I’m honored to have 12 new horror, scifi and/or weird west short stories published this year. These are eligible for award nominations, and several of them are free to read. Complimentary copies (PDF) of the others are available upon request. Hope you enjoy!
-Published in Chromophobia: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women in Horror from Rooster Republic Press
-Description: A mean-girls, creature feature about a lake house trip gone sideways, this story is described by the editor as having “major CREEPSHOW vibes.”
-Words: 3,400
–Winner of the Sley House podcast competition and published in Tales of Sley House 2022
-Description: Four strangers find themselves on a New York subway platform, forced to face their pasts as they wait on a train that shouldn’t exist.
-Words: 5,300
-Note: “The U Train” is available as a free dramatic audio recording here: https://podcast.app/kc-grifants-u-train-e315014645/
-Published in Dancing in the Shadows: A Tribute to Anne Rice and forthcoming in a future episode of Tales to Terrify
-Description: An unnatural force at the local cemetery seeks to avenge an act of murderous violence.
-Words: 2,400
-Published in 34 Orchard magazine, issue #6
-Description: A new pandemic forces those exposed to carry out their quarantine at sea, where strangers are less than charitable.
-Words: 1,200
-Note: “All Aboard” is available to read for free at the magazine’s website (pdf): https://34orchard.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/34-orchard-issue-6-autumn-2022.pdf
It’s October, the best month! When when the “Halloween People” come out to play and when the pumpkin spice flows freely. I hope you’re finding fun and spooky ways to celebrate.
Read on for book updates, my first reading of the season and a new article on Weird West writing tips. As always, I hope your bookshelves have been full and your reading time uninterrupted!
My article, “5 Tips for Writing a Horror Weird Western,” is now live on The Horror Tree! You can read it here: https://horrortree.com/5-tips-for-writing-a-horror-weird-western/.
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My Weird Western story, “Old Habits,” is now available in Queer Weird West Tales (QWWT)! Edited by Julie Bozza, the anthology is a diverse collection of international Weird West adventures.
To save her girlfriend from a monster’s infectious venom, Topaz must confront her tumultuous past and ask the last person in the world she wants to see for help—her ex.
Topaz is a side character in my upcoming novel MELINDA WEST: MONSTER GUNSLINGER. She was so dynamic and intriguing, she practically demanded a spotlight in her own story. This tale focuses on Topaz’s adventures after the novel, expanding on her newfound love as she faces a reckoning with her past.
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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.
“…stories featuring delicious twists, eerie creatures, and visceral imagery.”
“…stories that deliver shocks and ghastly plot turns.”
“Extraordinary tales of terror that are as grim as they are delightful.”
Read the full review at Kirkus Reviews
The horror color-themed CHROMOPHOBIA anthology from Rooster Republic Press is now available for paperback order and early reviews are glowing! Edited by Stoker Award-winning author and poet, Sara Tantlinger, the anthology features dozens of spooky and disturbing tales by renowned and up-and-coming women writers.
The anthology includes my mean-girls, creature feature story “The Color of Friendship.”
[This story has] major CREEPSHOW vibes, the kind of story that ought to be introduced by the Cryptkeeper…Grifant’s gnarly ode to fractured friendship is the first story to feel as though it could’ve been ripped out of the pages of an old EC horror comic.”
Editors
KC Grifant’s “The Color of Friendship” conjures impressive atmosphere as a woman continually looks for whatever is swimming in a nearby lake during her friends’ weekend getaway.
Kirkus Reviews
…Four friends escape on a scenic getaway to a lakeside cabin, but simmering about the gray-green water are unresolved grudges and petty jealousies, the stench of which quickly becomes “rotten…bordering on putrid.” Grifant makes hearty use of the verdant setting as her protagonist discovers a strange and ravenous creature…In the isolation felt within a pack of mean girls grown up, there is a monster lurking just under the surface, both literally and metaphorically.
Read an excerpt from “The Color of Friendship” here: https://roosterrepublicpress.com/chromophobias-15th-entry-is-a-full-blown-creature-feature/.
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I’m honored to have my scifi story, “Cynscout,” debut in the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA)’s magazine! Edited by Eugen Bacon and Gene Rowe, Fission issue #2 Volume 1 is now available for purchase.
“Fission #2 Vol 1 deftly plays with the evocative and provocative. There are nuanced beats of light and dark, that entertain and exhilarate in perfect harmony. Highly recommended.”
–Andrew Hook, British Fantasy Award-winning editor and author of Frequencies of Existence
“Cynscout” is about a fused owner-and-pet consciousness trying to survive the apocalypse and carry out their grim mission to usher in the end of the world. You can read an excerpt below.
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KC Grifant 