Happy Halloween, fellow creatures of the night!
I hope everyone has been making the most of this glorious season.
This October, I’ve been making a dent in my fall reading list, watching as many horror flicks as humanly possible, and generally keeping things creepy.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog post, so I thought I’d do a quick round-up of everything I’ve been up to.
Read on, friends…
Something wicked this way comes…
I’m super excited to have a bunch of spooky stories appearing in various places throughout the month.
The first creepy release of the season was Trickster’s Treats #2: More Tales from the Pumpkin Patch, a charity Halloween anthology from Things in the Well.
“Another bumper crop of Halloween short-fiction from the pumpkin-master himself, the Trickster! This, our second collection of themed tales, presents six new themes for 2018:- Halloween House, Pumpkin Head, Trick or Treat, Haunted Forests and Trees, Bob Apple, and Fancy Dress. 30+ short stories all between 666-1,000 words. All proceeds go to charity (Homeless Women’s Shelters Ltd).”
Release date Sept. 23/2018. Order here.
My story “The Sycamore Street Clearing,” inspired by things I’ve seen outside my bedroom window, is be featured under the “Haunted Forests and Tree” theme.
Board up your windows and put in your earplugs – zombie punks are coming!
Zombie Punks F*ck Off, the eagerly-awaited joint release from Weirdpunk Books and Clash Books, emerged on October 9th. If you love the dead or just hate the man, this is the book for you.
“We’ve been hearing forever that Punk is Dead. And zombies stories are even deader. ZOMBIE PUNKS, FUCK OFF is here to show that is bullshit. This antho is loaded with 14 stories of gnawing teeth, shredded entrails, rotting masses, punk as fuck fury, post-punk weirdness, and beautiful decay. Within these pages are a touring Christian Punk band run afoul of a horde of living dead, a group of zombie-infected anarcho-punks staging a revolution in London, Hank William’s far-distant great-grandson struggling against the restraints of universal fame, and guitars that gently eat.”
Release date Oct. 9/2018. Pre-order here.
Features my story “Re-Made,” a twisted tale of undead revenge set at a re-education camp run by a brainwashed former punk.
Oct. 16 saw the release of Owl Hollow Press’ new anthology about the moon and the strange things it brings about:
“The moon has placed spells on humanity since the dawn—or should we say dusk—of time. Whether it’s armies attacking under the cover of darkness, wretches making pacts with fiends under a Harvest Moon, scientists working in their laboratories in the dead of night, monsters most cruel, spells that work under a moon’s shadow, tsunamis that rain destruction upon unsuspecting sailors caused by the moon’s pull on the oceans, children with supernatural powers born during a solstice, or fairy circles in the heart of the woods.
Come along for the journey and enjoy these literary enchantments that take place under the full moon’s light.”
One of the stories featured is my twisted werewolf romance, “Tell Me Again How You Killed The Wolf.”
Horror Tree, everyone’s favourite submissions call aggregator, has released their first book. The anthology compiles every 2017 story published in their weekly flash fiction feature, Trembling With Fear.
“This Trembling With Fear anthology is a compilation of all the drabbles, flash fiction stories and dark poetry published during 2017 at HorrorTree.com. In its pages you will find work from both the novice and the established writer, the newbie and the award-winner. Here, the dead walk and murders abound, demons and ghosts torment the living whilst vampires and wolves compete for space with internet and aliens. Within these pages you will find dark speculative fiction from contributors across the globe, for our world is a world without borders. Nowhere is safe from the dark.We have had some amazing talent contribute to the first year of ‘Trembling With Fear’ and we hope that you enjoy reading these as much as we have!”
Release date October 16; order it here.
My funhouse drabble “Oddworth’s Silent Partner” is included.
October also saw the release of Bikers VS The Undead, a badass new horror anthology from Deadman’s Tome.
“A horror, thriller, but with a sense of humor and cynicism one would expect from bikers. Get ready to read zombie stories loaded with what people want from a zombie story. Zombie apocalypse from the perspective of some down and dirty rough riders. If the image of a leather clad biker shooting zombies with a sawed-off shotgun gets your attention, then this book is what you need. If the sight of the hot Mad Max wasteland does something for you, then you’ll enjoy this book. If you enjoy watching a good and dirty bar fight, then continue reading. Bikers VS The Undead is loaded with testosterone, leather, whiskey, with a crap ton of rotters in the mix.”
Release date Oct. 21/2018. Order it here.
Includes my story “The Reaper’s Escorts,” a grisly tale of revenge and reanimation.
I’ve also got a pair of spooky tales set to appear free-to-read online.
My ghoulish Halloween tale “How To Carve a Jack-O-Lantern” will appear on Trembling With Fear, Horror Tree‘s weekly flash feature.
And on Halloween itself, my comparatively whimsical flash fiction story “Don’t Scare Her” will appear as part of Lonesome October Lit‘s final Halloween special.
A quaint and curious volume of unwritten lore…
I’m also working on a bunch of new stories that will be sure to send shivers down spines (or wherever shivers go).
Cursed objects, over-caffeinated vampires, fed up final girls, and disgruntled mythological creatures abound.
Updates to come.
Unpleasant dreams, darlings!
May your nights be long and your PVRs be filled with vintage creature features.
Musings by Madison 
Already waiting for Halloween! Nice site
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