Sunday Funnies: Death Be Not Ready

[Link] Six Retellings That Pull Apart Fairy Tales and Stitch Them Back Together in New and Wondrous Ways

by Bar Fridman-Tell

My love story with fairy tales—and with myths, their sometimes cousins, sometimes siblings, sometimes one and the same (depending on who you ask, and quite possibly the weather)—is long and convoluted. I was enthralled by them pretty much from the moment I learned to read, thanks to an early diet including Italo Calvino’s Italian Folktales, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, and Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain, and the fascination lasted throughout (and in many ways, shaped) my years at university.

And the older I got, the more fascinated I became by the way these stories change. Here is what I think: that change is essential to myths and fairy tales, an inherent quality that makes them what they are; and that the way they change functions as a mirror to us—revealing the assumptions that we take for granted, and the ones that no longer fit.

My favorite retellings are ones that take a well-known fairy tale, and unravel it just enough to look at the norms and expectations hiding beneath it, the system of values and morality that designates some characters as wicked and others as good, and—perhaps most of all—dictates what a happy ending looks like.

These are six books that do exactly that: take a fairy tale and pull one thread loose, to see what happens next, or tip the story on its side and see what new shape emerges. Coupled with lush, magnificent writing, these stories stitched themselves into my heart—making me smile and cry and, most importantly, question—and forever changing the way I see each of the fairy tales they retell.

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/six-retellings-that-pull-apart-fairy-tales-and-stitch-them-back-together-in-new-and-wondrous-ways/

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS UNDER A CROOKED STAR

In the far distant future, Neroy Sphinx is a professional thief operating on Old Earth. He keeps alive by taking on dangerous jobs for various mob bosses and then drinks his profits away in local dive bars. Neroy is missing ten years from his life. What he recalls is being out among the outer worlds when a galactic catastrophe of unknown origin destroyed many of the transfer wormholes forever cutting off entire colony planets from the mother world. Neroy survived, but without his memories of his life or experiences prior to the event.

Back on Earth, he begins having flashback images in his mind of something he sees as a wall of Black Glass. Instinct tells him behind that barrier he will find his past. Obsessed with finding the answers, Neroy escapes a sadistic gang leader and flees on the first off-world shuttle. Thus, he begins his journey back to the ice world where he first regained his consciousness. Along the way, he senses that his personal quest is somehow connected with the cataclysmic wormhole destruction. But if so, how? And if he is successful in regaining his lost years, what horrors will they relive?

Writer Daniel Whiston whips an old fashion sci-fi adventure wonderfully illustrated by artist David Thomson who also delivers a beautiful color cover. “Reminds me of those old Ace Paperbacks,” says Airship 27 Managing Editor Ron Fortier. “This is fun sci-fi with great characters.”

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now at Amazon and on Kindle.

Sunday Funnies: Times Are Bad

[Link] 10 Must-Read Books That Reimagine Characters and Stories From Classic Literature

by Nicole Briese

These modern retellings breathe new life into our all-time favorites by Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, and more.

We’re all for a good classic novel. The literary canon has stood the test of time for a reason, after all. Undoubtedly, their prose and powerful stories have resonated with and influenced readers and writers alike for over a century. But beyond putting their stamp on the craft, some classics have inspired authors so much so that they've given contemporary updates to well-loved books.

The best books that reimagine iconic novels take a story from one of the all-time greats, from Jane Austen to Emily Brontë, and retell it in a modernized setting, from another character's perspective, or update the tale with a unique, inspired spin. Essentially, these recent hits and cult favorites scratch the itch for the traditional while stimulating your mind in a whole new way.

So, whether you wish the books you read in high school could be seen through a feminist lens, or you were able to spend more time with the subsidiary characters, these reimagined classics deserve to be on your bookshelf. Here's which ones to read (after you've devoured the originals, of course).

Read the full article: https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/books/best-literary-classic-retellings-books/

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS CALIFORNIA WOLVES

A Bigfoot P.I. Novel by Michael Panush

Arlo Patches is a bigfoot private investigator living in the Northern California community of Sarsaparilla Springs. His brother is the town sheriff. When a well-known environmentalist goes missing in the surrounding woods, he’s hired to find her. Talk in the area is that the government is looking to reintroduce wolves into the county, and the woman’s disappearance may be connected.

As he begins to investigate, along with the help of a few Florida skunk apes, Arlo finds himself caught up in a brewing confrontation between animal lovers and local ranchers who see the wolves as a threat to their livelihood. He suspects outside forces are manipulating both sides, and unless he can uncover their motives, the woods may soon be filled with sounds of bloody combat.

Writer Michael Panush weaves a truly original adventure in which fantasy and reality merge to the delight of pulp readers. Award-winning artist James Lyle provides cover and interior illustrations.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now in paperback from Amazon and soon on Kindle.

Stellar Fest Panels *Updated with Locations and Times*

 

Come and visit me and so many other fantastic folks at Stellar Fest from April 24–26, 2026, at Sonest Gwinnett Place in Duluth, Ga. While there, I'll be taking part in the following panels.

Saturday, April 25

Old Time Radio... On the Spot

Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

Saturday 1:00pm – Deep Space Diversions

Blood in the Gut: Visceral Fiction 

Panel discussion on how to make your writing engage the guts and not just the brain.

Saturday 3:00pm – Literature/Science Track

Creative Cussing and Other Writing Hacks 

A panel discussion on ways to write better swearing so the reader doesn't get buried in f-bombs but does get quotable sass. Samples provided. 

