Is this the bleakest story I ever wrote?

Another of my old short stories is now available again. This time around it's "Learning to Fly," a bleak crime story about a man who has hit rock bottom. I think this happens to be one of the best stories I have ever written. In a lot of ways, it's even more relevant today than when I wrote it 15 years ago. I hope you'll check it out.

PS -- I also think this is the best cover I have designed to date. It's fun learning new things!

Oldest Living American Serial Killer Tells All

The resurrection of my older horror and crime short stories continues. This week it's "Oldest Living American Serial Killer Tells All," which is now available for Kindle for just 99 cents.

I always liked this story, and it stayed in print for a lot of years in the Barnes & Noble anthology 100 Menacing Little Murder Stories. That book finally went where all such books go -- into the ether -- so now it's time to bring the tale back into print. In addition to the story itself, this e-edition includes an exclusive new afterword about the titular serial killer -- Rockwell, who's just as American as apple pie and the painter that shared his name.

By the way, I think the cover for this one came out pretty well. I wanted something striking, with bold but simple typography since the title is so long. I thought about playing around with splashes of blood or something more violent, but this is actually a fairly sedate crime story, so I think I struck the right balance.

I hope you'll give "Oldest Living American Serial Killer Tells All" a read. Who knows, I may even revisit Rockwell one of these days. I'm sure he's still got some mischief up his aged sleeves.

Strom Front resurrected

It's time to bring another of my old horror stories back into print! This time it's "Storm Front," one of my favorites. "Storm Front" is an old-school horror story, high on dread and mood and featuring a monster unlike just about anything else you've ever seen. The tale is now available for Kindle for just 99 cents. In addition to the story itself I have also included a brief bit of background about the story that ties it to the days gone by when it when it was first written.

I think I did a pretty good job designing the cover on this one. Again, it isn't the greatest cover in the history of books, but I think it does the trick.

Look for more stories soon. It's fun revisiting these old tales and I think they'll appeal to a new set of readers years after they were first published.

Would you sell your soul for a full head of hair?

Some of my short stories have been out of print for way too long. It's time to fix that. I'm going to start bringing a few of my older tales back into "print" as Kindle e-books. Here's the first: A Hell-Fire Cure for Baldness.

This new edition doesn't change a word of the original story (I think it stands up pretty well), but I did add a nice little piece about the origins of the story and its long and varied publication history.

This has long been one of my most popular short stories. I hope you'll check it out if it's new to you.

(PS -- I had fun designing that cover. It's not New York publishing-house quality, but I think it came out pretty well and I learned a few things in the process of creating it. You can't ask for more than that.)

I have a secret

Secret time... Another writer and I are sharing this pseudonym as an excuse to have some creative fun. We have each written a book of complete nonsense poetry. This one is mine. Thirty poems, not one of which makes a lick of sense. I think it's fun and funny and more than a little odd. I hope you'll check it out.

Even better, I hope you'll add a review that makes as little sense as the book itself. Set yourself free of meaning. Have fun. The sad-faced pug demands it.

Poems That Don't Make Any Sense

I wrote the marketing copy for this new e-book, which also features one of my photographs on the cover:

Poems That Don't Make Any Sense is free for the next three days on Kindle. After that, it's just 99 cents. Check it out. It's funny...and more than a little odd.