Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories

Some ghosts say boo.

Others shriek.

Some seek revenge.

Others only want closure.

Everyone knows that, regardless of what they want or how they act, ghosts are most active on Halloween. But what are they doing the other 364 days of the year?

Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories answers that question in twelve all-new short stories. Curl up on Valentine’s Day with the tale of a living man who has fallen in love with a ghost; endure April, the month of the diamond, with a woman who is as hard as ice; and face the consequences of disrespecting Death on Dia de los Muertos in November.

No matter what day of the year you find yourself in, they will always be able to find you.

Restless is a collection of twelve original short fiction stories that tell the stories of different kinds of spooks. Each one is themed for a different month so that you can enjoy paranormal stories all year round, not just on Halloween.

Restless was published on World Paranormal Day, May 3rd 2018 and is available as a paperback and on kindle here. 

Think Again: A Captivating Compendium

A young boy learns the legend of the ghost in the walls.

A woman rediscovers the first love of her life twenty years later.

An unusual dollhouse haunts the mind of its new owner.

Discover these and other dilemmas in this compendium of eight original short stories that may delight, confuse, astound or confound. So if you think you knew it all, be prepared to think again.

Think Again was published in 2013 and is my first collection of short stories. It features black and white illustrations by local Michigan artist Elisabeth Pizzo.

It is available in both kindle and paperback formats here.

If I Die Before I Wake Volume Three: Tales of Deadly Women and Retribution

Go ahead, run. Hide, even. No matter. There’s no place you can go that she won’t find you.

A woman scorned. The sanctity of her sanctuary threatened. The betrayal of trust…even loyalty. Don’t ever tell her not to take it personally, because that’s exactly what it is. Personal. Your first blunder was mistaking her kindness for weakness. Your second was betraying her. The third? Underestimating her. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Take the plunge into these tales of deadly women who will stop at nothing until vengeance is theirs.

The Better Off Dead series delves into the farthest corners of your mind, where your deepest, darkest fears lurk. These masters of horror will haunt your dreams and stalk your nightmares, taking you to the edge of sanity before pushing you to the brink of madness!

With stories by Steven Pajak, Cara Fox, Chris Contreras Bahnsen, Scotty Milder, J.H. Moncrieff, Scott Harper, Bridgett Nelson, Spencer Richard, Mark Young, Claire Brown, Nikkolas James, Lee Rozelle, Natalie Sierra, R.E. Sargent, Red Lagoe and Renee M.P.T. Kray.

The story I wrote for this collection is titled “Soul Skeeter” and follows a young girl who must save her brother from a monster that has her eye on him. The was the first time I worked with Sinister Smile Press and they put together something truly incredible.

This volume reached #1 New Horror Anthologies Release on Amazon.com in November 2020 and was nominated for a 2021 Splatterpunk Award.

It is available here.

If I Die Before I Wake Volume Five: Tales of the Otherworldly and the Undead

Sometimes, the dead do come back. Sometimes, they crave your flesh… and sometimes, they desire your very soul, but they aren’t the only thing you have to fear.

You don’t believe in what you can’t see, yet something is there, watching, waiting. You can feel its unholy intentions deep down in the marrow of your bones. You don’t know where it came from, but you know with every fiber of your being that it is not from this earth, and as you feel its gaze searing through your skin, you know the end just might be near.

It took its last breath, you watched the dirt being shoveled onto its coffin, yet there it is, standing before you, staring you down like you’re its next meal. It’s vicious and it’s evil and even though you know—you’re absolutely positive—that the abomination before you should be dead, somehow it’s not, and its ungodly eyes are focused on you.

The Otherworldly and Undead are out there and they are coming for you. When you run—and oh, will you run—you don’t need to be the fastest…you only need to be faster than the person beside you—at least until there is no one else left. Join us for the most terrifying stories of Otherworldly and Undead beings as they stalk and torment the living, feeding off their souls and their flesh before recruiting them to eternal damnation.

The Better Off Dead series delves into the farthest corners of your mind, where your deepest, darkest fears lurk. These masters of horror will haunt your dreams and stalk your nightmares, taking you to the edge of sanity before pushing you to the brink of madness!

Contains stories by Renee M.P.T. Kray, Jeremy Megargee, Scotty Milder, Steven Pajak, Barry Charman, Red Lagoe, Richard Clive, David A. Anthony, Kristal Stittle, Scott Harper, R.E. Sargent, LP Hernandez, and Bridgett Nelson.

Foreword by New York Times Bestselling Author Richard Chizmar.

Published in June 2021, the fifth anthology from Sinister Smile Press reached #1 horror anthology on Amazon almost immediately upon release. This features my short story “Granny’s Gift,” which includes controlling matriarchs, ghosts, and maybe -just maybe- a creepy doll.

Available here.

Deadsteam 2

Just when you thought the nightmare was over, what was dead comes crawling back from the beyond. We warned you not to open that fateful tome. But you just couldn’t resist, could you?

Back with more chilling tales of the dark and supernatural, the anthology of dreadpunk, gaslamp, and dark steampunk returns to haunt you with mummies, witches, vampires, gorgons, ghosts. The second installment in the DeadSteam series from Grimmer & Grimmer Books, DeadSteam II promises an even darker, grimmer gothic than the first offering.

DeadSteam II includes stories by DeadSteam alumni David Lee Summers (Owl Dance, The Brazen Shark), Karen J Carlisle (The Adventures of Viola Stewart), Bryce Raffle, Ross Smeltzer, C.C. Adams, E. Seneca, and Rob Francis, while also introducing newcomers to the DeadSteam series.

If you should sense someone lurking down by the river, some thing creeping through the forest, a sound from the attic, a strange pattern in the wallpaper that shouldn’t be there, a cold gust of wind on your neck…don’t look back. Just run. Run as far as you can.

But know this…we’re still here.

Just in time for Halloween, this collection released at the end of October 2021 and features my story “The Artist’s Hands” which was my first foray into a Victorian setting.

Available for purchase right here!