"Better Heard and Not Seen" in DarkFuse 1

One of my stories, "Better Heard and Not Seen", is part of the first DarkFuse anthology that got released this Tuesday. It's another story that starts with a common childhood fear and (I hope) goes somewhere unexpected with it. Check it out and let me know what you think.

"A Banquet of Marionettes" at Horror d'oeuvres

My short story, "A Banquet of Marionettes," was published at Horror d'oeuvres on February 7. The site is subscription-based, so you only get to read the first three paragraphs before you're asked to subscribe. They post one flash (1,000 words or less) horror story per week, so it's worth checking out. Let me know what you think.

Dead Boys reviewed at The Bookie Monster

Shay Festa recently posted a review of Dead Boys on her website, The Bookie Monster.Check it out.

Unseen by Hands in Nameless Magazine.

A few weeks back, "Unseen by Hands" was published online at Nameless Magazine. It's a Lovecraftian style of story that goes in what is hopefully a surprising direction. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Dead Boys Review by A.T. Weaver

A month back, a review of Dead Boys was posted on Ingrid Hall's website. The review was written by Julia Flowers, who writes under the pen name A.T. Weaver. It includes a favorable comparison to The Twilight Zone and a question that more than one reader has asked me.

Why is the book called Dead Boys? Simply, there is a dead boy in every story: the dead son in "Parable of the Lazy Rooster", the ghost haunting the dormitory in "Cold Comfort", the half-dead son in "Midnight Cappuccino" and, yes, the dog in "Wet Dog Perfume".

Thanks for taking the time to review my collection, Ms. Weaver.

Dead Boys Review on Black Gate

A couple months back, John O'Neill published a review of Dead Boys on Black Gate. Beyond the book itself, he also goes a bit into how we first met at the Top Shelf Books open mic event, a monthly reading series which has recently come to an end. Since it's impossible for me to imagine producing this work without the support of various reading events and writers groups, it's good that John mentioned it in a review.

Check out the review and, while you're there, nose around the site a little. It's updated daily with information about more science fiction and fantasy novels than you could ever finish reading.

Midnight Cappuccino on Bad Grammar

Brendan Detzner posted an interview with me on his Bad Grammar podcast. The interview was conducted late last year, so there might be some dated references. Besides the interview, I read "Midnight Cappuccino", which also appears in Dead Boys.

For those looking through the backlog of Bad Grammar interviews, many of those named appear regularly at the Bad Grammar open mic event as well (second Friday of every month at 1743 S. Halsted).
So it's a half-hour talking about the trials of tribulations of getting published, performing at open mic events and getting a college degree; followed by a story. There's also hookers and Star Trek.

The Worst Was Yet to Come

My story, The Worst Was Yet to Come, is now on Black Gate. You can view the complete story online here. As always, let me know what you think.

Dead Boys

They're not hard to find, if you know where to look. In the back of a pub after happy hour. In a dorm room between semesters. In a dog park after sunset. In a hospice room on Christmas Eve. Dead boys.

Michael Penkas brings you four stories about the dead who refuse to leave and the living who refuse to let them go.

Parable of the Lazy Rooster - A priest offers consolation and the most exotic drink on Earth.

Cold Comfort - A prostitute visits the scene of a tragedy in order to render her own brand of absolution.

Wet Dog Perfume - A lonely man mourns the death of one friend as he makes another.

Midnight Cappuccino - Christmas Eve brings together a family separated by more than miles.

Dead Boys is available now through Amazon and Smashwords for $2.99. These are four of my earliest published pieces. If you like what you read, leave a quick review where you ordered your copy. And if you don't like it, leave a quick review anyway, so I'll know where I need to improve in my next collection.

Oh yes, this is only the first.

Coffee with Count Presto

It's a surreal little piece about a private magic show that goes horribly wrong and plots within plots. "Coffee with Count Presto" is making its first appearance in issue 28 of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. And even if you don't like my work (though why you'd be here if you didn't like my work is a bit beyond me), you should definitely check out an issue of this weird, wonderful indie zine. It's got pieces by Krista Hoeppner Leahy, Kevin Waltman, Erica Hilderbrand, Brian Baldi, Andrea M. Pawley, Kamila Z. Miller, Helen Marshall, Nicole Kimberling and John McKernan. And check out the cover by Junyi Wu.

Issues run at just five dollars for print. The electronic version is on its way. To find out more about it and order your own, check out the website.

"Wet Dog Perfume" in Tales To Terrify, Volume 1

A few months back, "Wet Dog Perfume" was performed in a podcast for Tales to Terrify. Today, it appears in print once again in Tales to Terrify, Volume 1. You can read a great introduction to both the podcast and the book here.

