Cheers to October! 🎃

Happy belated Halloween, everyone! I hope the spooky season was exceptionally good to you. I celebrated with some much-needed downtime. Hung out with my dogs. Did some reading. Did some writing. Caught up on the latest season of The Boulet Brothers' Dragula: Titans (Cynthia Doll, I love you!). Took this shot of the Moonah trees in my yard, looking super Halloweeny...

🎶 My Moonahs bring all the creeps to the yard.

I've got a bit to share this month, so I'll jump right in, starting with something seasonally appropriate...

Samhain Screams. What a read! What a ride! Black Beacon Books have seriously knocked it out of the park with this anthology. Super atmospheric and fresh, yet still delivering all the Halloween tropes we know and love. Massive props to editors Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost for putting together such a fantastic lineup. I am stoked to be a contributing author.

You can read about the inspiration behind my story "Candy Train" here...

blackbeaconbooks.blogspot.com

A Spooky Interview with Em Starr

Samhain Screams will be released on the 17th of October—but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3...

...and while I'm handing out interview links, here is another interesting one! Back in Feb, I had the pleasure of chatting to Daniel Willcocks, along with a couple of other amazing authors, Richard Thomas and Chris O'Halloran, about Eerie River Publishing's The Earth Bleeds At Night.

Despite the fact we were all in different timezones, it was an easy, honest, and insightful discussion about our individual contributions to the anthology and short story writing, in general. Big thanks to Dan for having us! Check out the podcast here

https://pod.link/1829723468/episode/NjhkNjk3ZWRhY2MzNDk1NmU2NjJiMmRl or catch the YouTube version below.

In other exciting news, I am now officially published in the Czech Republic! Kangas Kahn Publishing's Fear Of Clowns anthology, edited by Kenneth W Cain, has recently been translated by the legends at Carcosa. Check out the cover art for the Czech edition. So hot right now!

Fun fact: The Czech title for my story "Clown Heads" translates to "The Ninth Laugher" which was actually my original title. Weird af!

I've still got a few more anthology releases coming out before the end of the year – one that I can talk about, two that are still under the cone of silence. Let's unpack the one I can talk about, because it is absolutely fan-bloody-tastic!

Bizarro Circus of Madness, edited by Riley Odell, is out November 4th and I can happily report that it is an absolute FEAST of all things bizarro. Seriously fun...but that's as serious as it gets because this antho is ridiculous! Ridiculously good, that is. You're going to love this one! Features my story "Something Burrowed, Something Blue". Preorder a copy here

And last but not least—since Xmas is lurking just around the corner—a little reminder that Underland Press's Kozy Krampus is available in paperback and eBook. Edited by Mark Teppo and Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito, this one is guaranteed to bring the creep factor this Christmas!

Featuring my dystopian cosmic horror "Dead Wood" amongst a stellar lineup of yuletide yarns. Grab yourself a copy here and get it in your stocking today!

That's all for now, legends. Thanks for bearing with me. Catch you all in a few days' time for the epic release of Riley Odell's Bizarro Circus of Madness.

Cheers,

Em