Saturday 4:00pm – Literature/Science Track

40 Years of Howard the Duck

Forty years ago, the genius behind Star Wars gave us something SO BOLD that many audiences just couldn't handle the awesomeness. If you love Howard the Duck, come join us as we look back at Quack Fu, Dark Overlords, and love conquering all like no one had ever seen before. If you're a hater, you're welcome too, but be warned: you might walk out a changed person!

Saturday 5:00pm – Other Worlds One

Sunday, April 26

Self-Publishing and Writing: Horror Stories 

Panelists will describe the writing, editing, and publishing processes along with mistakes that almost got published as self-published authors. The audience will be encouraged to contribute things they’ve read that horrified them. 

Sunday 10:00am – Literature/Science Track

Old Time Radio... ReRun

So much fun, we're doing a second day! Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

Sunday 12:00pm – Deep Space Diversions

New Poem -- I, Too

I, Too

I, too, know why the caged bird sings,

But I only know it second hand

Like so many other histories

I can only experience in newsreels

And in books and in podcasts.

I, too, realize my arm's too short

To box with God, but instead of striving,

I concede and step out of the ring.

Where James Weldon Johnson

Chose to stand and fight.

I, too, select my own society,

But I keep it on the down low

Try not to fret about it in verse

As if doing so might legitimize

The act of hiding into saintliness.

I, too, have learned that April

Can indeed be the cruelest month

But I have a front door with a lock

So April has to stay outside

Where it can't come in and harm me.

I, too,  know the explosive power

Of deferring a dream past its sell date,

Of watching good meat spoil

All the while aware that my dream

Is a far different, far more entitled, one.

But, I, too, continue to write

Because of the little bits of all I've read

That remain to live in me,

Even if those remnants mutate

Into something less like the original

And more like me.

Free Horror eBooks Written By Trans Authors (Trans Rights Readathon 2026)

I know I'm a bit late with getting this organized and posted, but in my defense, I forgot. Anyway! Better late than never, right? So, starting right now and ending at 11:59PM CST on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, we have made a bunch of our titles (published by Ghoulish Books and, in one instance, published by Apocalypse Party) free for folks who wish to add them to their 2026 TransRightsReadathon. Also feel free to download and read some other time if you wish. Whatever is cool with us.

All that we ask is that if you do read them, consider leaving a review somewhere when you're finished? Tell people about what you read? Every review helps spread the word. Also we have a bunch of patreon and kofi and charity links below that we'd love for you to consider supporting, too. But first! The books...

Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror edited by Sofia Ajram

A manifestation of ecstasy, heartache, horror and suffering rendered in feverish lyrical prose. Inside are sixteen new stories by some of the genre’s most visionary queer writers. Young lovers find themselves deliriously lost in an expanding garden labyrinth. The porter of a sentient hotel is haunted within a liminal time loop. A soldier and his abusive commanding officer escape a war in the trenches but discover themselves in an even greater nightmare. Parasites chase each other across time-space in hungry desperation to never be apart. A graduate student with violent tendencies falls into step with a seemingly walking corpse. Featuring stories from Cassandra Khaw, Joe Koch, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Robbie Banfitch, August Clarke, Son M., Jonathan Louis Duckworth, M.V. Pine, Ed Kurtz, LC Von Hessen, Matteo L. Cerilli, November Rush, Meredith Rose, Charlene Adhiambo, Violet, and Thomas Kearnes.

Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror edited by Lor Gislason

Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror brings together 13 trans and non-binary writers, using horror to both explore the darkest depths of the genre and the boundaries of flesh. A disgusting good time for all! Featuring stories by Hailey Piper, Joe Koch, Bitter Karella, and others. Edited by Lor Gislason.

Cosmic Dyke Patrol by Lor Gislason

When Stevie starts seeing floating orbs, they call a spiritual pest control company for guidance. Harriett and Marcy—two queer, punk lesbians—welcome Stevie into a world of otherworldly creatures, tree people, and something called the bone spider. Equal parts slice-of-life, queer romance and body horror, Cosmic Dyke Patrol is a story about how everyone is worthy of love, no matter how weird.

Decrepit Ritual by Valkyrie Loughcrewe

Decrepit Ritual is a second-person narrative about a suicidal protagonist who has gone up into the wilds of Norway to take their own life. While there, they happen across a mysterious VHS tape that contains a bizarre film like nothing they’ve ever seen before.

The Flesh Inherent by Perry Meester

On a hot summer night, something enormous screams down from the sky and pierces into the desert not far from the small town of Farchapel. The stories that trickle back from the crater are strange indeed—those who find it and return claim to be forever changed, transformed into the better, ideal versions of themselves they’ve always wished to achieve.

Jamie, a recent mysterious visitor in town, is a man on the run, all too eager to escape his current form no matter the cost. Sidney, local drunk, would rather face a hole in the ground than the things he’s done. As the two men venture into the desert canyons in search of their better selves, they soon discover that what hides there is much more terrible—and eager to lure them in.

Familiar by Jeremy C. Shipp

Two sisters hunt down killers and collect body parts, all the while complicating their lives with volatile magics, bizarre visions, and a mysterious mouth in the wall that may or may not be altogether trustworthy.

I Believe in Mister Bones by Max Booth III

The email’s subject line reads: DO YOU BELIEVE IN MISTER BONES?

The recipient: Daniel Addams, one half of the Texas small press known as Fiendish Books, co-run with his wife Eileen.

