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.

Hey everybody, M. here,

I’ve been way busier than I had expected to be over the past couple of weeks so I’m just now getting around to doing a proper update. I’ve had a couple of cool things going on recently that I’ve mentioned over on Facebook but have yet to share here. So here we go:

Strange Aeon 2022: Hopeful Monster contributor copy pictures
A few days ago I received my contributor copy of Strange Aeon 2022: Hopeful Monsters containing my story SONG TO… and I’m excited to have this one in my hand, it’s an excellent looking volume as you can see below (and my relatively limited camera skills do not entirely do it justice — it looks really, really cool).

There are also some very kind words from the editor as an afterword to the story, which was an excellent surprise. As the afterword mentions, the story is much more of a sci-fi/horror dystopia than the stories that it appears alongside, and so I consider it a very big honor to still be included in the anthology despite my story being slightly different than what the editor had envisioned for the book.

You can grab a copy of this one here and check it out if you’re so inclined. I’ve described SONG TO… as a story about what happens when things are finally looking up and the world ends five minutes later, among other things. While it’s not exactly happy, I think it is hopeful, with both the horror and the hope in this one happening on a rather grand scale. I do some stylistic and conceptual stuff in the story that you might enjoy as well, but above all I just hope you dig it. And of course if you purchase the anthology you can also check out all the other stories from an impressive list of authors from all over the world. I’m about to get going reading the whole thing myself.

New story slated for PsychoToxin’s Road Trip God anthology
Last month I received an acceptance from a new indie publisher called PsychoToxin Press. The press really seems to have hit the ground running with a new magazine and a new e-publication, not to mention all sorts of video and audio content coming out across all sorts of platforms.

I’m very excited to be appearing in their first themed anthology, Road Trip God, with a piece of flash fiction about the final moments of a road trip gone awry called LEAP OF FAITH. Hope this one keeps readers on the edge of their seats!

Pick up a copy of 2022’s Startling Stories if you have not!
Just thought I’d throw it in there that the current issue of Startling Stories is still out there for all to enjoy, featuring my story PHARMAKON, PHARMAKON.

I’m making my way through reading the issue right now and am really digging Mike Chinn‘s short novel The Color of Nothing. It’s a perfectly paced, thrill-a-minute space opera brimming with alien bio-technology, covert political intrigue between intergalactic overlords, risky adventures by scrappy space pirates, resurgent ancient evils, Van Vogtian identity bending, arsenals of devastating high-tech weaponry, and a bunch of other good stuff.

Chinn has pointed out that the story recalls his days working on sci-fi adventure comic Starblazer — a comic which I am almost certain I remember seeing mentioned somewhere when I was a kid, presumably in Comic Shop News or something along those lines, though I don’t know if Starblazer actually got distribution in the States or to what extent. So I don’t think I ever read an issue of Starblazer, but I certainly would have loved it if it was like this; I am finding the story to be evocative of a particular vibe of classic science fiction adventure while still being very much its own thing.

So if you have yet to pick up a copy, check it out! And since there’s so much excellent original art to be found alongside the stories in this one, I thought I’d include a better picture of the illustration for my story by Vincent Di Fate than I did in my last post.

Time for me to go drink another cup of coffee and get myself moving. Take care everyone!
-M.

Hey everybody, M. here,

Hope everyone had a solid Halloween! Like many I’m sure, I was out and about more this Spooky Season than I have been for the past couple, though I flaked on doing a costume and, back in my apartment, my horror movie marathon was not quite long enough to be properly considered a marathon. That said, I at least got started on Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. I am still making my way through it and I’m really enjoying it. I’m a huge fan of the Masters of Horror series, so I get excited about anthology shows that let auteur horror directors do their thing, especially when they’re adapting from short stories. More about that at some point in the future maybe, but suffice it to say for now that del Toro walking out in a Hitchcock-style suit and doing an introduction before every episode is my kind of stuff. Anyway, on to the latest news:

Strange Aeon 2022: Hopeful Monsters out now!
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the internet over the past few days, I’m happy to share that the Strange Aeon 2022 anthology is now available in print and e-book. This one is the third anthology in the yearly series, subtitled Hopeful Monsters. It contains my short horror/science fiction story SONG TO…

The anthology features a lineup of authors from around the world and I’m really excited to be appearing in it. I might have more to say about the story later but for now just dig that cover image right there and pick up a copy.

Startling Stories 2022 contributor copy has arrived!
My contributor copy of the 2022 edition of Startling Stories arrived in the mail the other day, containing my story of adventure, danger, and deduction on the weird magnetic planet Rygiat, PHARMAKON, PHARMAKON.

