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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Cool stuff, Editing, publishing, SNAFU

SNAFU: LEVEL UP AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – EVAN DICKEN

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On our continuing tour of Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlight, we’re still in the US, and are road-tripping to crash at Evan Dicken’s place. Does he know we’re coming? Where’s the fun in that? Besides, it’s not like we’re going to eat all his food, drink all his alcohol, and set up blanket forts in his living room (we totally are).

While I go steal some pillows (what’s a blanket fort without pillows?), Evan has been kicked up onto the stage, microphone shoved into his hand, as the spotlight spotlights. Take it away, Evan!

By day, EVAN DICKEN studies old Japanese maps and crunches numbers for all manner of fascinating research at the Ohio State University. By night, he does neither of these things. His work has most recently appeared in Analog, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Strange Horizons, and he has stories forthcoming from Black Library and Aconyte Press. 

For SNAFU: Level Up, Evan sharpened sword and challenged gods with 47th (LEVEL) RONIN: Outnumbered, outmatched, and out-leveled, a lone rōnin will stop at nothing to avenge the death of his lord. But to destroy those who betrayed them, he turns a more devilish patron…and finds the road to hell paved with bad intentions. 

You can find Evan at his website or on Bluesky.

If you want to read more of Evan’s work (and you really should), his Warhammer: Age of Sigmar novels Shade of Khaine and First Marshal were recently released by Black Library; and although there’s currently no set release date, his Warhammer: The Old World novel Blood of the Bastion should be out sometime this year.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Cool stuff, Editing, publishing, SNAFU, Writing

SNAFU: LEVEL UP AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT –  ZACHARY O’SHEA

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Continuing to stay on Earth (for now), we’re packing our luggage and heading back to the States (jet lag is a bitch) to meet up with Zack O’Shea for Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlight. Zack’s name might be familiar with some of you, what with him having appeared in SNAFU previously. Still, he has words and language and things to say.

So, while we’re raiding his fridge and making ourselves completely at home in his abode, Zack will take the mic and do the wordage thing.

Zack O’Shea has spent most of his life telling stories in one form or another. They’re always horror. The subgenres he dabbles in span a pretty wide range, including dark fantasy, folk horror, cosmic horror, creature features, weird westerns, and whatever unpleasant thing happens when a few of those get mixed. He’s especially interested in the heroes caught in these twisted tales. He focuses on flawed characters making the best decisions they can under pressure while trying to hold onto faith, love, dignity, or sometimes just their limbs.

You can find Zack on Bluesky, Insta, and Twitter.

And Zack did not at all hold back for SNAFU: Level Up with his nightmare tale POTTER’S FIELD: Gravedigger Lavinia Potter battles horrors bred by forgotten grief with spade, lantern, and salt, until a discovery off the quest path threatens to alter her fate forever.

Want to read more of Zack’s work? (You should.) His primary focus is the horror series Crimson Threads with three books available now and a fourth on its way. They can be found on Amazon. Next up for Zack is a Ream serial full of swashbuckling cosmic horror, Loathsome Grace, launching this October. Keep an eye out!

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Cool stuff, Editing, publishing, SNAFU

SNAFU: LEVEL UP AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT –  JG GRIMMER

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Now that we’re back on Earth (gravity be weird), we’re heading into the next of Cohesion Press’ Author Spotlights with JG Grimmer. Now, there’s much secret squirrel business here, and one thing I am very good with is secrets… for no other reason than my memory is shite. JG might have had something to do with that, but he swears otherwise…

While I’ve been chatting away, JG has already sidled onto the stage is giving epic side-eye, so I’ll scamper back to my little den of darkness, and let the man himself bring you all up to speed. Take it away, JG!

JG’s imagined things long before putting pen to paper, now there’s no stopping him! Born and raised somewhere on Earth—though there’s some dispute about that—JG knew he wanted to be a writer from an early age, and began pursuing that dream in what they used to call junior high school. What with Life and other things getting in the way, JG began to see success; modest at first, but eventually leading to bigger and better things, especially his first story, Beast Trap, being accepted and published in SNAFU: Last Stand! Followed by contributions to SNAFU: Holy War, and SNAFU: AI Insurrection.

In 2025, JG published his first novella, In the Shadow of the Swastika: A Sherlock Holmes Noir, with MX Publishing in London, and on October 9th of this year, his second book, Bare Knuckle Empire: A Sherlock Holmes Noir, was released.  

