Hey awesome,

It's been a whirlwind over here - we've moved to our winter location, I've got deadlines bearing down, working is picking up...and also it's my favorite weather of the year and the beach is so close all I want to do is play outside!

This picture is from last year, but it's my ideal fall setting, sooo. How goes fall for you? I hope it's crisp weather and less bugs, maybe some pretty leaves and apple cider. Anything you're looking forward to before fall passes by?

If Halloween is your jam - what are your favorite spooky season traditions? I'm looking forward to watching Young Frankenstein and maybe some sort-of-scary/sort-of-funny movies. And also, of course, re-reading my new favorite horror anthology (I'm biased, but to be fair the authors in this knocked it out of the graveyard): Thirteen Stories of Horror, out now from Three Ravens Publishing!

It's a great lineup, and all sorts of corners of the genre are covered - space zombies, cryptkeeper - I mean, apartment managers, Jack the Ripper, Old Ones, accidental killing sprees... It's a wild variety. Nick and I had a lot of fun putting it together. Also, y'all, Nick Steverson is not only a wildly talented storyteller, he's also genuinely great to work with. Strongly recommend.

If you've had a chance to tour the building (i.e., read the anthology), what did you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Fun fact, I had the opportunity to write two stories back to back with Kacey Ezell,

"Undergrowth" in the horror anthology above, aaaand the second one also came out this last week. All Will Burn, from Raconteur Press, is chock full with 11 stories of what lengths a parent (or parent figure) will go to in order to save their children.

Kacey and I wrote "And the Void Stared Back," a bit of a reality-warping genre fluid tale that also is our step into a bigger world we're building. More to come in 20..25?

Stay tuned, but in the meantime, there's plenty to read. Like these anthologies above, or CKP's latest fabulous release: Rise of the Automated Empire: Final Assembly. Such a gorgeous cover, and the story is just as good.

The perfect society holds the perfect killer.

Dawn Sheffield is an ordinary citizen of Luna, but when an aerial accident becomes a viral meme, a series of events on the other side of Luna twist her fate and the fate of humanity. Dawn’s place in the universe is altered beyond recognition, and at a terrible price.

Elliot Humboldt is the second most powerful executive at the second most powerful organization in the Corporate Federation. Second place isn’t good enough for him, though, and he makes his move to advance. Along the way he discovers a small mystery, with huge implications.

Captain Tong Sianothai and the crew of the Pang Yu are on their way home from a routine mission near Ganymede when they are diverted to intimidate the largest corporate entity not a part of the Federation. They are one ship, against all of Luna.

Even the most advanced societies have their darker members, and the post-scarcity civilization on Luna provides people with opportunities for any sort of creativity. It also provides ample hunting grounds for a sadistic serial killer.

What a great way to dig into a whole new universe, and pretty great for Halloween time, too.

Of course, if your TBR pile is just not towering in the way it should, there's some more amazing (and free!) goodness:

https://books.bookfunnel.com/abby-normal/sgen0nhhlb

https://books.bookfunnel.com/bookspry-freescifi/izr5wh27jv

And now, though my deadlines are a bit alarming, I've got family visiting this week, and they're nerds like me. So we're going to go hunt for shark teeth and then play board games - pictures to come of my (hopeful) victories!

Til next time,

Marisa