For the night crew. 👇

Happy to be included in the latest theme at Bunker Squirrel Magazine (especially after seeing the excellent ToC). Click below to read my take on “Confessions of a Serial Killer,” then stick around to read the other stories. They’re bound to be, ahem, killer! bunkersquirrel.com

(1/3) Love a good coming-of-age tale, so when I heard about @keithroysdon.bsky.social’s THAT OCTOBER, I was pretty pumped. Centering on the tragic death of one teenager and the disappearance of a second, the story tracks a close-knit group of friends as they work to make sense of the loss.

Today we have 2 stories that should be TV shows 🦝 We loved @muchadoaboutnil.bsky.social's reluctant hero figuring out his weird gift. This builds wonderfully to a chilling end. Prompts: Morgue/Funeral Home, Nightshift Worker, Unwanted Gift Read and listen here: trashcatlit.com/rubbernecker/

This news greeted me right as I woke up, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Thanks so much, @trashcatlit.bsky.social and @therelphian.bsky.social, for the nomination, and congrats to the other nominees. Let’s scrounge one up for the bin!

(1 of 5) Last year I read SMALL TOWN SINS by #KenJaworowski and was blown away. The characterization, the setting, and the bleak stories with undercurrents of hope all made for the best novel I’d read in years. As such, I couldn’t *wait* for the follow-up, WHAT ABOUT THE BODIES.

“Rubbernecker” is out today, part of the prompted summer pop-up at @trashcatlit.bsky.social. Click below to give it a go. 👇 Thanks to @therelphian.bsky.social for including the story in the series. Always a pleasure to work with her. trashcatlit.com/rubbernecker/

What starts as a simple convenience-store robbery morphs into so much more in @kmwriter01.bsky.social’s “The Way It Works.” If you’re not reading Michael’s work, you’re truly missing out. His broken characters and gritty settings make for some of my favorite noir stories in recent memory.

Loving the essays in the recent issue of @rhppress.bsky.social, especially this one from @magonzales.bsky.social. As a person who grew up in rural MN, I have no concept of what it’s like to live in a city like NYC. Michael brings it to life with his intensely personal accounts. Phenomenal work here.

The hits keep coming with @mikemchone.bsky.social’s “By the Heaven That Bends Above Us,” which is about a bank robbery at the surface level, but offers so much depth with a family’s history peppered throughout. Heartbreaking passages in this one.

“Rubbernecker” is out today, part of the prompted summer pop-up at @trashcatlit.bsky.social. Click below to give it a go. 👇 Thanks to @therelphian.bsky.social for including the story in the series. Always a pleasure to work with her. trashcatlit.com/rubbernecker/

New story out tomorrow at @trashcatlit.bsky.social. Come along to see how I handled A Funeral Home, A Night-Shift Worker, and An Unwanted Gift…then stick around to see how everyone else tackled their unique prompts. Guaranteed to be a blast!

“Make a Choice” by #PhilRobbins is a damned masterclass in slowly building tension that explodes in the finale. Yet another fantastic story in the new @rhppress.bsky.social. Might go down as one of the best issues yet, which is no small feat given the wonderful fiction that’s come before it.

My latest story for Punk Noir Magazine, entitled “While the Goldfinches Forage,” touches upon my greatest fear. Check it out below. 👇 Thanks to Steve Golds for including it in the Mother theme. open.substack.com/pub/punknoir...

Excited to be back in the bin at @trashcatlit.bsky.social. The random prompt generator is my favorite challenge of the year. So happy to see all the new names, and to share a spot with some fellow repeat offenders. Thanks to @therelphian.bsky.social for pulling this all together!

Almost forgot to mention it’s Infusion Day. Takes about five hours from start to finish. Today I’m reading stories from @rhppress.bsky.social and the new Stand-based anthology (while being kept company by our dog, Max). Here’s hoping it puts me back on track. Been a long summer of MS symptoms.

Phew. Gotta catch my breath after reading Christine Blackwicks’ “Tits Up” in @rhppress.bsky.social. Just a gut-punch of a story, starting with a woman dealing with breast cancer and spiraling from there. Some lines in here are so powerful they’re like a slap to the face. Phenomenal story.

(1 of 2) Spent my reading time last night with @carlottadale.bsky.social’s THE PARROTS COME AGAIN, a novella that introduces PI Penny Lane and her unique way of attaining justice for her clients. Loved the shifting timeline, showcasing her first and latest cases to tell the full story.

Doesn’t get any better than a new issue of @rhppress.bsky.social! Leading it off is @libbycudmore.bsky.social’s “Jellyfish Night,” the story of an island town where sacrifices must be made to keep things running smoothly for the residents. Gave me some Shirley Jackson vibes. Excellent start.

It’s been ages since I read The Stand (30 years? 35?), but there’s no way I was missing this anthology. Happy Release Day to @briankeene.bsky.social, @cgolden.bsky.social, and the rest of the authors in this murderers’ row of talent. Almost 800 pages! What a gift to readers. 👍

Today’s #BookMail has me pretty excited. It’s always a pleasure to see a ToC with @jqwritesstuff.bsky.social’s name in it. His storytelling is powerful, gritty, and evocative. I’ve been wanting to try his longer works for awhile now. Lucky to snag some copies from him. Digging in soon.

Get the fuck out of here! @pointofimpactbooks.bsky.social did a Frenzi short for Pistol Jim Press?! Fantastic! Quite a treat, Joe. Well done. 👍 open.substack.com/pub/pistolji...

For those who missed it the first time around, “Gooseberry Falls” is spotlighted today at Bunker Squirrel Magazine. It’s a short-short, so only takes a minute to read. @tcwestminster.bsky.social did a great job with the accompanying pictures!

