me I couldn't and shouldn't write. Thank you all who proved those voices wrong.

Thank you to anyone who has space on their ballots and end-of-year-lists for any of my work.

Two Sales to Announce!

I have two good pieces of news to share this week. I've just signed a pair of contracts for two exciting projects.

First up: I've sold a new story to Nature Futures. This one is "Tucking In the Nuclear Egg," a story about giant monsters with a little more science than I usually apply. It's about the logistics of shielding and caring for a kaiju egg that's constantly putting off multiple Chernobyls worth of radiation. It's terrifying and tender - and yes, this does mean I sold a kaiju story to Nature! This feels like a life goal.

This is my second sale to Nature, following "The Tentacle and You" in 2019. There may be a little more news about that tentacle story coming soon.

up: I can announce my first essay of the year! Uncanny Magazine has accepted "The Assassination of Professor X," which is a deep dive into the history of the character, how he's been rewritten in the last two decades to be more despicable and less idealistic, and how his famous disability has been erased in parallel. Professor X is a rare character as a disabled mentor, and I don't take his destruction lightly. I've been stewing on this for years, and I look forward to sharing it with you all in the coming months.

Recommended Reading List of Short Stories 2018

This was a year that was improved so much by short fiction. Stories I could finish in the waiting room at the doctor's, or on the train ride to helping someone with their hardship. They fit into so many openings of life. And there were such strong developments in the field this year, especially the opening of Robot Dinosaurs, a magazine that brought frequently funny and uplifting stories to a field that too often neglects them.

If you want to keep up with short fiction, I strongly recommended following reviewers you trust, starting with A.C. Wise and Charles Payseur. I fell behind in reviewing short fiction this year, but never stopped reading.

So whether you're reading stories for awards, or reading to feel less alone in the universe, here are some things you shouldn't miss. These are more stories than can fit on any one ballot, but that's the fault of awards, not storytellers.

The Expendable Disabled Heroes of Marvel's Infinity War, live at Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction

It's my honor to have a piece in the Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction issue of Uncanny Magazine. Between Lightspeed and Uncanny Magazine, Disabled People Destroy has allowed voices from multiple marginalized communities to speak openly about the stories that matter most to us and the fandom community. The issue is packed with excellent stories and essays by the likes of Fran Wilde, Merc Rustad, and Nisi Shawl. I've been waiting for this issue for years.

My essay is about the representation of disability in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly as it appears in Infinity War. Infinity War is the biggest nexus for MCU characters to date, and has a number of disabled characters in its cast: War Machine, Nebula, Bucky Barnes, and Thor are a few. Yet they're handled carelessly, either marginalizing them based on their disabilities, or seeking to erase those disabilities from view. It speaks to how few disabled people work on the Marvel films, how few write them and act in them, and it's time for that to change.

Marvel is celebrating their biggest box office hit and ten years of blockbusters. It's time for Rocket Raccoon to stop stealing disabled people's prosthetics.

You can read the entire essay for free right here.

You can buy the whole issue right here.

Thanks for reading! I have more good news for y'all coming soon.

The Stories Our Games Tell Us at Uncanny Magazine Today!

I have an article in the new Uncanny Magazine. What a way to start out the year.

It's one of the most positive articles I've ever written. Explaining why awesome things are awesome is one of my favorite pastimes, and here I've selected seven videogames released in 2017 to illustrate how great the medium has become for storytelling. Thanks to the tireless efforts of so many geniuses, we're seeing mental illness portrayed with new depth, player choice expanding, and stories that could never have been told in any other medium. This doesn't diminish my love of literature or film. It excites me to see this medium grasping more of its potential.

I'm too excited to share a table of contents with so many writers I admire, and to have published with Uncanny, one of my favorite magazines in the world. Let me know what you think of the article.

The new Uncanny is for sale right here.

You can read the entire article for free right here.

Two Publications!

Friends! How's your summer going? Because mine's been a heck of a ride.

In the last week I've had two very different things published in venues I adore. I'd like to share them with you before August carries us all off to parts unknown.

First up is "A Silhouette Against Armageddon," my latest flash to be published at Fireside Magazine. This is my third piece they've published, and I'm quite flattered. The story follows a man who's afraid someone is breaking into his coffin. Why he's woken up in his coffin in the first place is a matter of some consternation.

I honestly think it's one of my best pieces of fiction to date, and it would've been a highlight of the Bathroom Monologues run. As proud as I am of it, I was still surprised by how many people have been sharing it around the internet. I've never been tagged in so many personal messages on social media like this. If you've already read and shared it, thank you. You brightened a dark week for me.

You can read the story for free right here.

The second piece is an essay that was a long time coming. Uncanny Magazine is running a Kickstarter to fund Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction, a special issue written and edited entirely by disabled writers. It's picking where Lightspeed's Destroy issues left off, and it's something long overdue in the field. I'm happy to have contributed a personal essay to the drive.

My essay is "BFFs in the Apocalypse" (I still can't believe they let me use that title), about the paucity of friendships between disabled characters in fiction. Usually we're a token member of a group of otherwise non-disabled protagonists. That's one reason why The Stand is so significant to me - its friendship between Nick and Tom is precious and should be the start of much more in our literature.

You can read the essay for free right here at Uncanny's Kickstarter. If you like it and believe in the cause, please consider becoming a backer!