Monthly Archives: June 2021

Funny as a Heart Attack anthology cover art is here!

Just a quick note — the cover design for Schlock! Publishing’s upcoming clown noir/horror anthology Funny as a Heart Attack is out now, and as you can see above they’re not clownin’ around with this one! Looks like these stories should give you a real jolt! (This cover image seems to have unleashed my inner-Crypt Keeper, too.)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this anthology is edited by Doug Draa (Weirdbook, Startling Stories) and published by Gavin Chappel (Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror, Schlock! webzine) and will contain my story “Gus.” I guess you could say it’s a horror-comedy about how cruelty rears its head in the funniest places.

More news to come!
-M.

Strangely Funny VIII contributor copy! MUSIC inspired by an M. Stern story!

Hey everybody!

Took a minute to get this post together as I have been spending a great deal of time chasing my new Roomba around trying to keep it from destroying things, and I have been otherwise distracted. But as you can see from the picture I received my contributor copy of the Strangely Funny VIII anthology edited by Sarah E. Glenn the other day, containing my story “Parts” in all its weird, wacky glory — here’s a snippet:

What could possibly be tickling our hero’s nose and why? The answer to that question just might tickle YOUR nose — or your funny bone, or even another part of you where you’re ticklish I guess — but you have to read it to find out! So snag a copy of the anthology in print or e-book today and dig in.

Which brings me to a quite exciting and unexpected development. You may have wondered why my copy of Strangely Funny VIII pictured in this post is sitting next to a speaker. Or maybe you didn’t wonder that at all, but I will tell you why — it is because there is now …

Music inspired by the story “Parts” by M. Stern
In a surprise so awesome that it knocked me on my ass, my incredibly talented buddy Rob (host of the Apocalypse Cinema podcast and member of prog rock band Hedghog and the Fox) enjoyed “Parts” so much when he read it that he composed an original piece of experimental electronic music inspired by the story’s cosmically-horrific culmination. So when you read the story, you absolutely need to check out the theme for the arrival of a certain alien demigod on his SoundCloud,

Now my Roomba is blinking its light at me and it seems angry, so I have to go figure out what it wants. Take care and happy Monday everyone. Oh right and don’t forget to follow me on Facebook for even more updates!
-M.

Weirdbook #44 is here — and another story is on the way!

Hey everybody, M. here,

It’s been a busy week over here at M. Stern Headquarters but in the midst of it all I got news that the long-awaited Weirdbook #44 is now available in paperback. This one contains my story “Birth” — a sort of epistemological escapade filled with international intrigue, arcane rituals, quantum Weirdbook Magazine #44 indeterminacy, metaphysics, and online eating challenges. Get hip to it and get weird! You can grab a copy at Amazon, (I’ll get some other links up here in the near future for those who want to support a specific local indie bookstore or have a general Amazon allergy.)

But that’s not the only exciting news that hit my inbox this week…

New anthology story on the way!
I’m thrilled to say that I will have a story coming out in the upcoming clown-themed anthology from Schlock! Publications titled Funny As A Heart Attack. The story is called “Gus.” (That’s all I am saying about it at the moment, you’ll wrestle no spoilers from me this early.)

The anthology is being edited by Doug Draa (of Startling Stories and Weirdbook) and published by Gavin Chappel (of Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror and Schlock! webzine). I am truly excited about being part of the first collaboration between these two cornerstones of today’s weird fiction scene. Hopefully more to come on this soon!

Don’t forget to pick up Strangely Funny VIII!
Do you like to laugh and scream and maybe even barf all at the same time? Then don’t forget to pick up the Strangely Funny VIII anthology which dropped last week and contains my weird cosmic body-horror comedy “Parts.” As I have said elsewhere, while the story does not really resemble Gogol’s “The Nose,” it does, like that Gogol classic, have a missing nose in it. Does that ever-so-slight spoiler pique your curiosity? Well things just get crazier from there.

So grab a copy in print or Kindle through that there link or — and I encourage you to do this — ask about it at any mom-and-pop bookstore where weirder books are sold and get hooked up through them.

Get on my email list and follow me on Facebook!
Whether you made it here because you dug one of my stories or showed up completely by accident, I encourage you to follow me on Facebook and also to sign up for my email list over there on the side of the screen. I want to be able to keep everyone hip to my latest authorial shenanigans even if social media collapses and we are left dependent on Stone Age technology like email to remain in contact.

Time to get back to the shit, hope everyone is staying as safe and sane as possible. Take care!
-M.

Strangely Funny VIII out now!

Hey everybody, M. here,

Happy to say that the Strangely Funny VIII anthology has hit the shelves both physical and virtual. Grab yourself a print copy or one for your Kindle and dig some brand new tales of horror gone wrong — so wrong, including my body-horror comedy “Parts”. Check it out!

-M.