It is true that I only sporadically update this website. In the past 500 some-odd days that have elapsed, as you might imagine, quite a bit has happened. I very much doubt that I will be able to summarize all of it, and yet, here is a valiant attempt to do just that.

1. The Disappearance of Tom Nero continues to exist, though it is rapidly approaching an expiration date. Spooky House Press, publisher of this novelette, has announced that it is going “dormant.” The contract expires in May of 2025, and I currently do not have an agreement (yet) to reprint it with another entity. I do have some ideas, thoughts, and plans, but most of them have yet to coalesce. I am toying idly with writing a “continuation” or “sequel,” though other things have kept me from focusing on this as much as I would like. (My kingdom for some solitude and uninterrupted writing time!)
2. I have had a number of publications this year, some of which I am quite proud of. Check the Published Work page for more details on those. There will be more forthcoming—though I have yet to announce them formally, I am very excited about doing so when the time is right.
3. I was offered my own imprint through a press—unfortunately, that was short-lived and ended disastrously when said press seized & capsized, despite my already having contracted three projects. Thankfully, Undertaker Books saved my bacon and agreed to take these books on, with me as guest editor, for which I am immensely grateful. The first of these projects has already been published—more details on this below.
   • ODD JOBS: Six Files from the Department of Inhuman Resources: an anthology of six stories from incredibly talented and versatile writers, including Ai Jiang, Ivy Grimes, Erik McHatton, Carson Winter, Christi Nogle, and Caleb Stephens. The authors had put together this manuscript of their own accord, each writing stories that had to do with the theme of work/jobs/occupations, blended with the genre of “weird” or “horror” or “speculative.” When I came on board, I was tasked with finding a way to link these disparate worlds together. To do so, I created digital facsimiles of “HR documents” to accompany each story, and then wrote a brief prelude (in the persona of the Director of the Dept. of Inhuman Resources) to create a framing narrative. This anthology was published on September 13, 2024.
   • THE DROWNING MACHINE and Other Obsessions, the début fiction collection from Emma E. Murray, author of the novel Crushing Snails (Apocalypse Party). I am proud to call Emma a colleague and friend—her writing is visceral, profound, and I truly believe that this book is going to blow the doors off of the world. Showcasing a fascination with abjection, grief, loss, and other carnal horrors, there is nevertheless a shocking amount of pathos present in Emma’s work. In fact, the emotions behind the prose are intense enough that they cause a surreal warp in perspective: readers may find themselves surprised to empathize with those they did not before. There will be eighteen stories in this collection, some previously published in such venues as Cosmic Horror Monthly, Vastarien, as well as critically-acclaimed anthologies such as Obsolescence and What One Wouldn’t Do, but also including stories original to this book. The introduction was written by J.A.W. McCarthy, the gorgeous cover art is by Matthew Revert, and the interior illustrations were designed by Brett Mitchell Kent. It will be published on February 21, 2025. (add it to your GoodReads here!)
   • STRAW WORLD and Other Echoes from the Void will collect some of the short fiction of Erik McHatton, whose work I have admired for a long time. Touching on themes of cosmic horror with nods to the classic masters of this genre, McHatton creates dreadful, philosophical stories that never once lose their ability to entertain casual readers and yet also manage to engage those looking for something more densely layered. Caustic, bleak, imagistic, and thrilling by turns, I am deeply excited to get this book into the world. It will be a while until that happens (probably right around the time I manage to update this website again), and I cannot release too much information on the book itself as yet, but it is due to be published in September of 2025.
4. In addition to the above, I have also been working on putting together a community anthology entitled between doorways: explorations into liminal space, which, you guessed it, groups stories themed around the concept of liminal spaces. At first, this book was due to be published this month, but because of other commitments and the grueling realization that I’m a better editor than a publisher, it has been delayed, inhabiting a (particularly apropos) limbo-like state for perhaps too long. However, I am excited to announce now that it has been taken on by the wonderful and lovely PL McMillan at Salt Heart Press, and it is scheduled to be published on January 16, 2025. It will feature stories from Mob, Demi-Louise Blackburn, Carson Winter, Elou Carroll, Rebecca Cuthbert, Ivy Grimes, Julie Sevens, Alex Wolfgang, S.E. Denton, Angela Sylvaine, Joseph Andre Thomas, Ken Hueler, Erik McHatton, Christi Nogle, Nina Shepardson, Caleb Stephens, and RSL. Interior illustrations will be designed by the lovely schism, and cover art will be by Mary Sanche.
5. As if all this weren’t enough, I’ve also been working on a manuscript of poetry, and it is mostly finished at this point. It is entitled An Uncanny Guest, and represents years’ worth of working with the form. As I have no idea where such a thing would be published, it currently languishes in a folder on my desktop while I seek out possible dark soils in which it might grow. Poems in this collection have been previously seen in such venues as Nightmare Magazine, Crow & Cross Keys, and other places.
6. I was recently invited to read an original piece on Story Hour! My first time reading a full-length short story live, I had an absolute ball, and my gratitude to both Lindz McLeod, for suggesting me as guest, and Laura Blackwell, for having me on! You can watch that here, if you like—it’s a Facebook Live link, but you do not need a Facebook account to access it. The episode was hosted by the talented and charming (and aforementioned) PL McMillan. There are two readings—the first is by Angel Leigh McCoy, and I follow her at approximately 30:00 minutes in. My story is entitled “FOR A BAD TIME, CALL:” and concerns a very strange phone number that haunts the protagonist in increasingly bizarre ways.

