Edits - Oven of the Flaming God - Blasphemous Rumors

I received the edits for my story, Oven of The Flaming God, from Necro Publications and Bedlam Press. The editors, Regina Garza Mitchell and  David G. Barnett have assembled a magnificent book, BLASPHEMOUS RUMORS - not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

Publication will be later this year. I for one am looking forward. Here's the link to their website.

Necro Publications

Last Night I Dreamed of Barsoom

My short story, "Last Night I Dreamed of Barsoom" has been accepted for inclusion in the charity book, "Klarissa Dreams Redux." The book is scheduled for release around Christmas.

The story was originally published in ERBAPA and is available at Last Night I Dreamed of Barsoom at ERBzine.

New Story Published in Divine Five: Dusk

Pulo Publishing in Australia released their anthology, Divine Five: Dusk this past weekend. The book contains my story, "Take a Deep Breath." The horror story takes place in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The anthology follows Divine Five: Dawn and precedes the unnamed third volume in the series where my story takes place in Japan and is about the son of a son of a son of a samurai.

Divine Five Dusk

Mispronounced words

Coming from a family with Oklahoma roots,  English, Irish, and Scots background, and time spent in Chicago, New Orleans, and New Mexico, sometime pronunciation is in the ear of the beholder- so to speak. Here are a few words that are regularly pronounced incorrectly. It's kinda like, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

When I was in college, people called me Bob. How hard is that to say? I got everything from the harsh, Baab, to Bab, Babe, and Bob. Who knew.

acai:                   should be ah-sigh-EE

conch:               should be conk

espresso:         should be es-PRESS-O (not ex-PRESS-o)

February:         should be FEB-ru-ar-ee (we shouldn’t be dropping the first r).

forte:                 should be fort (not for-TAY)

foyer:                should be FOY-er (not foy-YAY)

gala:                  should be GAY-la (not GAL-uh)

hyperbole:      should be hy-PER-ba-lee (not HY-per-bowl)

liable:                should be LIE-a-ble (not LIE-ble)

library:              should be LIE-brare-ee (don’t drop the first r)

meme:              should be meem

mischievous: should be MIS-chiv-ous (not mis-CHEEV-i-ous)

niche:                should be nitch (not neesh)

nuclear:            should be NEW-clee-ur (not NEW-que-lur)

often:                should be OFF-en (not OFF-ten)

realtor:             should be REEL-tur (not REE-la-tur)

regime:             should be RAY-geem (not RUH-geem)

sherbet:           should be sher-BET (not SHER-bert)

status:               should be STAY-tus (not STAH-tus)

triathlon:         should be tri-ATH-len (not tri-ATH-a-lon)

valet:                 should be VAL-it (not val-AY)

Keep Your Gods Close

Signed the contract this morning for a non-ERB drabble. Purchased by Horror Tree for their online and print series, "Trembling With Fear." My story, "Keep Your Gods Close," won't make anyone tremble. It's humorous satire. At least, I hope it is. No information on a publication date, but I'll post when it's scheduled.

Thanks to Stuart and Stephanie.

Unholy Trinity on the Horror Tree and Running Update

This morning, https://horrortree.com/ selected my three interconnected drabbles, (Nobody's Baby), for publication in their Unholy Trinity series. The three related and humorous horror stories are each exactly 100 words in length. I'll post when they go live.

Horror Tree is a great resource for submission requests - I strongly recommend the site.

On an unrelated matter, I ran for my 120th consecutive day this morning. Over 500 miles in that time. I changed shoes today for my third pair of shoes during the streak. Always NB 860. I pronate more than a duck. Shoes cost about 40 cents a mile and gasoline about 14 cents. That seems wrong somehow.

The Toilet Zone

Hellbound books released the anthology, "The Toilet Zone" today. The cover blurb is "You are just sitting down in The Toilet Zone. The editor says to wash your hands after reading the book. Speaking for my own story, "New Witch in Town," the editor is right. 

Buy "The Toilet Zone

Running Wild Press's New Book

Edited by Cecile Sarruf and featuring Desiree Kannel, Debby Huvaere, Paul Attmere, Andrew Adams, Magaly Garcia, Gabriel Cuerva Fernández, Jenn Powers, Sarah Kaminski, Kay Sullivan, Susan Breall, Monique Gagnon German, Gemma Brook, Anastasia Jill, Anthony Peters, Gary Kidney, Robert Lupton, VT Dorchester, Hailey Piper, Dawn Wilson, E. Burke, Audra Supplee, Abdullah Aljumah, Molly Byrne, Jason Zeitler, Lorna Partington

Coming September 2019

Hellbound Books, a publisher who bought one of my stories for their anthology, "Into The Toilet Zone," sent me a proof of the book for review. Upon review, I discovered that my story wasn't in the table of comments, nor was it in the book. I was well aware that my story was a pretty crappy one, hence it's selection for the "Toilet Zone." I confirmed that Hellbound Books had paid me.

This could open up a whole new career. I like the idea of getting paid for not writing. i wrote the editor back and shared my thoughts.

He adjusted the book and put my story in as the last story in the anthology. Most people don't want to be last in the book. If reader's don't like the stories that come before yours, they toss the book before they get to your story.

I thought about it. In an Olympic relay, the coach puts the strongest and fastest athlete in the anchor position.

More when the book is published.