Tag Archives: horror stories

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Cool stuff, Editing, publishing, Reading, Reviews, SNAFU

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MARK OXBROW

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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!

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Cool stuff, publishing, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – DAVID MCLACHLAN

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NUMBER SIX!

Let’s Sesame Street our way out of that intro and into the next in Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlight for SNAFU: Contagion with David McLachlan stepping onto the stage. It’s a vast stage, filled with much horror and macabre – some viscera here, a scatter of bones there, a sprinkling of fingernails just so… and maybe some fairy lights (who doesn’t love fairy lights!).

Right, so that’s enough from me (as you’ll likely all agree), So, I’ll hand you all over to David for a far more lucid introduction. Hit those lights!

David McLachlan is a disabled veteran author who lives and works in Northern California, a place that inspires much of his fiction. Ever since he was a child he has had a voracious love for Horror and Weird literature. In 2023, he received his MFA in Fiction at Warren Wilson College. Since then, his stories and poems have been published (or are forthcoming) in various magazines. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association.

For SNAFU: Contagion, David penned us a hella read: VAST PURE SPACES: Basic survival or supreme sacrifice? These are the choices we make in the vast dark.

You can find David on his website, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky.

David is currently hard at work on a Small Town Horror novel taking place in a small Northern California town. So, keep an eye out for what I know will be a creepy AF tale.  

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Cool stuff, Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU, Uncategorized

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – DYLAN DEMASI

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Brrring! Brrring!

Brrring! Brrring!

This is Cohesion Press calling for the next in our SNAFU: Contagion Author Spotlight!

(Stop rolling your eyes. As much as I love onomatopoeia, sometimes it reads ridiculously, but let me have this! There’s method to my madness! I swear.)

Moving on…

Today, we’re up to Author Spotlight #5, and dialling it in with Dylan Demasi! So, rather than me trying to pun my way through the rest of his intro, I’ll hand you over to the man himself…

Dylan Demasi is a US writer and digital marketer based in Los Angeles. A lifelong storyteller, he began his writing career in comics, first as a proofreader, then as a ghostwriter, and eventually as a credited author for Kickstart Entertainment/Kickstart Comics. His professional work includes leading digital marketing campaigns in the entertainment industry for brands such as Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, HBO, and America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Outside of writing, Dylan is a lifelong horror fan, a frequent visitor and supporter of big cat sanctuaries, and a brief, accidental voice actor in late-night cult favorites like Sharknado 2.

He is currently at work on his debut novel.

Dylan’s most excellent sacrificial offering for SNAFU: Contagion is: THE RED PHONE: The outbreak was a nightmare. The military response was worse.

(The beginning of this post makes sense now, yeah? Doesn’t make it good, just has it make sense… right? Right?)

 You can find Dylan on Facebook and Instagram.

As you noticed at the end of Dylan’s intro, he’s working on his debut novel, and if The Red Phone is anything to go by, then watch that space!

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Editing, publishing, Reading, SNAFU, Writing

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – AYSLINE MCGRATH

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Roll up, roll up!

Our third Author Spotlight for SNAFU: Contagion is here, and we’re trotting over to the other side of the globe to meet Aysline McGrath. I mean, I’ve met her (virtually, of course), and she was brilliant to work with. Now you get to meet her. Huzzah!

So, without further ado, give Aysline a big round of applause as she takes the stage…

Aysline McGrath is an author who calls a quiet Belgian town home, where she crafts stories that span from heart-warming romance to spine-chilling horror. Already established in the Dutch literary scene with a published thriller and feel-good novel, Aysline is expanding her reach with her highly-anticipated English debut.

Her new adult romance, released September 21st, marks an exciting milestone as she introduces her storytelling to English-speaking readers. But romance is just one facet of Aysline’s repertoire. Drawing from a lifelong fascination with action and horror that began in childhood, she seamlessly weaves between genres.  

October 2025 will see the release of Echo, her cosmic horror novel that promises to take readers into the darkest corners of the unknown. Whether she’s crafting tender romantic moments or heart-pounding scenes of terror, Aysline McGrath brings the same passion and dedication to every story she tells, proving that the best authors are those unafraid to explore the full spectrum of human emotion and experience.

For SNAFU: Contagion, Aysline very much pulled from horror fascination with her offering: ONE BULLET: An impossible choice – contain an ancient contagion or become the monsters you’re fighting to stop.