Other mysterious projects hover in the wings, though I am not at liberty to discuss most of them as yet. So many plans, so little time. I will attempt to be more diligent in updating this website, though I can’t make any promises. I’m sure there’s something I’ve forgotten—551 days is a long time!—and if I can think of anything, I’ll make the appropriate edits to this post.

I remain, your faithful companion and itinerant curmudgeon,

TJ.

The Disappearance of Tom Nero, scheduled to release on 16 May 2023, has revealed its cover, announced itself on Goodreads, and is now available to pre-order at Amazon, bookshop.org, B&N, or wherever you shop for books. It will be available as both a paperback as well as in eBook form.

Here is the full wrap of the cover art, by Leah Gharbaharan (A.K.A. “Schism“):

The link to pre-order is here, and here, and here:

bookshop || amazon || B&N

Or you can slip my book in-between the other ones on your lengthy list and it will lodge there (like a burrowed splinter) until one day your list forces it to the top, on Goodreads.

Additionally, I was interviewed on a podcast hosted by some friends where I talked a bit about this book and other endeavors, as well as rambled on some other topics. You can check that out here: Cutthroat Queens podcast, Episode 3: A Screb as Old as Time.

And thank you for your interest in my work, as always. Stay tuned for other news about this (and other!) projects as they happen—or slightly thereafter, which seems to be my wont when updating this website.

This dark triad, collectively entitled “O My Heart, Curled Like a Fist Around Ropes of Blood,” includes three poems: ‘the seafarer’s wife,’ a dirge about dreaming; ‘dissever,’ a nightmare about divorce; and ‘harvest,’ which is a nasty little love poem.

I have Elou Carroll, editor-in-chief of this lovely magazine, to thank for this publication. Her avid and discerning eye seeks out the lyrical in both poetry and prose, and I’m honored to be a part of that curatorial vision. Check out the archive for more breathtaking work by a multitude of creative writers.

You can read my poems here.

In addition, I’ll have a story releasing as part of Eerie River’s THE OLD WAYS, which is a two-volume set of folk horror. They cooked up this cool little graphic (below) for me to share with you. The anthologies drop at the end of this month, and they include not only my story, but a variety of work by my peers and colleagues. I do hope you check it out. Pretty snazzy cover, right? I will post more on this anthology as we get closer to the publication date.

Today brings with it the announcement that I’ve had a small piece published in one of my very favorite online literary magazines, Pidgeonholes. “such small crimes” is a flash fiction that I wrote, generated in a writing prompt session with Joy Baglio, and tinkered with over the course of many months until it reached this, its final form.

Editors at Pidgeonholes were extremely helpful with their suggestions, and though I did not take all of them, I am thankful for their guidance and their help!

You can read “such small crimes” here.

