Anthology Spotlight: Blood Bound Books

 My fiction is included in four Blood Bound Books anthologies.

Unspeakable is a creature-theme horror anthology.

My story, "Wind, Winter, Wendigo" is included. Jacob lives in tiny Wind, MN and endures the bitter cold of the winter of 1889. He also endures the sudden death of this father. But with the winter ground too hard to dig, what does the undertaker do with the bodies of the deceased until spring?

Murphy Edwards, Monique Bos, Storm Grant and Natalie L. Sin all turned in excellent stories. I didn't think there was a single dud in the entire anthology!

I really enjoy working with Marc, Theresa and the team of editors at BBB. They actually take the time to edit your work, rather than just select it, and always have great ideas on how to improve the story.

 My first appearance in a BBB anthology was actually the first one they released. Night Terrors included my story "Tomorrow's Headline".

Michelle almost leaves her young son, Casey in the car during a quick trip to the drug store for migraine medication. Deciding against it ("that wouldn't be safe!") she leaves him to browse in the toy aisle. Michelle bumps into a strange man and realizes her headache is suddenly gone. But so is Casey. She tries to chase him down, but none of the other customers will let her leave the store.

I really enjoyed the stories by G. Winston Hyatt, Craig Saunders, Lee Clark Zumpe, Barry Napier and Harper Hull. Two other stories I didn't like as much were honorable mentions in The Year's Best Horror, so that shows you how tastes can differ!

An incredible FOUR stories included in the BBB anthology Rock and Roll is Dead received honorable mentions in a more recent edition of The Best Horror of the Year.  Quite a feat for a small press publisher! (Sadly, I didn't make the cut in that one.)

 I can take solace in the fact that I seem to be the only author with four stories in Seasons in the Abyss. This is a seasonal-theme anthology of flash fiction.

"The Red Thing in the Snow" is part of the Winter portion of the anthology. Can something that happens in the near future echo back to the past?

Great stories here from Doree Weller and Monique Bos.

We meet the Easter Bunny in a laundromat in "Wet Clothes." Wait until you see what he's washing!

Springtime terror from Geoff Bagwell, Paul DeCirce and Sean Graham were among my favorites.

"Lost in a Book" is my Summer entry. Grandma is just sure the girls drowned while she read.

Four tremendous stories in a row ended up as my favorites in this section. Thanks to Lorna Keach, Rebecca Brown, Chad McKee and Robert Essig for their great tales.

Finally, my entry "Problem Solving Beneath the Harvest Moon" is part of the Fall section. I ended up doing a lot of research for only a two page story!

Stephen Hill and Douglas Lane had great entries in this section.

Finally, let's talk about "extreme horror".  In the anthology titled D.O.A. NOTHING is off-limits.

After several rewrites and polishes, "Artistic Subject" was accepted. Cassie, a young woman looking for work, visits the home of a wealthy eccentric. His two hobbies are reading classic literature and taxidermy. Turns out, he thinks Cassie would be perfect for his newest piece. According to the editor, here was one of those rare instances where the last line made the story worth inclusion. I think it's appalling, myself, and I can't believe I wrote it!

I loved the stories by J. Grant, Edward Rosic, Glynn Barrass, John McNee and Stacy Bolli. Nice work! This one also features my favorite cover. If you are a jaded horror fan sick of vampires and zombies, be sure to check out D.O.A.!