2019: Writing Year in Review

Well, 2019 (like so many years before it) sure has been a year, huh? For me, 2019 marked the end of my full-time employment in book publishing and the end of six-ish years spent in the Bay Area. At the end of March, I moved with my family to the much-more affordable (We live in a house that we own now!) and much colder Saint Paul, MN. I also joined the ranks of the “precariously temporarily employed” (or “became a freelancer,” for short).

Along with continuing to take on freelance editing projects (especially in the comics/graphic novel and illustrated/gift spaces. If you need any editorial work done in those categories, please don’t hesitate to hit me up here), I also have had the opportunity—over these last 8-9 months—to put a lot more creative writing work in. And lo and behold, that work has borne fruit. Some fruit. A modest amount of fruit. An amount I’m really quite happy with, and what I would certainly consider a good start in terms of fruit bearing.

Without further ado, here’s a quick breakdown of my writing/published works for 2019. Check ‘em out again (if you’ve already seen ‘em) or check ‘em out for the first time:

APRIL 2019

“LIVE NUDE DEATH,” horror/dark fantasy flash fiction, Factor Four Magazine #5

A hitman, hired by the world’s elites to stop the Apocalypse by killing off the Four Horsemen, meets his last target—Death themself—at an abandoned strip club.

Read it online here or you can order a physical copy of the magazine here.

MAY 2019

“She Doesn’t Get Too Many Visitors These Days,” horror micro-fiction, Nothing’s Sacred Volume 5, Jack of All Trades Productions

Two-sentence horror story.

Buy the magazine in print or digital here.

AUGUST 2019

“And Our Next Guest…,” horror short story, Deep Fried Horror August 2019 edition, Deadman’s Tome

A former celebrity bad boy turned beloved superhero movie star finds himself trapped in the green room of a late-night talk show by people who want to make him pay for the sins he committed before his image got a complete make-over.

Read a PDF edition here or buy a paper copy here.

OCTOBER 2019

Clown Car,” webcomic, self-published

An exorcist goes for a ride with a man who claims his car is haunted by the ghosts of the many, many vengeful clowns who perished in it during a circus fire. Art and colors by Ross Radke. Letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Read it here.

DECEMBER 2019

“When I’m #64,” horror/fantasy short story, Across the Universe: Tales of Alternative Beatles ed. by Michael Ventrella and Randee Dawn, Fantastic Books

No matter how many times he dies, life won’t let Paul McCartney be, as he chronicles a life filled with many deaths and many resurrections.

Cited in Library Journal’s starred review of the anthology as a “standout.”

Check it out here, here, and here

“Hook-Hand Man’s Last Night on Lovers’ Lane,” horror flash fiction, Shallow Waters Vol. 4, ed. by Joe Mynhardt, Crystal Lake Publishing

As traffic to his killing grounds declines, a murderous figure from urban legend contemplates a change of scenery

Read it for Kindle/Kindle Unlimited here.