A little blurry because I blew it up. Go to their site for a better cover shot.
Retribution, is out. Better get your copy and get it signed before I get famous– this could be a collector’s item someday. heh heh (If writers didn’t dream, you wouldn’t get the stories, right?)
No seriously, this is a story about a character who kept knocking on my door over a period of three years or so. It was just one line.
“Clyde Wynette woke up sad one day.”
The line later changed because it took me awhile to get to know Clyde. He’s a sociopath, so he’s not real forthcoming — doesn’t share much. But, I did come to realize that feeling sad might not be something he’d recognize. The line changed to, “Clyde Wynette woke up different.” I knew Clyde was a bad guy. But I didn’t know why. Then it hit me. I had my story question.
What would happen if a hitman who had spent his entire life without emotion, suddenly got it all back at once?
I tie the story in with an old northern Native American myth about the Aurora Borealis.
Retribution won first place out of 109 entries in the main stream short story category of the Oklahoma Writer’s Federation annual contest last year. (Check out OWFI here OWFI — this is a great contest and a fantastic regional conference!)
It sold to Surreal Magazine within two weeks of sending it out, though the editor and I did have a little trouble getting in touch with each other so I didn’t hear for a couple of months. Surreal is a full size magazine with fantastic stories and art. I’m looking forward to seeing what the artist did with my story. And Surreal has great writers — if I do say so myself. If you write PG13 type horror, think contemporary Poe, you might want to try them. In the meantime… On the main site… In this issue:
Our latest issue brings us great fiction by authors such as Erin MacKay, Rinda Elliott, Jason Sizemore and more. In non-fiction, we feature an interview with English horror writer Graham Masterton, an article on real life zombies in Haiti and a look at Old Spye Road, an actual location in New Jersey with a haunted history. Our editor Jason D’Aprile rounds up the best horror videogames out there and collaborator Alasdair Stuart takes a look at the boom of horror in the world of graphic novels.
Issue 4 is particularly special to us for it marks the debut of the graphic story Trapped, a four-part tale based on a story by Nicholas Tyler and with amazing illustrations by Donald Jackson. We hope you will enjoy this new venture and would love to hear your thoughts. You can find a minisite for Trapped, with information about the story, the characters and a trailer, at Surreal Interactive.
You can go here to read more about it and to order if you want that future collector’s item… LOL! Welcome to Surreal Magazine
Added: To order a copy, go here Surreal Magazine – Subscribe This is the subscription page, but it also has a single copy option. 🙂