Posts Tagged ‘Jewish horror’

“Symphony for Walpurgis:” Only A Month Away!!!

Posted: April 3, 2025 in Novelette, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Was that an unseasonal chill in the air? Nope, it’s the warning that Symphony for Walpurgis will arrive in T-minus four weeks!

If you’re unaware, Symphony for Walpurgis is my new collection of novelettes, featuring stories of cryptids (“Famous”), malevolent spirits (“The Parasite Man”), and even a Jewish exorcism (“The House on Lafayette Square”). Yes, Jews have our own exorcisms, too. My parents tried to do them on me on and off throughout the years, but it never worked, so far as I can tell. Anyway, the new collection comes out on Thursday, May 1st, 2025, and today’s Thursday, April 3rd, 2025. Meaning we’re a month away from the book’s release!

I’m super excited for people to read this book. I tend to write stories that fall into the novelette range (around 7,500-17,500 words), but finding them homes are a challenge. Only so many presses and magazines accept novelettes, usually on the shorter side, and then the places that do accept them either only have so many slots available that competition is fierce, or they’re invite only. Hopefully this book brings out a bit more interest for novelettes. At the very least, people will be able to read a lot of them at once. Some of them have even been previously published, while the rest are original.

So yeah, I’m hoping to get a lot of people to read this book. And in the meantime, I’m doing everything I can to get people interested. Just this past week, I’ve been uploading graphics with quotes from the book’s stories, and I like to think people have been enjoying them, and even getting chills from them.

I mean, look at this one.

Brrrr! Spooky! I knew going for shorter, snappier quotes would be helpful.

Anyway, if you’re at all interested in a spooky collection this late spring/early summer, or if you’d like to support me, I’ll leave links below. Walpurgis is available to preorder as an ebook from a certain stores, but more formats and stores will be available as time goes on.

And if you like what you read, please leave a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and other readers out in the long run. In fact, I’ve already received some awesome reviews on Goodreads for Walpurgis, including a new one yesterday, and they’ve helped immensely. I’ll link to those as well.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night, happy reading, and pleasant nightmares!

Amazon
Apple Books
Goodreads
Kobo

My Writing Goals for 2024

Posted: January 1, 2024 in Reflections, Writing
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Happy New Year, my Followers of Fear. I wasn’t going to do this sort of post, let alone on New Year’s Day. After all, I went over a lot of this stuff in my “Looking Back at 2023, Looking Forward to 2024” post. But plenty of my writer friends were posting their 2023 accomplishments and their 2024 goals on social media, so I thought, “Why shouldn’t I? And why should I limit myself to however many characters?”

Thus, I’m writing a full blog post.

So, with all that said, let’s get into my writing goals and how I plan to keep busy on the writing front.

FINISH THE SHORT WORKS I STARTED

After the Great Editing ended last year, I went through my list of ideas and chose seven story ideas I thought would be fun to work on (and hopefully had a chance of getting published). I’ve already finished two stories: a surprisingly short weird horror story called “White Leaves,” and a Jewish exorcism story called “The House on Lafayette Square.” And at the moment, I’m working on a story about owls under the temporary title “Strigiformes.”

With this particular goal, I aim to finish “Strigiformes” by Martin Luther King Day, and then get the other four stories done by around May. Don’t know if I will, but God knows I’m going to try. I’m already at the halfway point of “Strigiformes,” so assuming nothing messes with my life between now and the 15th, I should be off to a good start.

FINISH CRAWLER

My big project for 2024, assuming nothing else pops up, is to finally return to my mummy novel Crawler and finish it. Hopefully after I finish these last four and a half short works, and around May-ish. I want to go over what’s already been written, then get around to finishing the first draft.

Don’t know if it’ll get published at some point, but I definitely want it to be at least finished. I hate the feeling of it being left undone when I feel it has great potential.

GROW MY AUDIENCE

This one should be pretty self-explanatory. I love my Followers of Fear and how ardent you all can be, but I am a writer. We love having people enjoying our work. So, I’m trying to build my audience and the number of people who I can claim to be Followers of Fear.

Part of this will be done by selling books at events, which are great places to meet new readers, and another part will be some slight changes to how I do things on social media.* With a bit of luck, the right interactions, and sympathetic algorithms, maybe more people will come to love and look forward to my stories when they release.

*BTW, I’ve left Twitter due to Elon Musk going full anti-Semite and have moved to Threads and BlueSky. So, if you want to follow me there, click on the links.

GET SOME ACCEPTANCES

Again, this is also self-explanatory. While I do self-publish some of my work, I still like to get publishers to release some of my stories. There are benefits to going indie and going through a publisher. And all that being said, I hope to have some presses accept my stories and help me polish them up to their most beautiful before letting them out into the world.

