How do I begin this? Being that I grew up in North Eastern Illinois, born within the mid 1970s and graduated high school in 1994. I had some college but forced to drop out because of health reasons. I am turning thirty-one years old on Aug 3, and wrote in the time frame of the early to mid 1990s. I have stories on here that I wrote within the 00 decade. The year I was born was 1976, and the influences I have as a writer are H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Frank Belknap Long, Stephen King, Richard Matheson, Peter Benchley, Ray Bradbury, William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood, and Clark Ashton Smith.

I've been compared to one or more of these writers. I had grown up reading a lot of Stephen King's work, the one that I read of his is "Christine" and many of his short stories. I took an old schoolapproach to supernatural horror. Musically I listen to Slayer, Iced Earth, and Pantera, tends to translate well into writing dark literature.

Horror is a genre that is always a challenge to write, and there is a lot of subgenres to fall into it. But the one that is the one that creates a genre in itself is Cthulhu Mythos. There is just something about writers who write in the Cthulhu Mythos -- it is a genre that is the most original because there are many stories in it, and one can really play around with it as long there is a body of water near the area. I also write a lot from my nightmares as well so go take a look at some of what I penned on the speculative journal. Any comments one would have -- please by all means sign the guestbook.

The writing will speak for itself here. I write a lot of non-fiction as well and one of them will show up here, the murder in Nordic Hills. I am not a fan fiction writer so don't ask. I write Cthulhu Mythos but I put my own take on it. Then what one would see as an influence is either Milton, Dante, or Sigmond Freud. What makes what I do so disarming is that I am a Christian who does it; and just because I believe in God, it doesn't mean I am not allowed to write dark.

Much of that is because of what I read in college or currently reading. And what one wants to see when I am up to on a day to day basis, check the journal at deadjournal. This would give a little insight on when I will have new short stories here, on Writings From The Grave, the diary-x speculative, or on all three. The main genre is horror, though I do write nonfiction as well. Equally as dark if not darker.

I don't write that much fanfic, toyed around with a little bit of it as in a Sherlock Holmes story but the concept is an original horror plot. I did it just so I can get the fanfic readers traffic to my original work on diary-x and here. Some of the work from here is also found on diary-x and the main site. I am a history buff but that did not really show into my writing until the recent short story inspired by James O'Barr titled "Ghosts of War."

I renewed my account here so I can use my email from Outlook Express, then I would need to do so again soon. I do plan to write an exclusive for here in due time. More of my work can be found on Writings From the Grave and diary-x (since that is where some of these short stories on here came from.) Though LG will be my last story on here for the time being until FictionPress allows indentations on paragraphs for those who like to make stories appear if they would as they would be published in books.

A Thank you is in order to these writers. In no real order.

Joline Lieck
Nicholas S. Stember
Ronald S. Dondiego
Terry Lloyd Vinson (Reality Check Anthology Mate)
Joni Latham (Reality Check anthology mate)
Dean Clayton Edwards
J.M. Heluk (HWA)
Lee Garret
Robert Montesino (Tabloid Purposes anthology Contributer)
Karen James of Beyond Insanity
Joseph Armstead (HWA)
Andrew Ian Dodge, fellow Mythos writer (TP)
Kailleaugh Anderson and Brutal Dreamer
Thomas Long, Jr.
The Tabloid Purposes Line Ups, The Quakes and Storms Anthology Line Up, The Contributors of The Ethereal Gazette
M.J. Hewitt
Nicholas Grabowsky, Melyssa G. Sprott, and M.D.B. Wuesthoff
A BIG HELLO TO BARB MALENKY (r.i.p.) AND JEFF SKINNER!
Donna Burgess and Misty Gersley (for being kickass publishers)

I will have FictionPress exclusive material here from one time or another. My Science Fiction story, Lake Fossil,was releasedexclusively to this website. Those of you who took the time to read this story and left some strong reviews on it; it is the kind of story that I was knocked back a few feet because of the way its done. I never wrote a Sci-Fi story before I wrote this one, but I did read a lot of Science Fiction growing up. I am working on a print exclusive short story which will be debuting in the anthology Tabloid Purposes as a bonus story. Also be looking for a new short story titled, Bite of the Spider on an upcoming anthology called Reality Check. There will be a story that is going to be a bonus on Tabloid Purposes (well was, due to time contraints I had to release it without Leviathan's Ghost -- I am keeping it quiet except for those who've got the chance to read this as I was writing it. The story is influenced by Peter Benchley and H.P. Lovecraft. And for those interested in my book, Collectives In A Foresaken Landscape this is the link where they can obtain it. Those of you involved with making Tabloid Purposes happen, thank you. If you want to get a copy of Reality Check, send me an email or email the rest of the members of the anthology as well as the editor Thomas Long, Jr. There had been a lot of questions of where this anthology can be purchased at -- send me an email and I will get the link for you. -- Collectives In A Forsaken Landscape -- Tabloid Purposes -- Reality Check

Now The Walls That Bleed got accepted into an anthology called The Taj mahal Review. It is a literary journal in print much like the Ethereal Gazette will be except that I will be featuring mainly speculative writing (fiction and true stories that are equally as speculative in nature.)

