Submission Log 11/21/2008

I’ve been so busy producing content for my Tampa Bay Area site at About.com I haven’t had much time to keep up with my not-so-secret identity as a horror writer. I’ll be trying to get caught up by the end of the year, submitting dormant stories and, with any luck, completing some new tales along the way.

The following stories were submitted to various markets this week:

• “Closing the Deal,” 4,950 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to Shroud Magazine
• “An Unsolicited Lucidity,” 4,550 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to Shock Totem
• “Late for Dinner, 1,150 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to New Dawn Fades
• “Tattered Notes Found in a Cheap Motel Room,” 1,580 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to Not One of Us
• "Wild with Hunger," 4,220 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to Murky Depths
• “Their Minds How Darkened,” 4,360 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to Weird Tales
• “The Bane of Azrael,” 1,650 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to Sybil’s Garage
• “The Far Unlit Unknown,” 2,100 words, submitted 11/19/2008 to Space & Time

Shameless Self Promotion No. 4

My short story “Starless and Bible Black” appears in Withersin’s Unkindness anthology, released on Oct. 31, 2008.

The first anthology from Withersin Magazine, the book collects “13 dark, different and pleasantly sinister tales with a twist.” The complete list of tales includes:

• “Inspiration” - Ken Goldman


• “An Unnatural Death” - Ben Duiverman


• “Complete Breakfast” - MP Johnson


• “Doddering Fools” - Gregory Story


• “Vanguard of Blood” - Patrick McCully


• “Medicated” - James Marcotullio


• “Starless and Bible Black” - Lee Clark Zumpe


• “Chemical Man” - Mike Norris


• “The Forgotten House” - Patrick Rutigliano


• “Goatman” - Robert Sullivan


• “Updating” - John Rosenman


• “Interruptions” - JG Faherty


• “Paint it Black” - Brian Schiavo

Also included is an interview with Graham Hancock.

Unkindness is available from Withersin Magazine.

Recent Acquisitions No. 1

Earlier this year I met a local book dealer with a dramatic back story. Seems he relocated to Florida after a particularly unpleasant divorce, leaving behind a book store and its inventory. Today, he buys estates, picks through the spoils and auctions off the best booty online.

Fortunately, he maintains a small client base and knows each of his patron’s particular obsessions quite well. Those fortunate enough to have made his acquaintance get first dibs on the occasional treasures which wash up on his literary shore.

Sadly, finances restrict me from expanding my library much these days … but I have made a few small, significant purchases I’m pleased to report. From time to time, I’ll post information about these and future acquisitions.

Among my recent purchases is A Song of the Naked Lands, by Robert E. Howard, printed by Roy A. Squires in 1973. This letterpress edition was limited to 230 copies, mine being copy 182. The original envelope was included in the sale.

In his essay “Collecting Robert E. Howard,” Don Herron says:
“The titles the late Roy Squires printed on letterpress from handset types are high points of the book-making art for the Howard collector.”