Cuddles

For any other Goosebumps superfans out there, I have a short little story in Oddball Magazine about my childhood obsession with the series. It's called "Cuddles" (titular evil hamster pictured above) and it's really cute. I hope you like it.

Cuddles is a character from the second (and best) Monster Blood book. For the record, I have extremely mixed feelings about the Monster Blood quadrilogy. None of the books are top-tier, and the fourth one is probably one of the worst (non-chicken-related) books in the original Goosebumps line. 

BUT it stars a redhead named Evan, so obviously I have a personal connection. Anyway, head over to Oddball for a blast of 90s nostalgia and self-deprecation. Or, I don't know, Cuddles will nibble you to death...

Equivalent Retribution

Another season, another dreaded call of the siren! That's right! It's finally springtime, which means some Easter celebrations, family barbecues, and lots of pollen-related allergies. Good stuff.

It also means that we have another issue of Sirens Call, the (free) horror magazine with a little bit of everything. For this one, I went out of my comfort zone and wrote a sci-fi story (my first since that Golden Girls spoof about alien Betty White hanging out with a squid. Don't ask.)

This one's a lot darker. It's called "Equivalent Retribution" and it's about a woman who accidentally pisses off an alien and has to figure out how to make things right. The first draft was more of a comedy, but I ended up rewriting it with gnarlier EC Comics vibes. 

Cartoon Ghosts

EgoBaby Magazine is a very strange publication. It's a comedy site that focuses on spirituality and new age topics. It's also quite funny.

My first featured article is a supremely tacky and culturally insensitive look at Casper the Friendly Ghost. It's probably best if you don't read it. You will probably be offended. But if you do read it, don't say I didn't warn you!

Creepy Kids... Another Horror Short

"My dog died in the morning. I cried, but Mom cried more than me."
   
That's the beginning of my horror short "Jonesy," a tale of violence and danger told from the point of view of a very peculiar child.
 

 
I just found out that this story is now up on Uprising Review. Check it out (for free).
 
And if this story sounds familiar to you, it's an updated version of my very first published story, which was accepted by the late, great Niteblade Magazine many moons ago.
 
I had a blast revisiting and updating the story, and I'm really excited to share it with you guys!

Vampire Comedy

"Accidental Slayage" is a horror comedy about a normal guy who accidentally kills the ancient lord of the vampires. It's a bit Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a bit Mr. Magoo.

It's also FREE!

"Accidental Slayage" is one of the short stories to be featured in the latest Sirens Call Magazine. This one is all about honoring the classic movie monsters (though most of the other stories take the monsters much more seriously than mine does).

Australian Shadows Awards

Do you remember Midnight Echo, the awesome Australian magazine I was in last year? It was such a cool issue, and I was flattered to have my story "Uninvited Guest" featured alongside some of the creepiest, spookiest stories I've ever read. (My story was about a child's birthday party that gets crashed by a mysterious clown that only our narrator can see.)

Anyway, I woke up this morning to some great news! Our issue was just nominated for the Australian Shadows Awards, which is the big horror fiction award from Down Under. On April 22, we'll find out if we win anything, but in the meantime... fingers crossed! I hope our stories scared the pants off the judges!

The Young Messiah

The Young Messiah is exactly what its title implies: it’s a Muppet Babies-version of the New Testament. Specifically, it follows a seven-year-old Jesus who learns about his powers, his responsibilities, and all the crap he’s going to have to go through in the future. People tell him he’s special a lot, and he has to come to terms with that. It’s a lot like the first Spider-Man movie, actually, except really boring.

If you want to read the rest of my (pretty blasphemous) movie review, head on over to Slickster Magazine. I'll tell you right now: reading this article will probably get you struck by lightning. You've been warned.

Oh, and HAPPY EASTER, EVERYBODY!

WitchWorks Magazine

Hello! Hello! I know it's been a while, but I FINALLY have a new horror story out, and this one is a doozy! It's called Beach Boy, it takes place in beautiful, downtown Zanzibar, and it. Is. Messed. Up. Seriously. You'll love it.

WitchWorks Magazine is a gnarly little periodical that pays homage to EC Comics (specifically Tales from the Crypt). It's fully illustrated with comics and stories that all have nasty twist endings.  Basically, this is right up my alley. Yours too, I hope! Check it out!

Evan's Adventures in an African Literary Journal

   

So I've been published in a lot of random places (Australian horror magazines, H.P. Lovecraft collections, red hot romance publications...), but now I can check off an item on my bucket list that I didn't even know was there:

Publication in a Nigerian literary magazine.

