Tag Archives: western

Kickstarter for “Zehlreg A. Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium” Launches Tomorrow!

zagIf you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Remember when I said that my western/horror short story “Blood Trail” was accepted for publication by End of the World Pubishing?

Well, the kickstarter starts tomorrow morning, Friday, May 31st!

According to the publisher, the final word count will be around 125K, which is huge. Also, reaching for the stars, they also want to raise enough for an audiobook as well.

Go to the Zehlreg A. Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium kickstarter page. If necessary, create an account (I had to go through about a dozen captchas just to make mine).

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My short story “Blood Trail” Accepted for Publication in “Zehlreg Augustus Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium”

western

Screen capture from hyperion-tales.com

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I don’t have a lot of details yet, but my “E.E. Durban, Occult Consulting Detective” short story “Blood Trail” has been accepted for publication by End of the World Publishing.

The theme is called Zehlreg Augustus Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium and is “where the Wild West meets the vast worlds of Fantasy!”

More specifically:

Our theme is intentionally broad to allow would-be contributors to rustle the dogies of their imaginations as freely as possible. A few ideas we have had, purely as examples, are: What would it be like if there had been dwarves around for the California gold rush? What animals elves or orcs might drive and what antics might ensue? How would a saloon fight go if some folks in the saloon were magic users? For that matter, what would magic look like/be used for and how would the general populace use it? Show us Sitting Bull with magic that controls water! Show us ghost riders chasing the Devil’s herd! Show us Billy the Kid with a wand! Or on a dragon! Or both! Show us Annie Oakley, Magic Missile Sharp-shooter! The possibilities are endless.

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“Wolf in the Wind” Appears in “Shoot the Devil” Anthology October 1st

shoot the devil

Cover art for the anthology “Shoot the Devil.”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

My steampunk, occult, horror, western short story “Wolf in the Wind” will appear in the Crucifixion Press anthology “Shoot the Devil” on or about October 1, 2022.

Too often, the modern world wants us to avoid confrontation, to pretend that evil doesn’t exist, that the bad guy is always misunderstood, “the hero of his own story”. Even when people can be bothered to admit that evil exists, they just encourage us to be ‘nice’. To be ‘understanding’ and ‘compassionate’. Anything but actually facing the evil and driving it out with extreme prejudice.

-From the Foreword by Eric Postma

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Coming in October in a New Anthology: “Wolf in the Wind”

wolf teaser

Promotional image from Crucifixion Press

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

My short story “Wolf in the Wind” was accepted some months ago for a new anthology, but it won’t see the light of day (so to speak) until October. Until then, here’s a small taste.

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Book Review of “Upright Women Wanted”

upright

Cover art for “Upright Women Wanted”

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Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey isn’t the sort of book that I’d usually read. It’s not the sort of book I’d even be slightly interested in buying. But, like books I’ve read before, it was a free download (until Dec 17th) from Tor.com.

I thought I’d given up reading Tor books if, for no other reason, that all the ones I’ve taken a look at seem to have been written for other audiences, written by people who would hate my guts if they knew me, or both.

But the description was interesting enough:

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My Short Story “The Strangers” is Being Published in “Tales of the Southwest”

sw

Promotional image for the cover of John Green’s anthology “Tales of the Southwest”

Yes, “The Strangers” is the eleventh story accepted for publication in an anthology this year and it has a slightly unusual history. I originally wrote it for a different publisher and it was rejected. “Ouch,” yes it always stings. However, I read that John Green was looking for stories to be included in his “Tales of the Southwest” anthology on Facebook. I happened to casually mention that I had a story that might fit but A) it’s set in Idaho (not exactly the southwest) and B) it has aliens. He told me to send it to him anyway.

He liked the story, but asked if I could change the location from Idaho City, Idaho to Cedar City, Utah. I did the research and although the presence of the Mormon church in late 19th century Utah complicated things a bit, I made the edits.

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Cowboys and Sorcerers, Part One

gunfight

From the opening of the television show “Gunsmoke.”

The 21st Story in the Adventures of the Ambrosial Dragon: A Children’s Fantasy Series

6,000 years ago in Bronze Age China, Bingwen Lóng, a dragon disguised as a man, Yao Jin, a sorceress and sword wielder, and Xia Jiuzhou, an eight-year-old boy whose real name is Landon, stand on a ridge overlooking the mystical and mythical city of K’un-Lun.

“I shall miss our time here.”

“Yao Jin, we were all almost killed here.”

“Yeah, I want to go home now.”

“We will, Landon.” Bingwen Lóng looked down at his friend and patted his shoulder.

“It was still an extraordinary experience. Even you must admit that, Landon. After all, you met an immortal moon goddess and the daughter of a dragon.”

The boy took a deep breath. Yes, it had been thrilling to be among such amazing people, but he missed his Dad, his Grandpa, and his little sister.

“Well, as Landon said, time to go home.”

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