Forget Me Not – my new cryptid novella in the Systema Paradoxa series from NeoParadoxa
What is legend? What is truth?
A monster is said to lurk beneath the waters of Lake Erie. Jane and her twin brother Rob are haunted by just that. As children, they lost half their family to a terrible boating accident. They haven’t left dry land since. Only, at the age of sixteen, they allow friends to lure them onto the lake.
But should they have held their ground?
When something nearly swamps their boat, years of secrecy are swept away and the children’s father shares their family history with the supposed Monster of Lake Erie.
Will the tale bring closure or just more tragedy?
Niagara Falls, USA lit at night by colorful lights. American waterfall with one of the viewing areas in my story!
Oh golly, this novella was so much fun to write! It’s set on Lake Erie in the Buffalo, NY area – where I grew up – in both 1969 and 1939. Let’s be clear – I was not there in 1939, but I was there in the 1960s. I had fun tapping on my experiences out on the Niagara River on our family motorboat. Niagara Falls plays a key role in the story, and we used to go there often as it was only ten miles from my house.
It is such an honor for my weird fiction story, “The Yellow Crown,” to be nominated for a Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction!
It was published by Hippocampus Press in Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, edited by James Chambers. The anthology’s stories take a new look at the world that was influenced by Robert W. Chambers’ classic work of weird fiction, The King in Yellow (1895), and the Yellow Sign. The anthology itself has also been nominated, for Superior Achievement in an Anthology.
I am delighted to be in the company of such wonderful women, all friends, on the ballot. Congratulations to all!
If any HWA Active or Lifetime members would like a copy of the story, please reach out to me under the Contact tab above. I can also put you in touch with the editor or publisher for a copy of the anthology.
Thank you so much to all the people who took the time to read the anthology and my story!
The gorgeous cover artwork by Aeron Alfrey and cover design by Daniel. V. Sauer
I am over the moon! My story, “The Yellow Crown,” from Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, is on the Preliminary List–as is the anthology itself! Edited by James Chambers and published by Hippocampus Press.
It’s important to note that this does NOT mean it is nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. This is just the short list that people have recommended. There is a first ballot going out to HWA Active and Lifetime members this month, and the actual nominations and final ballot will likely come on February 23ish. But I am indeed delighted that many people liked my story well enough to recommend it, and am honored to be in such good company:
Murray, Lee – “Permanent Damage” (Attack From the ‘80s) (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
O’Quinn, Cindy – “A Gathering at the Mountain” (The Bad Book) (Bleeding Edge Books)
Oreto, Frank J. – “The Care and Feeding of Household Gods” (Beyond the Veil) (Flame Tree Press)
Taborska, Anna -“Two Shakes Of A Dead Lamb’s Tail”(Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands) (Telos Publishing)
Ward, Kyla Lee – “A Whisper in the Death Pit” (Weirdbook #44) (Wildside Press)
Yates, Pauline – “The Best Medicine” (Midnight Echo Issue 16) (AHWA)
Many thanks to editor James Chambers for inviting me into the anthology, and congratulations to him for the awesome book appearing on the Preliminary List for anthologies! There are so many wonderful stories in here. It’s in some tremendous company as well:
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Chambers, James – Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign (Hippocampus Press)
Cluff, Michael and Becker, Willow – Humans are the Problem: A Monster’s Anthology (Weird Little Worlds)
Datlow, Ellen – When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson (Titan Books)
French, Aaron J. and Landry, Jess – There is No Death, There are No Dead (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Guignard, Eric J. – Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (Dark Moon Books)
HOWL Society – Howls From Hell (HOWL Society Press)
Johnson, Eugene – Attack From the ‘80s (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Schlossberg, Josh – The Jewish Book of Horror (Denver Horror Collective)
Showers, Brian J. – Uncertainties: Volume V (Swan River Press)
Thomas, Ben – Tales from Omnipark (House Blackwood)
And a huge thanks to our publisher, Derrick Hussey of Hippocampus Press!
Congratulations as well to Ellen Datlow, also from HWA NY Chapter, for her anthology on the list. Seriously, it’s a huge honor just to be on here with her. And, great job to all my friends and other writers on these lists!
I was delighted when editor Ann Wycoff got in touch out of the blue and said she had loved my story in Under Twin Suns so much that she needed a story from me for this anthology! My flash story, “He Gets Hungry Sometimes,” seemed to be a perfect match. It’s a huge book with many great stories! Here’s the blurb:
Welcome, mortal. You have finally discovered that place they told you about where hope crawls off to die.
