My short story, Bother, is now available online! Bull Spec's PDF version is up, a couple of days before the official publication of issue #5 on Friday, 4/15. You can find the full contents list and order a print or PDF version here. I may be biased, but I think you'll want the print version because of this gorgeous cover.

The artwork is by Richard Case, a Hillsborough resident and comic book artist who's done a lot of work for the DC label. He picked Bother to illustrate for the cover, and I love how it came out! I think it captures the feel of it quite well, and---it must be said---there be dragons! Okay, just one dragon, but it's a beauty!

If you can't wait to get a copy in your hands to read any of the fabulous fiction within its pages (including Absinthe Fish by M. David Blake, which just received a Recommended from Lois Tilton, the Locus Magazine short fiction reviewer!) then join us at Quail Ridge Books , 3522 Wade Avenue, Raleigh, on Friday night (4/15)! At 7:30, a bunch of North Carolinian speculative fiction authors and industry folks, including me, will be convening for readings, probable panel discussions, and more. Bull Spec #5 will be hot off the presses and available for purchase then. They will likely be an after party at Crowley's also. . .

Let me know if you're planning to go so I can say hello!

And Bull Spec's publisher just referred me to his list of where you can find the magazine locally, and in a few other states, too, though they likely won't be on the shelves until sometime next week.

The Regulator Bookshop (Durham, 9th Street)

Sci-Fi Genre Comics & Games (Durham, 3215 Old Chapel Hill Rd between University Dr and MLK Blvd)

Quail Ridge Books & Music (Raleigh, 3522 Wade Ave at Ridge Rd)

Internationalist Books & Community Center (Chapel Hill, 405 W Franklin St)

Chapel Hill Comics (Chapel Hill, 316 W Franklin St)

Foundation's Edge (Raleigh, 2526 Hillsborough St)

Storyteller's Books (Wake Forest, 100 E. Roosevelt Ave)

Capitol Comics (Raleigh, 3027 Hillsborough St)

Flyleaf Books (Chapel Hill, 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd)

All Fun & Games (Apex, 958 US Highway 64)

Ultimate Comics (Durham: 9th St; Chapel Hill: Farrington Rd)

Barnes & Noble of Cary (760 SE Maynard, Cary Commons)

Barnes & Noble of Durham - The Streets at Southpoint (8030 Renaissance Parkway)

Barnes & Noble of Durham - New Hope Commons (5400 New Hope Commons)

All Booked Up (Apex, 104-B North Salem St)

Northgate Books (Durham: Northgate Mall)

North Carolina:

Barnes & Noble of Greenville, NC (3040 Evans Street)

New York:

Forbidden Planet NYC (NYC, NY)

Pennsylvania:

Golden Eagle Comics (Reading, PA)