So excited to be part of the inaugural theme at Pistol Jim Press with “Mushroom Kingdom,” a short-short that brings the escalating chaos. Thanks to @witchingmetal66.bsky.social for having me! pistoljimpress.substack.com/p/mushroom-k...

Happy to appear in the latest issue of Bunker Squirrel Magazine as part of their “Confessions” series. Check out my short-short, “Gooseberry Falls,” then stick around for the rest of the stories. 👇 Thanks to @tcwestminster.bsky.social for welcoming me to the Bunker!

Happy to appear in the latest issue of Bunker Squirrel Magazine as part of their “Confessions” series. Check out my short-short, “Gooseberry Falls,” then stick around for the rest of the stories. 👇 Thanks to @tcwestminster.bsky.social for welcoming me to the Bunker!

(1 of 3) The Bartender is back, baby! Cosmopolitan Chaos from @pointofimpactbooks.bsky.social is the biggest and best installment in the series yet. If you’re a fan of Die Hard, and wouldn’t mind a little sexy time, additional dark humor, and loads of explosive action, this is the book for you.

Always a joy to see this tale at @trashcatlit.bsky.social pop back up. I had so much fun unearthing the story inside the prompts. You can, too, when the prompt generator fires up on Friday, 8/1. Details below. 👇

Can’t believe our little guy, Max, turns four years old today. I was never much of a dog guy — this was supposedly for the kids when we got him — but he thinks I walk on water, so he’s never far from me. Kind of fun having a sidekick. 🙂

Finally snagged the latest EQMM. I came for the @paulkwrites.bsky.social story, but will stick around for the rest. Saw the opening lines to her tale while taking pics. Seems apropos to be sitting in a nearly abandoned mall while my daughter partakes in an intensive ballet camp while I read it. 🤣

When the bookstore calls to say an order has come in, and you find out your wife is reading some pretty cool material and may be more noir than you! @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Well, well, well, look what just showed up in the ole library, @pointofimpactbooks.bsky.social!

My copy is taunting me from the @bookshop.org app. Can’t wait for this new one from @cwblackwell.bsky.social to make its appearance tomorrow!

Personal loan offers from ever-changing NY telephone numbers have become the bane of my existence.

Completely shocked to learn @micromancemagazine.bsky.social nominated my story, “A Burst of Cinnamon,” for Best of the Net! I was so psyched just to have the story accepted by Gail Lynn Brown, who has created such a great publication. A nomination is too cool. Thank you so much! Story link below.

Excited to be included in the inaugural theme from Pistol Jim Press with my short-short, “Mushroom Kingdom.” Look for it in early August. Writers: see below for the guidelines and get those stories sent in! 👇 open.substack.com/pub/pistolji...

It’s a good week when Ray Boyd and his Crown Vic are back in the mix! This time he finds his way into more sexual hijinks while on the hunt for some stolen diamonds. Great dark humor had me laughing a few times. Here’s hoping @leegoldberg.bsky.social keeps going with this awesome character.

Age-48-Feeling-88 after getting the mail today.

My lovely wife has a birthday on Sunday, but we have some family in town right now, so we’re having an early celebration. She loves German chocolate cake, so I took a crack at it. Turned out well, I think. (No, she’s not a Pac-Man fan; I took mercy on the anti-coconut/pecan kids.)

Challenge yourself this August and get some random prompts from @trashcatlit.bsky.social. I participated last August, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had. The story that came out of it surprised me, and ended up being one of the best things I’ve ever written.

For the night crowd. Click through to read my new short-short and find out what’s so sinful about yard work. 👇 open.substack.com/pub/punknoir...

Best dollar you’ll ever spend, folks. Get on it.

Happy to help lead off the Deadly Sins theme at Punk Noir this month. Click below to read a short-short about pride gone awry. Thanks to Steve Golds for including it in the series. open.substack.com/pub/punknoir...

My wife and I just watched this tonight, and I can’t say enough good things about it. Mariska Hargitay has created a beautiful documentary about family, relationship, love, and forgiveness, all while trying to learn more about her mother, Jayne Mansfield. Highly recommended.

There may not be a better duo than @blacktopkid.bsky.social and Adam Lazarre-White. Cosby keeps writing some of the best crime fiction out there, while Lazarre-White takes that excellent material and makes it effin’ *sing* on audio. Such a treat to have these two together. Go take a listen.

“Asshole of the Game” by @charliekondek.bsky.social is a coming-of-age story that feels all too real to this Gen X’r. Hell, if Coach Buttermaker from The Bad News Bears could read Charlie’s tale, he’d lament not adding this method to his repertoire. Go read it at greatlakesreview.org/asshole-of-the…

So I went from “probably not gonna read it” to top-three in the @coyhall.bsky.social canon. What a travesty to miss this beautifully written book about truth and falsehood, creation and death, hive-mind and resistance, all with exemplary world-building and characterization. Recommended.

Confession time: I bought The Owl Men of Shanidar, but wasn’t sure I’d ever read it. I struggle with sci-fi, and figured it wouldn’t be for me. But then I thought, “C’mon, man, this is effin’ @coyhall.bsky.social! You gotta give it a chance!” Glad I did. Great stuff at the halfway mark.

Here’s the thing: Independent bookstores aren’t *just* bookstores. They are pillars of their communities and supporting them means supporting all of the incredible work they do beyond selling books. They’re invaluable. Am*zon is not.

My sister-in-law sent us a surprise today. While going through some old stuff, she found this picture of me and my wife when we dated in high school. Year would have been 1992. Such a trip to see this after so many years. Only the third picture we’ve unearthed from that time.