Release Day! Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations

Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations
by Shannon Lawrence

Release Date: March 15, 2018

Horror short story collection

A collection of frights, from the psychological to the monstrous. These tales are a reminder of how much we have to fear: A creature lurking in the blue, sludgy depths of a rest area toilet; a friendly neighbor with a dark secret hidden in his basement; a woman with nothing more to lose hellbent on vengeance; a hike gone terribly wrong for three friends; a man cursed to clean up the bodies left behind by an inhuman force. These and other stories prowl the pages of this short story collection.

Excerpt

From For Love of the Hunt:

"The taste of his dying heart was the most succulent flavor I'd ever partaken of. The thick, rich blood flowed into my throat and I felt it burning its way through my entire body, even as that great muscle pulsed against my lips. His strength belonged to me now."

You can read other excerpts at the blogs of those helping with my book release. Each person has an excerpt from a different story:

Tamara Narayan - Know Thy Neighbor (and she's telling a scary real life story)
Christine Rains - Shifting Sands
Mina Burrows - Cravings
Jennifer Lane - What the Fire Left Behind
Lisa Southard - Maelstrom
Diane Burton - Sound Advice (and info on skinwalkers)
Meka James - Salvation Lottery
Patricia Lynne - Metamorphosis (and she's telling a scary real life story)
Juneta Key - In the Dark (and a bit on writing about horror)
Elizabeth Seckman - The Blue Mist
Catherine Dilts - Blue Sludge Blues
Pete Aldin - Faceless
Joylene Nowell Butler - The Tourist

Buy the Book

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Also available from Apple and other countries through Amazon


If you'd like to help share the news about my book, here are a couple pre-made tweets (and feel free to use any images posted here):

Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations by Shannon Lawrence now on sale at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079WKB7PW! Also B&N and Kobo. Get your horror fix in with this collection of short stories @thewarriormuse

Killer mists, creatures in rest stop toilets, and neighbors you should beware, Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations by Shannon Lawrence now on sale at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079WKB7PW! Also B&N and Kobo. @thewarriormuse

The dark side of being the sole survivor, creatures in the woods, and more, Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations by Shannon Lawrence now on sale at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079WKB7PW! Also B&N and Kobo. @thewarriormuse 

About the Author

A fan of all things fantastical and frightening, Shannon Lawrence writes mostly fantasy and horror. Her stories can be found in magazines and anthologies, including Space and Time Magazine, Dark Moon Digest, and Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things. When she's not writing, she's hiking the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings, where, coincidentally, there's always a place to hide a body or birth a monster.

Social Media Links

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | 

Smashwords Author Page

Giveaway!

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Cover Reveal! Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations

Today's the day for the cover reveal of my horror short story collection, Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations!

A collection of frights, from the psychological to the monstrous. These tales are a reminder of how much we have to fear: a creature lurking in the blue, sludgy depths of a rest area toilet; a friendly neighbor with a dark secret hidden in his basement; a woman with nothing more to lose hellbent on vengeance; a hike gone terribly wrong for three friends; a man cursed to clean up the bodies left behind by an inhuman force. These and other stories prowl the pages of this short story collection.

Release Date: March 15, 2018

Available for Pre-Order in e-book now at the following locations:

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Will also be available in trade paperback from Amazon US and UK, and ebook through Apple and Amazon in other countries.

Thank you to my husband, Jeff Lawrence, for the cover design, and to Jared Hagan for my author photos.

Thank you to everyone who helped with my cover reveal today! Please consider stopping by to say hi to each of them:

Marcy
Mina
J.L.
Ellen (posting Saturday)
diedre
Juneta
Sheena-kay
Jennifer
C. Lee
Jennifer Lane

May you find your Muse.

32 Nights of Horror & New Short Story Available!

To celebrate October, I've been watching a horror movie each night (including midnight on the first, which is why it's 32 instead of 31). Most of them have been old favorites, but some have been new to me, so I thought I'd pass along some recommendations from the new (to me) films.

Before we jump into the movies, I wanted to announce a new short story release. My short story Unwelcome Guests is now available for Kindle via The Society of Misfit Stories. It's a standalone e-book for $.99, and will not be available in print until 2018, when it will be included in the annual anthology from Bards and Sages.

Okay, now for the movies. First, an older one that I just hadn't seen yet.

Cube was released in 1997. In it, a group of people wake up inside a giant cube with small entryways between each different room within it. None of the people know each other or how they got there, but each has a skill that could help them get out of the cube. In the meantime, traps in the rooms eliminate those entering them.

Despite the fact that there are some nasty deaths, this isn't gore porn, like Saw and similar films. Rather, I found it to be a character study in the way Lord of the Flies was. Is the cube more dangerous, or is it the people within it?

Next, how about one that's out in theaters? (Totally counts.)