I have to say I was completely blown away to actually see the illustration for the story (by award-winning artist Vincent Di Fate, in the style of the late, great original pulp artist Virgil Finlay) there in black-and-white. You can only see part of it in the picture as I am not very good at taking pictures, but this one is a full-page illustration and looks amazing (you can view the entire image here). And besides the one for my story, there are a ton of other awesome original illustrations to be found therein, including art by Bob Eggleton and Alan Kozlowski.

But the incredible art is just the beginning! The issue really is packed with so much cool stuff that I’m having trouble figuring out what to highlight; you’ve got a new short story from cyberpunk progenitor, musician, The Crow co-screenwriter, and sometimes Blue Öyster Cult lyricist John Shirley not to mention an exclusive interview with him conducted by Darrell Schweitzer. You’ve got a bunch of other brand spankin’ new sci-fi adventures. You’ve got a hard- if not impossible-to-find comic from the original pulp era. You’ve even got a reprint of a classic Feghoot! So grab yourself a copy if you haven’t already and get startled!

It seemed appropriate to picture this issue next to the 2021 issue of Startling — the first relaunch issue — which contains my twisty, turny, virusy, tech-catastrophe-y, German grammar lesson-ey perception bender PAYLOAD, a story that could not be more different in tone from PHARMAKON, PHARMAKON I don’t think, but that is well worth giving a spin if you haven’t read it — it even made the Tangent Online 2021 Recommended Reading List (as did my story BIRTH from Weirdbook #44.)

Anyway that should get us all up to date on what I had going on in late October. Take care everyone!

-M.

Hey everybody, M. here,

I have had a few stories come out over the past few months, and it just struck me that I have not yet posted pictures on this blog of the physical copies. I should have a contributor copy of the new Startling Stories on the way soon, which contains my most recent story PHARMAKON, PHARMAKON, and I’ll share some pictures of that one when it lands. But before that, here are some pics of the publications containing my other most recent work to come out in print (or get reprinted):

First off, here is Professor Feiff’s Compleat Pocket Guide for the Intergalactic Traveller on the Move, which contains my story A DAZZLING WORLD.

The story is one which, as I mentioned over on Facebook a while back could probably be considered a “green goo” story, albeit one that depicts an infinitely more multi-colored apocalypse than what the moniker green goo conjures (or, for that matter, “gray goo,” the theoretical nanotech problem from which the term green goo is derived).

And did I mention that the central xenobiological conceit in this story is an insect that maybe, maybe has never before appeared as the foundation of a sci-fi horror story before? Though don’t get me wrong, I am very hesitant about actually claiming to be the “first” of anything in fiction at this point in human history.

Anyway, going any deeper into what exactly is going on in A DAZZLING WORLD would amount to dropping significant spoilers, so if you want to see what ostensibly non-scary insect I wrote a scary story about, pick up a copy of the anthology and dig into it.

I’ve been making my way through reading this one myself, and I am finding that it contains a fun and wildly varied array of stories about equally varied flora and fauna, alien and otherwise. At the end of each story, you’re already wondering what the next weird animal, plant, or combination of the two is going to be, and it keeps it moving.

Second, here’s a picture of the hardcover edition of Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldrich Horror Omnibus #5, which came out in July. As you can see it’s a titanic tome, so big that it makes the first three volumes of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire look almost modest by comparison. It contains four 2020-2021 issues of the magazine, and thus contains a reprint of my story AFTER THE AFTER PARTY, which originally appeared in the 2021 Candlemas 2021 edition.

I gotta say this big volume looks nice as hell on the shelf, it’s pretty austere looking even on top of the stone-serious looking HPL there on the cover. And the inside layout is really nicely done as well.

So grab yourself a copy if you happened to miss the Candlemas 2021 issue, or even if you didn’t (I have heard people talking about actually collecting the big volumes because they look so substantial on the shelf).

And as I have mentioned here and elsewhere, I am slated to have two stories appear in Lovecraftiana next year; first up will be my Lovecraft Mythos story THE STUDY OF WORMS early in 2023, which is brimming with weird science, occult ritual, thrilling adventure, and blood. Then later in the year, my eschatological romantic dramedy SOMETHING MISSING will hit the shelves. That one takes place mostly in a suburban mom-and-pop restaurant and has a lot of stuff about metaphysics and hermeneutics in it. So get ready.

More on both of those and more coming soon, take care everyone!
-M.

