Tag Archives: anthologies

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU, Writing

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – CJ GOLDBERG

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The release of SNAFU: PUNK’D is stalking with very little stealth toward the world, and we at Cohesion Press are getting the stage lights all set up for our authors and the tales they’ve forged for this edition. Which means it’s promotion time for all of our storytellers with an author spotlight that gives insight into their imaginariums (use the stealth when approaching, my friends), and a tease of their story. Buckle up!

For our sixth instalment of the SNAFU author spotlight, put your claws together for CJ GOLDBERG!

As a kid, C.J. spent his days exploring the Montana woods, reading horror, and watching scary movies. He soon discovered that storytelling was his passion.

After graduating from The University of Montana with a degree in Acting, C.J. worked as a professional poker dealer for 14 years in Montana bars. During that time, he never gave up on his dream of becoming a horror author. He studied writing craft extensively through books, courses, and workshops, and in 2017 he moved to Glasgow, Scotland while his wife attended graduate school. This allowed him to focus full-time on his writing career.

He now lives in Petaluma, California, with his wife and two kids where, when not changing diapers, he is writing his debut novel, a cosmic horror story set in a remote Montana town.

Cohesion Press is chuffed to bits that we will be presenting to the world CJ’s first published story.  For SNAFU: PUNK’D, CJ has dipped his hands into all that is bio-punk with FACTORY OF FEAR: A mercenary and her team search for her team search for her missing brother in a monster-infested bio-factory.

You can find CJ on Bluesky: CJWritesHorror.bsky.social

Cool stuff, Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – TORION OEY

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As we edge ever-closer to the release of SNAFU: PUNK’D (woot!), we at Cohesion Press are all about the shouting and the kudos of our authors and the tales they’ve spawned for this edition. Which mean we’ll be promoting the hell out of all our storytellers with an author spotlight that gives insight into their imaginariums (holy forking shirtballs), a tease of their story, and also promotes their other writerly mischiefs as well. Let’s do this!

Buckle up for our fifth instalment of the SNAFU author spotlight, and give a rowdy welcome to TORION OEY!

Torion holds a BA in psychology and creative writing and an MS in psychology. He has written every year for National Novel Writing Month since 2014 and self-published the mystery Loco Motive and high fantasy Not James on Amazon. He is an SFWA member and has had works featured in Galaxy’s Edge Magazine, Expanded Field Journal, and NonBinary Review.

For this edition of SNAFU, Torion has fanned the flames of firepunk with his tale, OUT OF THE FRYING PAN: A pyromaniac drags a city into a night of turmoil and domestic terrorism when he targets the heads of several big businesses.

You can find Torion online in the links below:

Facebook: Torion Oey https://www.facebook.com/torion.oey/

Instagram: @torionloco https://www.instagram.com/torionloco/?hl=en

Twitter: @torion_oey https://twitter.com/torion_oey?lang=en

Torion has two novels available on Amazon: the first, Loco Motive, is a historical mystery and was self-published in 2019; and the second, Not James, is a high fantasy and was self-published in 2022. The latter book received a positive Kirkus Review which you can read here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/torion-oey/not-james/

Cool stuff, Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – ZACHARY O’SHEA

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The release of SNAFU: PUNK’D is just weeks away (I’m excited!), and we at Cohesion Press are wanting to celebrate the authors and the tales they’ve created for this edition. So, we’ll be promoting all of our storytellers with an author spotlight that gives insight into their imaginariums (take a flashlight, it’s dark in there), a tease of their story, and also promotes their other writerly works as well. Let’s go!

Huge shout-out to the fourth author in this promotional party… ZACHARY O’SHEA!

Zachary O’Shea lives sometimes in the Land of Neon Sunrises and other times in the Great White North. There’s something about the stark differences between the American Southwest and Northern Ontario that he can’t resist. Spoiler; it’s his wife. He has spent his life telling stories from absurd coloring book creations as a child to a lifelong passion for game-mastering role-playing games, and occasionally dipping a toe into short horror fiction. When he’s not writing, which is honestly rare, Zachary is spending time with his family, running a role-playing game session, or blowing off some steam in an MMO. Though, he’s usually writing something in stolen moments even in between all of this. 

For this hell of a SNAFU tome, Zac has brought to life (from much death) a clockwork tale with a monster from the depths of time.

THE REFORGED MAN: Brought low by dishonor, reforged with spite and steel, Goro fights the corrupt system that ripped everything away from him. The vengeful ronin has stumbled upon the shogun’s vile plot to unleash a kaiju against his rivals, a plan already in motion. Goro, along with old allies, must stop this strange beast or die trying.