This unclean tome runs the gamut of horror and weird fiction across space and time—from surprising terrors in Chernobyl and India to lethal curses in Japan and Greece. From instructions on how to become a successful zombie to a laughing exorcist who is stranger than the execrable demons he dispatches. From calloused gravediggers of Victorian England to a civilized battle between malevolent yet polite sorcerers in present day New York City, and so much more.
Enjoy this malignant collection of stories created by a diverse cabal of thirty-nine authors from around the world.
Available at https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Librarians-Grave-Madness-Adventure/dp/1956917004/
I’m delighted to announce the new weird historical fiction anthology, Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, from Hippocampus Press, edited by James Chambers. It explores the madness of those under the sway of the Yellow Sign in the classic work of weird fiction, The King in Yellow, written by Robert W. Chambers in 1895 (note, no relation to the anthology editor!).
Chambers wrote four stories that outlined the strange world of Carcosa, parallel to our own, that was ruled by the King in Yellow, who was in decline. The stories refer to the play of the same name; if you read the full second act, you go mad. Also, there is a mysterious symbol called the Yellow Sign, which calls people to the play and their subsequent madness.
One of these stories, “The Repairer of Reputations,” shows the megalo-maniacal ravings of Hildritch, who tried to get his cousin Louis and his love, Constance, out of the way from inheriting an alleged empire. It’s set in an alternate history in 1920’s New York City where subway stations were seen as suicide chambers.
The primary characters in the story are all men; it was, after all, written in 1895. I take a look at it from the women’s point of view in my story, “The Yellow Crown.”
I did an online reading Feb. 25 with Syosset Public Library and HWA NY Chapter (more about that under the Appearances tab above). Readers were Linda D Addison (an HWA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient), plus three writers from HWA-NY: Meghan Arcuri, April Grey and me.
Each of us made a list of five women in horror that we’d recommend for you to check out. I put them into a little video, and the list is below so that you don’t miss any names!
1. Jessica McHugh – THE TRAIN DERAILS IN BOSTON (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)
2. Ania Ahlborn – SEED (47North) — or anything else by her
3. Helen Phifer – THE GOOD SISTERS (HQ Digital) — or any of her detective/haunted house books
4. Darcy Coates – THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR: A Ghost Story (Black Owl Books) — or any of her haunted house books
5. J. K. Rowling, pseudonym Robert Galbraith – The Cuckoo’s Calling – Cormoran Strike series (Mulholland Books) — Or, anything by Charlaine Harris (had to sneak her in!)
Another fun creepy story makes its way onto the page! This one is continuing the theme of eco-vengeance that I started in the last anthology by wonderful editor, April Grey. So many cool stories in here!
(From the HWA NY Chapter website at HWANY.com, Feb. 3, 2021)
Carol Gyzander
HWA-NY is pleased to announce the appointment of Carol Gyzander to the role of Chapter Co-Coordinator, joining James Chambers in leading the New York Chapter. Since Carol joined the Horror Writers Association in 2017 she has gone above and beyond to help with organizing and running our readings, convention appearances, and many of the HWA-NY’s most celebrated reading series, including Women in Horror Month, Night Terrors, and the recently launched online reading series, Galactic Terrors. Our chapter wouldn’t be the same without her, and we’re excited for her to receive this well-deserved recognition.
When Galactic Terrors was in the planning stages, Carol took the lead in investigating the technical details of various streaming platforms to find the best fit for the chapter’s needs. She’s also responsible for pulling together much of the information required for each episode and even learned how to make video clips to introduce each reader, but reports she is quite relieved that Lou Rera has taken over this task and immensely improved it. Carol also co-hosts Galactic Terrors with James Chambers on the second Thursday of each month, streaming new episodes live via YouTube and Facebook.
Earlier in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic made in-person chapter meetings impossible, Carol reacted swiftly, researching online meeting platforms for safety and accessibility before pivoting the group to an online venue. She also added a series of mid-month check-ins to ensure that HWA-NY members felt supported and connected during those first brutal months of lockdown.
Carol is also a gifted author and editor. Her stories appear in a dozen anthologies including Stories We Tell After Midnight from Crone Girls Press; Across the Universe: Tales of Alternate Beatles from Fantastic Books (amidst stories by Cat Rambo, Spider Robinson and David Gerrold); Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse from Camden Park Press; and The Devil’s Due: Nothing is Ever as it Seems from Valhalla Books (payment is due for deals you make!). She also has stories in Hell’s Highways: Terrifying Tales of Tormented Travels and Hell’s Mall: Sinister Shops, Cursed Items and Maddening Crowds from Lafcadia Press.
