Category Archives: SNAFU

SNAFU: LEVEL UP AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT –  SNEZANA KOSANOVIC

On day two of Cohesion Press‘ Author Spotlight, we’re sticking with the Aussie team. This time, we have Snezana Kosanovic making her way into the light from the spookish shadows of her Imaginarium. There are no exits here… well, there is, but you gotta fight your way through monsters first – as it should be.

Right, without further ado—

Snez! Will you just leave that ghoul alone and take the stage?

Snezana Kosanovic is a writer, horror enthusiast, and a Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia.

She created Dimly Lit Alleyway as a place to write about film, growing out of a lifelong love of cinema. Her reviews and articles appeared in Infamous Horror, Star Observer, and In The Mix, where she wrote under the pseudonym Tek-Ku. 

Her fiction has also earned recognition, with ‘The Forgotten Diary’ placing second in the 2025 Mayday Hills Ghost Story Competition. 

She is currently working on her debut psychological horror novel, as well as a non-fiction book looking at artificial intelligence, cinema, and where storytelling might be heading.

For SNAFU: Level Up, Snez kicked fast-paced up the arse and left it in her wake with FRACTURED CONTINUUM: Trapped inside a brutal simulation while haunted by your own deaths, is The Game hiding something far worse than dying?

You can find Snez at her website, and on Bluesky.

And keep an eye out for her psychological-horror novel that will surely be bursting into the world much like Commander Kane’s… ah, baby chest-burster did…

SNAFU: LEVEL UP AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – ALAN BAXTER

We’re kicking off our author spotlight this year with an Aussie (because of course we are), so please welcome to the stage, the inestimable Alan Baxter! A stalwart in the Aussie horror-writing community, Alan is one of the most prolific writers I know – it’s insane. He also has dogs whom one day I will steal (yeah, you heard me, Baxter.)

So, before I divulge all my plans for dog-theft, I will hand over the stage to Al to let him tell you a little sumpin’-sumpin’ about himself. Baxter! Get up here!

Alan Baxter is a multi-award-winning British-Australian author of more than twenty novels and novellas and over one hundred short stories, encompassing horror, weird fiction, dark fantasy, crime and more. This Is Horror podcast calls him “Australia’s master of literary darkness” and the Talking Scared podcast dubbed him “The Lord of Weird Australia.” He’s also a martial artist, whisky lover, motorcyclist, metalhead and dog person. He writes his darkly strange tales deep in the valleys of southern Tasmania.

Baxter penned us quite the macabre story for SNAFU: Level Up – THE LONG SHOT: Desperate people will take any chance, but at what cost?

You can find Baxter at his website, on bluesky, and Insta.

Alan’s latest book The Rise, is out now – it’s book three in the Tales From The Gulp series.

<nudges you> Go on, get over there and have a read.  

SNAFU: LEVEL UP AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – INCOMING!

That’s right, it’s that time again where I shout from the rooftops the amazing authors who make up the ToC for the year’s SNAFU. And hoo boy, it’s a hella long list.

SNAFU: LEVEL UP is the biggest edition to date, coming it at a whopping nineteen—you heard it—NINETEEN stories. That’s a weapon. I mean… if you were to use it that way. Or, you could, I don’t know, just read it? Multi-purpose!

As you can likely see from the last time I updated my blog, I am quite shit at blogging and updating. But I will skip happily over to here when it comes to shouting about Cohesion Press’ authors in our latest tome.

Level Up is due for release Halloween because we always release that date, and what better date is there for a military-horror antho to be launched into the world?

This year, SNAFU went big with LitRPG. Yep, that fun, humorous, dangerous, and alternate of worlds where gaming comes with high-stakes and usually higher death counts. Sure, there can be respawning, but you gotta die first, yeah?

AND LOOK AT THAT COVER! More amazing work by Wendy Sabercore SABERCORE ART.

So, for the next approximately nineteen days (yes, approximately – anyone who knows me knows my concept of time is guesswork at best), I will be introducing the SNAFU: LEVEL UP authors with a gameshow-flourish. An ugly flourish, sure, but we work with what we have.

In this edition, there are authors who have graced previous SNAFUs, and there are new names coming to mark their places on the pages. And like previous editions, the storytellers hail from all over the world.  Love that for us.  And for you. And them.

So, strap in, get your dice ready, your VR set, and your HUD prepped. Grab yourself a weapon on your way through – you never know who or what you’re gonna meet.

Note: the order of the Author Spotlight does not represent ToC order.