Despite being closed for submissions, curiosity gets the best of him, and he takes a look at the anonymous author’s bizarre manuscript—only to find himself obsessed with the titular Mister Bones, a mysterious entity rumored to steal your bones as you sleep, one by one, until he’s replaced your entire skeleton with an unknown substance.

But is Mister Bones real, and has Daniel unintentionally summoned him?

​Or, as Eileen suspects, has he finally cracked from stress and lost his mind?

From the writer of WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING and ABNORMAL STATISTICS comes Max Booth III’s I BELIEVE IN MISTER BONES, a harrowing exploration of indie horror publishing, internet curses, and the universal terror of the human skeleton.

Maggots Screaming! by Max Booth III

THE FAMILY THAT DECAYS TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER

On a hot summer weekend in San Antonio, Texas, a father and son bond after discovering three impossible corpses buried in their back yard.

We Need to Do Something by Max Booth III

A family on the verge of self-destruction finds themselves isolated in their bathroom during a tornado warning.

Ghoulish Tales (issues 1-4)

A magazine of short fiction and essays. Not every contribution is written by a trans person, but a good majority of them are; additionally, the main editor is a trans woman.

You can find FREE eBooks of all of the above titles in the following Google Drive Folder (free access will be revoked on April 1st). Additionally, you can purchase physical copies of the books via our webstore or wherever else books are sold.

If you'd like to further support these authors, and also trans organizations, please continue reading:

• Trans Rights Organizations in the United States (and Beyond)
• Sofia Ajram's Author Website
• Lor Gislason's Ko-Fi
• Val Loughcrew's Patreon
• Jeremy C. Shipp's Patreon
• Max Booth's Patreon

Originally published at The Ghoulish Times.

New Poetry Collection Trigger Warning: The Formative Years Exposes the Quiet Realities of Trauma and the Lifesaving Power of Having a Voice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sean Taylor (www.taylorversebooks.com)

New Poetry Collection Trigger Warning: The Formative Years Exposes the Quiet Realities of Trauma and the Lifesaving Power of Having a Voice

Atlanta, Ga. — March, 2026 — In a genre often associated with softness, comfort, and lyrical beauty, poet Brittany Wilcox breaks the mold. Her new poetry collection, Trigger Warning: The Formative Years, is not gentle—and it isn’t meant to be.

This electrifying debut leans into the uncomfortable truths of trauma, emotional suppression, and survival. It is raw. It is dark. It is unflinchingly real. And for Wilcox, it is the story of how poetry became her safe space.

“Poetry is supposed to be subtle, soft, cozy, and make you feel good, right? Wrong,” publisher Sean Taylor asserts. “The best poetry challenges… The best poetry crawls into your brain.”

Wilcox didn’t choose poetry to be an artist. She wrote it to survive.

“I don’t really know that it affects my voice as a poet so much as it is the only voice I had for the first 30-plus years of my life,” she explains. “Growing up, I wasn’t allowed to express my own emotions, thoughts, or feelings.”

Through therapy, she learned that what she endured was trauma—an experience that left her suffering in silence.

“My perspective in this book is as someone who had nobody to save them and yet so desperately wanted at least one adult to notice,” Wilcox says. “I don’t think I would be alive today without this outlet I discovered as a child.”

Poetry became her sanctuary: “Poetry was safe because it was something my mother couldn’t decode. Or if she did, I could lie about what the poem was about. In this way, I was able to secretly express my grievances without getting into trouble.”

Writing the book was one emotional challenge; releasing it into the world is another.

“It’s a very vulnerable experience because this is my life for the past 30 plus years that I am releasing out into the wild,” Wilcox says. “People can interpret it however they want and criticize it however they want.”

But for the author, indifference is far more frightening than criticism.

“I’m okay with you hating it. But ignoring it? Not being interested at all? That’s isolating in the most soul‑crushing way.”

Wilcox, a professional nanny and passionate equestrian originally from North Georgia, has been writing poetry since childhood as a means of emotional expression. Now a mental health advocate, she still navigates life with a dissociative disorder—something that complicated the writing process.

“When I rediscover something sad or traumatic that I wrote, it can be deeply upsetting or jarring,” she says. “I had to put myself through a lot to get this thing together, so I hope it’s not in vain.”

A portion of proceeds from the sale of all books in the Trigger Warning series will be split between two different charities: Crossnore Communities for Children and 15/10 charity. 

About Trigger Warning: The Formative Years

This collection is not simply poetry—it is testimony. It is the record of a child surviving in silence, a teenager learning to hide truths in verse, and an adult finding the courage to unveil decades of unspoken pain. Though the poems confront trauma head-on, they also offer something unexpected: the possibility of healing. Trigger Warning: The Formative Years is not a manuscript of wounds—it is a roadmap out of them.

Available from Amazon (print, ebook) and from Taylorverse Books.

About Taylorverse Books

Taylorverse Books brings readers exciting adventure stories, contemporary and charged poetry, and non-fiction books about writing and reading. For more information, visit www.taylorversebooks.com. 

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS THE ADVENTURES OF RADIO RITA VOL. 2

She’s back, pulpdom’s newest high-flying queen of adventure, Radio Rita. And as her first collection, once again presented in four different guises as envisioned by the story writers. Whether piloting a Howard Hughes racer, dealing with a gangster’s ghost or saving Albert Einstein. Regardless of the time or setting, Radio Rita is battling her way through thrills and spills, always on the side of the good Old USA.

 In this volume, she’s aided by writers Curtis Ferlund, Gene Moyers, Glen Held, and Samantha Lienhard. Art Director Rob Davis provides the black-and-white interior illustrations, plus lots of bonus pieces, while the action-packed cover is courtesy of Michael Youngblood. So buckle up, pulp flying bans, Rita is about to take off again.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

 Available now in paperback and on Kindle.