If you need a little more convincing, check out the table of contents:

"Jumbo Portions" by Christopher Fowler

"Wet Dog Perfume" by Michael Penkas (hey, that's me)

"Seen Through Flame" by Gary McMahon

"Just Around the Corner" by Alexei Collier

"In A Country Churchyard" by Bev Vincent

"God of the Razor" by Joe R. Lansdale

"Bread and Circuses" by Felicity Dowker

"Chair" by Martin Mundt

"Grandmother’s Road Trip" by Cat Rambo

"In The Dust" by Tim Lebbon

"The Last Few Days in a Life of Frost" by Joe Pulver

"Green Apples, Red Nails" by John Everson

"Just a Suggestion" by John Shirley

"Working for the God of the Love of Money" by Kaaron Warren

"Rat Time in the Hall of Pain" by Lawrence Santoro

"The Short Go: A Future in Eight Seconds" by Lisa L. Hannett

"The Goosle" by Margo Lanagan

"Lost and Found" by Mark Morris

"An Eye for an Eye" by Nancy Kilpatrick

"All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Piggy Class" by Nicole Cushing

"Big Rock Candy Mountain" by Weston Ochse

"Bluebeard" by Angela Slatter

"The Tree is My Hat" by Gene Wolfe

You can order it in hardcover, paperback or a variety of e-book formats.

"What Everybody Sees" in Queer Fish, Volume 2

Pink Narcissus Press has just released the second volume in their gay fiction series, Queer Fish. My contribution, "What Everybody Sees," focuses on a gay man in his sixties, contemplating lost love and the changing face of gay culture. It's about missed opportunities and how sometimes we hide secrets from ourselves better than we can hide them from anyone else. Fair warning, it's mostly guys talking to eachother in a coffee shop and there's nothing near as steamy in it as the PG-13 cover would suggest.

You can order a copy directly from Pink Narcissus or from Amazon. Either way, it's $14.95. If you like it, check out some of the other books in the publisher's catalog and go to their Facebook page. And, as always, let me know what you think.

"Wet Dog Perfume" on Tales To Terrify

This week's Tale To Terrify podcast starts off with a story of mine, "Wet Dog Perfume".  Check it out and let me know what you think.  Scott Couchman puts in a wonderful performance.

Corn Productions 20th Anniversary Show

Corn Productions (located on 4210 N. Lincoln, here in Chicago) is putting on a comedy show featuring sketches from their twenty-year history.  It's hosted by the drag mother/daughter team of Tiff & Mom.  Long-time Corn fans will know that these two can talk about the weather and make it funny (and, probably, offensive).

One of the sketches that's been hand-picked from the Corn vault is a piece I wrote for the Seven Deadly Sins show five years back.  It kind of threw me to realize that it's already been five years since that show ran, as well as to realize that the sketch was well-received enough to warrant a revival.

The show runs Saturdays, starting July 14 and going through August 18.  You can learn more about the show at the Corn Productions website.  As always, if you check it out, let me know what you think.

Her Words Make It Go Away in One Buck Horror, Volume Five

Volume five of One Buck Horror is finally available and it leads with one of my stories, "Her Words Make It Go Away".  There's also stories by Brendan Detzner (author of "Scarce Resources", a fine collection of stories that I reviewed on this blog last year), Genevieve Rose Taylor (author of the e-book, "Prince of Kriti"), Grá Linnaea (check out a list of everything he's published here), Michael A. Pignatella (who received an honorable mention for his story, "Remember the Face of Your Son") and Richard Thomas (author of "Transubstantiate" and over fifty published stories).

If you want to read a section of my story, you can go to the Amazon page and Click to LOOK INSIDE.  If you want to find out more about the book, go the One Buck Horror page.  As always, if you pick up a copy, let me know what you think.

Parlour Party in Midnight Echo 7

The Australian Horror Writers Association has released issue 7 of their official magazine, Midnight Echo, today.   It's "The Taboo Issue" and one of my stories, "Parlour Party" is included among the taboos.  This is another of my bloodless horror stories, something that attempts to disturb without graphic depictions of sex or violence.

The issue also features fiction by Shaun Hamilton, Anthony Ferguson, Gary Kemble, Rick McQuiston, Kia Groom, G. N. Braun, Eric Blair, A.J Brown, Jack Skelter, Ed Higgins, Ron Jon, Lee Battersby, Tom McLaughlin, Andrew J. McKiernan and Graham Masterton.  There's poetry by Michelle Scalise, Kurt Newton and Bec Mirr; art by Greg Hughes, Jason Paulos and Joshua Hoffine and a comic by Mark Farrugia and Greg Chapman.  There's also interviews with Graham Masterton, Joe R. Lansdale and Joshua Hoffine.  That's one-hundred and thirty pages for $1.99.