You can find Aysline on Instagram, Facebook, and her website.

Her cosmic horror novel Echo is due out at the end of October, and can be preordered here.

Go take a look, you know you want to!

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Editing, publishing, Reading, SNAFU, Writing

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – MARTIN LIVINGS!

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Hola!

The countdown for the release of SNAFU: Contagion has begun! And in the lead-up for the October 31 spawning, Cohesion Press is gonna fan-girl (yes, Geoff too) our way through the amazing authors who’ve made Contagion what it is – fucking awesome! (Yes, I do the swears. They’re verbs.)

With SNAFU: Contagion being the biggest edition to date of our flagship series with over four hundred pages of kick-arse military horror and wickedly-cool monsters, there’s much for you to sink your teeth into (toothpicks not provided). And as per my previous post about this tome being nothing without its storytellers, the first of our Author Spotlights is here.  

(Just a quick note: the order of the Author Spotlight doesn’t reflect the Table of Contents order – this is more your author lucky dip… and I may just have to rethink that phrasing…)

Ahem.

So.

Making their way to the stage is the first of our Australian authors. So, please give a hearty welcome to MARTIN LIVINGS!!!

Perth writer Martin Livings has had over a hundred short stories in a variety of magazines and anthologies both locally and internationally. His first novel, Carnies, was initially published by Hachette Livre in 2006, and was nominated for both the Aurealis and Ditmar awards, and his short story – collection, Living With the Dead, was published in 2012. Both are now available from Amazon, along with the follow-up collection Light Falling From a Long Dead Star, novellas Rope and The Final Twist, along with his novels Skinsongs, Sleeper Awake, An Ill Wind, The Temp and The Obituary.

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Martin’s sacrificial offering to SNAFU: Contagion is MOLOTOV ANGELS: What malignancy burns deep in the cold heart of Afghanistan?

You can find Martin on Facebook and Instagram and over at his website.

Martin’s horror novel, The Obituary, was released (or escaped!) earlier this year, and is a steal at just 99c on Amazon.

Go read his stuff!

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: RICHARD BEAUCHAMP

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The latest edition of SNAFU: PUNK’D is stepping proudly toward publication at the end of October (we’re excited!). As such, Cohesion Press is all about lauding our authors for the stories they’ve spawned. To that end, we’re shoving them into an author spotlight (no sticks were used in the shoving) to give you a glimpse into their imaginariums (you’ve been warned), a tease of their story, and info on their other authorly pennings.

Please form a disorderly line… and please do not feed the authors after midnight…

We’ve hit double-figures with the tenth author in the SNAFU: PUNK’D spotlight: RICHARD BEAUCHAMP!

Hailing from the lush, verdant foothills of the Missouri Ozarks, Richard Beauchamp is an author of horror and dark speculative fiction. Often casting his stories in the wild settings of his own backyard, Richard’s fiction has been published in such esteemed publications as Dark Peninsula Press’s Negative Space Survival horror anthologies, Timber Ghost Press’s Along Harrowed Trails anthology, and The Other Stories podcast series from Hawk and Cleaver Audio. His debut short fiction collection Black Tongue & Other Anomalies was a nominee for the 2022 Splatterpunk Awards, and his short story, The Sons Of Luna, was a 2018 Pushcart Prize nominee. 

When he isn’t tucked away in his office pecking away at his keyboard, you can find him traversing the Ozark Mountains, hiking, camping, and fishing every chance he gets. He lives with his fiance, their dog, and way too many cats. 

For SNAFU: PUNK’D, Richard has bent time and space to fire-up the steampunk with his alternate-history telling of A RIVER RUNNER’S TALE: In post-civil war America, a riverboat captain and his daughter are sent to investigate the illegal manufacturing of the energy source known as “ephemera”. Navigating the hostile waterways of a mutated Mississippi river, they discover this lucrative industry has an insidious source. 

You can find Richard on his socials below:  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RichardBeauchampOfficial 

Instagram: r_b_author

Website: richardbeauchampauthor.com

Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Richard-Beauchamp/author/B0B2Z645C1?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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

publishing, Ramblings, Writing

The Thing About Shorts (the stories, not the pants)

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I adore shorts. It’s where I honed my skills as a storywriter, and where I continue to hone them. I’m time poor when it comes to writing, with my days filled with client editing—which I love, don’t get me wrong; but to feed that part of my creative soul, I tend to concentrate on shorts (yes, the stories, not the pants).