Hey everybody, M. here,

If you’ve been following my announcements here you might already know by now that early next year, my story THE STUDY OF WORMS will be appearing in the Candlemas issue of Lovecraftiana: The Magazine of Eldritch Horror. I am happy to say that I just signed a contract and now have another story slated to appear in Lovecraftiana later in the year. My story SOMETHING MISSING has been accepted for publication in the Lammas Eve issue, which should be out in the summer of 2023. I’m calling that story an “eschatological romantic dramedy.” More on what that entails later! And of course, if you want more of my Mythos mayhem while you’re waiting for these next two, don’t forget that you can still pick up my madcap Lovecraftian rom-com AFTER THE AFTER PARTY in the Lovecraftiana Omnibus #5.
-M.

For those who have not yet seen it, I wanted to share this absolutely AMAZING illustration by award-winning artist Vincent Di Fate for my story in the new issue of Startling Stories. As you can see, it’s done in the style of the great Virgil Finlay, one of the most esteemed illustrators of the original pulp era. So if you want to see what this intense man-vs-monster showdown is all about, snag yourself a copy of the magazine in print or e-book format and give this one a read.

Art from the 2022 issue of Startling Stories, for the story “Pharmakon, Pharmakon” by M. Stern. Illustration by Vincent Di Fate.

And along with my off-planet adventure starring an offbeat investigator, PHARMAKON, PHARMAKON, you’ll find a mindblowing lineup of other brand new, pulse-pounding science fiction from John Shirley, Mike Chinn, Adrian Cole, and many more, not to mention more amazing original art, exclusive interviews, and some unearthed gems from the original pulp era. So grab yourself a copy today! Get into it! get startled!
-M.

Hey everybody, M. here,

The 2022 issue of Startling Stories has arrived on planet Earth! I’m truly thrilled to be returning to the pages of Startling with my story PHARMAKON, PHARMAKON, about an off-beat, off-planet investigator tasked with tracking down the source of a bizarre mind-warping, space-bending malady that could endanger all human life on planet Rygiat, where magnetism flows like the wind.

It’s a fun story, chock full of the following: Action! Deduction! Aliens! Adventure! Weird machines! Good vibes! And as you can see from the BONKERS AMAZING cover below, you can expect plenty of other top-notch sci-fi scorchers in this issue as well:

I should have some more updates about this issue forthcoming, but don’t wait for me — grab a copy and get into it!

(And if you’re looking for something on the darker side after PHARMAKON, PHARMAKON’s dose of optimism, don’t forget to check out my tale of obsession, aesthetics, and buckets of bugs, A DAZZLING WORLD, in JayHenge Publishing‘s new xenobiology anthology, and my madcap Lovecraftian rom-com AFTER THE AFTER PARTY, recently reprinted in the Lovecraftiana Omnibus #5).

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

Hey everybody, M. here,

Happy to say that my new story A DAZZLING WORLD is now available in the new anthology from JayHenge Publishing, Professor Feiff’s Compleat Pocket Guide to Xenobiology for the Galactic Traveller on the Move. You can see the cover of the anthology below. Good stuff!

What can you expect from this archaically-titled tome? My story is a work of grim if colorful sci-fi horror about an insect not generally regarded as scary, and about the spirit of the Age of Reason giving birth to its obsessive obverse — I think? Check it out and judge for yourself!

And you can also dig the work of a wide array of other contemporary authors exploring weird flora and weird fauna from this planet and beyond — I haven’t checked out any of the other stories yet but I can only imagine there are some wild ones.

As I mentioned before, I am super excited to be appearing in a JayHenge anthology for the first time — I strongly encourage you to pick this one up right here, in whatever format you so desire and see what it’s all about.

Spent the wee hours of the morning wrestling with WordPress to make this post happen and now it’s time to get my day started. More news should be on the way soon, take care everyone!
-M.

Hey everybody, M. here,

It’s been a very busy and once again unremittingly hot week over here at M. Stern Headquarters, so I am just now sufficiently hydrated (mostly with coffee, but hey liquid is liquid as they say) and getting around to posting this update.

I’m happy to share that I got a couple of acceptances last month and now that the contracts are all signed I can spread the news. First off, my short story SONG TO… will be appearing in the upcoming cosmic horror anthology Strange Aeon: Hopeful Monsters, the third in a yearly series by MKeaton Presents.

And my short story A DAZZLING WORLD will be appearing in the Enlightenmentishly-titled anthology of weird flora and fauna forthcoming from JayHenge Publishing, Professor Feiff’s Compleat Pocket Guide to Xenobiology for the Galactic Traveller on the Move.

I’m thrilled to be in both of these and can’t wait for them to hit the shelves — more updates to come on these ones here (and over on Facebook) as things develop.

Take care everyone!
-M.