The anthology will be available as both an ebook and traditional ink-and-paper volume available through the usual suspects, date TBA…

• “A Million Pieces” by Peggy McFarland
• “The Colour of Murder” by Dorothy Davies
• “Dinner is in the Dog” by Simon Critchell
• “Lydia’s Ride” by Sirena M. Gibson
• “Top of the Heap” by Nathan Robinson
• “The Birthday Party” by Matthew C. Funk
• “Without a Witness” by W.C. Sowder
• “Justifiable Homicide” by Janett L. Grady
• “Deathbed” by Bruce Memblatt
• “Prison Torment” by Weston Kincade
• “Bonsai” by Nate D. Burleigh
• “Cannibal” by Simon Critchell
• “No Fear” by Efraim Z. Graves
• “It Was Dark” by Matt Hatfield
• “Requiem in a Messy Room” by Bruce Memblatt
• “The Garden of Eden” by Salena Casha
• “Miggs” by Simon Critchell
• “Rubbish Day” by Thadd Presley
• “Moss Covered Baby Doll” by Thadd Presley
• “The Fish” by David Perlmutter
• “Children of Mislaid Hope” by Jason Hughes
• “Dumped” by Nate D. Burleigh
• “Lollipop” by Keith G. Laufenberg

Release date and availability information soon to come.

As always, Smashwords is flexible on the format thing, so even if you don’t have a dedicated e-reader, you’re still set:

• Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)
• Online Reading (JavaScript, experimental, buggy)
• Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)
• Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)
• PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)
• RTF (readable on most word processors)
• LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don’t support .epub)
• Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)
• Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting)
• Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)

When you’re done reading, be sure to leave a review–let us writers know what kind of writing you’d like to see more of in the future.

Here are some early reader reviews:

I must admit that I normally don’t read compliations such as this, I usually tend to prefer a novel or fantasy series for my evening read. That said, this was a refreshing change from my usual pick and I tore through it. I found it fun, fantastical and exhilerating, I put it on my Kindle Fire and Iphone to re-read it when I fly. If I were to sum it up in one word it would be “Excellentness” knowing that is not a word, I will suffice to say “excellent” and hope that you get the picture.

–Firebird69

I thought this book had a wide range of different styles, which I like. The stories were all different and unique, and were refreshingly creative. Some of the stories were shorter and more like flash fiction, but since I read it when I had a few minutes to spare during the day it worked out great. I had several favorites, like the one about shape shifters and the one about the selkie. ( Hope I spelled that right) All in all it was well worth the money, and provided me with a great read.

–Bookworm67

Sparks was a nice little departure from reality for me, and the story lengths were good for a quick read on my breaks. I liked most of the stories in the book, they were well written and different from what you might regularly find. I also liked being able to read it on my kindle, I’m a bit of a techie and prefer not to buy the printed version when I can download it faster and easier to my kindle. I enjoyed this book, and I would suggest it to people looking for good fantasy short stories.

–Mamagecko

Here’s what Amazon has to say about Sparks: Exciting New Fantasy From Today’s Brightest Stars:

The combined talents of today’s hottest new fantasy writers are now on display in one incredible collection. These stories will transport you to a world of spellbinding fantasy, adventure, humor and heartbreak – where the wondrous and what-if are common fare and myths and fables of old are alive and well.

These glittering tales of the strange and fantastic are the perfect length for our busy modern lives. Let your mind be enveloped in the warm glow of the truly original, but be careful – you never know what might ignite when you play with Sparks. 

Click the image below for more information.

We’re at an odd time for the art of print. Writers, poets, and artists are having a very hard time mass marketing their work, as the world moves towards digital-only publishing and the death of print. Publishers are going out of business, bookstores are shrinking, the entire industry is facing the gloom that the music industry faced not so many years ago when digital trumped physical.

More and more, print artists are turning to the web to reach the masses. Just like musicians before them, they find that releasing their work for free or donations on the web will get their names out there far better than traditional means such as agents and manuscripts.

With What Fears Become, we have the reverse: a website dedicated to print art actually publishing a hard copy of the finest of their work. The Horror Zine is a UK-based site featuring poetry, art, and fiction from artists all over the world. Chief editor Jeani Rector has collected these into a volume published by a small Canadian independent publisher, Imajin Books. I’m happy to say…

Read the rest of the review here.