I went to see IT. This was actually the first Stephen King book I ever read. I'm a huge Tim Curry fan, but he was limited by being Pennywise in a television miniseries. Skarsgard didn't have the same limitations, and was overall a freaky killer clown. He didn't try to copy Curry's Pennywise, which is what I think made it all the more successful.

As anyone who is familiar with any aspect of IT knows, this is a tale of bullying, of adult complicity, of childhood bonding, and so much more. There's a reason this new version of IT has surpassed Exorcist as the top-grossing horror film.

One of the newer movies I watched was The Autopsy of Jane Doe. This one came out in 2016, and I'm not sure it was even in theaters around here. In it, a father and son team of coroners gets the body of a young woman found under mysterious circumstances. She has internal injuries, but no external damage to indicate how they happened. As they proceed with the autopsy, strange then frightening things begin to happen.

The movie is compelling, with a series of puzzle pieces resulting from the autopsy. The father/son relationship of mentor/mentee is an interesting one, and the details are well played out.

This next one was pure camp, and a lot of fun. The Babysitter is a Netflix original. A boy decides to stay up to see what his babysitter does after he's supposed to be asleep. To his shock and horror, he witnesses her murdering a young man to collect his blood in order to do a spell with a group of teens. But they also need the blood of an innocent.

Full of familiar, but loved, tropes, with a great sense of humor. I enjoyed watching this one, because it doesn't take itself too seriously, yet still delivers. The bullied 13-year old finds himself while fighting off a group of sadistic teens.

The rest of the movies I've watched so far this month are:

The Others
Friday the 13th (ON Friday the 13th, duh--the original)
It Comes at Night
American Psycho 2 (not recommended)
Insidious
Honeymoon
Alien Resurrection (my daughter has seen the rest, and we're watching them in order, so next is Prometheus)
Tremors
Scream
Silence of the Lambs
Pet Sematary
The Bad Batch
Cult of Chucky
Flatliners (old one)
Fright Night (newer one)

Obviously, the original Halloween must be saved for Halloween night.

Time for links. Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

The Literary Hatchet is seeking dark fiction and poetry. 1000-6000 words. Pays $5-10. Deadline November 1.

Rosarium Publishing is seeking water-themed speculative short stories for the anthology Trouble the Waters:Tales From the Deep Blue. 2500-7000 words. Pays $.06/word. Deadline November 1.

The First Line is seeking fiction using the first line for this submission period. This period's first line is "I'm tired of trying to see the good in people." 300-5000 words. Pays $25-50. Deadline November 1.

Spring Song Press is seeking fantasy/noblebright short stories for the anthology Fell Beasts and Fair. 1000-10,000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline November 1.

Kenyon Review is seeking prose, drama, and poetry. Up to 7500 words. Pay is not mentioned, but this is supposed to be a paying market. Deadline November 1.

The Sun is seeking essays, short stories, and poetry. Up to 7000 words. Pays between $100 and $2000. Deadline November 1.

Seen any of the movies I listed? What did you think of the newer ones? Any of these links of interest? Anything to add? Submission news?

May you find your Muse.

New Release: Under the Bed Magazine

This past Saturday was the release date for the issue of Under the Bed Magazine featuring my story, Know Thy Neighbor! This is officially the first magazine I've had a short story published in (though not my first acceptance into a magazine), so I'm incredibly excited! 

A simple jog ends in a night of terror for suburban mom, Rebecca. Her tormenter is the last person she'd expect, or so she thinks. Another surprise awaits her, this one more horrifying than the first. Do you know thy neighbor? 

I thought up this story while out on a late night walk. As I peered around at the darkened houses, avoiding the deeper shadows, I wondered who lived behind each of those doorways. Who might be staring at me from the night-blackened windows? We all now have the capability to look up registered sex offenders in the area, but what of those who haven't been caught? Times have changed, and we no longer know our neighbors the way we once did. Then again, did we ever really know them?

Needless, to say, the rest of my walk was spoiled by these thoughts, putting me on edge. When I got home, I sat down and immediately wrote this story while the trepidation was fresh in my mind. John Wayne Gacy was well liked, and I'm sure he wasn't the only one.

I'll never look at my neighbors the same way again.

Under the Bed Magazine

Published by Fiction Magazines

Volume 3, Number 7

Genre: Horror

Warning: Mature, graphic content

My Story: Know Thy Neighbor

Available in e-magazine at:

Fiction Magazines 

(in multiple formats)

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Various and sundry retailers of e-periodicals

Price: $3.99

A cool thing about this magazine is that it's peer chosen. The stories with the most votes from the team of curators are accepted by the magazine. It kind of makes me feel warm and fuzzy to know how this was chosen. Or would that be cold and scaly?

What do you think of the cover? Creepy enough? Do you sleep with your feet securely snuggled under the blankets, or do you hang them off the side? 

May you find your Muse.