Bear with me... (guest column by Nikki Nelson-Hicks)

This might all be horseshit

by Nikki Nelson-Hicks

Today, I hit a wall of disappointment.

Way back in October, a friend sent me info on an open submission call to an anthology that, if I were to get into, would really skyrocket my writing career.

“This is so up your alley, Nik!”

So, I wrote a story. I put everything on hold and worked on this mamajama for months and months. Sent it to friends who read it, gave me editing input, rewrote the whole goddamn thing again and again until it was finished.

And I submitted and waited. Every day, I’d check to see if my story had been accepted.

That was the perspective I used. ACCEPTED. Not, ‘Hey, has it been rejected yet?”

ACCEPTED. Putting out positive vibes into the Universe. Just like all the Motivational Posters tell me to do.

Today, I got the email: Thanks, no thanks. REJECTED, ya loser.

I swallowed my bile and went on with my day. I’m a busy bitch. I ain’t got time for none of that.

But it was still there. No matter how much I ignored it. The hurt. The shame. The OH FUCK, I SUCK.

But I went on with my day.

Until... a little voice in my head piped up, “Look at you, grinding your teeth. Why? Because of one little rejection?

Fuck those guys.

Look, let’s settle this, right now. Answer this question: What are you writing for? Why? Who are you writing for?

Because, sweetpea, here’s the real deal.

If you are writing for publication, then you need to study the market, see what sells, and write to please the Market.

If you write to tell a story that you want to share with the world…well, sweetpea, you just write what you want. Publish it. Put it in a sock drawer, fuck. It’s yours to do with as you wish.

What do you want?

If you want possible financial success, popularity, literary stardom, pursue the Marketing Path. It’s a Whore’s path, but accept it if you want. I’m not judging. You do you. Nothing is real, anyway.

If you want to have fun making up stuff and writing stories that you find challenging and might entertain a handful of friends, then pursue the Artist Path. It’s gonna suck. You’ll probably die alone, unknown. Your kids will inherit boxes and moth-eaten journals of all your stories, finished and unfinished, and probably throw the whole thing into a rubbish heap, but them’s the breaks, sweetpea.

Both paths are fine in their own way. Just, for the love of the moon above, decide where you want to walk, stop moping about one stupid story and get to work.

Damn.”

Yeah. My Guide is a tough broad.

(Originally published on Nikki's Substack.)

Panels I'll be doing at Stellar Fest!

Blood in the Gut: Visceral Fiction 

Panel discussion on how to make your writing engage the guts and not just the brain.

Creative Cussing and Other Writing Hacks 

A panel discussion on ways to write better swearing so the reader doesn't get buried in f-bombs but does get quotable sass. Samples provided. 

Old Time Radio... On the Spot

Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

Old Time Radio... ReRun

So much fun we're doing a second day! Panelists and those who come to enjoy the panel will be assigned roles for an old-time radio drama. Nobody except me will know what that drama script is. Fun ensues, particularly because a lot of things are now double entendres. 

40 Years of Howard the Duck 

Forty years ago the genius behind Star Wars gave us something SO BOLD that many audiences just couldn't handle the awesomeness. If you love Howard the Duck, come join us as we look back at Quack Fu, Dark Overlords, and love conquering all like no one had ever seen before. If you're a hater, you're welcome too, but be warned: you might walk out a changed person! 

Self-Publishing and Writing: Horror Stories 

Panelists will describe the writing, editing, and publishing processes along with mistakes that that almost got published as self-published authors. The audience will be encouraged to contribute things they’ve read that horrified them. 

I'll update with dates and times as the final schedule is done.

Sean Taylor Announces New Poetry Collection, Brunch with the Obelisk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Atlanta, Ga. — March, 2026 — Sean Taylor Announces New Poetry Collection, Brunch with the Obelisk

Acclaimed fiction writer and poet Sean Taylor unveils his newest poetry collection, Brunch with the Obelisk—a bold, unflinching exploration of the forces that have shaped both his voice and his worldview. With a blend of lyricism, candor, and razor-sharp introspection, this collection pulls readers into the complicated crossroads of personal history, politics, and the American mythos.

In Brunch with the Obelisk, Taylor grapples with the inheritance of a conservative religious upbringing, the illusions of nostalgia, and the widening divide between American ideals and realities. Through this deeply personal and often provocative work, he confronts a world that feels increasingly chaotic—and the role of poetry as a stabilizing, truth-telling force within it.

“Be warned. It’s probably not what you first think,” Taylor says of the collection, which draws inspiration from a strikingly diverse set of influences—ranging from Bob Dylan, Langston Hughes, e.e. cummings, and T.S. Eliot to Annie Dillard, Marilyn Monroe, and Susan B. Anthony. Their presence echoes throughout the book not as imitations, but as threads woven into a distinctive, evolving voice.

“As proud as I was for When We Had No Flag, my first book of poems, I think I’m even happier and prouder of this one," says Taylor. " I feel like my influences are becoming more a part of me rather than something I wear on my sleeve.”

Taylor does not shy away from the tensions at the heart of American life—the sometimes volatile interplay of politics and religion, the selective storytelling of national memory, and the lingering scars they leave behind. If that makes him an angry poet with an axe to grind, the author notes with self-awareness, he owns it completely.

“Poetry comes from a very personal place inside me, even more so than my fiction. I may use a lot of the same narrative-type tools in it, but the poems are often far closer to the surface truth than my stories are allowed to be.”

