I like October, largely because the weather gets cooler and it’s not absurd to hope for snow, but also because the month ends with Halloween, and that’s great news for horror fans! It’s the perfect time to celebrate all things spooky, so why not enjoy October with some fitting blog posts?

With the appearance of “The Shape in the Sky” at The Word Wood, today is a great time to kick off this celebration with a special post to highlight my horror stories. “The Shape in the Sky” is the shortest of these stories, as it is flash fiction–under 500 words. I wrote it for The Word Wood, based on their monthly prompt, which was to write a flash horror story that incorporates the noun “spots” and the verb “dream.” It was fun to write, and it features UFOs and insanity.

Slightly longer is “White Lady.” If you want to read a short story inspired by a true ghost story, take a look. It’s not a horror story, though. Sarah is a benevolent ghost. Not everything rumored to lurk in the library is, though…maybe I’ll write about them someday.

There will always be a special place in my heart for Sacreya’s Legacy, which I consider to be my first true published story. When I got that acceptance email, I thought for sure I’d somehow misunderstood. But no, it was real! I was on top of the world. Sacreya’s Legacy stars a zombie detective whose new case takes him into the heart of a zombie outbreak.  But don’t be fooled by the premise. This isn’t really a mystery. Every now and then I sit down and say, “I’m going to write a mystery!” Once I get into it, I remember I don’t like writing mysteries. In this case, it became zombie horror with very light mystery elements. Also, note the title. It is not named after Ben, the main character, but his creator, Dr. Sacreya. Yes, there is a touch of mad science in this story.

And speaking of mad science, if you want a more lighthearted dose of zombie fiction, you can try The Accidental Zombie (now available as The Zombie Mishap), the story of two definitely-not-mad scientists who, well, accidentally create a zombie. It’s meant to be a comedy, so the sense of impending doom caused by the rampaging zombie is mitigated by the layers of absurdity. It was a lot of fun to write.

There should be another horror story on this list. There really should. However, due to unforeseen troubles, The Book at Dernier is still on the “upcoming” list. So you’ll have to wait a little longer before learning the dark secrets of Dernier… but don’t worry. It will come.

Stay tuned as we continue to celebrate October, Halloween, and all things spooky!