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – SUBHAM RAI

And this is the last of Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlights with Subham Rai!  And yes, you’re right, the math doesn’t quite math. This is Author Spotlight #14, and we have eighteen authors in SNAFU: Contagion – you just need to roll with it. Please and thank you! 😊

Subham absolutely killed with his tale. Not literally. That’s illegal despite alibis. I’m pretty sure. I mean, there are dead people in his story. But you expect that. This is SNAFU. And Subham ran with that, guns blazing.

So, I’ll now hand you over to him to give a far more coherent introduction than I’ve done…

Subham Rai is an emerging writer based in Kolkata, India. His short stories have been published in notable outlets, including Strange Horizons, Macrame Literary Journal, Cohesion Press’s SNAFU: Contagion, and Zoetic Press’s Mosscap’s Ledger, with additional works featured in Graveside Press’s Kosmos Obscura. Forthcoming publications include ‘Bread Over the Line’ in Consequence Forum, ‘The Salem Shadow’ in Graveside Press’s Witchcraft Anthology, ‘The Holly Locket Curse’ in Bindweed Magazine, and ‘Margaret Hollow’ in Vellum Mortis.

As you can guess, we got quite the gruesome tale from Subham for SNAFU: Contagion – OUTPOST ZERO: In a remote Arctic outpost, a nightmare outbreak threatens the mainland.

You can find Subham on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and Facebook2 (I added the ‘2’, again, roll with it!).

Subham is absolutely a writer to watch.   

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – ROBERT MAMMONE

We’re Aussie-ing again with this Author Spotlight for SNAFU: Contagion – we’re like a plague (see what I did there?).  Cohesion Press is stumbling to the end of our Author Spotlight series (okay, I’m stumbling; there’s never enough caffeine), and while this isn’t the last of our authors, Robert Mammone does round out the ToC for SNAFU: Contagion.

And a cracker of a tale it is!

But I’ll let Robert introduce himself, because I think that’s likely to best for all involved… especially Robert…

Not to be confused with the Australian actor of the same name, Rob has been writing since the mid-80s, got serious in the mid-90s and was published in Doctor Who Magazine, then received an absolutely brutal (in hindsight, deserved) rejection letter soon after and went dark until 2009.  Since then, he’s been published in places like Midnight Echo, Pseudopod podcast, No Sleep Podcast, Swords and Sorceries 10, Die by the Sword 2, and had novels published with Candy Jar Books.  When he isn’t chasing his dogs around the neighbourhood, he can be found doing very little else.

As I said earlier in this piece, Robert wrote us a cracker of tale for SNAFU: Contagion –  GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG: Mercenaries bite off more than they can chew in the frontlines of the Ukraine-Russian meat grinder.

You can find Robert on Twitter.

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – JOSH REYNOLDS

It’s SNAFU: Contagion Author Spotlight again, and this time we’re bringing you a name you probably recognise (we’re actually bringing the whole person, not just the name… I mean, it’s not like we’ve shackled Josh or anything… <side eye>… Promise.).

Yep, I’m talking about Josh Reynolds, who has penned many a story for Cohesion Press’ SNAFU series. He’s just that good. Look, I swear we haven’t shackled him in a haunted asylum to make him write for us, don’t believe the rumours.

Now, before I make a complete idiot of myself (shh), I’ll let Josh to the introducing of Josh – he’ll do a far better job of it than me…

A professional author since 2007, Josh has over thirty novels to his name, as well as numerous short stories, novellas, and audio scripts. Born and raised in South Carolina, he now resides in Sheffield with his wife and daughter, as well as a highly excitable dog and something he hopes is a cat.

Now, I can’t say for sure that the ‘something’ Josh hopes is a cat didn’t have anything to do with the tale he penned for SNAFU: Contagion, but… THE SILENT SPAN: A soldier sent into the trenches to discover why his comrades have fallen silent, discovers something far more deadly. 

You can find Josh on Bluesky and Instagram.

Prodigious writer that he is, Josh has Return of the Monster Men ready for preorder, and Tales of Pannithor: Stand at Callenspire ready to read now.

You can also find a complete collection of his works on his website.

Seriously, check out his work!

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR BIO – MICHAEL WEGENER

Taking another step over the halfway mark for Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlight for SNAFU: Contagion, we’re dragging Michael Wegener with us! Michael isn’t an Aussie per se, but we’d most happily welcome him for his dark mind, dark humour, and even darker story.

With just eleven days to go until the print release of SNAFU: Contagion (Audible and ebook are already available), we’re really counting down the days and the authors we’d like you to get to know.