For SNAFU: Level Up, JG figured why not go swimming? And penned his tale LEVIATHAN’S HOARD: catastrophic glacial collapse, a drowned world and monstrous, mythical creatures of the Deep. Oh, and Bait, the poor schmuck who must play the game.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT, Cool stuff, publishing, SNAFU

SNAFU: LEVEL UP AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT –  SEAN OSWALD

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Well, well, well… for today’s Author Spotlight from Cohesion Press, we’re going interstellar. No, no, it’s true. Trust me. I am the keeper of truths that could possibly be untruths and mayhap lies with perhaps a sprinkling of falsity. But… trust me? Yeah. We good.

Right, now that I have you locked down in confusion, Imma step aside and let Sean Oswald work his magic on the stage. Just remember not to peek behind the curtain…

Sean was born on Krypton, Zenn-La, or Planet Vegeta, depending on which one of his kids is asking and what mood he is in. He served in the USMC straight out of high school before going on to obtain a highly useful degree in ancient languages.

Then, onto the mission field to work at an orphanage in India with his wife and 2.5 kids before returning to the US and surrendering to the dark side. Some say Sith, but his business card reads attorney or at least it did till he gave it up to make up stories.

Now he lives with his wife and nine (yes, 9) children in central Illinois. Although to be fair, some of the kids are moved out and now he has version 2.0 called grandkids – which are even more fun, despite still having an 8 year old of his own.

When he isn’t moving furniture for his wife or playing with his kids, he is busy trying to force all the stories in his head onto a piece of paper.

For SNAFU: Level Up, Sean wielded magic of the arcane type with BY THE LETTER: When being the hero means becoming the monster… (or something like that. I’m awful at writing blurbs)

You can find Sean at his socials (interstellar travel is a bitch): Amazon, Patreon, Facebook, and Discord.

The story Sean wrote for SNAFU: Level Up ties into his Welcome to the Multiverse series, and is a seed for a new series that will come out set in that same multiverse with the same main character. (Probably not till 2028)

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

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – ROBERT MAMMONE

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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.

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

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – JOSH REYNOLDS

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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!

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

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR BIO – MICHAEL WEGENER

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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.

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

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – AARON BEARDSELL

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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…

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, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: CONTAGION AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – L.J. VISSER

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FOUR!

That’s the Author Spotlight number we’re up to for Cohesion Press‘ SNAFU: Contagion, and we’re kicking this Spotlight off with our second Aussie in the series, he of the very cool name: Loki (L.J.) Visser!

Now, before we go any further, there’s been a bit of an update on the publishing side for this edition, with Audible currently available for listeners, the ebook being released tomorrow (October 8), and print on Halloween. This means we can now reveal that Loki’s tale is our opening story for SNAFU: Contagion.

All that being said, I’ll now pass the microphone over to LJ so he can tell you a little somethin’ somethin’ about himself.

L. J. Visser is a Melbourne-based author who writes at the edge of psychological suspense, dystopian noir, and science fiction horror. His stories unravel in the shadows where control, obsession, and survival collide – whether through the eyes of haunted paramedics, grieving fathers chasing conspiracies, or soldiers battling horrors in corporate research facilities. A lifelong Dean Koontz devotee and collector of vintage sci-fi paperbacks, he lives with his partner, two daughters, and the family ragdoll, Dixie. When he’s not writing, he dives into open-world RPGs, supports local charities through Freemasonry, and advocates for child protection and mental health. His work draws equally from a fascination with the strange and the scars of his own past, offering readers dark, immersive worlds where nothing is ever as it seems.

For SNAFU: Contagion, LJ Visser sliced and diced for us: IRON ROT: When an ice-world research outpost goes dark, a catastrophic containment breach changes the game.

You can find LJ on Facebook, and via is Amazon page.

He also has a science fiction thriller short-story, Future Shadows, where a grieving father, obsessed with uncovering the truth behind his daughter’s death while infiltrating a powerful corporation, is pulled into a conspiracy that blurs the line between memory, identity, and the machinery of control. Which is out-now on Kindle.

Whispers of a paramedic thriller have also been drifting our way, so keep an eye out (or both eyes – you do you!) for LJ Visser’s imaginings!