The Word - March '24 Edition
A trove of flash fiction, work in progress, and a book recommendation.
Welcome to The Word, my update series covering the state of my writing projects and other miscellaneous information. A mix of updates, thoughts, and ramblings.
New Fiction: Whistling Grass, Trade-Up, The Mouth of the Cave
I stumbled upon the Friday Flash Fiction prompt’s
puts forth into the world via Substack Notes, and have been participating the past few weeks. This means there’s a whole lot of new horror fiction here on Targeted Nightmares. Take a gander at some of these new stories of terror, if you dare!On a side note, participating in these flash prompts has had a significant effect on my writing in many ways, including shifting my writing schedule plans, getting me more comfortable with producing a piece under a constraint and a time limit (I always try posting them on Friday), and helping me practice and experiment with my craft.
By producing a piece on Friday, I’m able to use that story to participate in Macabre Monday (if you aren’t familiar, go check out
) which makes me feel more like a part of the Substack community. And the rest of the week I’m able to focus on other writing. Wins all around.In Progress: Waspkiller
One of the stories I’ve been in the process of rewriting is a story I’ve tentatively titled Waspkiller. It’s a story I started some time ago, wrote several scenes, and have been working through it more recently. Even though I haven’t finished it (or even know where the ending will go) I’ve decided to start the process of a rewrite and edit of the early scenes that I know are pretty solid. One of the biggest changes is the tense the story is told in, which I think makes it a far more effective story.
My goal with Waspkiller is to submit it for traditional magazine publication. If that goes poorly, I will post it here. Annoyingly, submissions take months to be reviewed, so even once it’s finished it may be months before it would get posted here. Hopefully someone chooses to publish it sooner, and I hope to celebrate and share that with you all if that happens.
I’ve only been published once before in something that I didn’t run myself, and traditional publishing has been very difficult (as it is for all writers). But I think Waspkiller has some great potential. Ok, enough dreaming, now I need to actually finish it…
Book Recommendation: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
I recently finished reading The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and I really enjoyed it. It’s definitely one of my recent favorite horror novels and I’d strongly recommend it. There are moments of tension, visceral gore, and great themes - everything a good horror story should have.
I’m a slow reader, so when I finish reading a book it’s not often that I’ll want to read more by that author immediately, I tend to take breaks and dive into other genres, but after this one I knew I was going to read more of his work. I’ve read his novella, Mapping the Interior, and wasn’t a big fan, but I’m not sure I went into it with the right expectations, and I bet I’d have a different reaction reading it now.
Have you read The Only Good Indians? Comment below with what you thought, and whether you’ve read any other works by Stephen Graham Jones.
Mystery Link
What could it be?! Click on the library below and do a little sightseeing.
(Safe for work, never malicious - the way mom used to make your links.)
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See you in the pages of the next one,
Matt