prose

E pur si muove

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There are only 8 days left to get a copy Café Macabre II , now fully funded and working on the 5th stretch goal. My story The River, is included in this volume with accompanying art by Keyla Valerio. Café Macabre is an anthology of horror stories and art by women. Check it out here, and grab some Kickstarter goodies.

April 2021 picture prompt challenge image by Rie Sheridan Rose

My April Ladies of horror flash fiction piece Petra’s Journey is live over at spreadingthewritersword.com. These flash fiction pieces are a fun and expressive challenge, and I am grateful for the opportunity. Hope you enjoy!

Get in the Game is a comic anthology which includes my 8 page story Under the Root, Illustrated by Emily Zelasko and lettered by Jim McClain. It’ll be available at Barnes and Noble and your local comic shop starting this Wednesday. Signed copies are also still available from my storefront here.

Last Road to the Backwoods had a smashing campaign on Kickstarter! We fully funded and then some, due to the amazing support we received. If you missed the campaign and still would like to get a copy, we have pre-orders open at my storefront here

Ann Hodges and the hole a meteorite left in her ceiling – Smithsonian

I am still plugging away on Sylacauga. The picture above, the look on her face was the driving force behind wanting to write about the meteor event. The anthology will consist of 3 stories entitled Signs, Wonders, Miracles surrounding the fireball witnessed in the sky that eventually came to rest in Mrs. Hodges’ living room. I will be self publishing it this fall.

Thanks for reading!

“And yet it moves (E Pur Si Muove) is a phrase attributed to the Italian mathematician, physicist and philosopher Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) in 1633 after being forced to recant his claims that the Earth moves around the Sun, rather than the converse. In this context, the implication of the phrase is: despite his recantation, the Church’s proclamations to the contrary, or any other conviction or doctrine of men, the Earth does, in fact, move (around the Sun, and not vice versa)” -Wikipedia

Kickstarter Update!

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The Kickstarter campaign for Last Road to the Backwoods is heating up. As a thank you to our backers, we have added free swag with every physical tier pledge

You will now receive a bookmark, sticker and print with your pre-order of a physical copy!

We also celebrated hitting the $5k mark by adding a thank you page to the printed and digital editions listing the names of all of our wonderful backers, as well as including chapter 1 of our as-yet-untitled sequel as an epilogue.

At the time of my writing this, We are only $812 from being fully funded! Thank you all for your incredible support!!

If unsettling, dark fiction with a twist of occult noir sounds interesting to you, consider pledging here: http://kck.st/30Vxaqp

Last Road Updates

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Kickstarter has chosen Last Road to the Backwoods as a “Project We Love”! Which has thrilled us! We hope that you take the time to check out what the fuss is about: http://kck.st/30Vxaqp

Enjoy this sneak peek of some interior art Matt has been working on:

As well as this excerpt from an early chapter, regarding Agent John Elyard :

Come be unsettled with us!

Earth and Sky

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Sky

I’ve been plugging along on my anthology based on the Sylacauga meteor event. I was inspired to write it after reading an article about Ann Hodges, and seeing her photograph. She looked overwhelmed and alone. As alone as I could imagine one would be, having been the only person in known history hit by a meteorite. I’ve started with other tales based around the event because I think when I finally sit down with Mrs. Hodges, my heart will ache.

Ann Hodges (center) poses with her meteorite, Alabama mayor Ed Howard (left) police chief W.D. Ashcraft.  (Image credit: University of Alabama)

I’ve most recently been writing a story based on Julius McKinney’s discovery of a piece of the same meteorite on his property. Julius was alerted to its presence by his mules, who refused to move until he removed the meteorite from their path. Realizing its significance later, he retrieved it from the underbrush he had tossed it in and took it home. He’d later sell it and make enough money to afford a house and car from the profits. I’ve felt at home with Mr. McKinney, and have enjoyed writing about him, even if the tale I’m telling is a highly fictionalized version of events.

The McKinneys and The Meteorite. (Image Credit: Ebony Magazine)

Mr. McKinney and Mrs. Hodges had vastly different experiences both in how they were affected by the meteorite and how their stories were covered in the press. Mr. McKinney being subject to the widespread prejudices of the time, was still a footnote on all the information found in my research. He is merely an aside, even though his life was drastically changed by his discovery.

Astronomical Institute of the Charles University: Josef Ďurech, Vojtěch Sidorin – DAMIT – Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques: for (1685) Toro

Astronomers have pinpointed the source of the meteorite as 1685 Toro discovered in 1948 by Carl Wirtanen and takes 584 days to orbit the sun. Its proximity to earth in November of 1954 make it a likely candidate.

Earth

Café Macabre II has been officially announced by author and editor Leah Lederman! It is an anthology of 13 dark tales and illustrations by women. I have the honor of having my short story “The River.” included, illustrated by amazing artist Keyla Valerio. A quote from “The River” as well as Keyla’s illustration served as the opening salvo of promotion for the project, which will go live on Kickstarter April 6.

This anthology is a follow up to Café Macabre, published in 2019, which I also had the honor of being a part of.

If you’d like to start at the beginning, Café Macabre is available on Amazon and signed copies are available at my storefront.

Thank you for reading. More updates to come for both Sylacauga and Café Macabre as well as other things in the works!

Sylacauga

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My anthology in progress is centered around the Sylacauga meteor event outside of Oak Grove, Alabama in 1954. The fireball was seen from 3 states, eventually crashing through the roof of the Hodges house at 12:46pm local time.
The wound inflicted on Ann Hodges by the Sylacauga Meteorite as she napped on her couch. She is the only person in recorded history to be hit by one. (Jay Leviton/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)