Tag Archive for weird west short story

“Good Genes” Forthcoming from the Future Fire!

Announcements of upcoming short story publications don’t normally take me right up until they’re available, but … I’ve been busy, y’all. Busy in the greatest of ways, career-wise, which is a wonderful feeling but also means I don’t keep my various websites as updated as I’d like with the most current information. So forgive me for posting this announcement just a couple of weeks before the story itself will be available…

The Future Fire magazine stories

Issue #37

…that said, I am so excited that “Good Genes” has found a home in upcoming Issue #38 of the Future Fire! This magazine has been running strong since 2005, making it quite long-lived among electronic fiction magazines, no matter the genre. “Good Genes” is one of my favorite short stories, though it’s had a bit of a struggle to find the right publisher as, at 10,000 words, it’s much longer that many magazines are willing to publish. I am excited that the Future Fire has no fear of lengthier short stories, and I hope you all will enjoy this horror and Weird West mash-up tale in which a modern-day family and a group of 1850s settlers find out that a chosen place of refuge is sometimes scarier than the danger left behind.

Here are your teaser first few lines:

$450. 2 BR, 1 BA, 800 sq. ft. Available now. Enos. 555-987-0342.

Rockie halted her clicking of the refresh button, the advertisement text cutting her free from the train tracks. Her cellphone’s touchscreen confounded her shaky fingers, but after three tries she pressed the right keys. Ten minutes later, grateful the landlord had asked as few questions as she had, Rockie refreshed the webpage. The text disappeared from the screen and her frantic packing resumed.

I will also tell you that this short story was inspired by an experience the parents of one of my best friends in high school had, driving along a very small town very late at night to find many of its residents strangely standing outside in their front yards as they passed. Let’s just say I am never going to pass that way myself. Here also are a pair of photographs to set the mood.

Yosemite canyon view

Winston-Salem downtown park

I’ll let you know as soon as I do once “Good Genes” goes live at the Future Fire, along with a handful of what’s sure to be exciting stories from other speculative fiction authors. Stay tuned!