My Five Available Short Story Collections

May is Short Story Month so for the last five days of the month, I am promoting the five short story collections I have available:

 

30 Flash Horror Stories

 

Shadows

 

Monsters & Mayhem

 

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Vengeance from Beyond

 

I didn’t include The Worst Thing You Ever Did because it is currently unavailable. That will change later this year.

 

And because I have another short story collection coming out next month, this is the only time I can do this!

 

Maybe by next May, there will be 10 short story collections to promote? Who knows!

 

Anyway, without further ado, here are my five short story collections for the last five days of Short Story Month.

 

30 Flash Horror Stories

 

 

A mysterious sign only one man can see...trick-or-treaters getting more trick than a treat...and ghosts that never rest. These are just a few of the thirty flash fiction horror and Halloween stories awaiting you within the pages of this book. Read these stories at your own risk!

 

Buy link

 

Shadows

 

 

What sort of horrors lurk in the shadows What monsters are waiting to attack?

 

Shadows is a collection of 20 flash fictior stories bringing our worst nightmares to life.

 

From Halloween scares to Christmas creepers, these terrifying tales will take you into worlds of fright.

 

Shadows offers stories of ghosts, zombies demons and werewolves. But not all monsters are creatures of the imagination Be careful who you trust; within these pages are people just as monstrous.

 

Buy link

 

Monsters & Mayhem

 

 

Beware of the monsters who will strike at every turn! They are on a rampage through neighborhoods, hiding on top of roofs, or lurking within your dreams just waiting to materialize. Beware the scary creatures that could tear you from limb to limb or steal you away into the night! These seven flash and micro fiction stories offer new tales of monsters and the destruction they leave in their wake.

 

Buy link

 

 

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The best kind of revenge is the kind that no one would expect.

 

Ten girls have been tormented by people who thought it was okay to hurt them. They never expected them to fight back.

 

But they do.

 

Not only do they fight back, but they delight in freeing their inner monsters on anyone who hurts them.

 

Ten girls who have been wronged. Who have been forced to conform. Who have been laughed at one too many times.

 

These girls find the power within themselves to fight back and get their revenge. And make their tormentors pay.

 

Buy link

 

 

Vengeance from Beyond

 

 

 

Halloween is a time when the veil is at its thinnest between the living and the dead.

 

When a vengeful spirit makes contact with forensic psychologist, Essie Histor, the floodgates open for other ghosts to come through as well.

 

As Essie moves from one case to another, she realizes that if a ghost is set on revenge, nothing can stop it from making sure its attackers are delivered vengeance from beyond.

 

Buy link

My debut in erotic horror!

As a horror writer, I like to challenge myself to write in the other subgenres of horror. I have had stories published in paranormal horror, YA horror, and my novelette Home for the Holidays is extreme horror.

 

And now I have been published in erotic horror! Well, published as in, my story was included in a podcast.

 

I NEVER thought that I would have a story read on a podcast. As a Deaf writer, I always felt that podcasts were off limits for me. I have checked out many podcasts, and while some had closed-captioning and/or transcripts, many did not. So I figured that this was not something I could pursue as a writer.

 

Well, Crystal Baynam proved me wrong!

 

One day, in the author group chat which I am in, Crystal threw out an invitation for writers to donate a story to her brand new podcast, The Midnight Manuscripts. I was interested in participating because I wanted to explore the option of having my story read on a podcast. Yes, I NOW thought this was a possibility for this Deaf writer who cannot listen to podcasts just like all the hearing people can. So I donated a story and Crystal accepted it. Yay!

 

And this particular story is erotic horror! That is the reason why I submitted it. I didn’t think I could find a home for this story anywhere else, and since Crystal’s publishing company is open to erotic horror, I selected it to submit.

 

My story, “Love Slave,” was read on The Midnight Manuscripts podcast on February 21, 2025. And the best part? There are closed captions included! YAY!!

 

And! There is also a transcript!

 

A TRANSCRIPT!! ON A PODCAST!!

 

Double yay!!

 

This is so exciting. It’s my first erotic horror story and my first podcast publication credit! How neat!

 

Thank you to Crystal Baynam of Baynam Books Press for creating this podcast and accepting my story. And thank you to Onyx Brightwing for reading my story on the podcast.

 

You can check it out at this link.

(Warning: This story contains mature content.)

 

Well, now that I have had a story featured on a podcast, it looks like I will no longer exclude calls for stories from other podcasts! But I think I will check them out first to make sure they offer closed captions and/or a transcript.

No Fan Fiction? No Problem!

 “This story was actually written in 2016 then I put it away and forgot about it.” These are the words I wrote in an email for a recent short story submission. Why did I decide to just forget about that story after writing it? Because it was a fan fiction story, and outside of fan fiction websites, I wouldn’t have any luck placing the story anywhere.

 

That’s what I thought, anyway.

 

This call for stories that I came across changed my mind. I realized that my story didn’t HAVE to be a fan fiction story in order for it to work! It could be something else entirely. Something along the lines of my very own story with my very own characters with my very own ideas.

