Category: Published Works

“Plea from the Ghost Haunting Your One-Bedroom Queens Apartment that You Clean this Place the F*** Up”

Published in Carnage House: a Splatter Friendly Web ‘Zine

***

Hey.

It’s me.

The ghost haunting your one-bedroom Queens apartment.

Yeah, so, I know I usually keep to the hall closet where you store the vacuum you don’t use enough; or to the inside of the walls, where I bang on rusty pipes and make sighing noises; or, that one time, to the medicine cabinet, so that you saw me in the mirror when you got out of the shower and wiped the steam away and screamed and then almost fainted. But I’ve materialized in front of you today for something much more important than parlor tricks, Patricia.

That’s right. Your utter lack of anything close to housekeeping. And I mean like utter lack.

This is a goddamn intervention.

…

To keep reading, visit Carnage House!

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“Becoming”

Published in Descent into Madness: Enter Madness by DriveThru Press

***

They showed up at the beginning of spring, as snow gave way to mud. Angry red patches on her skin that itched and oozed and spread.

Josie was taken to the doctor, given creams and ointments that didn’t work.

“Well how can it heal if you don’t leave it alone?” her mother would admonish, pointing at Josie whatever she held—a steel spoon, a bar of soap, her reading glasses. And whenever she saw Josie’s bloody skin, the patches open and wet, she’d say “God help you; you aren’t helping yourself.”

Her mother and the doctor called them plaques, but Josie knew them for what they were: scales.

What worried Josie most was that she didn’t know what she was turning into: a dragon? That would be okay—she’d fly to her second-grade classroom and blow fire at her teacher, who wrote on Josie’s last report card that she was too often in her own little world. She’d gotten in trouble for it but it made her secretly happy, too: if she had her own world that meant this one, with all of its disappointments, wasn’t hers to stay in.

***

To read more, pick up a copy of Descent into Madness: Enter Madness.

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“Wanted”

Published in PSYTHUR by Raven’s Quoth Press

From the publisher: “PSYTHUR is a collection of works selected by the editors throughout the year. Poems that were misfits for our other collections, but nonetheless stirred our mind, heart, or soul.”

***

The young starlet was

flattered when they

wanted her likeness in the

seaside wax museum.

In a chilly studio

she stood for hours,

perfectly still

while the artist used a hair                 

dryer to soften the mass

of yielding paraffin.

…

To keep reading, pick up your copy of PSYTHUR here!

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SOUL SCREAM Antholozine Ft. “The Quilting Circle of Bygone Gardens”

Published in SOUL SCREAM Antholozine by Seamus & Nunzio Productions

***

Marge scowled across the dining room at her nemesis, Stella Bianchi. Stella sat with four other residents at the corner table, telling some stupid story or other about her dough-faced grandchildren, waving her fat hands to show off the rings her dead husband bought her that probably weren’t real anyway.

Stella made Marge want to puke, strutting around like a has-been prom queen and making eyes at the male nurses. Like they’d ever be interested in hanky-panky with a carcass. No—the next time Stella got nailed, it would be into her coffin.

To keep reading, get a copy of SOUL SCREAM Antholozine!

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“Lake Erie Omen”

Published in Siren’s Call Ezine

***

You call me an omen, good or ill,

but I have a name and it’s not Bessie—

that tourist’s barb, that cheap

shot glass logo.

But how could you

land-locked brutes

understand?

You with your broken scavengers’

tongue; mine deep-

toned chantings from

nightmares long since

dreamt.

To keep reading, visit Siren’s Call here.

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THE START Ft. “In Crowd”

Published in Rebellion Lit’s THE START anthology

***

It seemed odd to Marge—a costume party? At their age? But George said no, not costumes—more like ceremonial garb, to ring in the new year. And hadn’t she worn a choir robe each Sunday back at the Presbyterian Church in Boise? Hadn’t George worn his academic regalia at every U of I graduation, and would again, here at Seattle U? He was right, of course. And with the decade about to change over—1960!—what better time to try something different?

“Come on, honey,” he said. “I want us to fit in.”

She wanted that, too—to be invited to potlucks and the coupon club and the garden society. So Marge put on the dark, shapeless frock and half-length veil George had brought home, and he dressed to match—though he wore a robe with a zip front, not a gown, and a mask instead of a veil. To complete her look, Marge painted her lips a deep shade of red and strapped on stiletto heels. If the party theme was “sexy mourner,” she told herself, she’d be dead on.

To read more, get a copy of THE START!

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“Grafting”

A bloody comedy-horror-romance published in miniskirt magazine’s PRIDE issue

***

Janet opened up her flower shop that Saturday like usual.

She had to stick to her schedule—to feel normal, to remind herself that life wasn’t over just because Frank, her husband of 10 years, had told her the night before that he’d kissed Charlene, their across-the-street neighbor with the long legs and long neck and sparkling hazel eyes that were green or brown or golden, depending on the light.

Charlene.

Charlene who watered her roses on Sunday mornings, who always waved or called hello when she noticed Janet watching her from her front porch or the driveway or the bay window that got all that slanting afternoon sunshine.

#

Janet pictured Charlene’s shiny dark hair as she put on her green apron, printed with “Bloomerang: Come on back” in white letters. She pictured Charlene’s crooked lower tooth—two over, left side—as she unlocked the door and flipped the sign to OPEN. Charlene’s perfectly symmetrical ears as she checked the temperature on the walk-in cooler. As she looked over next week’s wholesale order, used the bathroom, made a pot of coffee, images of Charlene’s face and hands and easy smile played through her mind on a loop.

Then Frank’s voice joined the reel like a soundtrack.

Sorry, honey. I kissed Charlene.

Kissed Charlene.

Charlene.

To keep reading, visit miniskirt magazine here.

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“The Reservoir”

Published by Hungry Shadow Press, Deadly Drabble Tuesday

***

Welcome to Deadly Drabble Tuesday from Hungry Shadow Press! In this feature, we look for 100 word stories that pack a lethal punch.

In today’s haunting yarn by Rebecca Cuthbert, kids will be kids, but some mistakes you can’t take back. Enjoy! —Brandon

Everyone used to know enough about the reservoir not to go near it, but that was back when the town had a newspaper and folks had memory enough to keep the drownings in mind—a father and son fishing, a couple on a date, that one policeman. 

…

To read the rest, visit Hungry Shadow Press!

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HAUS: Anthology of Haunted House Stories Ft. “Rest for the Wicked”

Published by Culture Cult Press

***

In this anthology…

–The abandoned plantation and ancient mansion have remained empty for 120 years, until three delinquents decide to investigate the haunted property one night

-An author of ghost stories decides to visit the spookiest place in England, Dartmoor. He wants to write a terrifying story, but ends up embroiled in a horror story instead!

-To find out the reason behind Chris’ strange death, his brother begins to piece together audio recordings and journal entries chronicling events leading up to it

-Hungry and lost during a journey, the sparring couple Andy and Claire come across a house for sale. They are greeted by a strange woman who welcomes them inside No 16

HAUS – CultureCult’s anthology of Haunted House stories features 34 pieces of fiction from 33 authors around the world!

Published by CultureCult Press, Oct. 2022 and available here.

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