In other news, a project that I’ve been working on for months now behind the scenes is finally coming to fruition. Collage Macabre, an anthology of art-related horror, is breaking its silence and finally coming to social media. The tentative release date is April 18, and if you’d like to know more about that project, you can check the following link, here. Collage Macabre consists of eighteen stories, of which mine is one, and I’m thrilled to bits to be in print alongside such talented writers and artists.

I’m also beginning work on another anthology-related project, but it is hush-hush for now. More news on that as it develops.

Keep an eye on this space as winter blossoms into spring! I have a number of other projects releasing soon, including poetry as well as short fiction, and I’m quite excited about all of it.

Hello! If you’ve been following along, you know that I have a story coming out in the spring, as part of Eerie River Publishing’s folk horror anthology, entitled “Old Man Vreen.” The press has sent out some interview questions, which I diligently answered, and the interview went live on their website today!

If you’re curious, the link is here.

I tried to be funny, give some advice, and tell a story.

In other news, I have been reading a lot and writing some, but providing more in the way of editorial feedback to peers and colleagues than anything. I’ve also started trying to use my Substack (found here, called “The Whether Report”) a bit more. Most recently, I posted an entry entitled “Ilinx,” which touches on the nature of flow state vis-a-vis writing, as well as some game theory.

I am endlessly thankful for the writing community that I have found myself a part of these days, and could not be happier for their continued presence in my life.

Work on the release of my novelette, The Disappearance of Tom Nero, with Spooky House Press, continues, and some blurbs have even started to roll in. I’m very excited about this progress, and am looking forward to seeing the final product. Release is looking to be late spring 2023, so watch this space for more information as it becomes available.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading.

Hello! I had the pleasure of being a part of Terrify Me!’s Halloween special. I recorded this podcast with an estimable group of writers: Antony Frost, Andrew F. Sullivan, Chelsea Pumpkins, Elton Skelter, Gully Novaro, and Mob.

Each of us served one another with a prompt for a flash fiction piece, and we had a limited amount of time to come up with something. My contribution was “The Burglar,” which closes out the ‘cast, but you should definitely listen to everyone else’s—

“Gummy Bears,” by Andrew F. Sullivan, is a whacked-out, druggy piece of fiction that, with its indelible imagery and familiar tone of voice, will have you wondering which reality is real.

“Conscience Rock,” by Chelsea Pumpkins, is an inventive and descriptive take on a real-life curse, with realistic characterization and great dialogue, to boot.

“Not a Competition,” by Elton Skelter, is a quick and dirty piece about what it means to be first, even if there are terrible consequences to winning. Skelter’s prose is natural and easy to listen to: you feel like the narrator is in the room with you, telling you this story.

“Closure,” by Gully Novaro, is a brilliant twist on the trope of the Monkey’s Paw, peppered with haunting lines and a finale that will leave you heartbroken, dabbing at your eyes.

“Temple Underground,” by Mob, is a brilliant take on the urban legend, told in voicemails, with a terrifying attention to detail and emotional nuance. Listening to this one will make you feel uneasy, as if you’re actually listening to the story unfold through the tiny speaker of your phone…

Go! Listen!

And if you’re curious how my story reads in written form, you can check that out here.

Happy Halloween!

Today I bring you the glad tidings of another publication with my name attached—this time, as a part of a brilliant & creative project helmed by Julie Sevens: a fictional cookbook called Deathcap & Hemlock. This was such a creative and brilliant enterprise that I couldn’t help but submit something to their kitchen.

My recipe, “Cherry-Grief Soup (Chilled)” comes to you from the darkening orchard. You may not think you have one, but look again—and this time, out of the corner of your eye.

The crooked little recipe can be found here, with my thanks to Julie and the Deathcap & Hemlock team.

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In other news, I’ve just received the proofs (with ingeniously cool formatting) for The Disappearance of Tom Nero, and I’m getting more and more excited about this project, which is due to release in the spring of next year.

I am also working on editing and helping out in a number of creative avenues with an anthology entitled Collage Macabre: an Exhibition of Art Horror. This table of contents is positively stacked with creative stories all circling around the central theme of artistic enterprise. My story, “Lack,” is a weird little piece about a couple whose foundering relationship’s cracks are exposed when a new, very black pigment (and an ensuing painting) comes into their lives. I can’t wait to release this to the world in April of 2023.