 

So that’s what I turned my short story into when I revised it before submitting it. I didn't use the same characters, I changed names, and I changed some other things in order to make it different. Doing all those things didn’t hurt the story at all. Sure, it made the story just your average sci-fi story, but it was no longer a fan fiction story. It no longer had characters in it somebody else owned the rights to, and the vehicle they used for time travel was not the same thing as in the story which somebody else wrote. (I had to do research on things used for time travel in fiction to make sure I wasn’t infringing on any other copyrighted material!)

 

Changing my story from “fan fiction” to “regular fiction” was not very hard to do. With just a few changes, it was my very own story.

 

And I knew that I could not have gotten that done if I had been too attached to keeping the story a fan fiction story. I mean, it’s just a short story! I could write tons of other stories and lots of other similar fan fiction stories.

 

Not only this, but I kept the original story, just in case I ever one day grow nostalgic for the franchise.

 

But the important thing is that I was willing to make those changes. I was not too attached to a story I’d written 8 years ago that I was unwilling to turn it into something I could send out for publication. I was willing to change a fan fiction story into something that was my own story, without another writer’s character or another writer’s copyrighted material.

 

It remains to be seen if this story will get accepted for the anthology. If not, I’ll have another story to add to my files to send out if I ever find somewhere else where it might fit.

Release the Monsters!: Monsters and Mayhem are stories of creatures and an evil ghost

 

One day, when I posted on Facebook that I planned to submit micro fiction stories to a website, a person on my friends list asked, “Do you think you could do a book of these?”

 

I saw that comment and thought, Challenge accepted!

 

This particular person owned a publishing company and I had the idea of submitting such a book to his company. So I reached out to him to inquire how many words the manuscript should be. He gave me a number and I got to work writing stories for it.

 

Later, however, when I submitted the manuscript to his company, an editor contacted me asking if the book could be longer. So I threw in some flash fiction stories to replace some of the micros, since the number of micros in the book did not increase the word count number. The flash fiction stories for only 7 stories in that book made it work.

 

That publishing company ended up shutting down before the book could be published, so I just held on to it. I got busy with other things, all the while keeping an eye out for a new publisher to submit it to.

 

Then the day came when I learned of a new press that would be opening soon. And this press was interested in publishing my book of 7 stories! However, it was some time before this new press got off the ground, but it recently launched and my book of stories was the second ebook it published!

 

Monsters and Mayhem was published by Twisted Dreams Press on August 28 and I am thrilled to see this “surprise book” become available for everyone to read. I’m glad I took that person up on the challenge to put this book of stories together. Who knew that going from submitting micro stories to a website would lead me to creating a book of micro and flash fiction stories?

 

Monsters and Mayhem is available as an ebook from Amazon. It was edited by Jennifer Horgan and the cover was designed by Rebecca Cuthbert.

 

Here is the book’s blurb:

 

“Beware of the monsters who will strike at every turn! They are on a rampage through neighborhoods, hiding on top of roofs, or lurking within your dreams just waiting to materialize.

 

Beware the scary creatures that could tear you from limb to limb or steal you away into the night!

 

These seven flash and micro fiction stories offer new tales of monsters and the destruction they leave in their wake.”

 

Here is an excerpt:

 

 

Swallow Pond

 

 

“It’s called Swallow Pond.”

 

The woman looked at her hiking companion, a man in his thirties whom she had met last week at a bar. “What?”

 

“That pond out there,” he replied, pointing at the small body of water the two of them had been staring at. He kept his gaze on the water. “It’s called Swallow Pond.”

 

“Funny name for a pond,” she replied, smiling humorously as she looked at it again. “I wonder if it really does swallow anything.”

 

He was silent for a long time. She turned her head to look at him and found him smiling at her.

 

“Do you really want to know?” he asked.

 

“Sure,” she replied, shrugging.

 

He grabbed her and pushed her into the pond. She screamed, but then took a deep breath as she hit the water. To her horror, the pond really did swallow her whole!

 

She groaned as sharp edges that seemed like teeth chewed her up as she descended through a water funnel. The sharp, piercing teeth tore into her body, crunching up her skull and gnashing her to bits until all that was left of her were bloody pieces that drifted to the bottom of the pond.

 

 

And here is the book’s buy link

 

 

The Surprise Book: Shadows is a Collection of Flash Fiction Stories That Lost Then Found a Home

 

Earlier this year, I was comfortably employed at a publishing company, working as a YA Editor. This company had many imprints, and one of the editors put out an open call for flash fiction collections. Up until then, I had been writ8ing flash fiction and submitting the stories out to publications as part of my work as a freelance writer (which I still do today). However, once I saw this call for submissions, I decided to go for it. I did have some flash fiction stories lying around that hadn’t been published yet. (I prefer to have NEW material in my books of stories, although one story in my forthcoming YA horror collection of stories was previously published.) I also started writing new stories for this book. The call had a limit of 20 stories, with each story being no more than 1500 words, so I decided to aim for the maximum amount of stories. Once it was finished, I submitted it and waited.

