flash fiction – Page 6

June 30, 2018June 30, 2018

A New Ebook

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My newest eBook went live today. Dollar Tales from the Morbid Museum: Flash Fiction. It includes four flash fiction stories and an introduction that is in its own way a story. It’s a little introduction to the Morbid Museum and the curator of the museum, Mister Siris Grim. There will be one, or possibly two, more installments of Dollar Tales from the Morbid Museum leading up to the release of the full collection of short fiction titled The Morbid Museum. This will be a collection of horror, true crime, science fiction, and other genre fiction curated around the theme of death. So exciting!

The first story in this new release is titled “Clyde.” It’s about the ghosts of the Pac-Man game from the perspective of Clyde, the orange ghost. Fun Fact: the orange ghost in the Ms. Pac-Man game was named Sue. The next story is titled “Highway 491.” This is a real highway that goes through New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah (partially). Prior to 2003 it was called the Devil’s Highway because it was U.S. Route 666. What kind of spooky things happen on the Devil’s Highway? You’ll have to read to find out.

The next story is “Blue Ridge Mountain Hop,” a ghost story set in the Appalachian Mountains which are sometimes called the Blue Ridge Mountains because of the misty hue they reflect during certain times of day. This is followed by the last story “Jesse’s Lament.” This is a tale about a young man during the Civil War feeling homesick and missing his twin brother. This story takes place during the Battle of Gettysburg on Culp’s Hill. “Blue Ridge Mountain Hop” also includes some apparitions from the Civil War which is why I put those two together.

This new eBook will be available for free this week on Wednesday, July 4, only. The promotion is in celebration of Independence Day and will only be available for free on that day. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, and any feedback will be heard and considered. Who doesn’t love free stuff? If you don’t have a Kindle device, you can download the app for free to any device from the App Store or Google Play Store. I hope you enjoy the stories and I hope you’ll keep an eye out for any future works I publish. I promise more are coming. You can check the Projects page to see what else I’ve published.

June 23, 2018

Story Submission Struggles

I have spent many years studying and learning about the publishing world. I believe this has gone on for somewhere around ten to fifteen years. I’ve studied the self-publishing process and the traditional publishing process. Self-publishing is easy, but you have to put in all the work for marketing and selling your book. Traditional publishing is difficult to get into, but once you’re in, you’re good to go. In attempting to get something published in the traditional fashion, I have learned what writing mistakes I use to make, and I’ve been correcting them. Writing is a skill that one must develop over time. Nothing happens overnight.

I have sent many stories and poems in for consideration to many online magazines, and a few that still print magazines. And with the continued rejection, I persevere. I want to make something clear. I am not angry about these rejections and hold no animosity towards these magazines. Sadly, I will never know what caused the rejection. I assume it’s because my writing isn’t up to par, but for all I know, they may not have liked the subject matter or the story overall. Unfortunately, I don’t have anyone in the publishing world who can critique my work.

Every one of these rejection letters sounds the same. “Thank you for the opportunity to read your work, but we will not be considering it for publication.” Or something like that. They always say thank you for the submission and ask you to submit again. Part of me wonders if they have to reject new authors X number of times before they will publish something. It doesn’t matter because it causes me to continue growing and improving as a writer. Eventually, I’ll write something they want to publish.

I now want to share a list of the many stories I’ve written and the publishers that rejected them. This is not a dig on the publishers. I want other writers to see who I’ve submitted to and maybe they’ll feel less discouraged after receiving a rejection letter. Rejection is part of writing and I’m proud to have these rejections. The purpose of this post is to help other writers. I also want to note, I am not including word count or any guidelines to these submissions. Look it up on your own if you’re interested. I’m including the progress on unfinished short stories as well just for fun.

- - The Demon’s Favor
    - Rejected by – Clarkesworld Magazine, Underbelly Magazine, Apex Magazine
  - Where the Bullfrogs Gather
    - Rejected by – Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, Flash Fiction Online, Stupefying Stories
    - Currently submitted to Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show
  - Insanity Kills
    - Rejected by – Clarkesworld Magazine, Apex Magazine
  - The Puppet Maker
    - Rejected by – Apex Magazine, Clarkesworld Magazine
  - Vexed Ventriloquist
    - Rejected by – Flash Fiction Online
  - Ceres
    - Rejected by – Clarkesworld Magazine, Apex Magazine, Unnerving Magazine, Shimmer Magazine (Ending All Publications in Fall 2018)
    - Currently submitted to Strange Horizons

- The Sapphire Cat – 12.5%
- Gladiators – 12.5%
- The Dragon Sanction – 12.5%
- Escape from Century – 62.5%
- NPIA (National Paranormal Investigative Agency) – 62.5%

This is not a list of all the short story publishers out there and it is a little different from the novel publishing world. I found these online magazines from the lists on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the Horror Writers Association. These are basically writing unions and one day when I actually have money, I will pay and signup to become a member of these associations. Perhaps that will help me improve my writing. I am including link to all these other magazines, so you may submit to them if you wish. And no matter how many rejections you get, never stop writing. Never give up; never surrender.

