Malpractice is Available!

It’s Available!

Actually, it’s “Malpractice: an Anthology of Bedside Terror” but inside you’ll find my short story, “Available.”

So… “Available” is available for your consumption, hopefully not consumption as described in the story.

To obtain this frightening pamphlet (for medicinal use only) go to the Necrotic Tissue website. You can order Malpractice and subscribe to the gleaming new print version of Necrotic Tissue, which will feature my story, “El Dorado” in the first issue.

Two full doses of HoJay from one convenient location. How can you pass it up?

Seriously though. The “staph” of NT are a nice bunch of people and deserve your support. Help them out! Keep the horror alive! Don’t miss out!

Buy it now!

El Dorado Goes Necrotic!

I finally found a home for “El Dorado” at Necrotic Tissue magazine.  This will be the fourth story they’ve picked up.  I have a short story in their first issue, a flash piece in last fall’s issue and a short in their soon-to-be-released anthology, “Malpractice: an Anthology of Hospital Horror.”

“El Dorado” will be in their first print issue, and it’s always nice to be able to wrap fish or severed hands in your very own writing.

If you haven’t done so, register with them and download their archive pdfs. Good weird stuff for free!

The Necrotic Tissue T-shirt

I just received my third Necrotic Tissue from Minnesota Scott, kindly editor of that fine publication,  so I guess the time as come to make my fashion statement and pimp the zine.

Really, I’m just getting NCTee 1 broke in real good. It has a nice rotting flesh smell, with notes of gangrene and fish slime. Tasty.

Here it is, modeled by yours truly and accessorized with my male spawn. Picture was taken about a month ago on the Loop Road in the Big Cypress at a place that may or may not be “The Lizard Pit” (I ain’t saying.)

And if I haven’t beat it into your head enough, you can read the whole sordid tale at Necrotic Tissue (first issue) and hear the podcast at Well Told Tales. Just follow the links over there on the right somewhere, or go to “My Black Pages,” “Read Mo’ Ho'” for direct links.  And if you haven’t done so, subscribe to Necrotic Tissue. Their latest issue is just out and rocks all-encompassingly. It’s free, subscribe! Or don’t and be a turd-fondling loser, see what I care.

Malpractice Table O’Contents

The wonderful staph over at Necrotic  Tissue have posted the TOC for the Malpractice anthology.  The 100-worders will be spliced in between the longer stories.  To be published in February 2009.

Longer Fiction:

RECRUITMENT by Felicity Dowker
THE CURE by Bruce Cooper
ALL THE GIFTS OF LIFE by W.D. Gagliani and David Benton
SYMBIOSIS by Paul Milliken
SPECIAL DELIVER, BLOOM by Derek Rutherford
DEEP KIMCHI by Wayne Helge
THERAPY by Kevin Lucia
AVAILABLE by Horace James
COLD COFFEE CUPS & CURIOUS THINGS by Catherine J Gardner
A KIND OF LIVING by Paul Harris
HEART MATTERS by J.P. Wilson
POST-PROCEDURAL CARE ON THE BLOOM MEMORIAL LINE by Jeremy Kelly
PROSTHETICS by Daniel I Russell
UNIVERSAL DONOR by Bryce Albertson
7734 by Douglas Burchill
SNIP by Jennifer Greylyn
THE NIGHT NURSE OF COBBLESTONE by Vince A. Liaguno
OHRWURM by Brendan P. Myers

100-worders:

MALIGNANT by Daniel R Robichaud II
TRAUMA by Stephan Davis
CASE NO. 36 by Chris Chapman
GRAVITY FEED by Lee Pederson
CUTS BITE AT BLOOM MEMORIAL HOSPITAL by Bill West
THE ITCH by Alex Moisi
BREACH BIRTH by Ken Goldman
THE CREATURE OF BLOOM MEMORIAL by Emma Kathryn McDonald
ADVANCED CLASS by Paula Villegas
PATIENT CARE by Joel A. Sutherland
AUTO-DE-FE by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
HOSPITAL DIET by Mark Onspaugh
MINOR SURGERY by Rob Brooks

“Available” Accepted for Malpractice Anthology

Just got word that my story was accepted for the “Malpractice” anthology at Necrotic Tissue!

