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
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.
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/
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
We have flung wide the window for submissions for the next in Cohesion Press’ SNAFU series (opened the shutters beforehand and everything!). The theme? PUNK’D. Yes, you read that right: PUNK’D. We are looking for all that in ‘PUNK’ in this next edition of the series. Give us your steampunk, your biopunk, cyberpunk, clockpunk, magicpunk, ecopunk, your retrofuturistic… you get the picture. (Or read here and here.)
As the editor-in-chief for Cohesion I tend to do when each sub window comes around, is write up a little sumpin’ sumpin’ regarding the guidelines and what I’m looking for and what I most definitely AM NOT looking for. These are vitally important when it comes to submitting stories to Cohesion.
As is my wont, I will also be filling this post with gifs because snark is built into my DNA, and gifs are the perfect medium for such.
Right! All aboard! Let’s get this baby chugging along!
From the above, you can rightly guess that we’ll be receiving quite a bit of steampunk, and while I do love me some horror-train goodness, the anthology won’t be filled with steampunk stories, so if that’s the way you want to roll, make sure you knock it out of the park – there can be only one (perhaps two).
While your imaginariums are firing on all cylinders, keep in mind that yes, PUNK is the theme but you must also give us ACTION and MONSTERS. The SNAFU series is military-based action-horror of the beasty kind. So give us your modded-creatures, your nano-creepy-crawlies, give us your nightmares… and have your factions fight those nasties!
ACTION. ACTION. ACTION. SNAFU tales are built on action, and it must be a major part of the tale you send us. Did I mention action? There should be action. Lots of it. And monsters.
Also, please keep in mind the anti-authoritarianism, anti-big corporate, pro-personal freedom that so often applies to the punk genre.
Hoo-boy, that’s a lot to take in! Much rules, many bits. But that’s the beauty of Punk that opens it up for such a wide-range of storytelling options. So go wild, my friends!
I would also like to point out that there’s also been slight changes to the guidelines, so have a good ol’ read of those. Seriously. Read them. Twice if you must. Score them into your grey matter and make sure to ADHERE to them – that’s really an important part of the process. Don’t hit the guidelines? Yep, you guessed it, it’s a rejection.
And speaking of rejections, it’s now time for the DO NOT WANT part of the submission process. Pay particular attention to this because holy shit, some fail the comprehension part of this section. DO NOT FAIL THE COMPREHENSION! BE THE COMPREHENSION!
Please get the following into your eyeballs:
Rape as a plot device/backstory
White saviour stories
Racism, bigotry, misogyny of any kind in the narrative voice
Child abuse/paedophilia (can’t believe we have to say this, but we do)
Rape as a plot device/backstory (yes, we have to say this twice)
Fanfiction or derivatives
Should any of the above appear in your tale, it will summarily rejected. No, you cannot argue the point. No, I don’t want to hear your ‘reasoning’ – it will be bullshit, and I don’t have the time nor the crayons to explain to you why this is so.
Something to keep in mind: SNAFU is predicated on action-based stories, active voice is your friend here. Sure, there’s a time and place for passive voice, but action/high tension scenes hit harder with active voice.
I work on a three-tier slush process:
Slush: all stories are read and either rejected or moved to the longlist
Longlist: all stories are re-read and either rejected or moved to the shortlist
Shortlist: yep, re-read and either rejected or you move to ToC.
Note: No acceptances are sent out until AFTER the sub-window closes.
This may seem a laborious process, but it works for me and allows me to curate the best anthology of the stories submitted. The most difficult part is that there are times when I have to reject excellent stories because curating an anthology is also about how well the stories work together to make a kick-arse whole.
Oh, and should you make it to the ToC, your story will be edited. We will work together to make your story the best it can be. Your story may be lightly edited or heavily edited, but it will be edited. Discourse is always encouraged. Mutual respect is a given. You want to be an asshat? We will reject a story at ToC stage if any of the following occurs:
rude and/or derogatory comments
failure to implement edits and/or rewrites in a timely manner (deadlines be real)
requesting a male editor (true and shitty story)
attempting to slyly add words/phrases to your story that hit the DO NOT WANT marks listed earlier in this post (also a true and shitty story)
I think that pretty much covers everything. And if you’ve read this far, gold star to you!
Oh, and if you were unaware, all the SNAFU series is read by Tim Miller (Blur Studios), and some of our published stories have appeared in Love, Death & Robots. If this doesn’t inspire you to send us your very best, well… I got nothin’…
And one final note:
We actively encourage submissions from all cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, and identities. Storytelling is for everyone, and we are richer for it when all voices are heard.
Author, editor, caffeine-addict, wannabe ninja 