You can find Zac online in the links below:

Personal Website: https://www.zacharyoshea.com

Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/boxofteethrpg/
Mastadon: https://dice.camp/@Boxofteeth
Tiktok: boxofteethrpg
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/boxofteethrpg-blog
Twitter: @boxofteeth

And should you want more of Zac’s work, check this out:

Grease Paint: Crimson Threads #1 is out now.  Grease Paint is a modern take on the classic slasher story set in a horror, urban fantasy setting. Psychopomps: Crimson Threads 2 is coming soon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQH4JJVY

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, SNAFU, Writing

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MYNA CHANG

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With SNAFU: PUNK’D just weeks away from publication, we at Cohesion Press want to rave about our authors and the tales they’ve penned.  We’ll be promoting all of our storytellers with an author spotlight that gives insight into their imaginariums (be afraid), a tease of their story, and promotes their other writerly works as well.

So, without further ado, let’s roll out the red carpet for our third author in this promotional party… MYNA CHANG!

Myna Chang (she/her) is the host of Electric Sheep SF. Her work has been selected for Flash Fiction America (W.W. Norton), Best Small Fictions, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Small Wonders, Daily Science Fiction, and MicroPodcast’s special science fiction edition. Her micro collection, The Potential of Radio and Rain (CutBank Books) was published in 2023. She has won the Lascaux Prize in Creative Nonfiction and the New Millennium Writings Award in Flash Fiction.

For this editon of SNAFU, Myna has delved into the dark arts of biopunk (yay! Ahem, as you were…), with her story, SITUATION NORMAL: Neuro-linked retrieval specialist Jenna Jones and her canine partner are assigned to rescue a scientist from a secret research facility. Turns out he’s stupid and the building is covered in alien snot, so, you know, another ordinary day.

You can find Myna online in the links below:

Website: https://mynachang.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MynaChang

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mynachang.bsky.social

And here’s a little sumpin’-sumpin’ about Myna’s micro collection that you should definitely check out:

The Potential of Radio and Rain is an award-winning collection of micro fiction by American author Myna Chang. Set in the unforgiving landscape of the shortgrass prairie, these stories explore youth and mortality, love and yearning, through characters who are stubborn and quirky – and ultimately, filled with hope. Released in February 2023, the collection is now in its second printing. Available from CutBank Books.

publishing, Ramblings, SNAFU, Writing

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, MARK RENSHAW

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SNAFU: PUNK’D is just weeks away from publication, and we at Cohesion Press want to heap praise upon our authors and shout their names into the sphere. So… we’re gonna! We’ll be promoting all of our storytellers with an author spotlight that gives insight into their imaginariums (you will never be the same…), a tease of their story, and promotes their other writerly shenanigans as well.

For our second author in this promotional party… MARK RENSHAW, come on down!

Mark is a self-taught writer from a working-class background based in the north-west of the United Kingdom. By day he works in business software development; on weekends, he is a writer of prose, screenplays and produces the occasional short film. 

He has had two short stories, Fear and No Title published in An Eclectic Mix Vol 7, alongside several international competition winners. His sci-fi short story Automatic Drive was published in The Singularity50 anthology, while his short story Ragnarok was included in SNAFU: Resurrection published by Cohesion Press. He is currently working on his debut novel series, a sci-fi comedy trilogy called Cyborn. 

With his screenplay hat on, Mark won Best Short Screenplay at the 2022 Austin Film Festival. He’s also won Euroscript’s Screen Story competition, Shriekfest, and the Inroads Screenwriting Fellowship.  

Mark has written and produced several short films, including The Dollmaker, which has over 24 million views on YouTube, and a mini-series called So Dark. 

For SNAFU: Punk’d, Mark has stitched from both cyberpunk and mythos with his story, BATTLEBORG: A military cyborg who is the last line of resistance makes a final stand against mythical creatures that have enslaved Earth.

You can find Mark online in the links below:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0753H1VPV 

Website: www.mark-renshaw.com 

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719825/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/markyrenshaw 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-renshaw-559b8a21b/ 

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mark-renshaw.bsky.social 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m_w_renshaw/ 

Festivus, publishing, Ramblings, Reading

Festivus Book Pimping. SNAFU: Last Stand (Cohesion Press)

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Yes, yes, I know. I am still shit at the regularity of Festivus Book Pimping, but get ready for a deluge! It’s gonna rain books, my friends! And while that may appear painful… BOOKS!

Right then, let’s get this party started.

Today, we’re going to settle into some military horror in the form of SNAFU: Last Stand, the latest release from Cohesion Press. Fourteen stories from fourteen amazing writers from all over the world, and with a foreword written by Hollywood director, Tim Miller (Terminator: Dark Fate, Deadpool). Tim loves the SNAFU series, and stories from some of its tomes have been reimagined in Netflix’s Emmy-winning animated series, Love, Death & Robots (you really should check it out, it’s killer), in both season one and the upcoming season two.

