I have stories out in a few new anthologies this month! If you’re looking for creepy and fantastical reads, check them out:
Description: An anthology of horror stories and poems.
Includes my story “Blessed,” about an alien invasion tale with a twist.
Description: Shotgun Honey Presents volume 6 brings together a spooky group of authors for this special Halloween crime/horror anthology. Including contributions by Libby Cudmore, Andy Davidson, KC Grifant, Elizabeth Guilt, Mackenzie Hurlbert, Caden Kalfin, James Kinslingbury, Nick Kolakowski, Ethan K. Lee, Andrew Majors, Luciano Marano, Joey R. Poole, William Steffen, Casey Stegman, Gabriela Stiteler, Thomas Trang, Wendy N. Wagner, Benjamin B. White, Gordon B. White, Grant Wamack, and Paul Tremblay. Guest editor is best selling author Keith Rosson (Fever House, The Devil By Name). All profits from this edition will go to a local Portland, OR charity to benefit foster children.
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ALONG HARROWED TRAILS (Timber Ghost Press) is a horror western anthology containing my story “Candelaria and the Red-Eyed Bunch Gang.” This is a prequel, origins story for one of the side characters in MELINDA WEST: MONSTER GUNSLINGER. In it, Candelaria must contend with a gang set on double-crossing her as something monstrous approaches.
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My bite-sized ghost story, “Lonely Arcade,” has published in Stupefying Stories (4-minute read). It’s a ghost story, but also a homage to the many summers I spent in boardwalk arcades.
You can read it for free, along with other short tales, here: https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/2023/06/lonely-arcade-by-kc-grifant.html
If you enjoyed that one, make sure to check out “The Sighting,” my short tale about Big Foot hunters, also in Stupefying Stories.
Stupefying Stories is an online magazine founded by Bruce and Karen Bethke. Bruce Bethke is the award-winning science fiction writer known for his 1980 short story, “Cyberpunk,” and his 1995 Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel, Headcrash.
My bite-sized, sci-fi horror story, “The Sighting,” has published in Stupefying Stories. This short tale follows the exploits of determined Big Foot hunters and their promising approach to ID’ing the monster.
You can read it for free, along with other short tales, here: https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-sighting-by-kc-grifant.html
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My short fantasy flash story “Death Felt Fine” is available to read for free over at Dread Stone Press‘s Dose of Dread series. At 1000 words, it’s a quick tale, and follows Death’s mission to deal with the latest apocalypse even as he yearns for something more.
I love reading various interpretations of the Grim Reaper and Death. Probably one of my favorite depictions is from the Sandman series. In this tale, I pictured Death as a somewhat moody, nostalgic figure stuck in an eternal task along with his fated brothers and sisters.
Here’s a brief excerpt:
Hope you enjoy! For more of Dread Stone Press offerings, my short eco-horror story, “From Sea to Shining Sea,” appears in FIELD NOTES FROM A NIGHTMARE.
Sley House Publishing presents its first-ever scripted audio drama, my weird horror short story, “U-Train.” I could not be more pleased with the voice actors and production. Big thanks to Sley House and the team! Read below for links to listen for free and a story description.
Four strangers find themselves on a New York subway platform, waiting on a train that shouldn’t exist. But as they try to find out why they’re there and how they might escape, they realize that when the train arrives, a fate worse than death might be waiting for them.
The story was inspired by far too many hellish city commutes and what felt like eternal waiting for transfers!
“U Train” will also be available in Halloween Tales of Sley House 2022 later this fall along with other spooky stories. You can also listen to more of Sley House’s podcast, Sley Bits, on all things horror and fantasy – https://sleyhousepublishing.podbean.com.
If you are interested in discovering more weird horror stories, including receiving FREE short stories, sign up for my monthly newsletter: https://kcgrifant.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe
My micro horror story (~200 words) “Protection” is now available in the online version of Frozen Wavelets issue #1, a newly launched speculative flash fiction and poetry magazine based in Scotland.
About Frozen Wavelets, from Editor Steph P. Bianchini:
Frozen Wavelets is an e-zine of speculative flash fiction and poetry, offspring of The Earthian Hivemind. We exist because we believe there’s not enough out there that specialises in this exquisite and peculiar format, not because it is not worthy of attention but because the genre fiction market logic overall doesn’t favour it. This is our contribution to give voice to writers and poets who love it as much as we do, and who keep writing it nonetheless.
TOC of Frozen Wavelets issue #1:
She Sleeps (Annie Neugebauer)
The Sea Bride (Deborah Davitt)
Protection (Kc Grifant)
Alien Evening (Kim Whysall-Hammond)
At the Frayed Edges of The Night (Isabel Cañas)
Bulgarian Grass – Българска Трева (Margarita I Serafimova)
Shell (Sonora Taylor)
The Wishing Clock of Gassytown (Deborah Wong)
Moon Catcher (Beth Cato)
Our Flesh Was Bred for This (Octavia Cade)
Sparse Wavelets (Colleen Anderson, Stewart C. Baker, Anatoly Belilovsky, Marc Criley, Pat Tompkins, Dawn Vogel)
Read more about the contributors here or visit the Patreon page here.
Trembling with Fear Year One is a collection of horror short stories and drabbles.
My short horror scifi story “Turning Tides” appears Trembling with Fear: Year 1, a print anthology collection of horror-themed flash and short fiction now available.
“Turning Tides” was first published at The Horror Tree’s January 29, 2017 online edition. The story is what’s known as a “drabble.” These are flash fiction pieces taken to an extreme, incorporating style, character and plot all within a paltry 100 words.
The new collection, which includes both dribbles and flash stories, is edited by Stephanie Ellis and Stuart Conover, who curate the immensely popular Horror Tree website.
From the publisher:
This Trembling With Fear anthology is a compilation of all the drabbles, flash fiction stories and dark poetry published during 2017 at HorrorTree.com. In its pages you will find work from both the novice and the established writer, the newbie and the award-winner. Here, the dead walk and murders abound, demons and ghosts torment the living whilst vampires and wolves compete for space with internet and aliens. Within these pages you will find dark speculative fiction from contributors across the globe, for our world is a world without borders. Nowhere is safe from the dark.
We have had some amazing talent contribute to the first year of ‘Trembling With Fear’ and we hope that you enjoy reading these as much as we have!
Read more or buy the book (digital or print) here.
KC Grifant 