For those who are curious, I've got several more stories scheduled to appear in various magazines and podcasts in the coming months.  I've been working on lots of new stuff in the meanwhile as well.  I've also started working as the Assistant Website Editor for Black Gate, an amazing resource for anyone looking for information on the fantasy genre.  In between all of that, I'm honestly going to try updating this blog with a bit more frequency.  So stay tuned.

Return of the Zombie ... Returns

Last week, The Bathroom Readers' Institute released the latest volume in the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series. Flush Fiction contains eighty-eight stories, each long enough to be read in one sitting (ahem). One of them is "Return of the Zombie", a piece I wrote a few years ago as a sort of homage to the old ads you'd find in the back of comic books (X-Ray Specs, Sea Monkeys, Charles Atlas, etc.). It should be available through most major chain bookstores. You can also order it through the Bathroom Reader website or Amazon. If you pick up a copy, let me know what you think.

Dead Baby Day

Issue 4 of Shock Totem is now available and includes one of my stories, "Dead Baby Day". There isn't much I can say about the piece here that I don't mention in the afterward. It was an attempt to write a disturbing story in a thousand words or less without resorting to graphic violence, graphic sex or graphic language. I'm rather proud of it and am glad that it found a home. Let me know what you think.

They got quite a line-up for talent in this issue. Rather than reprint the table of contents, you can find out more about the issue here. You can find out how to order print or digital copies here. As always, thanks to everyone who offered advice, everyone who offered encouragement and everyone who just took the time to listen to me read this piece.

The Afterlife of Ellen Easterling

Volume Two of One Buck Horror is out this week, an ebook anthology of five short stories, including one of mine: The Afterlife of Ellen Easterling. The best "in a nutshell" description blurb I can give is that it's about a passive-aggressive ghost. But hopefully not in a silly way.

The other four stories (What Swims These Waters by Daniel Ausema, Holes by Sean Logan, Beastie by David Bischoff and 3 Monkeys by Adam Howe) are all excellent with varying degrees of sublety, each of them working on multiple levels. Daniel Ausema does a wonderful job of describing his monsters using senses other than the visual. Sean Logan mixes urban horror with Lovecraftiana better than most who try, while keeping the emotional core of the piece firmly set in love and redemption. David Bischoff manages to piece together a story both mythic and mysterious, suggesting a whole other world without giving the reader the comfort of a full explanation. We are disturbed because even after it's over, we don't know exactly what we've witnessed. Adam Howe's story managed to scare me before even getting to the "scary part" once I figured out the third monkey. Even the cover by Shawn Conn creeped me out. Just look at her eyes!

I'm honored to be included in this collection and hope you'll check it out. The title's a bit misleading in that it's really only ninety-nine cents (Ninety-Nine Cent Nightmares?). You can learn more about the ebook at One Buck Horror or just risk the ninety-nine pennies and buy a copy at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Let me know what you think.

Stories I've finished since last post: Serial and To Make Her Smile Again.

Unholy Sacrifices

Thanks to everyone who showed up for Cult Fiction's Unholy Sacrifices event. These performances get better with every show and it's always fun to see how different writers interpret the same theme.

Brendan Detzner's Figure 8 started off the show, illustrating the terrible power that can come from true faith (whether or not the object of one's faith is actually worthy). A largely psychological horror story that also managed some truly bloody moments.

Frank Stascik's Threads was next up. A story of honor among horrors where the reader doesn't quite know who is sacrificing whom until the bitter climax. This one also pulls off the clever trick of horrifying in its description of how the monster does not manifest.

Eric Cherry's Infidel's Revenge began with a tale of rescuing a damsel in distress, only to descend to those horrors that no bullet or knife can stop. Once again, the true horror comes from the depths of human depravity rather than any supernatural entity.

My own story, Just A Little Head, followed. It was read by C.S.E. Cooney, who did a much better job of conveying both the absurd humor and hallucinatory horror than I could have managed had I read it myself. Tina Jens reminded me that humor and horror are often opposite sides of the same storytelling coin and it was nice to see Ms. Cooney balance the sides so well.

Finally, show organizer Jude W. Mire did a performance art piece titled This Melting Flesh. The silent transformations of one face to another to another, the meaning of it all left for each viewer to interpret. A wonderful finish to the fourth Cult Fiction show.

If you want to learn more about Cult Fiction (both the quarterly show and the weekly writing workshop) visit their blog. Or just stop by The Lucky Number Grille (1931 N. Milwaukee) any Tuesday night between 6:30 PM and 9:00 PM to join in with the workshop.

Thanks again to everyone involved with this performance.