As the editor-in-chief of Cohesion Press, I’m partial to the books, and this one especially. Working with editor, Matthew Summers, the stories cover the gamut of ‘last stand’, and with a linear timeline, we move from Neanderthals right through to future warfare. There’s cosmic horror and voodoo, Sumerian gods and biological ‘gone-wrongs’, giant maggots, killer ‘skitters’, and huge fucking bats… to name but a few.

With the theme of ‘last stand’, you get to the best and the worst in people, the heroics and sacrifice – survival is very much on the table but those pickings be slim. Last Stand shows the mettle of those thrown into untenable situations and what they’ll do to beat back that tide. Each is a law (lore?) unto itself, and it’s a hell of a ride.

Here’s the blurb:

“This is it, mofos. This is the end game. We’ve got nowhere else to go, and no bugger’s coming to save us.
We’re either doing this or we’re gonna die trying, because it all depends on you. There is no going back. So lock, load, and get ready to rumble!”
SNAFU: Last Stand is a collated anthology of short stories of a final battle, no matter where it is or who it involves.
It’s the Battle of Thermopylae, the Alamo, the Battle of Mirbat, the First Battle of Mogadishu, the Battle of Hel, and Custer’s Last Stand, all rolled up into one badass monster-fighting basket of SNAFU-style action.

SNAFU Last Stand

And here’s the ToC, with links to the authors (who have them) for anyone wanting to dive into more of their work:

Beast Trap by JG Grimmer

Skitter by Anna Stephens

Seeing the Elephant by B Michael Radburn

Midnight in the House of Bats by Josh Reynolds

Leapfrogging by Buck Bloomingdale

Firefall by Mike Barretta

Katadesmos by Amanda Dier

The Throat by Alan Baxter

Breach by JW Stinson

Canute by RPL Johnson

Of Meat and Man by Jason Fischer

Jawbreaker by Justin Coates

Final Harvest by Justin Bell

Conditioning by Patrick Freivald

 

Biased I may be, but that’s a hella bang for your buck. Currently available in e-formats, although print copies will be coming soon.

Recommended for (everyone) those who like horror, military horror, cosmic horror, fantastical themes, big fuck-off monsters, nightmares.

Cool stuff, Editing

Weaponised Darwinism – SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest

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I have many hats, both real and virtual, and today I’m wearing a pretty swish fedora with sparklers for added flair, and for very good reason.  *dons promotion hat*

SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest (the fourth in the series), hit the shelves the other day and it’s going great guns, as well it should. Sure, as one of the editors of this awesome tome, I’m biased but I’ve every right to be – *points to promotion hat* – the hat says I can.

As of this afternoon, the anthology sits at #3 on Amazon’s horror short stories, behind two of Stephen King’s books. NUMBER THREE! *does snoopy dance* (which looks spectacular with the sparkler-laden promotion hat, I gotta say.)

SNAFU Survival

The title of this anthology says it all – this is military horror at its most primal. Live or die. We’re not talking that peaceful slip into the abyss but, you know, flayed of flesh annihilation. We’ve got some of the best writers in the genre penning their soldiers and breathing life into their monsters. And oh what monsters they have for you! Think re-animation, demon and devilry, alien and elder creatures, mythos, and those birthed from nightmare’s bowels. What stands between you and these horrors are elite forces, para-military, mercenaries, and the (not-so) ordinary grunt from battles both modern and historical.

And lets not forget the art. The amazing cover is the creation of the ultra-talented Dean Samed, and each story has internal art by the genius that is Monty Borror.

As  co-editor of this kick-arse anthology with the equally kick-arse, Geoff Brown of Cohesion Press,  I’m immensely honoured and privileged to work with authors of this calibre – without them, SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest, wouldn’t be the book that it is.

To say I’m proud of this band of SNAFU authors is an understatement. So do yourself a favour, and check out these amazing authors and the monsters they’ve unleashed upon the world.

Table of Contents:

Badlands ­– S.D. Perry

Of Storms and Flame – Tim Marquitz & J.M. Martin

In Vaulted Halls Entombed – Alan Baxter

They Own the Night ­– B. Michael Radburn

Fallen Lion – Jack Hanson

Sucker of Souls – Kirsten Cross

Cold War Gothic II: The Bohemian Grove – Weston Ochse

After the Red Rain Fell – Matt Hilton

The Slog – Neal F. Litherland

Show of Force – Jeremy Robinson & Kane Gilmour

(Available in ebook, paperback and limited-edition hardcover with signature pages.)

Now I’m off to put out the sparklers before I set myself on fire…