Tag Archives: SNAFU

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU

A LITTLE BIT OF SPRUCING AND A TOUCH OF CONTAGION

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<<clears out cobwebs; side-eyes spiders as they pack their bags in a huff (that squeal wasn’t me, I swear…)>>

<<dusts bookshelves, trying not to summon demons (it’s touch and go)>>

<<taps mic, winces at feedback, *sighs*, assesses life choices>>

<<TAKE TWO!! (Shh, that other post was a figment of your imagination…)>>

Well, it’s been a while, folks. Had a crazy-busy year with much happening on the home and work front. Also, how is it almost October already? Someone is most definitely stealing my days (months, they’re stealing my months.)

As someone who is particularly shite at social media, this was one of the easiest things to let slide this past year (gotta say, it did wonders for my stress levels, but that’s a post for another day). That being said, I’ve put on my big-girl pants because SNAFU: Contagion from Cohesion Press is coming out at the end of next month, and I’m immensely proud of the authors and the stories within… not that we’ve trapped the authors inside the pages – I’m pretty sure that’s illegal (and I don’t have the right alchemy).

It’s been quite the ride to get to this point, more so this time around as we had to factor in audio-processing time, and with a slush pile that was filled with plethora of incredible stories, it had the decision-making process one of the most difficult in the SNAFU series to date.

(Oooh, look! Shiny new cover! Like, the right one this time. Shh. It’s been a long day…)

This is reflected in the size of the tome. SNAFU: Contagion is packed with eighteen stories, coming out at over a whopping 400 pages. Yep, you read that right. Over. Four. Hundred. Pages. This baby packs a punch! (And much pew pew pew!)

This is the biggest SNAFU of Cohesion’s flagship series since inception, and we’re extremely chuffed to have a Joe Ledger Adventure Tale from the esteemed Jonathan Maberry, that features the one-and-only Mr Church, and the kick-arse Grace Courtland. Alongside this novella, are amazing stories from authors around the world: Australia, Germany, US, UK, Belgium, India… it truly is global.

In the lead-up to release, we’re going to Author Spotlight our amazing writers so you can get to know them a little better, see what they’re up to on the writerly-front, and have them give you a little somethin’ somethin’ about the SNAFU tale they penned for us. Without our authors, there is no book, and we can’t thank them enough for entrusting their stories to us, and allowing us to present them to you all.

So, starting in October, this blog will get quite the work-out as we introduce you to some new names while getting you reacquainted with a few of our stalwarts.

You can pre-order SNAFU: Contagion here, and if you’re not familiar with the series and want to see what it’s all about, you can go to Cohesion Press’ website, and sign-up for the newsletter (we will not spam you, we understand how that can suck), and you’ll get a free copy of SNAFU: Comms, which is only available on sign-up. No pressure, of course. But… free book!

With that out of the way, all I can say is that with SNAFU: Contagion, you’re in for a hell of a ride. So, lace up your combat boots, prime your weapons, make sure your gas masks are secure and sealed…

…We’re about to breach…

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – DAMIEN MCKEATING

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SNAFU: PUNK’D is powering toward publication at the end of this month. Yay! Ahem. So, we at Cohesion Press have introductions to make, where we shove (not literally… well, not reeeaaally literally… maybe) into an author spotlight. Take a glimpse into their dark imaginings, pull up a chair for a tease of their tales, and follow the pointy-finger for a look at their other authorly pennings.

Now, before we move on, please sign the form that releases us from any responsibility for where you’re going next. Ta so much!

Right, let’s go!

With a gentle shove into the SNAFU: PUNK’D author spotlight, give a hearty welcome to DAMIEN MCKEATING!

Damien is a UK writer with a life-long love of fantasy and the supernatural. Childhood days were spent reading, writing, playing tabletop roleplaying games, engaging with the popular ball-related sports of the day, and trying to communicate with the dead. He would eventually set aside necromancy and sports, and go onto study film and writing at university. After a stint as a copywriter for radio, he moved into SEN teaching and realised how easy all of his previous employment had been. Over the years he has had short stories published across different magazines and anthologies, for adults and children. He has also written for comics and radio, and the peculiar folk-band Hornswaggle. He’s fond of corvids and is currently the oldest he’s ever been. Sometimes he remembers to blog about writing.  

For SNAFU: PUNK’D, Damien has lit the flares of solarpunk with his tale LIGHTBRINGERS: In a solarpunk apocalypse ravaged by demons, a squad of marines discover the true cost of war and survival.

You can find Damien on his socials below:  

Website: skeletonbutler.wordpress.com

Facebook: Damien Mckeating (Author)

Damien’s debut novel, Tallulah Belle, is a supernatural coming-of-age story set within the walls of a fantasy burlesque theatre, and is due for release in 2024.

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: GREG CHAPMAN

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Ooh, the next edition of SNAFU: PUNK’D is so very close to ‘sploding into the world. So, we at Cohesion Press would like to lead you down the horror-filled paths of our storytellers’ dark imaginings with a tease of their tales, a glimpse into their abyssal corners of their grey-matter, and information on their other authorly shenanigans.

Please grab a torch from the table, ensure all your valuables are secured, and for the love of all things unholy, do not pet the authors…

Next up in SNAFU: PUNK’D author spotlight is GREG CHAPMAN!

Two-time international Bram Stoker Award-nominee®*, Greg Chapman is a horror author and artist based in Queensland, Australia.

