Hey! I mentioned a few posts ago that Egaeus Press would be publishing another of their beautiful books, Crooked Houses, this one containing my story "Miasmata." Now, the book is available for pre-order, to be released later this month. We were asked to contribute stories to this book about hauntings, but not the kind that could … Continue reading CROOKED HOUSES is available for pre-order!

What matters: seagulls (screaming kiss her, kiss her, kiss her, kiss her as XTC sang) soaring on an updraft of warm air; the cold North Sea curling round your ankles; your first time in a used bookstore post-pandemic-lockdown, the rows and rows of battered pre-loved or never-loved volumes, the wood shelves and creaky floors and … Continue reading things that matter and things that don’t

You do find some lovely things online while passing through the circles of hell that comprise social media. Anne Louise Avery's Twitter feed is reason alone to gird your loins and pay a visit to that otherwise horrific platform. She posts gentle, fierce, cozy, moving, deceptively simple but in fact quite profound tweet-sized stories about … Continue reading “unanimity of voices”

I am one of those people who likes symbolic fresh starts. Yes, I know that the first day of a new year, a new month, a new week is "just another day," but they don't feel like that to me. I want lines of demarcation. (Curiously, my own birthday is a nearly meaningless occasion to … Continue reading out with the old

Spring cleaning (can we call it that if it's already June?) Shocking, the layer of dust that's grown around here after just a few months away. Stories are still being told! In April, PS Publishing released Apostles of the Weird, edited by S.T. Joshi, which includes my story "This Hollow Thing." Here's the entire lineup. Death … Continue reading a pandemic update

I was remiss in announcing my last publication of 2019, the Christmas ghost story "So Much Wine" in the excellent and underrated publication Supernatural Tales, which has published several of my stories. Get a hard copy or a copy for your Kindle here. There are three other Christmas ghost stories inside--by Steve Duffy, Helen Grant, … Continue reading “So Much Wine” in SUPERNATURAL TALES #42

The anthology Nowhereville: Weird is Other People is now available to order, containing my story "The Vestige," a strange tale of a man searching for his cousin in an Eastern European city.  Here's the full table of contents: Walk Softly, Softly - Nuzo Onoh Y - Maura McHugh Night Doctors - P. Djèli Clark The … Continue reading “The Vestige” in NOWHEREVILLE

Swan River Press and Mark Valentine have done it again, put together an absolutely gorgeous book with a terrific line-up. The Far Tower: Stories for W.B. Yeats is available now for preorder, shipping in December. It includes my story "This Crumbling Pageant" as part of an excellent table of contents:  "Introduction" Mark Valentine "Under the … Continue reading “This Crumbling Pageant” in The Far Tower

Even though I've lived in Berlin for more than a year and spent around 2 1/2 months here on two separate occasions before that, I'm often still struck, as though it's my first day, by how amazing this city's 20th century history is and how amazing it is to be living here amidst it all, … Continue reading “the city will live and the Wall will fall”*

My story "Every Exquisite Thing," which originally appeared in The Scarlet Soul: Stories for Dorian Gray, is available to read for free online at The Dark. The Scarlet Soul was edited by Mark Valentine (a very talented writer in his own right) and published by Swan River Press, but it sold out pretty much immediately … Continue reading “Every Exquisite Thing” reprinted at The Dark and other news