I’m very excited to be on the faculty of Nafallen University for their 2022-2023 year, where I will be teaching HIS 436: The History of Smells, and TOR 363: Torture with Common Household Objects (always a popular course, although HOME-EC 101 is a recommended prerequisite). Many thanks to Matt at @MHP_Horror for pulling this fun (and fictional) project together!
Y0u can pick up a copy of the Nafallen University 2022-2023 Course Catalog at Amazon.com.
The latest edition of Dark Horses: The Magazine of Weird Fiction just dropped with my story, “Red Sands at Morning.” And look at that cover. Thank you Wayne! Available at Amazon.com for $2.99 (Kindle) or $6.99 (paperback) if anyone is looking for something fun to take to the beach.
A shout out to Dark Horses magazine, who have accepted my short story, “Red Sands at Morning.” A bit of a taste:
Amid the buoys, bits of fishing nets, and jagged tree limbs sat a red sandcastle. Only, not a sandcastle, not really. It certainly had the FEEL of a castle, with walls and swooping turrets and exposed angles that looked defensive in nature. But it was rougher, wilder, and should have been pulverized in the storm had it been built before it. And it certainly wasn’t new; there was no one else in sight.
“Can we see that sand, Daddy? Please please please…” Alan set the girls on a sturdy tree trunk and made his way through the debris field to the red castle. The closer he got to it, the more sinister it became, with some of the spires topping the thing looking almost razor sharp. It also appeared to have washed in with the rest of the storm junk. As he approached it from the ocean side, there was a clear line between the off-white of the beach sand the solid red of the castle.
Drabbles are 100 word stories, and more challenging than they might seem. Much like a poem, every word counts in this form, and it’s not only a fun form to play around with, but also a good writing exercise in general.
I write these on occasion, usually for an antho call or contest. When they don’t “hit,” you’re left trying to place them elsewhere, which can be difficult and time consuming. I’ve taken to sometimes uploading them on sites around the Internet for a variety of reasons. When I get a fair amount of these, I’ll throw up a Rabble of Drabbles, of which this is the first. Check them out if you get the chance, and stick around the sites to read a wide variety of writers.
“Shadows”
https://medium.com/@rich_41534/shadows-a-speculative-b7dab4e21f82
“Case Closed”
https://commaful.com/play/rwaynegray/case-closed/?sh=1
“The Wizard and the Words of God”
https://www.wattpad.com/1189257886-the-wizard-and-the-words-of-god
“Last Halloween”
https://www.booksie.com/667412-last-halloween
“Home For The Holidays”
https://storywrite.com/story/16354928-Home-For-The-Holidays–a-Christmas-drabble–by-Rich1
“Equal Shares”
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rwaynegray
Special thanks to Trembling With Fear, which recently published my short story “Oxi,” a lighthearted tale of medical waste disposal hi-jinx. And semi-illiteracy. This is — I think — the first story I wrote after switching over from writing screenplays in 2020 (thanks pandemic). It was also one of the first to get picked up. Again, my thanks to Editor Stephanie Ellis and everyone else at Trembling With Fear.
You can read the story at https://horrortree.com/trembling-with-fear-12-19-21/.
Very excited to have a (very) short piece, “Among the Weeds, Across the Pond” appearing in the upcoming @BlackHarePress anthology 666 (Dark Drabbles 11) (you can pre-order it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HYN6LHW). Thanks to D. Kershaw and everyone at Black Hare Press – this should be a great read!
![666 (Dark Drabbles Book 11) by [Black Hare Press, D. Kershaw]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41vM+N9G5pL.jpg)
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Contract’s signed, time to share. A huge thank you to Black Ink Fiction for accepting my short story, “Truce,” for publication in an upcoming issue. More info coming when I get a date…