Currently available at www.taylorversebooks.com and on Amazon:
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GT1G84ZN
Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GT87R1FH

For media inquiries, review copies, or interview requests, please contact:
www.taylorversebooks.com

About Sean Taylor:
Sean Taylor writes short poems, nonfiction, stories, novellas, novels, graphic novels, and comic books. In his writing life, he has directed the “lives” of zombies, superheroes, goddesses, dominatrices, Bad Girls, pulp heroes, for such diverse bosses as IDW Publishing, Gene Simmons, and The Oxygen Network. Visit him online at www.thetaylorverse.com and www.badgirlsgoodguys.com or his video writing tutorials at www.book-talk.us .

About Taylorverse Books:
Taylorverse Books brings readers exciting adventure stories, contemporary and charged poetry, and non-fiction books about writing and reading. For more information, visit www.taylorversebooks.com .

NEW FROM TEEL JAMES GLENN! ON PREODER--PUBLISHING MARCH 31!! GET IT NOW!!!

Tecumseh Scott, a disabled former Marine, lives in a Manhattan apartment above a year-round haunted house attraction at 42nd St., because the screams from below drown out the cries of his dead comrades in his head. Trying to blend in with the emotionally damaged haunt actors and having a rough time dealing with civilian life, his fragile balance is upset by new violence when he saves a young woman from a mugging.

Drawn into a whirlwind mystery when suddenly attacked by a cadre of hired killers, Tecumseh calls upon members of his old unit. Soon they are all targeted for extinction as they try to keep a final promise to a brother-in-arms. Tecumseh attempts to honor the memory of the lighting symbol, their unit mark, and dodge withering live fire at the same time.

Will Tecumseh stop the bad guys before his own inner demons tear him apart? Can he survive a horrible betrayal that threatens to destroy all his hopes for a future?

Preorder on Amazon!

Joshua Fordyce: Pursuing What Molds Us

I met Joshua Fordyce recently at the Middle Georgia Literary Festival. You need to meet him too. He is a retired American Navy veteran who loves writing stories, songs, and movie scripts. He found inspiration to finish one of his hundreds of incomplete projects in the wake of his mother’s passing in 2022. Being a huge fan of both Westerns and Fantasy, he decided to merge the two genres to create Black Sleeve, his premiere book, completed in 2023. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I am currently working on Book 3 of the Arms of Malar series called Rune Sleeve. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work? 

Growth through suffering. There is a tendency in today's society to say that suffering is bad, but in all honesty, our suffering is what truly molds us into who we are. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

My mother passed away in February of 2022. After that, I wrote my first book. There was an article about it published here.

What inspires you to write? 

Motivational Monday: Shoveling Sand

Sunday Funnies: Purging the Excess

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS TOMAHAWKS & SORCERY

The French & Indian Wars, a tumultuous time in the history of America. Hundreds of European immigrants sought to build a new future in a new land among the struggles of ancient empires. One player at the front of these struggles was Declinn Blayde, a one-time scout and Indian fighter turned artist. Using a sculptor’s tools, he now gives shape to his dreams in wooden figures.

But living on the frontier, putting his violent past behind him is impossible as he is continually called upon by naïve settlers and friends to fend off the supernatural forces of dark evil employed by native people to the horror of all. Pulp writer Teel James Glenn offers up three new adventures of the frontiersman and a bonus yarn featuring two sword-wielding maids born on the high seas. Artist Mike Laperuta offers the interior illustrations, and Adam Shaw the dramatic cover.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now at Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.

Thomas Hraynyk: Writing Is My Escape

Thomas Hraynyk is Canadian-born from Oshawa, Ontario. At forty-three, he is accomplishing a long dream of publishing his first novel. Through many obstacles over the past five years, he has persevered and worked hard to get to this point. His story goes far beyond that and is pretty darn inspiring, so you should check out his website for the rest of it. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

A.M.P.D. Artificial Military Prosthetics Division Book 1, and Book 2 The Phantom Limb releases this coming March. It is a series that follows a handful of soldiers who end up with weaponized prosthetics. I have also just published a short story on Kindle called Hearts on the Apex: The Afterburn. This is a story about a young race car driver with all the skill and potential to be great. However, life happens, and everything changes, and he decides to disappear.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I have experienced a lot of loss and hardship in my life, and my writing is my escape. It is also the way I strive to motivate and encourage others to never give up. Even though my novels are science fiction, the message is in the characters and backstories. Soldiers with weaponized prosthetics have to cope and deal with loss and PTSD, while trying to protect the world. It also looks at the debate of choice and orders.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I had this Idea for A.M.P.D. years ago, and one day, after losing my job, my fiance looked at me and said, "Why don't you write that story you keep talking about all the time?" So I started writing it on my cell phone. Years later, after life and living, she passed away tragically. She died in my arms, and after a year of grieving, I said to myself, "I need to do this." I need to get this finished and published. So I made the decision to learn and do whatever it took to get it done.

Motivational Monday: Keep Writing

 

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS TENDERFOOT : AN AMERICAN MAMMOTH NOVEL BY MICHAEL PANUSH

Time, the Post-Civil War in a world not our own. A United States where the great megafauna of North America—mammoths, cave bears, and saber-tooth tigers—never went extinct. Clement Clarke is an ex-Confederate Elephantine Dragoon soldier, now a washed-up, drunk bounty hunter whose only friend is a uniquely intelligent Columbian Mammoth. While on his way to the bayou in search of a notorious outlaw, he encounters twelve-year-old Thalia Ridgeway, an orphan wanting to hire him to find the man who murdered her father.

