Tag: Teenagers

Johnny’s Got a Gun

Hey all. Issue 1095 of Bewildering Stories is out today (online only). It features my short story “Johnny’s Got a Gun” about three teenagers looking for mischief on Halloween night. They get more than they bargained for when they break into their high school which is temporarily closed due to a shooting. My usual brand of darkness ensues. You can find the story for free here: https://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue1095/blurb.html

https://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue1095/blurb.html

I also was “awarded” the Order of the Hot Potato

The Order of the Hot Potato

Here are the most controversial works of the quarter, the ones on which the Review Editors’ opinions diverged significantly for one or more reasons. The titles are listed beginning with the hottest “potato” and proceeding in order. Nine of the titles appear among the Editors’ Choices. Challenge to the readers: why might any of these titles be on the list? Discussions are welcome and may appear in a future regular issue.

  1. Sultana Raza, Serene Nostalgia
  2. Bill Bowler, Death Can Be So Inconvenient
  3. Dylan Lee Henderson, What Is It, Mother?
  4. Shauna Checkley, Road Trip
  5. Edward Ahern, An Unready Life
  6. Brenda Mox, World of Woven Words
  7. Edward Ahern, Miramichi Afternoon
  8. T. J. Young, Deus ex Machina
  9. Shauna Checkley, Sourdough
  10. Alexander Etheridge, Muse
  11. Douglas Young, A New Pecking Order
  12. Curtis A. Bass, Johnny’s Got a Gun
  13. Brenda Mox, Camouflage

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

My story, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, went live on Terror House today.

I originally had a content warning on it, but the site didn’t run it. I guess they figured anyone signing on to a place called Terror House was willing to take their chances.

I’m not very happy with the story they published. After I sent it to them I found some typos and more important, some stylistic flaws that really bothered me. I contacted them and they said to send them a corrected copy. Guess which one they published. Yeah, the original. Just keep that in mind when you spot errors in the story.

While the serial murderer angle provides the creepy factor, the story isn’t really about that. It’s about our unnamed protagonists struggle with his father. Wow, I never realized until now that I never gave the kid a name. It didn’t seem important to the story. But our hero is on the cusp of manhood and trying to figure out what makes the measure of a man. Does he want to be the kind of man his father is? Obviously not. But his final act pushes him in that direction. A deeper story would show if he simply followed the path of least resistance or fought his way free.

A few readers complained that I didn’t reveal the identity of the killer, but as I stated above, that wasn’t what the story was about. However, I did write a final scene tying everything up. Terror House has first rights to my story for seven days. So next week I’ll post the version of the story I like, with the final scene as a bonus.