Morbid Metamorphosis: The Trailer and the TOC

Morbid Metamorphosis is scheduled to be released on June 13th. Before it gets here, feel free to check out the full-length book trailer (by Kevin Hopson) above. And when you're done, get an eyeful of the ridiculously awesome Table of Contents (TOC).

As far as I know, this is not the story order. I'll make corrections when I have them.

Introduction / Robert Nelson

"Become Him" / Greg Chapman

"Joey's Grove" / Roy C. Booth and R. Thomas Riley

"The Skelly Effect" / Terri DelCampo-Nelson

"Keep the Change" / Dave Gammon

"...and Thou!" / Nancy Kilpatrick

"Crowded" / Rod Charles Marsden

"You Are What You Eat" / Jo-Anne Russell

"Spirit Walk on Sour Ground" / M.J. Preston

"The Lake" / Stacey Turner

"The Death Vaccination" / Tina Piney

"The Moonlight Killer" / Suzanne Robb

"Pickin' to Beat the Devil" / Franklin E. Wales

"The Catamount" / Donna Marie West

"Vile Deeds" / Suzie Lockhart

"The Corkscrew and the Void" / Cameron Trost

"Paper Trail" / Daniel I. Russell

"Little Spark of Madness" / Simon Dewar

"Under the Weight of Souls" / Amanda J. Spedding

"Clay Danger's Balls" / Ken MacGregor

"Ezzie Does It" / Erin Shaw

"Febrile" / Gregory L. Norris

"Hyde and Seek" / Nickolas Furr

Semi-Colonic Irrigation: The Name May be Funny, But it's Actually Very Serious

The name of the upcoming book is Semi-Colonic Irrigation. It's funny, yeah? A nice bit of genial rudeness.

It's not that. Well, not just that.

The semi-colon tattoo is a relatively new bit of art you might see on people, but it's not just the next hipster thing in today's trend-o-rama.

It's serious. Very serious. But not dead serious.

This is what it means:

"A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life."

So the anthology, Semi-Colonic Irrigation, will be using true stories and fiction, prose and poetry, genres and real life to help shine a spotlight on depression, suicide, and mental illness. This is not just a good cause; it's one of the best causes.

For me, it means I'm pleased to be joining the Semi-Colonic team. One of my poems -- which will, for the moment, simply be known as "...4 am" -- will be published in the anthology. "...4 am" will be my first professional poetry sale, and frankly, I feel a little weird about it. I never quite thought I'd be a published writer and poet.

But what's life without a few interesting twists and curves. We react to them or we don't. We're human; that's what we do.

"Twisted Tales Tea Party" Is Apparently No Longer a Thing

R.I.P. "Twisted Tales"

As much as I've been looking forward to seeing my short story, "Bad," appear in the Twisted Tales Tea Party anthology... at the moment, it doesn't look like it will happen.

The publisher and creator behind the project let the authors know today that it appears that the project is dead.

These things happen. Real life intrudes. Health, money, family... these all take priority. We all understand that. But it's still disappointing to know that this will die on the vine and never be the fine wine it should be.

The only thing I know is that a few people are working behind the scenes to see if any part of the project can and will be salvaged. I don't expect anything to come out of it, but it would be great if it could.

Until I hear the voices' final resigned comments, I'm going to keep "Bad" in play, along with the other short stories from the anthology... but I will consider this project a dead one.

Edit (May 10): Though there seemed to be some interest among the participants and editor in keeping these stories together, conversation died out very quickly and only blipped once more -- when I followed up. As much as I'd like to see these stories in one anthology, and as much editing as was done to some of the pieces, it appears that for most folks, it's just... done. I'm disappointed in the whole situation, but even more disappointed now...