There’s a real challenge in creating a complete tale within a limited word count, and not just a complete tale, but an engaging one. A tale that drags the reader in and leaves an indelible mark. To have a story we’ve penned, linger, is something for which every writer strives.

That doesn’t mean writing shorts is easy. It ain’t. Especially with tales that have to fit within the teeny-tiny side of word counts. Micro-fiction is its own beast, and she’s a harsh mistress. Every word needs to fight for its place, and it was quite the brouhaha with my latest tale, Of Hawks and Sparrows, published by Nightmare Fuel Magazine where the limit was 666 words. You read that right, just 666 words. I was up for the challenge. And hoo-boy, was it a challenge.

Artwork by Andrew J McKiernan for my story Nightmare’s Cradle (it’s beautiful and fits this tale too)

The theme for this sub-call was: ‘Love Has Teeth’. Quite broad ranging but that just opens a multitude of pathways begging for exploration, especially as love comes in all forms, from romantic to familial to platonic and everything outside and in-between. For me, it was more about the ‘bite’. What are we prepared to do for those we love? How far will we go? How dark will we descend for those who hold a place in our heart?

Of Hawks and Sparrows had been niggling at me for a month or so. I had a basic premise and about eleventy-million different ways it could play out. But my mind is sometimes like a browser with all the tabs open, and I was flitting from path to path until I saw the open call. Then, like a forced reboot, it all fell into place. Kinda. See, no matter how solitary the writing process is, we don’t do this alone.

So, a vomit draft later, and well over 666 words, I gnawed this baby down to its bare bones to see if the story made any kind of sense. And with the persnickety eye of my best friend and writerly cohort, Devin Madson (check out her storytelling, it’s amazing), I hit 666 words on a tale that not only made sense, but which hit all the marks I wanted. Dark, gritty, bloody. Much bite.

Eleven stories were selected for this online showcase of Australian writers, and you can go HERE to read all the shorts (yup, stories not pants!). With each read topping-out at around a minute each, if you’re as time-poor as I am, click that link for a free dose of horror. You can stuff your face with tales or take bite-sized morsels. Each story has its own take on the theme, its own flavour, if you will. Bon appétit!

Nightmare Fuel has also opened their next sub-window with the theme: ‘Don’t Let Them In’.

And yes, that’s a 666-word limit for stories and, as I mentioned above, the magazine is wanting to showcase Aussie authors, so this call is open for Australian citizens and residents only.

As I’m wont to say: read the guidelines, BE the guidelines.

Right, that’s one story acceptance for 2023, here’s hoping for more.

Note: No shorts of the pants kind were hurt in the making of this post.  

Festivus, Reading, Reviews, Uncategorized

Festivus Book Pimping – Fathomless by Greig Beck

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The countdown to Christmas is well and truly on, but pimp on I must! Today, it’s multi-award-winning author Greig Beck and his wickedly frightening Fathomless. Yeah, we’re all gonna need a bigger boat.

Duuun-dun… duuun-dun… dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun…

What?

fathomless

Okay, so from the cover alone (‘nother shout-out to Dean Samed of NeoStock), it’s clear we’re talking shark story here – think Megalodon. Yep, you know, that’s been instinct for millions of years… but have they?

That’s the premise of Fathomless (Cohesion Press), and Beck kicks it out of the park with his tale. Now before we go further, full disclosure. As I’ve mentioned, my reading for pleasure took a back seat to work this year, so a lot of what I’ve read has involved novels I’ve worked on, and Fathomless was one of them. But here’s the thing, it’s not often that I’ve had to get up from my desk and take a breather because the story was freaking me the hell out. With Fathomless, I did that three or four times. Nope, can’t handle the tension, time to take a break and calm the hell down. Three passes I made of this story, and each time, even when I knew what was coming, my pulse quickened and the voices in my head (yes, there are many) were yelling at the characters to swim faster, dammit! (Actually, there were a lot more swear words, but you get the picture.)

So despite me having edited Fathomless, it’s one of my picks of the year for horror books.

From the back cover:

Jim Granger is searching for a place of legend. Known as ‘Bad Water’ by the island’s elders, it’s reputed to be home to many dangerous creatures. Through a seam in a cliff face, Jim finds what he seeks. He also finds, too late, that the water demon he was warned about is horrifyingly real.