Clarke tries to dissuade her, but when he discovers a paid assassin hunting the girl, he has no choice but to get involved in what he soon discovers is a deep conspiracy of railroad tycoons looking to profit from Reconstruction. The only thing in their way, Thalia.

Once again, writer Michael Panush showcases his incredible imagination with a setting and cast of characters unlike anything you’ve ever seen in print. Artist Ron Hill provides the wonderful interior illustrations and Adam Shaw the gorgeous color cover.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now from Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.

[Link] 10 books for fans of slow burn, character-driven science fiction

These 10 sci-fi books are perfect for readers who enjoy getting lost in character-driven stories that unfold at their own pace.

by Ash Anjum

Science fiction is often known for big ideas and high-stakes plots that move quickly from one moment to the next. It's a genre that usually thrives on faced-paced storytelling that keeps readers hooked through constant forward motion.

But some science fiction stories take a different approach. These books put characters at the center, allowing their thoughts, relationships and personal journeys to lead the story. The alien worlds and advanced technology still matter, but the real plot has to do with the characters' heads and hearts.

These slower-paced stories give you time to really know the characters and feel for them. Today, we’ve put together a list of 10 such character-driven books that fans of thoughtful, slow-burn sci-fi will appreciate.

Read the full article: https://winteriscoming.net/10-books-for-fans-slow-burn-character-driven-science-fiction

Amber Hansford: It Ties Back to Music

I met Amber Hansford recently at a Middle Georgia Book Festival. She is a writer, designer, and Dragon Con track director living in Atlanta, Georgia. A former UX Director turned full-time creative, she’s currently focused on stories, strange hobbies, and sharpening her Apocalypse Skills™.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent work is The Veil of Takhsha, Book Two of The Emari Chronicles, an epic fantasy series inspired by pre-Islamic Persian history and mythology. The series is a quartet, and the second book leans harder into political fracture, divine silence, and the personal cost of power. While the first book establishes the world and the magic, Veil is where things start to crack and the reader sees how the darkness and rot are revealed from a different perspective.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Looking through my work in general, both published and not, I’d say that I tend to come back to what it means to be strong, especially when it comes down to the difference between being strong for others and being strong for yourself, and what that choice costs.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I have always been a storyteller, ever since I was little. I have around twenty books in some state in a digital drawer that I worked on for years before I realized, at 50, that I needed to decide what I wanted to do with my writing. The Hand of Mashyana became my debut novel, published a month before my 51st birthday.

What inspires you to write?

Almost everything I write ties back to music I love. Emari started because of a few lines in a song that I couldn’t get out of my mind because of the image that it created for me. While it may not be obvious within what I write, I always have a song, or sometimes even an album, that has inspired it. There will always be a playlist, usually best played on shuffle, that will give you the vibes of what I’ve written.

What of your works has meant the most to you?

The Hand of Mashyana will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my debut, my baby. It gave me my first published book and the world I’m building this quartet in. I think there are more stories outside of this series in Emari, but this quartet is the solid foundation.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

I once heard an author say that you hope your first book is your worst book. I have that digital drawer of things I’d love to revisit now that I’ve gone through what I have with Emari.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Oh, so many… and the list does change depending on what I’m writing and where I am at the moment, but for Emari in particular, R.F. Kuang, Brandon Sanderson, V.E. Schwab, and L. Penelope were all highly influential in shaping Emari into what it is.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

For me, it’s very hard to separate the two when it comes to writing. The art is the story, and the science is telling it well. And in that balance, you find that great book that is someone’s favorite book.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Outside of balancing a full-time job and building an author career, I’d say that it’s trusting that the work will come together before all the pieces are visible to me. I tend to see pieces of a story before I understand how every part connects, and sitting in that uncertainty can be uncomfortable, and honestly? A blocker when I first started getting serious about writing. While editing isn’t the easiest, it’s still so much easier for me than drafting.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

I fell for the whole ‘authors work alone’ trope myself for years, but my writing, both craft and career, finally found its footing when I found my current writing group. We all met via a writing workshop, and once the workshop wrapped up, we kept meeting every week since, now for over two years. They’ve been huge for camaraderie, critique, and support.

What does literary success look like to you?

Stability. Being an author, especially an indie author, is a long game. Your backlist is your superpower, showing that you’re not just here for a little while. I only half-joke about the fact that writing is my retirement plan, given the state of everything else.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

I’m currently wrapping up work on Book 3 in the Emari Chronicles, The Embers of Tamidh (working title, may change), with a release scheduled for mid-year 2026, and I’m also working on the final book in this series to release around the end of the year 2026. After that? I have a few things that wouldn’t let go of me until I got a beat sheet together, so now it’s just a matter of choosing what comes next.

For more information, visit:

My website, amberhansford.com, includes information on upcoming events, social media links, book details, and my direct sales shop if you’d prefer to buy directly rather than through major retailers.

Motivational Monday: Paper Breaths

[Link] There’s a crisis in non-fiction book sales. What’s to blame?

We’re buying 17 million fewer factual books than six years ago. Is the rise of podcasts to blame? Or publishers’ obsession with celebrities and influencers?

by Ceci Browning

Inside the world of books there are always a few things that everybody knows about but nobody can bring themselves to say out loud. Much of the present whispering is that something has gone seriously wrong with non-fiction. When did the big magisterial titles so common on late 20th century bookshelves disappear? Where did they go? Is there anything left to read for those who aren’t interested in ghostwritten celebrity memoirs or self-help manuals?

