I have a short story coming soon as part of the anthology Unexpected Friends, an anthology of middle grade stories from the writers of ANWA (American Night Writers Association). This middle grade anthology features 17 stories, including my own horror short, “The Only Friend You’ll Ever Need.” The cover was just revealed, and I’m super excited for when this book arrives in September (right around the same time as Night of the Living Toilet Paper)! Right now it’s only available for pre-order for those attending the ANWA conference in Mesa, AZ from Sep. 18-20, but previous anthologies are sold on Amazon and I expect this one will be too.
You can see my name on the kind-of upside down curly part of the list. Best of all, proceeds from this book go toward ANWA’s scholarship fund, which helps writers with financial need cover membership dues and conference attendance.
Here’s what I had to say for my ANWA Facebook group mini-interview about the story:
“A kid named Michael is facing a common Middle Grade challenge — moving across the country and facing the daunting task of going to a new school. While passing a graveyard, he meets a kid named Jacob on his way to school who seems eager to be his friend…but something about Jacob seems a little off. A little sinister…This story takes the “unexpected friendship” angle in a bit of a darker direction.
“I moved across the country as a kid, and it was really hard, but ultimately ended up being great for me. So part of the story comes from the process of how hard and scary it was to make friends initially. Of course, since I can’t ever write a story without monsters or some other kind of horror element, the rest of the story came out the way it did.”