Today, Cate Granger is following in her grandfather’s footsteps. Along with a team of scientists and crew, she accidentally releases a creature from Earth’s primordial past into today’s oceans. Nothing is safe on or below the water.
The story essentially has two parts. The first being Cate and her crews trek deep beneath the Earth’s crust to an immense underwater ocean that’s been suspended in time. Traversing the sea in a damn small sub, they discover marine life once thought extinct. They also discover the Megaladon.

Beck uses that instinctual fear that’s been loaded into our DNA from the beginning of time – fear of Alpha predators (and boy, is the Meg one hell of an Alpha), and added a touch of claustrophobia into this first section, because… why not? And there’s no natural light down there, so much of what’s happening does so in complete darkness.

There are at least three scenes in this section that had me freaking out. Yeah, sharks are one of my biggest fears. Living in Australia can do that to a person. The second part takes place once the Megalodon has been released into today’s oceans, with Cate and part of her crew (plus some newbies), going out to hunt the shark. Not all goes according to plan.

This is a killer book, and if you’re looking for a tale that will amp up your tension, and have you questioning whether you really should go back into the water, then Fathomless is the book you need to be reading. Or gift it to someone who loves that spinchter-clenching form of thriller and terror.

You can read a review of Fathomless here.

Recommended for lovers of horror, suspense, thrillers, and plain ol’ ‘holy crap, swim faster, swim faster!’

 

 

 

Cool stuff, Reading, Reviews

Festivus Author Pimping – Hank Schwaeble

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Happy Festivus! Today I will be pimping author Hank Schwaeble. Yes, I did just read that sentence back but I’m gonna roll with it (minds and gutters, people). The reason for author over book pimping is there are two titles of Hank’s that I’ve read this year, and you need to be reading both of them.

It was American Nocturne where I was first introduced to Hank’s work – a collection of short stories that definitely sit on the dark side of fiction. Hell, it’s horror at its best, and I’d wondered why Hank’s writing hadn’t been on my reader earlier. I mean really, the man’s a two-time Bram Stoker award winner, so… mea culpa.

American Nocturne

Now before we delve further, both titles I’ll be discussing here are put out by Cohesion Press, of whom I’m the editor-in-chief, but as I’ve only managed to read eight books this year due to workload (I stopped counting when I hit four million words – that’s right, four million), there’s going to be some crossover between work and reading outside of work.

Okay, so now we have that out of the way – American Nocturne. There’s a definite noir feel to the stories in here, especially with the title story, which kicks off the collection. There’s so much to love about this collection, and while each story is so very different from the last, it’s Schwaeble’s voice, his storytelling that holds this collection together. Oh, and the twists he delivers with some of the stories are done with such a deft hand, it will have you rereading for an altogether different experience of the story (like two books for the price of one!). You can read a full review of American Nocturne over (here) over at review site Smash Dragons.

The next book of Hank’s is the novel The Angel of the Abyss, and if this cover doesn’t make you want to rush out and buy it, then you and I need to talk. Out the back. In a dark alley.

This is the third in the Jake Hatcher series, but can definitely be read as a standalone. I hadn’t read the previous two novels (Damnable and Diabolical), but I was immediately drawn into the tale of Jake Hatcher – military vet come demon hunter. But Hatcher is well on Hell’s radar, and as demons are wont to do, they mess with him every chance they get. And that’s half the fun, trying to sort the lies from truth while attempting to stop the one hell of a demon taking human form and walking the earth once more. As I’ve come to expect, the twists and turns in this book keep you guessing, they make you think, and there’s not much better than reading a book that involves you, that asks you to take the journey with the characters, because they know just as much as you do about what’s happening.  Hatcher is a brash, sarcastic, takes-no-shit character who despite his protestations, wants to do the right thing. He just happens to get thrown into the crapper a lot. There’s black magic, demons, cults, secret military installations… yeah, it’s a heap of fun!

angel-of-the-abyss

You can read reviews of The Angel of the Abyss here and here. But trust me when I say, you’re in for a hell of a ride with this book, and there are more stories due in the series… and it’s only going to get nasty… or nastier.

Both books are highly recommended for lovers of horror, military horror, supernatural, and thrillers.

(Both covers were created by the amazing Dean Samed of Neostock. Check out his work.)