Short Stories


Warren Pepper's Victory Choir
This is a story about a mental patient who can hear a sympthony of the screaming dead. It will be published in 1000 Delights. I don't have a publication date yet, but will put it here when I get it.

Digging Up the Past
An amputee goes looking for the dreams he buried with his severed arm. This isn't really a horror story, though it might be considered a little morbid for some folks. It went online in EOTU e-zine for June/July 2001.

Particles
This is an ancient story recently rescued from a "Rewrite" file that was itself nearly 15 years old. It was originally written not long after I decided to try writing, during the height of my Stephen King imitation period of the late 1980s. After retooling, I placed it with Infernal, the eZine of Sinister Writing. It was put online in June 2001.

Summer Offspring
I recalled my career as a newspaper reporter for this story, which appeared in the April 2001 debut issue of The Kovacs Files. Told as a series of newspaper clippings, the story chronicles a strange occurance during the record-breaking summer of 2000 in central Oklahoma. Read it here.

Dining at Sea
This story about two shipwreck survivors and the box they find floating in the ocean is now available in the anthology COLD STORAGE. The book is a collection of stories dealing with the undead, with an introduction by Graham Masterton. Click the banner to read excerpts and get ordering information.


Elijah
I've been peddling and revising this story since 1987. It's about a demonic parrot that disrupts the life of a young woman. If you know about my own bird phobia, you know why I wrote this. Damn you, Alfred Hitchcock! This story will be online in December 2000 at DeathGrip. This is the last installment of DeathGrip, so be sure to check it out.

Souls in Motion
Here's another old story that has been around and I finally revised enough to get it published. I've always kind of liked this one, if I do say so myself. It's about a storefront psychic asked to do an exorcism by a ghost. This story will be online in December 2000 at DeathGrip. This is the last installment of DeathGrip, so be sure to check it out.

Last Trick
I have some reservations about this story. It deals with the sexual abuse of a child and just isn't a nice story at all. It was written before I had kids of my own. Anyway, if you want to read it, you can find it on a special COLD STORAGE support site created by Horns, another of the authors included in the COLD STORAGE anthology. Click here to get to it.

Elysia
This is another story about Josef Ulrik, the werewolf mentor from my novel, SHARA. This time, though, the story is not an excerpt, but is an event that took place long before the time used in the novel. The story was published in the October 2000 issue of Mausoleum.

Barney the Boa
I'm not sure what to say about this one. It's about an exotic snake and a disgruntled zoo worker and how the two ... get to know one another. Short, Scary Tales published this one in October 2000.

Aces Over Eights
How much is your soul worth? That's a question a couple of college drinking buddies discuss over a game of cards. Needless to say, the answer is a little more than they were betting on. It was published on-line by DeathGrip in October 2000.

A Change of Clothes
What do your clothes do when you take them off? Do they maintain some of your psychic energy? What happens when they're left at the cleaners with the demonic suit of a traveling evangelist? Read my story and maybe you'll think twice about putting on that necktie. It was published on-line by DeathGrip in August 2000.

The New Disciples
Do gods merely need for people to believe in them to exist? In this story inspired by the master, H.P. Lovecraft, an old man passes the legacy of Barag-bor to a new generation. The story was published on-line at Lurid Fiction in July 2000.

Chip
This little story about how a gynocologist reacts when he orally gives birth to a son was published on-line by Short Scary Tales in July 2000.

Sunday Dentistry
Here's a story that rattled around in my head for years before finally leaking out to stain the Internet. It is on-line at The House of Pain for the June/July 2000 issue. This is a great Web site, worth spending hours and hours exploring. Oh, the story is about a small town dentist who gets a rather unusual client in his office for some emergency dental work one Sunday morning.

"Sunday Dentistry" was republished on-line at Halloween Ghost Stories in June 2000. The editors actually asked for the story.

Reunion

I finally published something set in my mythical town of Windy Acres, Oklahoma. Visit Short Scary Tales to find out how far a church congregation will go to make sure a lost lamb is ready for the Second Coming.

Governing
One of the more gruesome things I've written, this one is about a governor who is visited by a former lover he thought was dead. During the visit, the woman gives birth to their son. "Governing" appeared in the April 2000 issue of DeathGrip.

Show Me
This is the epilogue to my novel, SHARA, broken out to be a separate short story. Josef Ulrik shows a neighbor child that her grandmother was right -- he really is a werewolf. The story was published in Mausoleum but so far I haven't seen it. The editor, Crow Ravenscar, said she's sending me a copy, so I'll provide the issue details when I get it.

SKN-3
An angry doctor gets revenge on the man who caused him to lose his license by injecting him with a special amphetamine so the man will remain consciouse for most of the time it takes the doc to skin him alive. It was published in the October 1998 issue of Mausoleum.
"SKN-3" has been republished by Halloween Ghost Stories.

Grandpa Frost
A large meteor shower at the North Pole causes global mass destruction, so an international team of scientists are sent to investigate. They learn that the hot meteors have awakened an ancient creature that lives under the polar ice cap. It appeared in Issue #10 of Frightnet on-line magazine. You'll have to go into the archives to find issue #10 of this great, now-defunct, publication.

Ghosts
This one's about a man visited by the ghosts of who he might have been if he had made different choices in his life. I was very unhappy with the way it appeared in Phantom Fantasy in early 1998. The magazine went to an on-line only version with this issue and the formatting was terrible for my story. Paragraphs, anyone? The magazine seems to be dead now.

The Interrupted Journey
A short ghost story about a girl hiding in the mortuary to bid a final farewell to the guy who was going to take her to the prom but died on the way to pick her up. Published in Phantom Fantasy in November, 1997.

Biological Clock
A short story about a woman who gives birth, and then has to tell her husband she's a werewolf because the babies are, well, not normal. Published in Mausoleum, March 1997. This is an excerpt from my novel, SHARA.

The Halloween Feast
A short story about a man who lost his wife and son in an accident, but is given the chance to join them. This one was published simultaneously in print and electronic format. The printed edition was in The Ultimate Unknown, and the electronic version was in Dream Forge. The story was printed in October of 1996.
"The Halloween Feast" has been republished by Halloween Ghost Stories.

New Blood
What horror author can refuse doing a vampire story? This one is about a paranoid vampire who keeps his blood supply on life support in his basement. One dies and he has to find a replacement. Published in Mausoleum, October 1996.

The House Beside Soldred Quarry
My tribute to Lovecraft about an ancient lurker in an old quarry. Published in Dream Forge, September 1996.

A Drink from the Springs
This one's a horror story set in the Old West. Actually, it's set around what is now called Government Springs Park in Enid, Oklahoma, which was a watering hole on the old Chisholm Trail. No known reports indicate there is really an evil spirit in the water, but I wouldn't recommend drinking it. Published in Terminal Fright, January/February 1994.
"A Drink from the Springs" has been republished in Dark Planet.

Unholy Womb
My first known published fiction! This short story is about a kid who finds out the hard way that the old man called Voodoo Charlie put some demon babies in the Halloween jack-o-lanterns. Published in Midnight Zoo, Vol. 2, Issue 4. This should have been the October issue for 1992.
"Unholy Womb" has been republished by Halloween Ghost Stories.

Nocturnal Caress
Eldritch Tales Magazine accepted this story in 1987. However, I never saw it published, never got my contributor copies or the whopping $1.95 I was supposed to get paid. Letters to the editor were never answered. If you happened to have seen this story, please let me know.