December 31, 2004: I got an email from Ronald Hanna of Wild Cat Books, my short story Life Inheritance will be featured in an anthology called New Writers Of The Purple Page. If you want more details on where you can snag a copy of this book, send me an email and I will provide link.

January 11, 2005: The magazine is called The Writers Post Journal. I just signed the contract and my appearence in the magazine is official. Jackie releases the magazine a month a head of time. I just signed the contract as of over the weekend so that means my new short story well written November 7, 2004, can be found over there.

February 10, 2005: Getting ready to go out for the weekend but I have a new story up on my journal. If you want to give this one a read you can also find it on my site at AuthorsDen as well. You can find the story on diary-x -- it is titled Observations of an Abandoned Seminary. It is a true story about the Maryknoll College. I at least write one or two true stories a year but I think I might be writing more of them often.

I am now working on a new short story which is going to be sent around to a few magazines either as a small press or a semi-pro magazine. The story itself is going to be similar to Bite of the Spider and House of Spiders in theme. Other than that it is going to be quite different because there will be no bugs in there. There's going to be a character who is physically ill, and quite a few characters -- this time I am giving the stories a good female cast as well as males. The similarity I will have with this story to the other two are that it will have a Reality TV theme, but the similarities stop there. Update: I released that story exclusively to a chapbook called Stories of the Apparitions

New Works

Observations of an Abandoned Seminary -- (True Ghost Story) Rated: PG-13 for thematic moments. This is about a college that I used to live near in Glendale Heights. This one can be found on either my site at diary-x or at AuthorsDen.I wrote this one entirely from a public computer. Want to see how I do as a true story writer -- this is one of those examples. Before you blast me as a fiction writer, read the nonfiction first. This story is slated to appear in a small press Gothic magazine -- the editor of the magazine was originally with a magazine called Gothic Beauty Magazine. AuthorsDen.com look for a short story titled OUR WORLD IS FUCKED.

In Progress: I am working on a Science Fiction story titled The Storms of Armegeddon, which is inspired by Trent Roman's short story, The Drowning Of New Orleans, then a sequel to House of Spiders and Bite of the Spider, titled The Account of Todd Hollins: House of Spiders III. This is written by Barbara Anna Marjanovic and myself. This one by far is longer than the ghost story I wrote on my website titled In The Reflection Of A Lens and it is looking to be longer than Leviathan's Ghost. Then an urban legend inspired horror story which I am planning to send to a few contests.

Norwood's Discovery. (Specualtive Literary) PG: for thematic content. I am working on this one at the moment. Terry Vinson saw this one as a work in progess and the vibehe said it has is a Jules Verne one. It does have that influence. It is a Science Fiction story in design, but nothing eggheaded. . Also I will allow authors on FictionPress to write fanfiction stories off LAKE FOSSIL and House of Spiders if they wish, but no SLASH OR YAOI crap off of it. LAKE FOSSIL based stories will be published in an anthology I am compiling to see who can do that style of Sci-Fi the best. I am also working on a new periodical magazine see http://www.ralan.com for the guidelines. NO SLASH OR YAOI CRAP. I will run the best story off those stories on the magazine.

Available for purchase is the anthology, QUAKES AND STORMS, proceeds to this project goes right to the American Red Cross. The story itself is a work of fiction inspired by a tornado that hit that area in 2004. So the anthology is conceived by me and co-edited by Macey Baggett Wuesthoff. So if you want some exclusive stories in that one go for it -- you can't go wrong with the stories in there and if you get the anthology its for a good cause. It is a horror story but not by some of the ways I wrote horror before this one. So sit back and enjoy this one. This story clocks in at the same length as some of the stories I've published on here but this by far is an atmospheric son of a gun. Think what I did with The Ferryman's Wheelchair but with the forces of nature. Features Erin Mackay from the Corpse Blossoms anthology and John Floyd who was featured on Alfered Hitchcock Magazine.

UTICA, Illinois, is in its original form on there but I am shopping the expanded version of the short story around to various magazines. If you want to see the interview done by Staci Layne Wilson about this anthology look for it on Horror.com. This was my first interview in years since the one on The Horror Post. This interview was done upon finishing up Tabloid Purposed 3 and More Frightening Than Fiction.

My magazine, THE ETHEREAL GAZETTE, can be picked up on lulu.com so go ahead and grab yourself a copy from there. I am taking submissions for the third issue. If you're an author and graduated high school in the Class of 1994 -- and want to be published, shoot me an email and I will send you my submission guidelines for this one. Four authors from each of the genres listed on ralan.com will be picked. And that will be the next anthology I am working on along with the Best of the House of Pain anthology, and right now I am going to be working on it the moment I have a chance to get into Morris. I relocated to Justice, Illinois.

Lake Fossil officially has two sequels. The first sequel is found on HorrorMasters.com and issue two of The Ethereal Gazette. Lake Fossil III is exclusive to the science fiction novella collection, titled Stories of Science and Curiousity.