Apex Magazine

Clarkesworld Magazine

Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show

April 25, 2017

The Morning Routine

I awake to the Alarm yelling in my ear. He’s like a broken record, “Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!” As I hurl his plastic body across the room, he screams in terror. Let that be a lesson to the other Clocks in my home. I am not afraid to bash their heads in the wall.

After having brutally murdered my Clock Radio, I step into the bathroom and turn on the shower. I must wait for the water to warm up. The Dirt doesn’t like hot water. Once the steam gently floats from behind the shower curtain, I peel off my pajama skin and creep into the tub, which will soon become a battlefield.

The Dirt on my body runs in every direction trying to escape the flood from the shower head. They cling to my body and hair fighting for their lives. Hot water is not enough to rid me of the vermin. I pour shampoo and body wash into my hand. They are eager for battle this morning. The Suds attack with such a force that the Dirt lose their grip and fall to the watery graves below my feet.

As the battle nears its end, the Suds drag the decaying corpses of their enemy down to the nether reaches of the sewer drain. I shut off the water and dry myself promptly, wiping away the scars from the war that took place on my skin. Now the sensual portion of the morning begins.

The Hair on my head is knotted and uptight. She refuses to flow gently in one direction. Angry and seemingly untamable, I prepare to relax her as I call in a specialist. The Hair Brush sits patiently in the cabinet. Always ready to do his job. He begins by gently rubbing her sides, making sure wild hairs are kept behind the ears.

She is beginning to relax now, allowing the Brush to romance her. He works his way to the back and discovers the tangles. It was sensual in the beginning to warm up the Hair, now it’s time to play rough. The tangles don’t come out too easy. The Brush penetrates and pulls out from the Hair faster and faster until the final release.

Now exhausted from the physical strain, the Hair lays to rest ever so gently on the top of the head. The Brush returns to his cabinet awaiting the next day when they can make love again. He has a cousin and neighbor in the cabinet. The Tooth Brush is not as sensual but his job is perhaps far more important. Disposing of germs and preventing tooth decay.

Inside the mouth there are many Germs. They dance to the music, drink many alcoholic beverages, consume hallucinogens and rot your teeth away. The Tooth Brush rallies his men outside the mouth. Toothpaste, his trusted partner, Floss, the new recruit, and Mouth Wash, the head of the SWAT Team, all wait patiently to begin the raid. They’ve planned this raid for hours, ever since the last raid from the day before.

Tooth Brush and Paste bust in first, pushing everyone towards the dance floor. Floss, eager to prove himself, chases down all the Germs hiding between the teeth. Finally the SWAT Team comes through and drags all the Germs out. There won’t be any parties in the mouth for a while. So now the coast is clear for breakfast.

Breakfast can take on many different forms. Sometimes it’s only a muffin or some fruit. I personally enjoy eggs and bacon. As I pull the food from the fridge, they are all very cheerful, greeting me with “Good Morning!” unaware of the horror that will soon unfold.

I grab the first Egg. He begins to worry as I hold him over the pan on the oven. A blood curdling scream echoes through the kitchen as I crack his shell on the pan. The other Eggs are panic-stricken. As the first Egg’s entrails pour out of his shell, the sizzle on the pan is like music to my ears. The torment grows for each Egg that gets boiled alive. I don’t cook all of them. I put the few that are left back into the fridge so they can live in fear of when their time will come.

The Bacon is less fun to torture since the ones in the package are oblivious to the world. But I enjoy eating them more than frying. And there is some brief satisfaction in hearing them squeal right before their fat pops and they begin to shrivel.

Some may think torturing your breakfast is wrong and if it is than I paid for it when I drank my orange juice after brushing my teeth. It’s nasty but maybe the raves will stay away for a while. Well that’s how I start my day. With Death, Morbid Torture and Sex!