“It's in the Mail!” Writing Basics, a special issue of Writer's Digest. March 2005. (You may view information about, or order (for $8.00 per issue), this magazine here.)

Actually, I wrote the first draft of what would become “It's in the Mail!” as a journal entry in my online journal at Livejournal. And then it dawned on me: what great advice! I then revised it, continuing to use the title I had used for this LJ entry, “The Physical Mechanics of Addressing and Mailing Your Short Story.” Basically, I offer advice from what I learned is the most logical and polite manner by which to submit your short story or magazine article.

“Don't Push the Resurrection Button!” The Nocturnal Lyric. Issue # 65. November 2005.

In genre terms, this story may be called humor/horror. I originally got the idea for DPTRB from watching a Ren and Stimpy episode called “Space Madness”! In the episode, Stimpy is implored by Ren not to push the “History Eraser” button, which he of course does.

In my story, a young mortician is hired at a funeral home that was designed by a sort of mad genius of the mortuary sciences with every possible technology-including a “Resurrection Button”! When the young man is hired he sees a flashing red button at the top of the funeral home's control panel. When he asks what the button does, the owner tells him that it is the “Resurrection Button” and warns of dire consequences if he pushes it. Will the young mortician heed his boss's warning? You can probably guess. To find out what scary wackiness may ensue, think about purchasing issue # 65 of The Nocturnal Lyric that contains my story. TNL is a really terrific horror zine with some really interesting stories and poetry. If you're interested in buying this issue--it costs $3.00--visit The Nocturnal Lyric Official Website.

Happy. Issue # 19. 2005.

Contains "A Very Short Sherlock Holmes Mystery."

“A Very Short Sherlock Holmes Mystery.” Happy. Issue #19. 2005.

After watching one too many whodunit TV shows that end in the scene at the end of the episode where the murderer is revealed like in Murder She Wrote, Columbo, etc., I had a goofy idea by which I could make fun of the “Here's how I figured out who the murderer is” scene. However, after I wrote the first draft of my story, I realized that it would be much more effective (i.e. much more funny, hopefully) if I changed the detective character to none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, assisted by his sidekick Dr. Watson.

Issue #19 of Happy containing my story is now available for $20.00 per issue, while a subscription to this great zine costs $60.00. If you're interested in ordering a copy of the issue containing my story or a subscription, here is the contact information for Happy. If you're interested in finding out more about Happy, you can find out more here on the Pop Matters website, and here's a profile of Happy's editor Bayard X.

This page first created 3.30.2005.