In the works

“Wall of Books” by benuski on flickr

Thanks for stopping by! Currently I’m working on two novellas. What’s a novella? It’s longer than a short story and shorter than a novel, usually 17,000-40,000 words or thereabouts.

My first novella is about a monster that torments a woman’s sleep. Cheerful, right? The first draft is done and I have it with someone to get some feedback before I begin revising and refining.

My second novella I’ve only just started drafting. The concept is that when ending a deep relationship, you may leave pieces of your soul behind with that ex lover, former friend, or even a close coworker when you part ways. What if you want those pieces back?

I wrote a Meet Cute?

At In Your Write Mind 2025, I led a writing exercise focused on microfiction, challenging attendees to write a story in 100 words to 1000 words tops.

I decided I was going to do 100 words because writing small is a fun challenge. I asked my friend Trisha to give me a genre. She laughed and said “romance,” knowing full well that’s a hard genre for me. I once tried to write a romance short story and it accidentally became a horror story and also inadvertently offended a chunk of my critique workshop. My bad.

So I did the thing. Wrote a tiny story, ruthlessly pared it down to 100 words. Then, because I was leading this exercise and feeling wild surrounded by my fellow writers, I searched for a place to send my drabble. I hit send on the thing before I could doubt myself.

Today, that 100 word microfiction is live on Micromance Magazine, a fabulous corner of the internet filled with daily romance of the micro variety. Please read my little tale, and I hope you enjoy it. You can get Micromance in your email inbox daily, so please check them out for other wonderful romance genre fiction.

Voice from the Dark: A Night of Horror Readings

Photo by Kevin Rheese https://flickr.com/photos/129440207@N08/

You’re invited! Members of the North Carolina chapter of the Horror Writers Association will be reading scary fiction at Story Parlor in Asheville, NC. Join us May 31, 2025 at 7 PM…if you dare!

I haven’t decided what I’ll be reading just yet. Hope to see you there. Big thanks to Story Parlor for letting the creepy folks tell stories.

After Hurricane Helene

Cover of Infernal Delights novel

The mountains of western North Carolina, my home sweet home, were shredded by Hurricane Helene. We were without running water for a month in my household, and even with that, we got off pretty easy compared to many. Lives, homes, and businesses were lost.

It was an honor to contribute a short story to Infernal Delights, an anthology of horror stories. The proceeds from this charity collection are going to people and pets impacted by Helene. It’s available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

How to Be a Crappy Boss

Cover of Crappy Boss Book

Wow, I have had some seriously crappy bosses over the years. I had notes about some of these bosses because someday I may turn these notes into a work of fiction.

For now, you can figure out what not to do in your new leadership role from this book. Being a supervisor, manager, director, or whatever is not free license to be the Mayor of JackAssville. Micromanaging, taking credit for the work of others, and being a horrible human in general: these are not good leadership traits.