I Finished the Editing... on the Venice Story
Aug 01, 2026 5:01 pm
So here we are in August, and still nothing ready for publishing yet, or even beta reading. The panic isn't setting in, I swear. Okay, maybe it is a little. Everything went so off the rails this year and all my plans have crashed and burned. My motivation levels are low due to stress and I'm back in burnout mode most days. I wanted to get two or three books out this year, but...
I ask for your patience. And, yes, I may have done that quite a lot lately, so I apologize for that.
The only writing I was being consistent with was the Venice short story, maybe because there's a submission deadline. Or maybe I like homicidal vampires, who knows?
But it's done and dusted now, although I did start the follow up story. That one doesn't have plot yet and isn't tugging at my brain, so I'm good.
It's back editing Heyward and Andersen this month. I think I can still get one of my planned projects done and published this year. Unless the vampires start talking to me again.
Extra Announcements Coming
Next week, I'll be participating in a Stuff Your Kindle event, and Ghosts of the Sea Moon will be 99 cents from August 7th-9th. I will also be part of an online book fair starting August 19th. I'll be sending out two extra mailouts this month for these events, so look for them in your inbox.
The Shadows and Ink Podcast
The July episode has aired, with author Tricia Copeland stopping by to chat about her books and witches. In August, Joel McKay is our guest and we discuss writing horror short fiction. And a reminder, the podcast will be ending with this season. So, if there is an episode you've been putting off listening to, I wouldn't wait much longer.
Check out the link below to see the latest episode.
Giveaways and Books To Browse
Not-So-Stable August Reads
Ends Sept. 1st
Multiple Enchantments:
An All-Genre Giveaway for Stories with Witches or Magic
Ends Sept. 1st
HORROR
Harbinger of the Apocalypse by A.R. Winfree
Father Declan Murphy has spent his life guiding seminary students toward God... until apocalyptic nightmares crack his certainty: inverted crucifixes, faceless congregations, and a voice in the dark that whispers his name like a warning.
A mysterious stone artifact surfaces, pulsing with ancient power. A cult long thought buried is rising inside the Church itself. And somewhere, a child known as the Luminary is the only hope of stopping what comes next.
Because the cult isn't seeking redemption.
They're preparing a ritual to rip the veil between worlds, and unleash Daemons on humanity.
To find the Luminary first, Declan must abandon everything he was-his collar, his reputation, his old understanding of good and evil-and follow the stone's terrible guidance from Savannah's haunted streets to a hidden temple beneath the Egyptian desert. But the cult's agents are already hunting him… and each vision is getting closer to prophecy.
If Declan fails, he won't just witness the apocalypse.
He'll help open the door.
Harbinger of the Apocalypse is the explosive first installment in The Luminaria Chronicles-a supernatural thriller for fans of Ted Dekker, James Rollins, and Frank Peretti.
Vampire by RW Duder
His name was Gestas. And for two thousand years, he has never stopped. Born of an act of unholy darkness on the hill where Christ was put to death, Gestas awoke to immortality, impossible strength, and a thirst that two millennia have done nothing to diminish. He has watched empires rise and fall, endured centuries of shadow, and learned the patience of the truly unkillable. By 1898, he has come to London - a city of fog, gas lamps, and a thousand secrets. He fits right in. But London brings complications.
A driven young doctor named Victor Ashbourne has begun to notice things that don't add up. And Clara Winslow, determined to save her ailing mother at any cost, is about to stumble into a world she cannot walk away from. As Victor closes in on the truth behind the mysterious Dr. Gestas Saraf, a collision becomes inevitable - humanity and its last desperate moral certainties against something ancient, patient, and utterly without mercy.
Vampire is a sweeping historical horror novel spanning two thousand years of darkness, set against the fog-soaked streets of Victorian London, for readers of Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, and anyone who wants their vampire mythology rooted in something genuinely unsettling.
The darkness started at the cross.
Grandfather's Pigments by Leo Di Lux
Grandfather's Pigments is a free gothic horror novella and the official prequel to The Painted Souls, a supernatural thriller series where Leonardo da Vinci hunts the things living inside great works of art.
Perfect for readers of gothic horror, dark historical fantasy, and supernatural mysteries.
Tales From The Shortbox: Volume 1 by Aaron Norton
My name is Aaron, and this is my collection of the things that shouldn't exist. You've reached the bottom of the bin... where the "Back Issues" have a life of their own.
In Volume 1 of this speculative fiction anthology series, step into a curated archive of 13 cautionary tales that explore the lethal friction between our physical past and an optimized digital future. From the "Vocalized Resonance" of haunted analog relics to the clinical "Sync" protocols of a high-bandwidth heaven, these stories prove that in our rush to become the perfect machine, the things we try to delete are the ones that finally collect us.
Inside Volume 1, you will discover:
The Needle's Slip: A digital archivist discovers a 1954 glass-core record that doesn't play music-it breathes. When the needle slips, the room vanishes, and he finds himself translated into the physical grooves of a timeline that refuses to be forgotten.
The Last Analog Vow: In the mud of a flooded Georgia, two soldiers make a promise that the system will spend a lifetime trying to delete. Witness the origin of the "delay between heartbeats"-the part of the soul the algorithm left untouchable.
Terms of Service: A young man tired of his "standard-definition" life signs away his image rights for a high-resolution upgrade, only to find that when you are a liquid asset, the market eventually moves on.
The Original Child: A suburban nightmare about parental exhaustion and the "mint-condition" facsimile that arrives to replace a messy, firefly-chasing son.
Whether it is a silver-grey dust turning a phone into an antenna or a library that curates its authors, these stories are filed away under labels like 'Residuals', 'Paper Trail', and 'Final Draft'.
My Merch Stores:
Vintage and artsy designs on a variety of products
Scifi, fantasy, and horror designs on a variety of products
My shop on Redbubble featuring a variety of products.
Including evil chicken merch.
(with books and book merch)
Find me on:
Website | Facebook Group | YouTube | BookBub
My Amazon page | My Books on StoryOrigin
That's it for this edition. And I'll return next month with more updates.
