Monsters, Hopepunk, and Wine

My latest short story, “Let Them Rest” has been published in More Monsters Next Door, an anthology of 20 monster-related tales from Critical Blast Publishing! “Let Them Rest” focuses on Lashley’s Home for Geriatric Monsters, a nursing home for elderly monsters and the kindly nurse who watches over her hideous residents. Filled with heart, compassion, and poignancy, “Let Them Rest” is probably the best story I’ve ever written. If you like an emotional sock to the gut, you’ll want to read this story.

Where There’s Hope, There’s Hopepunk

My short story “Kindness is the Rarest Thing” will appear shortly in Interesting Times: A Hopepunk Anthology by End of the World Publishing. The anthology was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter and now is coming your way…soon!

“Kindness is the Rarest Thing” follows Mac, a disgruntled old man and state informant who begrudgingly reports people to the authoritarian goverment called The Agenda. Years of doing this has soured Mac on life, and he only wishes to be left alone with his book collection. When he meets his neighbor, a strange woman named Shasa who cultivates a flower that can improve the emotions of those who care for it, Mac’s life begins unfolding like the petals of the rare plant.

I’ll have more information on this anthology when it drops, so stay tuned.

The Book of Wine and Sorrow

The Book of Wine and Sorrow, the fourth book in The Martyr’s Vow series and my sixth novel, is now released into the world! The final entry in the Armand Tarkanian saga, the novel is part adventure, part horror, and part supernatual thriller. This book takes Armand and his new wife Vonnie all the way to Armenia, where they meet a power-hungry oligarch who wants Armand to use his ghostly powers and find the lost poem of Sayat-Nova, an Armenian poet from the 1700s. The lost poem opens a gateway called the Door of Mher, which leads to a powerful legendary artifact from Armenia’s mythological past.

Along the way there’s chaos, murder, and monsters in one of the strangest road trips Armand has taken. But traveling through Armenia isn’t for kicks: the journey transforms Armand into the hero he needs to be.

Writing this book gave me a sense of closure to the characters I’ve lived with for the past seven years, when I first wrote the rough draft of Accursed Son, the first book in The Martyr’s Vow series. I’m grateful Shadow Spark Publishing took a chance on me and my weird books that mix ancient Armenian myth with modern cultures. While I won’t be writing adventures with these characters any time soon, I’m not ruling out a return to their universe, where monster-hunting biker gangs do battle in the shadows and there are enough apricot and date cookies to go around.