Prepare for some BSP (blatant self-promotion) here.  This released today (Sept. 3):

Until Dawn
A Supernatural Anthology
Red Penguin Press
Sept. 3, 2021

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My story is titled “The Dog and the Dead Man.”

Lyana is both a witch and a Crime Scene Investigator for the Metro Washington D.C. police department, but her latest case, the murder of a prominent local philanthropist is going to test her ability to keep the two callings separate. The murdered man had a bit of magical talent himself, and it’s clear that the crime could only have been committed using magic.

Over the last few months, I’ve had quite a few stories accepted for publication in various periodicals or anthologies. They cover a broad range of genres.  Those I know of with approximate release dates:

Crunchy with Chocolate
An Anthology of Dragon Stories
October, 2021

My story is titled “The Princess and the Dragon”

If you think this story is a standard handsome knight rescues damsel from fierce dragon tale, think again. Here are the first three paragraphs to give you the flavor:

Suppose that, like Cyndrith, you happen to be the child of an ambitious mother joined to an insolvent father, a young lady of high birth, better than average looks, and broad but unorthodox education. As fate twists—only slightly assisted by your own and Aunt Vellie’s peculiar talents—you catch the eye of a neighboring prince at a time when he’s under pressure from the relatives to consider his duties. Your problems are solved. Right?

But further suppose that you do the obvious and necessary, you snag your man, and then you wake up the next day or week or month to find the honeymoon is over and you discover that your handsome, charming husband is a terrific dancer but an incompetent prince? And worse yet, your father-in-law, overjoyed that junior is finally settling down to business, and having just enough mens sanus left to realize that he’s losing it, decides to retire to Bath to take the waters, leaving the kingdom in the hands of your sweet but unqualified husband.

Cyndrith found the literature dealing with her particular problem scarce; the old legends insisted that everyone tended to live happily ever after, but her story looked likely to be a short, brutal tale — a leader who is hazy on the difference between cavalry and chivalry can generally expect an early and traumatic retirement.

Clearly, Cyndrith will have to take care of her own rescues, including confronting a rather unusual dragon!

Home for Holidays
A Christmas Romance Anthology
November, 2021
My story is “The Ghosts of Christmas Present”

Going home for Christmas is not at the top of Lyndsay Williams’ list of things she wants to do, but when her foster brother Josh asks her to come, she agrees, though Lyndsay and the rest of her foster family have never been close. She arrives to find that Josh has also invited his best friend Aaron Hampton to join them. Lyndsay had a crush on Aaron growing up. At Josh’s wedding, she and Aaron found a special connection, only to have their reunion end in disastrous humiliation. Really, she’d hoped never to see Aaron again. The holiday promises to be memorable, though possibly for all the wrong reasons.

BOULD Anthology
November, 2021
My story is titled “Reservations Required.”

Carolina Crimes: 20 Tales of Rock, Roll, and Ruin.
Date: TBA
My short story is titled “Rock ‘n’ Roll Never Forgets.”

42 Stories Anthology
Date: TBA
My 42-word short mystery story is “BEING IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME.”