So, without further ado…. MICHAEL WEGENER!

Michael is a former chemist (if there is such a thing) and senior medical writer in the area of health technology assessment (because bills and stuff). Considering himself first and foremost a writer of crime/noir fiction, making his fiction debut with a short story in Mickey Finn Vol. 3: 21st Century Noir (edited by Michael Bracken) in 2022, he’s also been dabbling in horror fiction, with crime/horror hybrid stories recently published in Unnerving Magazine and the Starlite Pulp Review. He considers the all-out horror and action of his story in SNAFU: Contagion somewhat of a culmination of those recent efforts, and writing it had been such a blast, it certainly won’t be his last foray into horror. He lives in Brunswick, Germany.

I can absolutely concur that Michael is correct about the all-out horror for his SNAFU: Contagion story – BLACK HELL RISING: Two AWOL Marines discover that the hell of war is a cozy evening by the fire compared to the hell awaiting them in the desert.

You can find Michael on Instagram and Bluesky.

Michael’s upcoming publications include both crime and horror stories in Mickey Finn Vol. 6 and Schlock! Webzine.

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – AARON BEARDSELL

Well, lookee here! Another Aussie kicking back on Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlight stage for SNAFU: Contagion! Maybe we’re the contagion… it’s been said. Yeah-nah, we’re too laid back for all that nonsense. Seems too much like hard work. No? Just me?

Aaanyway, moving on.

TEN! That’s where we’re at with the Author Spotlights, so let’s have Aaron tell you more about himself, it’ll likely make much more sense than my intro!

Aaron Beardsell fell in love with writing at a young age, starting out with a totally-not haunted typewriter obtained from a church yard sale. Since then, Aaron’s stories have been published in a wide variety of anthologies.

For SNAFU: Contagion, there’s a high probability that Aaron used his totally-not haunted typewriter for FUNGICIDE – Special delivery: tactical nuke.

You can find Aaron on Instagram.

Additionally, Aaron’s debut novel, Dead Station, is available now. Full of sci-fi horror, you won’t be able to put it down. And if you enjoyed Fungicide, keep your eyes peeled for the first ever novel set in the same universe! Discover how the War began…

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MARK OXBROW

HALFWAY!

That’s right, we’re halfway through Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlight series for SNAFU: Contagion, and today we are ushering another Aussie onto the stage – Mark Oxbrow! (Okay, technically a Scot, but he lives here now, so he’s ours.)

With all that being said, I’ll hand the mic over to Mark to let him introduce himself fat better than I can.

Drumroll, please…

Mark Oxbrow is a storyteller, author, and ghostwriter. Legendary horror editor Ellen Datlow has twice recommended short stories by Mark—Frightful Things and No Doves Come from Raven’s Eggs—as among the best horror of the year. Mark’s books feature witch goddesses, poison gardens, folk horror, ghost stories, medieval monsters and secret treasures. Mark was born and raised in Edinburgh, the world’s most haunted city. Over twenty-five years ago, he founded Scotland’s largest Halloween festival.

In keeping with all thing creepy af, for SNAFU: Contagion, Mark made good on horror background with NECROTIZING: On far-flung exoplanet, combat surgeon Nita Torres and Sergeant Aoki Ito face-down a grotesque mutation. 

You can find Mark on Instagram.

We have also heard whispers from dark corners that Mark is currently working on a currently untitled horror novel. Keep your eyes peeled!

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MARCUS FIELD

Roll up! Roll up!

Cohesion Press’ next Author Spotlight is here in the form of Marcus Field! It’s an interesting form, filled with much horror, a touch of terror, and a sprinkling of malevolence. There could be tentacles. Where unsure of his original form at this stage…

Still, he’s completely lovely and most excellent to work with. Just don’t stick your fingers in the cage. You’ve been warned.

Now that I have likely embarrassed us both, I’ll let Marcus tell you a little somethin’ somethin’ about himself.

Marcus Field lives with his partner, son, and dog in Sacramento, California, where he spends too much time doing math and not enough time writing.

For SNAFU: Contagion, Marcus put the math aside (yay!), and penned THE ZOO: Desperate and on the run in this new apocalypse, can sanctuary be found in the zoo?

Once you read this tale, I’m sure you’ll agree that Marcus should give a touch more weight to wordsmithing than mathsmithing (wow, that sounded better in my head)…  

PEN ALL THE WORDS! (yeah, that sounded better in my head too. I’ll just go.)