• SILVER LINING by B. Morris Allen
• LARRY THE TROLL by T. Fox Dunham
• THE GETAWAY by Alex Shvartsman
• BIG, BLUE STEEL by Michael Hodges
• TO THE SEA by Lauren Liebowitz
• MIDLAND CITY PIZZA PALACE SEEKS GIANT TO MASH DOUGH by Bartholomew Klick
• LIGHTBLIND by Nathaniel Lee
• THE WISHING FLOWER by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
• THE PRICE OF LOVE by Gary Cuba
• WHAT THE MOON SAW by Christian A. Larsen
• ISABELLE by Scott M. Davis
• SHADOW TWIN by Jamie Lackey
• BEYOND THE REACH OF TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCE by Joshua J. Mark
• MOMMA AND PAPA by Charles Suddeth
• THE TRICK TO FALLING by Paul Rehac
• TWO CARDS ON THE TABLE by Tim Jeffries

Yep, that’s one of mine tucked in there.

Obviously, we’re not merely talking sword & sorcery here. From urban to supernatural, Sparks has it all–and it brings gritty realism to the fantastic. As the editors put it: “Even wizards and werewolves have bad hair days, fights with girlfriends, and sometimes the chosen one foretold by prophecy wakes up and says, ‘You know what? The world can freakin’ save itself.’”

And, as promised, here is the cover art:

The assignment I gave my classes was to write a short story that included three of the five thematic categories of romanticism:

1. Individualism
2. Intuition vs. Reality
3. Love of Nature/Exotic Settings
4. Nationalism & the Past
5. Supernatural Elements

My students were then supposed to highlight these characteristics using preassigned colors. It was probably the most fun I had with a writing assignment. It was my hope that my classes felt the same way, but in retrospect, I should have given them a few other options as their assessment for the unit. Oh well…

“Crybaby Bridge” will be published in Dark River Press in issue #3 this June.

The actual Sermons of the Refuter is a lost work, but what if it was found? What if Simon Magus had the chance to give his side of the story? My story, “Sermons of the Refuter” explores what might happen, assuming that he was indeed the sorcerer that he was acknowledged to be in the Book of Acts.

“Sermons of the Refuter” will appear for free online consumption in the March 2012 issue of Schlock, a quarterly anthology featuring short and serialized fiction, illustration and photography. And here they are in their own words:

“What is Schlock? Schlock is all types of speculative fiction. It’s science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a pulpy edge. It’s trash, treasures, ghosts, gore, literature, Lovecraft, sex, space, weird, wonderful, and fantastic. We don’t shy away from subject-matter that other magazines cringe at, but it has to pique the imagination.”

My story is an embellishment of a family legend in which my great-great-grandfather said that after he died, he would find a way to let his loved ones know there was something on the other side of the veil. When he did ultimately pass, his cuckoo clock stopped working, and no clockmaker could figure out why. There was no physical reason for it. Now, if you think I’ve just given away the store, I haven’t. The tale that I’ve come up with is considerably darker than my actual family legend, and it will be available later this year in print and as an ebook.

I am struck by several things after putting it down. First, it is brilliant. The concept that a person is essentially a double-agent in his own mind as the result of memory implantation mirroring past life experiences is a wonderful sci-fi idea, and that Dick mixed in elements of cloak-and-dagger spy thrillers is a recipe for success. But it is very talky, probably because the idea needed a longer story to breathe. I mean, I enjoyed it, but if I had handed that to an editor (and I have written similar, as-yet-unpublished stories), I would have been told that it bogs down in the middle. Makes me wish my name was Philip K. Dick.

Second, Total Recall (1990) was really only inspired by the concept. If you think you don’t need to read “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” because you’ve seen Total Recall, you can stop thinking like that. Because the story is both ruined and improved in the big screen treatment. True, Shusett’s version is not talky (how could it be, as it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger?) but it is also somewhat cartoonish. If you don’t remember it, here’s the trailer:

That’s why I’m excited to see the 2012 remake starring Colin Ferrell. There seem to be enough new elements (and changed elements) to make this a more serious movie than the 1990 original, and I suspect it won’t be as “talky” as the novelette. There’s no trailer for it yet, but here’s a couple of clips from the ’Total Recall’ Comic Con Panel:

So, in a fistfight, I bet the Schusett/Schwarzenegger version would win, mostly because Arnold Schwarzenegger is still in better shape than most people will ever be, but I’m hoping this summer’s remake will be the best of both the “talky” novelette and the “cartoonish” original Total Recall, making for some kind of genetically-enhanced cyborg of awesomeness that is both cerebral and exciting.