Category Archives: Short Stories

New: Liquid Imagination Online #10 is Live!

The latest issue of Liquid Imagination went live this week. Here’s what we have in store for you:

Speculative Short Stories – Edited by Kevin Wallis:

* All of these tales are narrated by Bob Eccles

Flash Fiction/Microfiction – Edited by Brandon Rucker:

Plus:

Literary Fiction edited by Sue Babcock & John “JAM” Arthur Miller:

Poetry edited by Chrissy Davis:

Plus articles and plenty of stunning digital artwork provided by Sue Babcock and Jack S. Rogers.

Check it out.

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Promo: A Short Story & A Novel By Bob Thurber

Bob Thurber, a friend and regular subject on this program, has two things worthy of your attention. First is a new short story of his called “Shingles: A Memoir (circa 1960)” over at Brooklyner, which I myself am anxious to read as it’s one of the few published works of his that I have yet to consume.

Second, he is running a One week only – 25% off Kindle Version of Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel, his debut novel which was released this past May.

Help me support a great man who just also happens to be a great writer.

Thanks!

Book: Best Left Buried, A Cursed Anthology

Best Left Buried: A Cursed Anthology about cursed objects and those who wield them, was recently published and is now available. The antholoy was lovingly compiled and edited by Gregory Miller (author of The Uncanny Valley: Tales from a Lost Town and Scaring the Crows: 21 Tales from Noon to Midnight) is now available from Static Movement on Amazon.



The first story featured is a little cursed tale authored by me called “Finder Kept” about what happens when an otherworldly trinket falls into the wrong hands.

Here’s a brief excerpt from “Finder Kept”:

A few moments ago a man had come running through the alley. It seemed pretty obvious that he had been pursued by someone as he kept glancing behind him like someone being chased.  The Running-Scared Man had tossed the satchel toward the heap of black trash bags mere inches from where The Bum had lay as he ran by. The satchel had nestled itself within the heap, perhaps to be retrieved at a later date by The Running-Scared Man. Yet The Bum had retrieved the curious package for himself.  He had discovered the cash it contained immediately, but had paid no mind to the other object inside the small bag.
Sobering now, he considered the satchel and its strange markings, and wondered what was actually in the damned thing.  It was weighty and felt somewhat metallic, maybe even mechanical.

The origins for this story go way back to 1999 and was nearly part of a huge collaborative story with a few other writers at the time. But as those kinds of projects often go, it never came to fruition, so I kept my portion of it all this time with hopes of revisiting it someday. Once Greg’s cursed anthology caught my attention I knew that with a few tweaks here and there to what I wrote all those years ago I had found a home for it, as well as great incentive to expand on what I already had and complete it as an actual story. I was so pleased to find someone who enjoyed it perhaps even more than I did. Thanks, Greg. I owe you one, buddy.

Bedtime Story: “Pieces of Candice” by Brandon L.Rucker

Want some dark reading before you go nite-nite? Well, I’ve got a story for you that I think you’ll like if you dig your Edgar Allan Poe mixed with a touch of F. Paul Wilson, or Ramsey Campbell, or Clive Barker, or Stephen King. Yeah, Poe & King might be the main ingredients in this sick soup of a psychological horror story that is “Pieces of Candice”. It’s one of my oldest, darkets, sickest and most unapologetic tales ever told (and I hope to never write something like it ever again, heh-heh).

Excerpt (from the intro):
Please allow me be perfectly clear that this is not a tell-all confession of all the misdeeds that I have done over the years. It is simply an admission about one particular indiscretion.
I wish to confess to anyone who will listen to, and failing that, anyone who will read my brief account of madness concerning one Candice Bean. You will assume I’m a madman and that this confession is a plea for sympathy or for mere bragging rights. My only hope is that no one finds these lurid details to be too sinister that they would deem me as an unreliable source. Make no mistake that what happened to Candice years ago by my terrible hands is indeed true. [more]
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Inspired in the mid-90s by the menacing voice used in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” , “Pieces of Candice” was first completed in late 1998 and revised a few times over the years after that, but was never submitted for publication until 2010.  The story was accepted and published in Madness of the Mind by writer/editor/publisher Chris Bartholomew through her own Static Movement publishing imprint.  As the head writer of Serial Killer Magazine, she knows a thing or three about horror stories and serial killers.  Earlier this year the story was self-published by the author at Smashwords for digital download to computers and a variety of digital readers.



Update: My Reading and Writing Activities

It’s summer reading season in my household. Wife & kids have already begun their preemptive strike and as the proverbial slowpoke I’m playing catchup. I went to the library this past weekend to pay my dues…I told the library clerk that I was paying my annual dues. She chuckled, but I as serious. I always end up paying at least about $10 bucks a year to the local library for late fees. It’s just my way of giving back to the community. At least that’s my way of looking at it.

