MicroHorror is holding a 100-word Halloween story contest. Entries are being accepted throughout the month of October. I’ve already submitted my story. Have you?

My 100-word piece “A Lingering Season” will be published in the Winter 2007-2008 issue of Boston Literary Magazine.

My flash fiction piece “I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie” has just been accepted for publication in the December issue of Yellow Mama. It’s a slightly satirical re-imagining of a familiar trope–not your usual zombie story!

My 55-word prose poem “The Garden Thief” will appear in the “Guest Stories” section of 55 Words this October. This is a wonderful site. Have a look around–the comics are visual poetry.

Update: This ended up being published in December. Click here to read it.

There are certain themes and character types which occur frequently in my writing. Among them are redemption, damnation, damaged and/or marginalized people, hope, and horror. In this post, I’m going to talk about horror.

I write horror because I am compelled to write it, and because I believe that it’s important to acknowledge my dark side. It is a way of exorcising my demons; if I tried to keep them bottled up, they would probably find a way out, most likely expressing themselves in a very inappropriate manner–and God only knows what mayhem might ensue. So, I give my demons appropriate respect, and a proper venue.

Consider the box office revenues for the recent remake of the movie Halloween: about $50 million in its first two weeks. Compare that to Stardust: about $36 million in its first four weeks. I’m not going to compare the merits of these two movies; I’m just giving you the numbers.

The numbers, I think, tell us something about ourselves. We need horror in literature and the visual arts. We crave it. Today, most people do not butcher their own food, nor do they engage in bloody battles with rival tribes. Given these facts, how else are we to satisfy our primal need for terror, blood, and gore?

We must acknowledge our demons and provide them with a healthy outlet. It is a mistake to suppress them, for this often leads to disastrous consequences, ranging from the relatively tame–like, for example, passive-aggressive behavior–to the utterly unholy, which I will leave to your imagination.

So, I offer this gentle warning: ignore your demons at your own peril.

Duotrope’s Digest is an online, searchable database of markets for writers–and it’s free! If you don’t already know about it, check it out. I think you’ll be impressed.

They rely upon donations to keep the site running. Now, I’m not going to tell you what to do with your money, but I will tell you that today I donated a sawbuck to Duotrope, and I plan to continue to do so on an occasional basis. I use it, I think it’s valuable, and so I pitched in. Ten bucks isn’t much, I know, but if we all did it … well, you get the picture.

Six Sentences will publish my short-short story “Innocent Violence” on October 10th, 2007. Six Sentences publishes new stories on a frequent basis, so swing by often to get your short fiction fix.