Published Short Stories

I've got a novel or three under my bed, but I also love to read and write short stories. Here are a few that have made it out into the wider world.

The Back Orchard

...has been in my head in some form possibly since high school. I worked summers and weekends for a family-owned orchard and bakeshop. The setting was idyllic and the family who ran the place were fantastic. But I still found myself sometimes creeped out in the sunny quiet of those endless rows, half expecting someone or something to step out from between the trees.

This story was published in Dark Moon Digest.

The Edge of the Wild

...was inspired by a trip I took to the stunning Teton mountains in Wyoming. The mangy dogs crossing the path in the wilderness are real. Their eyes, however, looked normal (thank goodness).

This story was a finalist in the Stuff You Should Know podcast's first annual horror fiction contest and was published in Disturbed Digest Magazine by Alban Lake Publishing.

The Hangar

...was a real building that used to sit on Hollister Avenue in Santa Barbara before being torn down. For this story, I moved it to the outskirts of a town more like the one I grew up in and added some unpleasant surprises inside.

This story is available in Mistresses of the Macabre, an anthology by Dark Moon Books. 

Here's a review.