Unfortunately those fears are backed up by facts. Fiction sales might be swelling – underpinned by the rise of romantasy and a strange new demand for dragon-based love affairs – but according to Nielsen, sales of non-fiction books in 2025 were down 6 per cent compared with 2024. It was the lowest yearly total since 2017, the sorry end point of years of painfully consistent decline.

And the books that did sell well in 2024 weren’t “big ideas” titles like Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens or charming travelogues like Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling that elbowed their way into the charts a decade or so ago.

Read the full article: https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/what-happened-non-fiction-books-publishing-industry-trends-gd9snqwjz

Anna Holloway: Don't Forget to Wave

Anna Holloway spent her teaching and administrative career of forty-six years all at one HBCU (historically black college and university). I have written about my experience, especially the early part, and I’m still in the process of learning more about black people’s experiences. Originally from the Midwest and now in the South and the mother of two interracial sons, Anna writes about her life-changing experiences as a white instructor at a black college during the time of the Vietnam War, voting reforms, and public-school integration. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

Be Sure to Wave: An Interracial Family in Rural Georgia takes place 1978-92 in very rural Macon County. We experienced a gunshot in our house and a local church reacting against our three-year-old son's attending Sunday school, and we were even touched by the KKK, it appeared. But we came to like most of our neighbors, our two sons loved being in the country, and we lived seeing the wildlife. We did work and took the boys to school in Fort Valley.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

In my memoirs and many of my poems so far, I reflect on real-life differences between being a Southerner and being a Midwesterner, and this is through my lens of coming from the Midwest in 1968 to teach at Fort Valley State, where I spent my career of 46 years.

Motivational Monday: From the Brain to the Heart

[Link] 5 Great Claustrophobic Crime Novels

by Matthew F. Jones

I’m not sure that the term claustrophobic crime novel is a genre unto itself. If it isn’t it should be. Claustrophobia, whether of the physical or mental kind, is the engine that drives some of our best novels. Thrillers and crime novels in particular.  This is because every well-done claustrophobic novel is also a psychological character study told entirely or, almost entirely, from the point of view of the novel’s protagonist; and being inside someone’s mind in a claustrophobic situation – whether of their own making or created from external circumstances – can’t help but be thrilling, tense and unpredictable. In several of my own novels I have found it most effective to write from a single character’s perspective – whether from the first or third person point of view. What’s interesting for me as their conduit in a sense is to observe through a character’s mind how they will react as the situations/encounters I put them in become tenser and/or more fraught. Who of us can say who we really are – the heroic, or anyway upright, person we want to believe we are or something less – until we’re in a crisis situation? That unpredictability and sense of a protagonist revealing to me their truest nature at the same time that I am writing the story that is forcing them to do so, for me defines the art of writing and is what makes doing it exciting.

Read the full article: https://crimereads.com/5-great-claustrophobic-crime-novels/

Horrific Scribes Presents: Rulemakers and Rulebreakers: 26 Works of Order and Chaos (Horrific Scribes Anthologies)

Horrific Scribes Presents: Rulemakers and Rulebreakers: 26 Works of Order and Chaos 

by L. Andrew Cooper, H.J. Dutton, Sarina Dorie, et al

Format: Kindle 

Which is more terrifying, the imposition of order that might involve stifling limitations and repugnant values, or spiraling into chaos as order splinters or disappears? The 26 authors in Horrific Scribes Presents: Rulemakers and Rulebreakers have 26 answers, each with the potential to shatter you. Prepare for works by Sam Arlington, Raymond Brunell, Harley Carnell, Emmie Christie, Nicholas De Marino, Sarina Dorie, Eric Fomley, Douglas Ford, Matt Hollingsworth, Douglas Kolacki, Christine Lajewski, Devin James Leonard, E.J. LeRoy, Susan L. Lin, Mavrik McMeekan, Jason Frederick Myers, Lena Ng, Dimitry Partsi, Nick Porisch, Nilay Kumar Sarker, C.M. Saunders, Briar Shannon, Steve Toase, Mark Towse, Fendy S. Tulodo, and Andrew Welsh-Huggins.

"A terrific mix of 26 short stories, all on the theme of rule use and abuse. They're all engrossing, though some in that peering-between-your-fingers way, and a few are downright disturbing. I particularly liked the banality of "The Basement" and the bizarre "The Reflection's Strike, " but my favourite was the possession story "No Vacancy." A great anthology, just right if you want to have disturbed sleep!"

          --L.N. Hunter, author of The Feather and the Lamp

Available on Amazon

Open Skies (new poem)

From my upcoming second volume of poetry, Brunch with the Obelisk.

J. Brice Odom: Becoming an Older Kid

J. Brice Odom was born and raised in the great state of Georgia and now resides in the beautiful city of Macon. Since he was a young child, he has enjoyed creating stories and investigating history. He has been writing stories of all shapes and sizes since he was in elementary school. As he has gone through high school and college, and out of and back into a teaching career, that desire to create worlds of words and explore the ideas of literature and history remains undiminished. He has been telling stories since he was a young kid and intends to be telling stories as he becomes an older and older kid.  

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent book is hard boiled detective novel called Moonlight in the Tombstones. I tried to channel the feeling of the old film noir stories like The Maltese Falcon. The detective is wearing a fedora, the dialogue is often quick and sarcastic, there is a beautiful woman who we have no clue whose side she is really on, plenty of twists and turns, and a couple good gun fights along the way! 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I am a pretty eclectic writer in terms of genre. I have a detective novel, fantasy novel, short story collection that has various genres, a little poetry book, and a history book. Ultimately, what I like to usually say is most often I write of the fantastic, whether that is fantasy, science fiction, southern lit, or any other genre.