Greg is the author of several novels, novellas and short stories, including his award-nominated debut novel, Hollow House and collections, Vaudeville and Other Nightmares, and Midnight Masquerade.

He is also a horror artist and his first graphic novel, Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times, (McFarland & Company) written by authors Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton, won the Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel category at the Bram Stoker Awards® in 2013.

He was also the President of the Australasian Horror Writers Association from 2017-2020.

* Superior Achievement in a First Novel for Hollow House (2016) and

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction, for “The Book of Last Words” (2019)

For SNAFU: PUNK’D, Greg has sprinkled his cyberpunk tale with some biopunk to give us A GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM: When a soldier’s soul is ripped from the Afghan desert into a nightmarish hellscape to entertain a conglomerate, she sets out to tear it all down

You can find Greg on his socials below:  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GregChapman.Author/

Bluesky: @gregchapman.bsky.social 

Instagram: @gregschapman76

Threads: @gregschapman76@threads.net

Greg’s new collection, Midnight Masquerade is out on October 31 – https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Masquerade-Greg-Chapman-ebook/dp/B0CDKXQFZ3

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: PAMELA JEFFS

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Boom! The next edition of SNAFU: PUNK’D is very close to landing and we’re excited!. To that end, Cohesion Press is laying out the red carpet for our storytellers with an author spotlight where we lead you carefully… or carelessly (it’s a fine line) into their imaginariums (please ignore the creatures in the corners), a tease of their story, and info on their other authorly spawnings.

If you’ll come this way, we’d like to guide you into the lair of our next SNAFU: PUNK’D author: PAMELA JEFFS!

Pamela Jeffs (she/her) is an Australian speculative fiction author with a background in Interior Architecture and Design. She has published five short story collections and has 90+ short stories featured in various publications including Midnight Echo Magazine by the Australian Horror Writers Association and in two SNAFU series books by Cohesion Press. Pamela’s work has shortlisted for multiple awards including nine Aurealis Awards and three Ditmar Awards.

When it comes to SNAFU: PUNK’D, Pamela has stoked the hold with a lil steampunk tale, STOKEHOLD: A young stoker aboard a battleship tries to save his superior officer, but all is not as it seems…

You can find Pamela on her socials below:  

Facebook: @pamelajeffsauthor

Twitter: @Pamela_Jeffs

BlueSky: @pamelajeffs.bsky.social

Website: www.pamelajeffs.com

For more of Pamela’s amazing work, her new book, Precarious Waters and Other Dark Tales, a collection of dark fiction short stories, is due for release early November. (No pre-orders yet)

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

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: DAVID W. AMENDOLA

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As Cohesion Press edges ever-closer to the release of SNAFU: PUNK’D at the end of October, we are on a mission of regalia for our authors and the tales of the fantastique they’ve created. Which basically translates to promotion time for all of our storytellers with an author spotlight that gives insight into their imaginariums (back away sloooowly), and a tease of their story.

Let’s get to it!

Please give a hearty welcome to our eighth author in this SNAFU: PUNK’D spotlight… DAVID AMENDOLA!

David W. Amendola has been a pulp fiction fan and epic history nerd since his teens, and his stories combine both. He writes science-fiction, fantasy, horror, westerns, military adventure, mystery, and mashups of all these genres. He also occasionally writes about non-fiction topics such as family genealogy, history, and numismatics. He has a Bachelor of Arts in World Military History and a Graduate Certificate in World War II Studies, both from American Military University. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 21 years. 

Six of his short stories have been featured in SNAFU anthologies and one, The Secret War, was adapted into a feature for the first season of the Emmy-winning Netflix animated series Love, Death + Robots. 

For this edition of SNAFU, David has meshed together a cyberpunk tale with BRAINJACKED: A cyborg team is sent by the U.S. Space Force to retrieve a crashed satellite. Bounce in, secure the wreckage, and bounce out before anybody knows they’re there. Piece of cake. Until they get brainjacked… 

You can find David at his website:  http://dwamendola.wix.com/authoramendola

Editing, publishing, Ramblings, Reading, SNAFU, Writing

SNAFU: PUNK’D AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – RPL JOHNSON

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With the release of SNAFU: PUNK’D exploding into the world at the end of October, we at Cohesion Press will be getting the bullhorns out to shout the names of our authors and regale you with the tales they’ve spawned for this edition. So, it’s promotion time for all of our storytellers with an author spotlight that gives insight into their imaginariums (tread veeeery carefully), and a tease of their story.

Right then, mount up!

For our seventh instalment of the SNAFU author spotlight, please give a hearty-horror welcome to RPL JOHNSON!

Richard is an Australian science fiction writer and winner of the Gold Award at Writers of the Future and the Jim Baen Memorial Award. King Rat is his fifth appearance in the SNAFU series. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and two young sons and is currently working on a novel, Mappa Mundi, set in the King Rat universe.

As Richard just told you, for SNAFU: PUNK’D, he has melded bio and cyberpunk for his story KING RAT: A cybernetic mercenary with all the aspects of the Chinese zodiac discovers a link between his own past and his latest quarry – a shared history and the chance to right a decades-old wrong. But can he find something more than just revenge

You can find Richard on his socials below:

Website: http://www.rpljohnson.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064051633356

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RPLJohnson

To celebrate the release of SNAFU: Punk’d, Richard’s sci-fi novel The View from Infinity Beach will be on sale for just $2.99 starting on Halloween https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W347VZD.

Or if you fancy more short stories, why not pick up my collection Skull Candy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B86SLPV8

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 – 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.