I’m so proud that my work was considered demented enough to appear inside a book with a cover as sick as this.  It looks like Josef Mengele’s arts & crafts project from summer camp.  While the other boys and girls made wallets, he was making… hmm, well, I’m sure his parents found it very useful.

Thanks to the friendly staph at NT for pulling me into their messy little nightmare.

“Tracks” in Latest Necrotic Tissue

The October 2008 issue of Necrotic Tissue just hit the… uh, pdf file and includes my 100-word flash fiction story, “Tracks.”

It’s the very last story in the issue, and you know that you always end on a rocker, so I’m honored to be there.

The issue, bustin’ over with with more than 50 thousand words of bloody, necrotic and depraved goodness, looks like a classic.  Some really strong writers in this one, folks.  Trust me, I follow these things.  And…

…it’s absolutely free!

The first three issues are available from the homepage (above.)  They provide links to high and low-res versions.  They have some pretty slick graphics, but both versions look nice to me.

To get the latest issue, you do need to register with an email address, but swear to god, I’ve seen no spam from these folks.  And building their circulation will help them build their business, attract advertisers and allow them to pay me more money for my stories.  So get your ass over there now!

“Available” Leaves the Nest

Just sent my short story, “Available,” off to Necrotic Tissue for their anthology, “Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror.”

This was a fun story to write. As I mentioned before, I completed a first draft quickly, and have spent the past 2-3 weeks tweaking it. This is one of the few stories I didn’t give to someone for a critique before submission. That’s generally a no-no, but I was pretty sure of my direction on this one from the start.

We’ll soon see how good my sense of direction is.

As usual, there’s a fair amount of comic relief. A brief excerpt, where our protagonist arrives at the Bloom Memorial Hospital ER:

Now, despite Ma’s dire warnings, he had come. It looked and sounded like any weekend ER — a cross between an army field hospital and a third-world vegetable market.

He gave his name to a muscular dude with a clipboard and a pistol bulge under his green scrubs. After a brief wait, he was called to a thick plate-glass window, where he relinquished his insurance card to the bony claws of an old woman with wispy jet black hair. She evaluated him through her squinty eyes as if he were a particularly unpleasant bowel movement, unsure if she should flush or call the doctor.

“Pawlicki?” She coughed up his name like a hairball. “Pawlicki. Didn’t you used to work here?”

“No ma’am. Never did.” He didn’t think dropping Mom’s name would get him preferential treatment.

Hospital Horror

I’ve never been that prone to writer’s block. I have mental dysentery, there’s always something leaking out. It may be shit, but at least it’s something.

Ruts, however, are a problem. Infinite loops. Obsessive thinking. Not quite as bad as Jack in “The Shining,” cranking out hundreds of pages of “all work and no play make Jack a dull boy,” but sometimes I get so obsessed with finishing a story that I end up beating it into a pulp, leaving its creative juice to congeal on the floor. It’s important to finish what you start, but sometimes you have to cut your losses. Chances are that the ninth revision of I Was a South Beach Rasta Zombie is not going to be that much better than the eighth one. Or the seventh one.

Truth is, I haven’t been all that excited about any of the stories I’ve written since “The Lizard Pit.” (See “Read Mo’ Ho'” for link to podcast and Necrotic Tissue .pdf) That sucker just jumped out of my fingers. “El Dorado” may be a better story, but it was written and rewritten many times before I entered it in the Chizine contest. Lately, I’ve had some good starts on interesting ideas that I just couldn’t pull off.

About a week ago, I started a story to submit to Necrotic Tissue’s upcoming anthology, Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror. The first draft is already done, now it’s edit time.

Working title is “Available” and I’m having a lot of fun with this one. The real horror of all those real encounters with the American health care system bubbled up.

Maybe this one won’t suck. Inspiration helps.