Goodreads Giveaway for Deliciously Dark Tales

Starting today, on Goodreads, you can enter to win one of ten signed copies of Deliciously Dark Tales. This Goodreads giveaway ends on October 26, just in time to receive your copy by Halloween. Click on over and enter today.

Excerpt from Deliciously Dark Tales

Halloween is coming. To help you prepare, I thought I would share excerpts from Deliciously Dark Tales. Here is the first installment. I hope you enjoy reading it, if you do, please come back and visit for more.



This can't be real, Paul thought. It's just a dream. It has to be a dream.

His first reaction was, Run! He always ran from even a hint of danger. He'd spent his life avoiding larger aggressors, and at his size, they were all larger. But this time he struggled between running, and facing his attacker.

"This ain't no dream squirt, it's your worst nightmare." The muggers blade whistled in an arc so close to Paul's chest the tip snagged the material on the front of his shirt. Without encountering the expected resistance of his flesh, the slash threw the attacker off-balance, but he recovered quickly, and crouched, prepared to thrust the blade into Paul's midsection.

Though he couldn't fathom how, Paul knew by the manner and angle that the mugger now poised the katana blade for a lethal plunge. Part of Paul's mind froze in terror. Another, stronger part, stood waiting phlegmatically for the mugger's next move.

The man lunged, shooting his arm forward, and drove the razor-sharp weapon toward Paul's solar plexus. Without conscious thought, he sidestepped the attack. The knife whispered past, missing its deadly mark.

"Wake up!" Paul yelled.

The attacker's arm followed behind the thrusting knife.

Paul reached out and clamped onto the attacker's wrist with his right hand, twisted, and drove his left hand against the man's elbow. The joint snapped under the blow with a dull crack he felt more than heard...

BZZZZ--BZZZZ--BZZZZ. Complete darkness.

"It was a dream." He reached out from under the warm covers and plucked the cell phone from his nightstand. "Paul here."
 

-- Excerpt from Bigger, story 1 in Deliciously Dark Tales.

Deliciously Dark Tales

It's in!
The awesome artwork that will adorn the cover of my upcoming book filled with fantasy, dark, and horror stories, Deliciously Dark Tales.

Going through the final editing stages and still hoping for a pre-halloween release prior to the 20th so it will be here in time for the kickoff event at Barnes and Noble at the Red Cliffs Mall for the St George Book Festival. Hope to see you there.

If you like your stories dark, you'll love, Deliciously Dark Tales

Bigfoot's plaster cast footprint is safely ensconced in a shadow box and ready to show off at the book signing event at the Red Cliffs Mall Barnes and Nobel in St George, Utah on October 20, and at the author event at the Children's Museum in St George on October 25. Both events are part of the St George Book Festival.
I am calmly (?) waiting for the proof copy of Deliciously Dark Tales. It is a collection of 16 dark short stories that hearken back to the days when dark tales were, dark. I enjoy writing fun and whimsical stories, and there is one in the collection that could fall into that category, as long as you consider a story such as, Something Wicked This Way Comes, or The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, fun and whimsical.
All the tales in Deliciously Dark were initially written, in the dark. Touch typing is so helpful during such sessions. If you enjoy truly dark tales, I think you'll love the book and the just before Halloween release date.
The cover art is going to change once I receive the commissioned artwork, but here is a taste of what's coming with the working cover. Look deeply into its eyes.

Looking for a Halloween Treat?

It looks like the release date for my new book of dark and disturbing tales will be close to October 31. This one would make a great gift for dark tale lovers. The current working title is "Dark and Disturbing Tales: The Hunter, and 15 more bone chilling short stories", but it's subject to change. We discussed calling them horror stories, but horror didn't quite fit. And many of the stories labeled horror seem different than these tales. But horror definitely enters into them.
All these tales were early morning wake up thoughts. The stories came almost complete, although they required some editing...a lot of editing...okay, some had to be almost completely rewritten so they made sense and had some continuity and felt whole. But then, that's what writing is really about, rewriting.
And even though the title is Dark and Disturbing Tales, they aren't about politics or politicians...well most of them aren't, maybe one is. And it's been rated one of the two most disturbing of the sixteen tales. These tales are not for the young or faint of heart.

Do you enjoy dark and disturbing short stories

If you do, you're in luck. I am putting the finishing touches and preparing a cover for my next YA book. It will include 16 short stories, including; It's Always Better With Roses, Body Grabber, The Dowser, The Hunter, and Bigger.
Disturbing stories that don't require you to leave the lights on when you go to sleep, but when you wake up in the dark, you'll wish you had.
The scheduled release is mid-October, just in time for Halloween.
P.S. It's fiction no animals, plants, or humans were injured during the research or writing.