As for summer reading, unfortunately I am at a huge disadvantage because I have lots on my writing plate this summer, with a major editing project to wrap up in early July, and a novel to get back to. Since wrapping up the latest issue of Liquid Imagination in May, I’ve gone into selfish mode for June as I am spit-shining and polishing the dozen and a half stories selected for my forthcoming short story collection (tentatively due late September), one story at a time. Most of these stories go back some years, and today I’m a different writer in alot of ways than I was then, so it’s always interesting to revisit old works and apply the current you to blend with the old you. Since I’m my own worst critic, I’ve enlisted the help of a couple of colleagues who are just as ruthless as editors as I. I still have four stories I’m finalizing for specifically-themed anthologies as well that I’m pushing to the finish line. [More on the story collection as I get closer to release. I’ll reveal the title and the cover in due time.]

July is still bullseyed as official ‘back-to-the-novel’ month as has been the goal all year long, but prior to that I will need to close out the editing/formatting of the Local Heroes anthology I’m doing for Static Movement. The deadline is June 30th and I have a head start on the editing, but I will have to intensify efforts in the closeout to meet my goals.

Nonetheless, I squeeze in reading whenever I can. Don’t want to be lagging too far behind the family, voracious reading creatures that they are. In my backpack is a rotation of the following books currently:

 

 
Paperboy, a book I’ve tasked myself with promoting for my author buddy Bob Thurber, is a great read (I’m about a third through it so far).
Stories: All New Tales will likely only have a handful of great stories, one of which by Neil Gaiman himself.
 
I love noir and hardboiled fiction, especially when it’s just straight up crime fiction. This huge Best of American Noir book tapped me on the should at the library and gravelly said “Eh, you need to read me, bub.” A lot of my favorite crime writers are in there like Ed Gorman, Mickey Spillane, Elmore Leonard, and David Morrell.
Beneath the Surface of Things by Kevin Wallis. He’s another writer buddy I’d like to promote as well. He’s hard at work on his debut novel, but this is his short story collection form last year that is at least partially responsible for me deciding to release one as well, though mine won’t be nearly as good as his. Dude’s a heck of a horror, writer, if you dig that.
And recent additions to the stack o’ comics on my desk:
My first ever issue of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal. Not a bad read. As a set up issue it’s a bit slow, but judging by the cliffhanger ending shit’s about to get real interesting.
Rick Remender continues to write the best book in Marvel’s X-Men franchise and that is Uncanny X-Force. He’s arguably the X-Men’s best scribe since Grant Morrison in the early 2000s. Very pleased with this series, just wish they’d settle on a permanent and good artist (Jerome Opena, please!).
Two indie books from Image Comics that really got me excited about all the diverse creator-owned stuff coming from them lately (including Elephant Men which I still haven’t read yet). Undying Love (by Thom Coker and Daniel Freedman) is a cool ass action noir Japanese/American vampire movie distilled into a darkly beautiful comic. Two issues in and I’m hooked (of couse it’d be better collected into graphic novel, my preferred method of reading). But I’m along for the monthly ride…for now.
After picking up Nonplayer of the shelf and looking at its beautiful pages, there was no way I couldn’t buy it. Stunningly gorgeous art by Nate Simpson. I love the concept as well. Unfortunately he’s a one-man show on this comic, drawing it digitally on his computer, so he warns in the afterword that this series will be slow coming. But I think it will be worth the irregular wait.
What I haven’t read is a good biography in a while. I read biographical books much faster than fiction tomes for some reason. There are pleny on my to-read list too.
Sigh.

Weekend Report: Update – What I’m Working On

There’s never enough hours in the day, nor enough of me to go around, so I just try to overacheive and make do within the limitations of the human condition.

Sigh.

So here, for me if no one else, is a rundown of the work I’m doing outside the job that actually pays monetarily.

– Currently: I’m wrapping up my section of the next issue of Liquid Imagination, making six different authors happy overall in the process. That should be done tonight or tomorrow morning. The May issue will go live on your interwebs May 31st, or thereabouts. Suprisingly I will be ahead for the first time on the 10th issue, which will be out in late August.

– Next during the rest of May and virtually all of June I move on to putting together the manuscript for my short story collection, which has a tentative release date of the first week of July over at Smashwords. I’ll also be looking into perhaps doing an ultra-limited print run of the book, which does have a title, but will not be revealed until closer to release. The title is perfectly apt for the general theme throughout the dozen or more stories that will be presented. Putting together the perfect book cover will certainly be a challenge.

– Concurrent with my short story collection manuscript will be work on the manusript for the long-gestating print anthology I’m compiling and editing called Local Heroes, which will be published in the late summer by Static Movement.

– Also during this time I will be putting the final touches on a handful of short stories for specific anthologies. The stories are all like 3/4 to 5/6 finished, they just require their author to give them the undivided attention and tender loving care they deserve to get to that elusive finish line. The stories in question include: “Cult Storm”, “All In a Day’s Work”, “The Other Roommate”, and “Call of Duty: A Cop’s Tale”. There’s a new one brewing called “My Last Words”, but I doubt that one gets done before the month of July, nor any of the other stories that are in various states of progress.  As stated and committed to all year, July is my personal cut-off month for all short ficton and shenanigans, becasue . . .

– . . . in July I return to work on my novel, fully committed (hell, matrimonously married) to it with no ifs, no buts, and no excuses.