 

Then the news came that this publishing company shut down. All of my books and pending books with them were now homeless!

 

Still, I bided my time. Experience has taught me that if I just sit tight, I would find a new publisher for this book.

 

Thankfully, I did. A fellow author shared about a publishing company in the UK on Facebook. He said some good things about them so I checked them out. I liked what I saw so I submitted my flash fiction collection. Three days later, an acceptance for this manuscript was in my inbox. I was thrilled! They also accepted a micro-chapbook of poetry, as well as a novella. I have more books slated to go to them, especially for their new imprints.

 

Shadows was published by Unveiling Nightmares on July 6 and I’m very pleased to see this book not only find a new home but also get into print. Many thanks to Crystal Baynam for accepting and editing the book, as well as Christy Aldridge for the fantastic cover! I’m very happy with my experience with Unveiling Nightmares and I look forward to working with them again on future books.

 

I call Shadows my “surprise book” because it wasn’t a book I planned to write. Before the year started, I made a list of what books I would submit. (That is a list that has seen many updates!) This book was not on the list. I hadn’t written it or planned to write it. It never even occurred to me to put together a collection of flash fiction stories. That call for submissions is what put the idea for this book into my head. It also prompted me to write more flash fiction stories just for this book in order to bring the total to twenty.

 

Here is the blurb for Shadows:

 

What sort of horrors lurk in the shadows? What monsters are waiting to attack?

 

Shadows is a collection of 20 flash fiction stories bringing our worst nightmares to life.

 

From Halloween scares to Christmas creepers, these terrifying tales will take you into worlds of fright.

 

Shadows offers stories of ghosts, zombies, demons and werewolves. But not all monsters are creatures of the imagination. Be careful who you trust; within these pages are people just as monstrous and evil.

 

Here’s the buy link

Scared to Death: New anthology for young readers offers spine-tingling stories of ghosts, vampires, zombies – and more!

 

Shortly after I had a couple of books accepted by PsychoToxin Press, I was brought onboard as Marketing Manager. Then I was invited to submit a short story for an anthology the then YA Editor, Brandon Wills, was putting together for the YA imprint. I was thrilled because I actually had a short story to submit.

 

What was even better is that this particular anthology was a tribute to R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps™ series! I am a huge fan of the series – yes, even as an adult! I just love reading spooky stories meant for all ages. Also, the story I had to submit was inspired by the Goosebumps™ books! (No book in particular; I just got the idea for the story after spending days reading several of the books.) I submitted my short story, “My New (Dead) Best Friend,” and it was accepted. Yay!

 

Then, sometime later, I was informed that Brandon resigned. I was asked if I would take his post as YA Editor and I said yes. (Later, I resigned from my post as Marketing Manager, because it was not possible to juggle the two roles very effectively.) Now I read both YA and middle grade (MG) submissions for PsychoToxin Press.

 

So now not only was I in the anthology (as Dawn Colclasure), but now I was co-editor for it (as Dawn Wilson).

 

Brandon had already edited my story, and thankfully, he took some time to go over my revised story after I revised it per his suggestions. He also worked with me on ideas for a cover for the book. Both he and PsychoToxin founder, Christopher Pelton, helped out to make sure everything was provided so that we could work as a team in getting this anthology filled and edited. Once edits were complete, I sent the stories to each contributor for approval. Some of them requested changes and additions and these were done. Once I had final approval on all stories, it was time to work on the cover!

 

I worked with the cover designer Ruth Anna Evans and she came up with something so amazing that I was super excited to buy copies of this book in the near future just so I could show off such awesomeness.

 

Then I sent the files to Cat Voleur, who was in charge of formatting everything for publication. Cat was up late working on it and emails, as well as messages on Twitter, were sent back and forth. Finally, the formatting work was done. I’m so grateful to Cat for her hard work and time spent on it!

 

The book, Scared to Death, was scheduled for a March 7 release but, unfortunately, there were delays. Today, however, the book is now available! Woo-hoo!

 

Thank you, Christopher Pelton, for entrusting me with this book. Thank you, Brandon Wills, for creating this project and helping me out after stepping down as YA Editor. Thank you, Ruth Anna Evans, for an awesome cover. And thank you, Cat Voleur, for the time you spent on the formatting! It was a pleasure working with you all.

 

Here is the book’s blurb:

 

Vampires! Ghosts! Zombies! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!! Within the pages of this anthology lurk stories guaranteed to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up! From a cursed game that turns its players into monsters … a ghost cat on a quest for revenge … and killer snowmen on a rampage, these ten terrifying tales will have you sleeping with the lights on! Read these stories, if you dare!

 

This book includes stories from the following contributors:

 

R. Jeanie Burroughs ● Dawn Colclasure ● Marcus Damanda ●William F. Gray ● Michelle John ● Cyan LeBlanc ● Eric McMillion ●Caitlyn Pace ● Sharon Wagner ● Brandon Wills

 

Buy link

 

Check it out on Goodreads