Read "Famous Monsters Remake" online at 52 Stitches

Just in time for Halloween, "Famous Monsters Remake" is now online at 52 Stitches!

The Celebrity Bimbo sneaked through the dark forest. Right on cue, the Wolfman popped out from behind a tree, a machete held high in his hairy paw. The Celebrity Bimbo assumed a fighting stance and let out a battle cry.

Go check it out.

Meet the Author - I Wrote a Guest Blog

The kick-ass crime novelist Jim Thompson invited me to write a guest blog. Head out to his site, Jimland, to find out what makes Joe L. Murr tick - shocking revelations await!

Story Acceptance: "Death-in-Life Songs"

Hooray! Albedo One has accepted "Death-in-Life Songs" for publication in a future issue!

Dark Pages Anthology - Now Available!

Dark Pages: Tales of Dark Speculative Fiction is now available from Blade Red Press! Editor Brenton Tomlinson has put together a kick-ass anthology featuring:

"The Stain of the Psychopomp King" - Lucien E. G. Spelman

"Heart of Ice" - Martin Livings

"Neptune's Garden" - Lisa A. Koosis

"Dust" - Naomi Bell

"To Die For" - S. D. Matley

"Clip Notes" - Marty Young

"Blood on Green" - Victoria Anisman-Reiner

"Cargo" - Aaron Polson

"Nepenthe" - Felicity Dowker

"Yellow Water Pike" - Derek Rutherford

"Surveying the Land" - B. D. Wilson

"Nightwork" - Robert Neilson

"Hand and Cradle" - Trent Roman

... and yours truly, with "The Franchise":

I slap raw burgers onto the grill. The smell of frying meat makes me gag. I shift over to the counter and start fixing a MiniWonder with extra pickles. My fingers are permanently coated in grease. I’ll never get the stench out. I’m marked for life ...

Get it directly from the publisher or from Amazon or Amazon.co.uk.

Honorable Mention for "Count of Three"

"Count of Three", published by Dark Recesses, got an honorable mention from Ellen Datlow in her Best Horror of the Year 2009! Holy cats. Hooray!

"Good Fathers" in Necrotic Tissue

The April 2010 issue of Necrotic Tissue is now available, featuring stories by Jeff Strand, Colm Mc Geever, MontiLee Stormer and other fine writers. My own contribution is the darkly humorous "Good Fathers":

Melissa limped down the dirt road. She was covered in blood but couldn't stop grinning. This had been her trial by fire. Her dad would be proud of her, if he were still alive to see how all his lessons had paid off ...

Get a copy here.

"Body Doubles"

The Fantasy Femmes special issue of Morpheus Tales is now available, featuring my surreal shocker, "Body Doubles":

Catherine's reflection steps out of the bedroom mirror. She says the lines Catherine wrote for her. Catherine retreats, tumbles backwards onto the bed.

"Shoot me," her reflection says. Her silk nightgown hangs open, the belt slithers to the floor. "You know you want to."

Get it here.

Story Acceptance: "The Franchise"

Great news. "The Franchise" has been accepted for publication in the Blade Red Dark Pages anthology. Check out the TOC here.

"Tide" Comes In

The latest issue of ChiZine is now online, featuring my story "Tide":

The figurehead washed in on the tide one day in August. We were playing the Drowning Game. It was Tom's turn to bob like a corpse in the surf ...

Go check it out.

Year-End Review

A look back at 2009:

Short stories completed: 6.

Short stories accepted for publication: 8 (of which 2 are reprints).

Stories currently under construction: 4.

New Year's resolution: finish one story a month, write another novel.