You read that right. My slightly tragic, slightly political, slightly bugnuts short story "Green and Yellow, Red and Blue" is now a featured story in Sub-Saharan Magazine, The Nigerian Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. My story is more fantasy than sci-fi, and actually more horror than fantasy, but it's very much written from the perspective of someone who's living and working in Africa.
  

  
For those of you who don't know, I've been in Zanzibar, Tanzania, for half a year now, and it is the coolest, craziest, most exciting experience of my life. (And I've been to Dracula's Castle!) Hopefully, just a little of that cool, crazy excitement comes across in my story (which is free to the public, soooo... No excuses.)

Check it out. And feel free to comment. I know this is a boring, ol' website, but I would like to hear from some of you reading this.
   

Midnight Echo

 
Shiny, red noses. Painted faces. Dead eyes. There’s something wrong with this clown, and no one will believe me! He wants our children! He wants them! And no one else can see him but me!

Please check out my new horror story in the brand new, comeback issue of Midnight Echo, Australia’s awesome horror magazine! I’ve heard some really exciting things about this collection, and I cannot wait for you guys to read it!

My story is about scary clowns, if that’s your kind of thing. But this magazine has a little something for everyone, so pick up a copy today. You don’t have to be an Australian (although I wish you were Australian. Seriously. Those guys are the best.)

Defenestration Magazine

I’ve finally been accepted into a comedy magazine! It’s been a while since I was featured in Cracked.com, and I was starting to give up hope that anyone would think that my writing was funny. Well… here I am, getting all published and stuff by Defenestration Magazine, one of the coolest humor mags around.

My story is about a girl whose relationship completely unravels once she realizes that her boyfriend smells exactly like her deceased grandmother. It’s Shakespearean.

Anyway, I hope you like it. It made me laugh, so hopefully you have a similar sense of humor. If not, well, what can I say? There’s probably a rerun of Big Bang Theory on TV right now. Go and watch that instead.

A New Western Serial Is Riding Your Way

Hey everyone! Big news! My dad has a brand new western mystery coming out through an online publisher called Mysterical-E. It’s a cliffhanger serial released in three parts, and the first part can be found here. It’s a little bit funny, a little bit exciting, and there are plenty of shoot-outs, horse chases, and secret experiments. Plus, it takes place in early Hollywood, so expect a lot of real stars with dangerous secrets.

Bleeding Cool Shout-Out

Hey everyone! I got a nice shout-out in Bleeding Cool News. They wrote some pretty nice things about the Mythos Grimmly anthology that’s coming out later this year. Check out the article. And I’ll be sure to keep you posted about when this one is released.

Enter Cthulhu!

H. P. Lovecraft was the man. I mean, he was kind of a hermit, and he wasn’t the best husband, and he was ridiculously racist… but his stories were creepy as hell. I’ve been a part of a couple Lovecraftian anthologies, mostly because I love writing about people who are caught up in circumstances they can’t quite understand, let alone control. The Cthulhu Mythos is a nasty, nasty world, and it’s so much fun to write for it.

One of my stories is in the brand new Stygian Abyss anthology through Miskatonic Press. My story is called “Letters from Camp.” I grew up on Goosebumps books, (bloggerbeware.com) and R. L. Stine had a knack for churning out creepy little stories about summer camps gone wrong.

Camp Nightmare (the one with the aliens training for an invasion of Earth).

Curse of Camp Cold Lake (the one with the kick-ass cover).

Horror at Camp Jellyjam (the one with the giant jam creature controlling everyone).

And a few more (mostly ghost related)

Anyway, I think I channeled a little R.L. when I wrote this story. I hope you like it.

And if you wanna check out the Facebook page for MiskatonicPress, please do so. They’re a brand new publisher, and they have big plans ahead.

Niteblade Magazine

I wrote another short story about a killer kid. I think it might be the scariest thing I’ve written. And this comes from a guy who wrote a sequel to Leprechaun in fourth grade. (For the record, that was the year Leprechaun: In Space came out, and I wanted to take him back to his roots. I believe I’ve revealed a lot about myself in the last two sentences.)

Niteblade Magazine is a supremely creepy little internet zine with a knack for choosing nasty little numbers for each issue. My story “Jonesy” is as nasty as it gets.

(And for anyone who wants to read my unsold screenplay to Leprechaun 5, sorry. I burned the only copy.)