Writes
The Knights of Maenara Collective (1 of 10) Detective Nicola Knight had come home the way ghosts do: quiet, uninvited, and carrying unfinished business. Her plane touched down at Louis Armstrong International at 6:13 p.m., wheels screeching like wounded birds, engines reversing with enough force to jolt her forward against the fraying seatbelt. Nicola didn’t flinch. She’d flown rougher rides… Continue reading Homecoming, Part One
November’s Grand Saga As the last echoes of Halloween fade and the days grow shorter, I’ve decided to embrace November with an ambitious creative endeavor. Instead of tackling a massive novel, I’m launching a more focused, equally exciting project: a complete short story cycle. What is a Short Story Cycle? If you haven’t heard the term before, a short story… Continue reading Writing a Short Story Cycle
13 of 13 Short Stories Before Halloween Well, that’s it. 13 stories. I hope you enjoyed this exercise. I may write another tomorrow…we shall see. It has been a busy week. Have a Happy Halloween! “What a wonderful thing humanity is: passionate, intelligent, inquisitive, generous, full of hope and joy, noble of spirit, and above all, delicious.” Delilah paused in… Continue reading A Taste for Justice
12 of 13…I think October 31st, 2025 The new ghost materialized in the middle of the cemetery at 11:47 PM, which was exactly thirteen minutes before Frank Delaney’s scheduled rounds of the Victorian section. She was young, maybe twenty-five, wearing a security company polo shirt with a dark stain spreading across the collar. Her eyes were wild, panicked, darting around… Continue reading Graveyard Shift
11 of 13 Short Stories Before Halloween The house squatted at the end of the cul-de-sac like a sulking child, all Gothic Revival gingerbread and peeling paint. Eleanor Crane, Nell to anyone who’d survived more than one conversation with her, pulled her car into the weed-choked driveway and killed the engine. Through the windshield, she counted the architectural red flags:… Continue reading The Last House on Gable Street
10 of 13 Short Stories Before Halloween Hey friends, I’ve been going through some health stuff lately, both the physical kind and the mental kind, and it’s been a little rough. The writing helps, though. Even when I don’t feel great, putting words down is a way to keep moving, to make sense of things. So I’m trying to write… Continue reading The Complimentary Curse
9 of 13 Before Halloween The clinic waiting room was decorated with plastic spiders and orange twinkle lights. Alex almost laughed at the juxtaposition, seeking relief from treatment-resistant depression surrounded by fake cobwebs and grinning jack-o’-lanterns. They’d tried everything else first. Seven different antidepressants over four years. Therapy: CBT, DBT, EMDR, all the acronyms. Exercise. Meditation. Supplements. Light boxes. That… Continue reading The Halloween Infusion
8 of 13 Before Halloween The rain came down in sheets as six figures emerged from their limousines outside the unmarked facility. Halloween night, and here they were, summoned by the mysterious Dr. Seraphina Oleander to tour what she’d promised would be “the future of regenerative medicine.” Colonel Margaret Ashford arrived first, her military bearing unmistakable despite her civilian clothes.… Continue reading The Regeneration Project
7 of 13 Short Stories Before Halloween The scratching started at 2:47 AM. Cassandra had heard it before, soft, insistent, like fingernails on wood, but tonight it was louder, more urgent. She pulled her blanket tighter and stared at her closet door, the only shadow in her moonlit bedroom that seemed to breathe. “Not tonight,” she whispered. “Please, not tonight.”… Continue reading The Closet Council
Home is where the weirdos are (6 of 13 for Halloween) Amy clutched the last cardboard box labeled “Kitchen Stuff” and surveyed their new room. It was smaller than the pictures suggested, but the rent was cheap enough that neither she nor Ash were complaining. “Is that a wolf?” Ash stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the massive gray… Continue reading The Misfit House Halloween
5 of 13 for Halloween Maya had learned long ago not to mention the voices to anyone who mattered. People were charmed when she seemed to know exactly what they needed, attributing it to intuition rather than the whispered suggestions from Mrs. Chen, who’d run the laundromat for forty years before her heart gave out. She still liked to help.… Continue reading A Clay Pot’s Last Journey
Supernatural Side Hustle (4 of 13) I’m writing this for those with a permanent side hustle — I see your hard work and I thank you for the deliveries you’ve made. I’m sorry for answering the door in my pajamas and without a bra. In my defense, those things are torture devices. Thank you. The notification chimed on Wren’s phone… Continue reading Broom for Improvement
Mabel’s Market I trusted Spencer to arrange the car pickup, so we flowed out of the restaurant but stayed under the awning as we searched for our driver. Lizzie spied that our driver had been held up down the block by someone wanting to park parallel. They were reportedly ancient so it was going to be a while. We ran… Continue reading Haint Party, Chapter 5