Monthly Archives: January 2023

New stories in print and a new review!

Hey everybody, M. here,

January has been sort of a blur over here. I ended up doing the first real traveling I’ve undertaken since the pandemic and have continued to try to wrestle myself out of the doldrums of distraction and get back onto an appreciable reading and movie viewing schedule, lest my mind begin to sputter and run out of gas. And that automotive metaphor is as good a segue as any to the first of a few announcements I’ve got lined up today:

The Road Trip God anthology, now available in print
First off I’m happy to share the news that right on schedule, The Road Trip God, which is the first themed anthology from new indie-horror publisher PsychoToxin Press, is out now and available in print. This one contains my flash-horror story Leap of Faith alongside 10 other stories of dark deities out on the road, delivered at a breakneck pace.

I am finding it hard to discuss what the story is about without running the risk of dropping spoilers, as can be the case with a story that clocks in around 1,000 words. Suffice it to say that I meant to make it a tense one. If this story leaves you reaching for a phantom grab handle or slamming your foot down on an invisible brake, then I’ve done my job.

Pick one up today right here and while you’re at you can check out everything else PsychoToxin has been up to lately, they’ve really gotten things off the ground fast for having just launched last year.

Pre-order Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror Candlemas 2023 Issue
It’s the one you’ve been waiting for! The official date has nearly arrived for the release of the Candlemas 2023 issue of Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror, and as I have mentioned once or twice or a couple more times than that, this issue contains my novelette The Study of Worms, a story steeped in the Lovecraft Mythos, and packed full of weird science, weird gods, weird adventure, plus a bunch of other good stuff, like generational dysfunction and blood by the five-gallon glass carboy.

As you can see from that image right there, the cover looks completely amazing, and this issue is celebrating a full century since the 1923 launch of the original Weird Tales. I am certainly neither the first nor the thousandth person to observe that what that pulp mag started a century ago really has made horror what it is today as a genre. And I don’t mean just Cthulhu Mythos stuff, but a big chunk of the other horror that has appeared on the page and in the theater since then. So it’s a centennial I’m quite excited to have my work included in.

Pre-order your copy today in either print or e-book and get ready! More on what you can expect from the story coming very, very soon.

Startling Stories 2021 reviewed in SFcrowsnest (alongside the other Startling Stories #1s)
I got a pleasant surprise the other day when I saw Mike Chinn share a link over on Facebook from SFcrowsnest containing an in-depth review of not just the 2021 issue of Startling Stories, but the other two inaugural editions of the publication — the 1939 original published by Ned PinesBetter Publishing and edited by Mort Weisinger, and the 2006 relaunch from Ron Hanna and Wild Cat Books.

Reviewer Dave Brzeski had some very nice things to say about a number of the stories in the 2021 issue, including my story Payload, Check out the full review here.

And if you haven’t picked either of them up yet, you can still get both the first issue of the new Startling and the 2022 issue. The latter contains my upbeat, off-planet sci-fi detective adventure story Pharmakon, Pharmakon, which is accompanied by an amazing illustration from the legendary Vincent Di Fate (links to get both issues here).

More to come soon, take care everyone!
-M.

New story acceptance and some other New Year news!

Hey everybody, M. here,

Happy New Year! I’ve had a few cool developments pop up over the past few weeks so I’ll jump right into it:

“The Tears of Blood” to appear in Die By The Sword
Excited to say that I signed a new contract and my sword & sorcery story “The Tears of Blood” will be appearing in the upcoming Die By The Sword anthology from DMR Books. The book is slated to hit the shelves in May. Much more to say about this one soon!

Road Trip God Trailer on YouTube
I posted this a while back on Facebook, but in case you missed it — the psychos over at PsychoToxin Press put together this insane trailer for their Road Trip God anthology, which will feature my flash horror story “Leap of Faith.” Take a look:

As mentioned in the video, that anthology should be out near the end of the month, so get ready!

Picture of all my 2022 releases
Here’s another one that I posted on Facebook a bit ago — as you can see, it’s a collage I put together of the magazines and anthologies containing all of the stories I had come out over the year.

One of the many things I have learned over the past few years of getting my fiction published is that it is really difficult to set up a picture like that and get everything into it that you want. So I figured since I put so much effort into taking it, I should also let the whole non-Facebook internet out there see it.

And those publications should all still be available, so pick them up online or ask your local weird bookseller to get them in for you if you’re interested. And you can of course scroll back further down on this blog for more in-depth information on each one of them.

Alright, time for me to go get my weekend started. I should have another announcement coming up soon, just waiting to get some i’s dotted and t’s crossed on before I say anything about it.

Take care everyone!
-M.