A few Hitchcockian frights

If the cooler weather, shorter days and leaves turning color weren't enough of a hint that we've finally arrived at October, surely the television commercials tell you what time of year it is.

All weekend I've seen TV spots for horror movies, horror weekend marathons, scary stories, and the like. Most look kinda silly to me, although there are a few films I'd like to see, a few shows I'll probably catch on AMC or TBS or some other cable network playing them all month long. That's a bit easier in my household now, with four of my five kids at age 16 or older. For years and years I basically missed all things broadcast horror for fear of scaring the little ones.

Now those little ones are nearing adulthood (or in two cases already there, at least legally), and we catch a few such movies from time to time. My oldest, a 20-year-old daughter, has become quite the horror fan, even writing a few short stories in the genre.

If you've been reading my blog you know I've been ahead of the curve on this seasonal fright-fest idea, beginning a series called Nine Weeks of Halloween Horror way back on Sept. 2. Every Sunday since then I've been releasing a new horror short at Amazon.com, a practice I'll continue until Oct. 28, the final Sunday of this month.

The stories have done fairly well in terms of finding an audience, with sales increasing week to week. I've also gotten a bit of reader feedback – one official review at Amazon.com, and a few others who have dropped me e-mails. For a writer, knowing people are reading your work, are enjoying it and taking their time to comment, well, there's little that can compare with that.

This week I'm releasing two stories together for a single price of 99 cents. The first is called THE CHOSEN, and the only thing I'll tell you is that the tale contained in those pages are every parent's worst nightmare.

What a couple of readers have said about it are: “This story has a Poe-like quality,” “Splendid piece of horror,” and my personal favorite: “It's not often that a writer channels Hitchcock to where I can believe it has truly happened. My hat's off to you.”

I have to say, I was thrilled, and a bit overwhelmed, at that last one.

My second tale, included with THE CHOSEN in this week's release, is a piece called THE HEARSE. It's most definitely a horror story, but it's my attempt at adding a little bit of dark humor to my work.

Here's what a reader had to say about THE HEARSE: “A couple of years ago I was stranded in Denver for half a day and I stopped in a bookstore that had a huge rack of pulpy-looking old paperbacks...I thumbed through the bunch of them and found a real gem. It's called “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and it's basically a collection of short stories that he wanted to do on the show but which the producers deemed 'too scary,' ...your story reminds me of this book. It is truly Hitchcokian, and the tension in the story builds very deliberately throughout.”

Wow, okay, that's two readers, looking at two different stories, who have compared my writing to Hitchcock. I think I'm very close to writer heaven at present. What might nudge me a little closer is to see you buy THE CHOSEN (which includes THE HEARSE in the same file) today. The two stories together are just 99 cents, and available for download to your Kindle. If you don't have a Kindle, you can get a free Kindle reading app right here.

If you like creepy, I believe you'll enjoy both of these tales.

Nine Weeks of Halloween Horror stories from weeks 1 through 4 are still avaiable for 99 cents each. SUMMER'S END, THE JOURNAL, PATRON SAINT, and THE DARK SECRET OF WARREN HOUSE.

Thanks for stopping by.