Many other projects are in the works, but some of them I can’t quite talk about yet, so please excuse the mysterious cliffhanger of this post. I hope to be able to report more on them soon.

In the meantime, I hope that you are keeping well, readers. Thank you for continuing to share this journey with me.

It’s been a bit of a month here at Price central. I get the astonishing news that my story, “Old Man Vreen,” was selected out of blind submissions to be a part of Eerie River’s forthcoming folk horror anthology.

I’m particularly proud of this story. It originated first as a snip of microfiction, a response on October 16, 2020, for the #SpooktoberPrompts, run and organized by Villimey Mist. At first, it was just a poem, a quick little snip for the prompt “hanging”:

This little crumb stuck in my craw for many months after I’d written it. I returned to it, the world of Old Man Vreen, and the environs in which it was associated, a number of times. Most of the time, it came out as a gesture-drawing, a sketch with words, but nothing fully formed as a ‘story’. Finally, on April 19th of this year, I was able to announce that I’d turned this scrap into a larger story. 6,000 words of one, too…

And here we are, August of the same year, and I can now announce that the little microfiction that refused to go away will now be published alongside some of the most talented writers I know in the weird/horror community.

I will post more information on this anthology as it becomes available!

The contract has been signed. The advance has been paid. The gears are moving.

I’m seriously still in shock about this, Steadfast Ones. I submitted this 14,000-word novelette to Spooky House Press on a whim back a few months ago, fully expecting to be rejected, and instead I was made an offer!

Calling “The Disappearance of Tom Nero” a “meta-textual horror that blurs the lines between reality and the written word,” Robert Ottone (of Spooky House Press) made the author signing announcement on Twitter today, and I could not be more excited to work with them to bring this novelette into the world.

This story felt insane to write, and even more insane to finish, and you’ll see why when you read it (when you do). It’s undergone many revisions, with support and eyes from friends and colleagues over the years, and I’m fiercely proud of its current incarnation.

Thank you to everyone who’s helped it along, but I’d like to extend especial appreciation to Demi-Louise Blackburn, Rosa Gir, Richie Snowden-Leak, and Evelyn Freeling, all of whom have been champions of “Tom Nero.”

I’m really excited to hear what people think of it. I’m even more excited to see how many people pick up on the many clues and word-play that are seeded throughout the manuscript.

This is my first paid publication, and I could not be more happy with the fact that it’s “The Disappearance of Tom Nero” that’s getting inked.

More news as things develop!

Hello, oh ye Steadfast Ones.

This post is to commemorate the publishing of my hybrid art/prose/poem piece “Some Verses Regarding the Township (and Immediate Environs) of Bear Creek” in The Bear Creek Gazette.

I’ve been a fan of the Gazette for a long time: it is a pure labor of love organized by the wild mind of Stuart Buck, and it often publishes curiosities and hybrid pieces. When I happened to post a link to an earlier publication on Twitter, Stuart reached out and asked if I had ever submitted anything myself.

I hadn’t. So I sat down one night and began writing some words that didn’t exist. They turned, unexpectedly, into a quintet of poems, all of them somehow linked back to the mysterious township of Bear Creek. After they fell into a place, I started having these flashes of visions: a notebook with its pages torn out, a wrecked pickup truck. A stream, leaping and gurgling, in the middle of a dense pine forest. A comet, streaking overhead like a luminous worm wriggling across the night sky.

All this to say:

If you like weird nonsense words, lots of tiny circles, and a weird backstory, go check it out. The link is here.

As always, submissions (and rejections) continue to flow in and out of my mailbox. I’m excited about a number of projects that I’m working on, and the seasons continue to wheel on. It’s hot here in North Carolina. I don’t know about wherever you’re at. One of my ghosts keeps whispering to me about New England summers. The bright blue sky. The waves in the harbor gently knocking at the pilings of the pier.

More news when it becomes available.

(Oh, and if you haven’t heard about or read any of an Italian writer named Dino Buzzati, I recommend looking into him. Specifically the collection Catastrophe and Other Stories, though The Tartar Steppe is next up on my list…)