"Erotica Quarterly" and "There Was a Crooked House"

Two anthologies I'm featured in are now available for purchase. Please feel free to check em out!


http://www.pillhillpress.com/shoppe-anthologies.html
http://www.pillhillpress.com/shoppe-erotica-quarterly.html

An excerpt from "Heteronormative"

Jay scoffed at her little performance and swigged down his glass of whiskey. If she had to go to such great lengths to prove how accomplished she was, then she really wasn’t so confidant after all. As far as he was concerned, she was still the naïve wannabe who worshipped him from the front row of class. If it was his approval she wanted she would never have it. He’d read her book out of morbid curiosity and concluded that it hadn’t any more depth than a sappy paperback erotica. He recognized the character that was him in the story. The brooding struggling writer who rapes a twelve year old girl that’s in love with him. This was Claudia’s way of villainizing him. 

Excerpt from "22 Beckett St.", due out this summer

Everyone always wondered what really was behind the door of 22 Beckett St. The reclusive family did not come out much. They did not attend town meetings or make friends with any of their neighbors. The two young girls who lived there didn’t go to school and their father was a factory worker, but kept mostly to himself. They didn’t have much money. This was known because 22 Beckett had been on the market for years before the strange family moved in. Due to its poor construction and slight slant, the property sold for a reasonably low price, and many townspeople were curious about who would reside in such a wretched, unwelcoming home. “Imagine raising two young children in a gloomy, old house like that!” Mrs. Omar would say every time she and her son passed its black, twisted gates on their way to church. Kenny would look up at the very top window and see the oldest girl staring out at him. 

Sexuality and Horror... my two favorite things wrapped up in a neat bow.

I am just so proud that Pill Hill accepted "Heteronormative". I truly did not expect this story to get accepted by any publisher, due to its graphic depiction of violence within sexuality. But this is an important story that should be told, and one of my favorites. I have recently returned to BDSM culture after years of steering clear, but my over-thinking brain still cannot disconnect the social, political, and moral dilemmas in this type of sexual expression. What causes us to want to hurt? What causes us to want to be hurt? And at the end of the day, can it ever be healthy? I don't have the answer to this. I do know that I demand respect inside and outside of the bedroom and even if I have a preference for being a bit roughed up, this does not mean I wish to feel degraded or less of a human being. The trick is finding a partner who is capable of balancing the two needs.


Back to the story, an undertone revolves around rape culture and man's impulse and nature. No, I don't believe that all men are natural rapists. If I did, then I would not dare to have anything to do with men on the whole. However, I do believe the fantasy of rape is ingrained in many of us, due to the romanticizing of rape culture within the media. But of course there is what we fantasize and what we do that makes all the difference. One of my all time favorite poems highlights this idea and was certainly an influence in writing "Heteronormative". Tony Hoagland, so beautifully describes what it's like to want someone you can't have, and what beasts reside within nature: http://buoy.antville.org/stories/355622/

Springtime and Jesus

I wrote this one in college years ago. Probably one of my favorites. It's not horror, or even feminist, but like I've mentioned, I can do more than just one genre. It's a dark comedy about a Christian good ol' boy and his infatuation with a murderous Lolita. The story wrote itself and was easy and enjoyable to conclude. (I state that because stories are usually damn hard to conclude).


Anyway, read it here: http://deadmanstome.com/DT062011.pdf

My next book...

"Heteronormative" will be published in a book called The Big Book of Horror. Thank you Pill Hill!