Always check AuthorsDen site for new material every now and then. The AuthorsDen site will have a preview of The Storms of Armageddon. The Hitchhiker's Wanderings will be in two publications. The first will be my own magazine, then the second one is a U.K. based magazine titled Dark of Night. More information on the magazine itself is found on http://www.darkofnight.net. I went and reformatted my tripod place so it would be easier to pick up the books and publications that feature my work.

In The Eyes Of A Skull is currently on issue four of Rage Machine Magazine. I got a new story coming out too --and it will be exclusive to Insomina Magazine. Either online or in print it will be coming out -- just sending it around to different magazines. The story coming out to Insomnia Magazine is titled Ghosts In The Tornado.Whoever said my career is going to tank -- they can go to hell with the sodomites.

Upcoming stories published -- House of Spiders 3 on Naked Snake Press.
Flying Cigars will be appearing on http://www.specficworld.com, Lake Fossil III is available exclusively on my lulu.com site in two things -- The Writings Collected and as a book by itself. Flying Cigars is what Lake Fossil did for lake creatures what this will do for UFOs. I am taking submissions for a nonfiction anthology, I will be posting details for the second installment of More Frightening Than Fiction.

Contest Is Announced: Fan Fiction for the story, Lake Fossil and its sequels.

I am doing this contest to expand the universe of the short story and novella series. The rules can be downloaded as a pdf file.The reason I am doing this is to see if there are any authors out there willing to step into my shoes and pen a story within the Lake Fossil canon. The rules are no slash and yaoi entries or anything of the like.This is something for you fan fiction writers who are wanting to be published legitimately. If you write in the Sliders, King Kong, Godzilla,Jurassic Park, TwilightZone, The Outer Limits or similar genres -- this could be something for you to break into as published writers if you write original works too. Since Lake Fossil stemmed off the influences of Godzilla, TwilightZone, and The Outer Limits along with a steady reading pattern of the tabloids.There is a reading fee of 5 for each story, and for artwork there is a 25 entry fee.

There will be a reading fee for the stories and those who paid the reading fee will have access to the other two stories in the series.I am doing this because I've seen a few promising authors who are from the fanfiction territory but if they want a chance to be published for what they do I am giving them that chance, if they paid the reading fee they have access to the creature and the city of Chicago. But they must include their own characters in the universe. Best story and the author of that story will make a cameo in future Lake Fossil installments. Authors must have characters that are born in the mid to late 1970's being teens in the early to mid 1990's.

I prefer publishing authors who are born between 1970 to 1979 for this one but younger authors are welcome to contribute if they have older siblings born during that time frame. The reason I am doing it like this is because I want newer readers to see what it was like in the 1990's in the sense of when I was a teen or the time frame of the characters were teen agers. The characters can be prep, goth, metal, or even rapper type but nothing alternative sexuality influenced. Keep to the spirit of the original stories.

The nonfiction story coming out exclusively with photos on Wither Sin Magazine. Details of that one can be found on http://www.withersin.com. The sequel to House of Spiders is available on NSP Books. I noticed that a lot of people are coming here to flame on The Fandom Writer, I know there are a lot of people being assholes these days. I revamped my main website with a new version of Darkness From The Skies -- it is expanded. I am taking submissions for The Ethereal Gazette: Issue Six -- issue five is out right now and available for purchase on lulu.com, any slashfics sent will be scrapped. I got an anthology of public domain works, included a new story I wrote titled PASSENGER -- that story carries a copyright of 2007. New non-fiction title to Issue Five is an exclusive titled The Pattern Of Diagnosis.

I will have a few more stories coming to print, one of them is a reprint from Tales of the Talisman -- Observations of An Abandoned Seminary will be published in Haunted Times Magazine. Those of you parodying FUCKBEATER -- can go to hell because you're fucks. But with that being said -- I am going to have more non-fiction available in print.

My new vampire short story Blood Contender is in the hands of a skilled editor so it can work the kinks out of it so I can send it to a few more magazines down the line. Hopefully it will find a home on a couple print publications. It's being edited for more fluidity but at the same time the editor isn't going to take away from it's brutal edge. If you want to know about the story, send me an email but I won't send the story to you because I want it to go into a magazine. My collaborations are not available anywhere online and still working on the short story.

UPDATE: SPECTRAL EXILE is being saved for another anthology in an edited form and BLOOD CONTENDER will be in an anthology, Diabolic Tales II. My non-fiction book is done and you can grab Tabloid Purposes IV on Lake Fossil Press. PASSENGER is reprinted to this project. The non-fiction book is called An Eye In Shadows. But if you want to read up something for free in the mean time check out this interview that was conducted of myself and Mike Philbin -- how do you like your horror?

there is a lot of new stuff being worked on and still sorting out submissions for Tabloid Purposes 6. I got accepted a few times on Associated Content for original non-fiction works. I have a new short story that takes on the entire world of real person fiction and doing what I did when I wrote The Fandom Writer but on a bigger scale. That story is published in The Ethereal Gazette: Issue Seven -- House of Cards.