What hapened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I can't think of a time I have not enjoyed telling stories. I remember, when I was little, my Granny typing as I told her a story about a lava monster on her typewriter, and then putting it in a little plastic page protector thing. I got to make a cover and in some ways it was my first book. But I was writing stories all through elementary. I like to describe myself as an older kid still just telling stories...and I don't think I will ever grow out of it!

Motivational Monday: A Whole New Book

[Link] The Unexpected Benefits of Reading at Random

Elspeth Wilson on Becoming a Literary Omnivore

by Elspeth Wilson

As someone who has spent much of the last half-decade trying to “make it” as an author—an increasingly slippery ideal, I fear—it feels bizarre to admit that for much of my adult life I didn’t read fiction at all. Sacrilegious, even. Like so many other writers, I’d loved books as a weird, shy child, finding them refuge, friend and escape all wrapped into one. But as someone who’s a very slow reader, I just couldn’t keep up with the volume of reading that was demanded of me as I progressed through school and then university.

If we had to do assigned reading at home for English, it would take me ages and sometimes I’d have to cram pages in breaks before class. By the time I was studying for my undergrad, reading felt like a chore I couldn’t keep on top of. I stayed up late to finish articles and usually only managed a couple of chapters of books that were assigned in their entirety. When I had any free time, the last thing I wanted to do was struggle over more reading.

Then, in a quintessential story of reconnecting to reading, I moved to a new city at twenty-four. I was lonely and often very sad. I was in a long-distance relationship, I hated my job, I had an undiagnosed disability that sometimes caused me such agonising pain I couldn’t leave the house. It turns out circumstances such as these will push you back to considering novels as your friends. To reading in bed when you can’t do anything else. To imagining yourself in different worlds.

I used to feel stressed about reading all the hot, trendy books, getting caught up in the emphasis publishing puts on newness, but now I’m much more likely to read an older book than one steeped in hype and discourse.

At first this rediscovering of reading was delicious. I read on my way to work, distracting myself from the dread of going into the office. When it felt impossible to see friends or go out in bleak London weather, I had a cozy activity to do at home. I found my own taste, reading a lot of heartbroken free verse poetry by young women, plenty of queer romcoms and what the industry might describe as “contemporary women’s fiction” like Big Little Lies.

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/the-unexpected-benefits-of-reading-at-random/

Captain Science Goes to Oz! (New from BEN Books)

Science and fantasy collide in the merry old land of Oz in the new digest novel, Captain Science in Oz! available in paperback and ebook at Amazon worldwide with more retailers to follow. The author will also have autographed copies for sale soon.

When his old enemy, the Beast Men of Rak, invade Oz, Captain Science answers Oz’s call for aid. BEN Books presents Captain Science in Oz!, a pulpy action-thriller by Bobby Nash featuring the return of the 1950’s super-science hero, Captain Science. Cover illustration by Jas Ingram.

Currently in Progress -- Movie Reviews for Writers!

 Movie Reviews for Writers: 75 Movies About Writers and What You Can Learn from Them​

Movies matter. As long as movies are about people—even people like Marvin the Manic Depressive Robot or a monster like the one created by Victor Frankenstein—they will matter. Movies, like books and radio dramas and tales around the fireplace or campfire, introduce to people, some like us, some vastly different, some good, some bad, and some in those wonderful shades between the two (my favorite people, hands down).

     —From the Introduction

Movies  include:

1. A Fantastic Fear of Everything
2. House
3. Paris When It Sizzles
4. Stories We Tell
5. An American Ghost Story
6. Kill Your Darlings
7. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key
8. Tatami
9. The Haunting of M.R. James
10. The Adventures of Anais Nin
11. Playhouse
12. They Live Inside Us
13. Authors Anonymous
14. Peripheral
15. The Nesting
16. Dead Poets Society
17. Shadowlands
18. Howling IV
19. Finding Forrester
20. Valerie on the Stairs
21. The Owl and the Pussycat
22. Scare Me
23. Wodehouse in Exile
24. The Shining
25. The Eclipse
26. Secret Window
27. The Haunted Hotel
28. Cold Ones
29. The Bat
30. Tenebrae
31. Grace
32. The Girl in the Book
33. Nightbooks
34. Shortcut to Happiness
35. Agatha and the Truth of Murder
36. Hush
37. The Darkness
38. Ubaldo Terzani Horror Show
39. In the Mouth of Madness
40. Throw Momma from the Train
41. S‏hirley
42. The Black Press—Soldiers Without Swords
43. Flannery
44. Conjuring Spirit
45. I Spit on Your Grave
46. 1408
47. Christmas in Connecticut
48. Amuck
49. Alegoria
50. You Are My Vampire
51. The House Across the Lake
52. Half Light
53. The Medusa Touch
54. Velvet
55. Skin Deep
56. Horrors of the Black Museum
57. Salem’s Lot
58. Dirty Work
59. She Makes Comics
60. Another Man’s Poison
61. Writer’s Retreat
62. Ghost Land
63. Kiss of the Damned
64. Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark
65. Fantastic Britain
66. Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane
67. House of Long Shadows
68. The Norliss Tapes
69. Snowed Under
70. If You Believe
71. Killer Book Club
72. Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
73. The House of Marsh Road
74. The World According to Garp
75. Trumbo