As editor and co-founder of Writerpunk Press, she’s edited four anthologies of punk stories inspired by classic tales including Merely This and Nothing More: Edgar Allan Poe Goes Punk and Hideous Progeny: Classic Horror Goes Punk. She and James Chambers are also co-editing the forthcoming charity anthology, Even in the Grave, which will raise funds for the HWA-NY Chapter to support events and help cover expenses for their reading series and other activities.
“The HWA community, and HWA-NY in particular, has been so friendly and welcoming,” Carol said. “I’m delighted to be able to help serve and promote such a supportive group, and to work with Jim who is a tireless resource and advocate for our Chapter and HWA overall. I’ve been particularly excited about the way our new online platforms help reach members who are a bit farther away in our chapter, and I look forward to seeing those continue in some way in the future.”
With deep appreciation for her many contributions to the New York chapter, as well as the larger horror writing community, please join us in congratulating Carol Gyzander and welcoming her in her new role as HWA-NY Chapter Co-Coordinator.
Halloween is the perfect time for this anthology of Faustian stories to enter the world. I’m delighted that this initial offering from Valhalla Books includes my story, “Face It.”
Nothing is ever as it seems; ill-begotten wealth, fame, and glory come at a high price. Featuring award-winning authors and Horror Writers Association members, The Devil’s Due offers enthralling horror stories of underhanded deals gone awry.
My inspiration for my own story, believe it or not, comes from an adult film from back in the 70’s called The Devil in Miss Jones — which was in itself a very Faustian tale. But no, mine is not an adult story of that genre.
Instead, I drew upon my own life experience of caring for my parents through their Alzheimer’s and what the strain of that can cause someone to do. When editor Adam Messer approached me to do a story, I wanted to give it that extra twist and I hope you can tell me whether or not I succeeded.
The Devil’s Due includes these great stories from terrific writers, some known and some new:
“Dante’s Tenth” – Bobby Nash
“Identity Theft” – Rachel Brune
“The Resurrection and the Life” – Jude Reid
“The Black Rock” – Alledria Hurt
“Here Comes Mr Herribone!” – Tim Jeffreys
“Genevieve and the Owl” – Mark Allan Gunnells
“The Plan” – Josh Vasquez
“Mary’s Secret”– Winfield Strock III
“Saddie’s Choices” – Ravyn Crescent
“The Devil You Know” – Shane Nelson
“Good Samuel Rittan” – Samuel R. Grosse
“Face It” – Carol Gyzander
Check it out today and be one of the first to read The Devil’s Due anthology! Now with a new cover:
What do people do in
tough times? They run to cat memes.
I’m delighted to
announce CATS!, a StoryBundle that is the written equivalent of cat videos.
Only better, longer, and with more plot! You’ll find all kinds of cats—cats who
save the world (using magical powers), cats who solve mysteries (simply by being
observant), cats who facilitate romance (because that’s what cats do, mostly to
keep us from bothering them too much). Aloof cats, cuddly cats, mysterious
cats. If you want a cat, you’ll find one right here. (And six of the books –
including CAT LADIES OF THE APOCALYPSE, in which I have a story – are exclusive
to this bundle. You won’t find them anywhere else.)
Recently, #QuarantineCats was trending on Twitter, not because cats need to be quarantined, but because cats are stuck with their shelter-in-place humans and are sometimes not happy about it. Especially since humans are practicing social distancing these days, and as a result, cats are getting more hugs.
Cats hate hugs… unless
they’re on the cat’s terms.
In addition to promoting
the bundle, we’d also like to put some emphasis on the associated charity,
AbleGamers.
Now that most of us have
unwillingly spent weeks inside, unable to socialize, we have a sense of what
many disabled folks contend with each and every day. AbleGamers helps them
participate in online games by providing equipment tailored toward their needs.
Sometimes the online community is the only community available to people who
are housebound (as many of you learned this year). Dreams are important for all
of us, as is being social, so please, if you decide to purchase this bundle, add
a donation to AbleGamers.
Cat videos give people thirty seconds of enjoyment. This bundle gives readers days (maybe weeks) of enjoyment and helps disabled people socialize while stuck at home.
And, here is the anthology in which I have a story!
Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse cover
My story, “Runt of the Litter” features a midwife who travels between post-apocalyptic settlements with her (pregnant) Maine Coon cat, Artemis. Take a peek at the cat on the bottom right of the cover!