And I may self-publish some stuff, as well. If the circumstances are right.

HAVE A GOOD 2024 FISCALLY

Writing is a passion and a calling, but it is also a job and a business. That’s especially true during tax time. And while this past year, I had the most income from writing ever, I also had a lot of expenses. Not enough to overtake my income, but still, a lot. For 2024, I hope to have fewer expenses. Or that my income far outpaces my expenses. It’s something I’ll be working on throughout the year, so hopefully it goes well.

MAYBE ANOTHER COLLECTION?

Yeah, putting together and editing Hannah was difficult at times, but it was gratifying, too. And I’m thinking of maybe putting together another collection. If I do, what stories will be in it, what it’ll be called, if there will be a theme, and if I self-publish it or not, we’ll see. This part of the future, at least, is still up in the air.

MAYBE AN ADAPTATION?

I know, I know. Getting any of my stories adapted into any medium is a long shot. Still, some things happened in 2023 that give me hope that it could happen. (And if you’re lucky, you’ll hear about what later this year.) So, I’m putting it on this list as a goal.

GET THAT MUCH CLOSER TO WRITING FULL-TIME

This is my overall goal for 2024. Granted, this is my overall goal every year. But I feel like I made significant progress this year towards this goal in 2023, and I feel like 2024 will take me even further. I want to get to the point where I can actually see a path to eventually being able to write full-time. Where it stops being just a dream and starts to morph into a reality.

If the majority of these go these goals go well, then maybe, just maybe, I’ll end 2024 with goals towards making dreams reality in 2025. And wouldn’t that be glorious?

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope 2024 treats us all very well (though honestly, I feel like roaring at the year to intimidate it instead of hoping it’s nice to us is a better move). Thank you for all the support you guys showed me in 2023. I hope you continue to do so in 2024. And one way to do that is to read my books and leave reviews, and/or follow my social media. I’ll leave buttons that’ll take you to where you can find both.

Book Links and Excerpts
About Me

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! RAWR!!!

Why It Took Me So Long to Write a Good Exorcism Story

Posted: November 24, 2023 in Reflections, Writing
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Years ago, when I was interning in Germany, I tried writing an exorcism story. And over the years, most recently 2019, I would try again and again to write this particular exorcism story, which would go by titles like “Summer of the Devil,” “Stuck in the Horror House,” and “Oppression.” I never finished the story. I don’t think I ever got further than five thousand words through it.

The story would have been about four friends breaking into a haunted attraction during the off-season and one of them intentionally summoning a demon for kicks, only for every one of them to get possessed and chaos to ensue. Looking back on it now, I feel it’s pretty paint by the numbers as far as possession and exorcism stories go. More like one of those B-movie summer popcorn munchers that rely way too much on jumpscares and CGI to be scary to veteran horror fans.

However, earlier this month, I started a new exorcism story. This one, titled “The House on Lafayette Square,” featured a totally new scenario and characters, and I ended up finishing it late Wednesday night at about 9,400 words. And after I’d finished it, I came to realize what factors were limiting me from writing the previous exorcism story, or any others for that matter.

Those factors were conventionality and emotional investment.

You guys know me well by now. I don’t march to the beat of anyone else’s drum but my own, and that’s especially true when it comes to the stories I write. I mean, I’ve written about plant/human hybrids (Rose), Mafia-hunting serial killers (Snake), and carnivorous horses and strange gods (Hannah and Other Stories), among other things. Not what you would call run of the mill, even for horror.

And like I said, the story I was trying to write back in 2015-2019 was much more conventional. It confirmed for me something I’ve suspected for a while now: if I consider the story too run-of-the-mill, or if it gets away from what I consider a Rami Ungar-style story (like starting in one genre but becoming too close to another), I just won’t be able to write it. No matter how much I like the idea.

As for emotional investment, let me explain something: “Lafayette Square” is a Jewish exorcism story. That already brought in some emotional investment, as there’s still not a lot of Jewish horror out there and I liked the idea of adding to the catalog with something not usually explored in our stories. However, since the Israel-Hamas conflict began last month, it’s brought about a lot of stress and dark feelings, both for myself and the Jewish community. Thusly, “Lafayette Square” became a story for me to work through my emotions regarding the conflict.

Who knew it would take emotional investment as well as a new angle to finally get me to write an exorcism story?
Photo by Luca Nardone on Pexels.com

In other words, writing it became a cathartic exercise. Or maybe a cathartic exorcism is a better way to put it.

So yeah, having a strong emotional reason to write this story, as well as it feeling like something new and exciting and definitely something I would write, really helped me get through this exorcism story. That’ll be good to know with future stories, whether they’re about exorcism or not.

As for whether or not we’ll see “The House on Lafayette Square” out in print anytime soon, we’ll have to wait and see. I already have someone taking a look at the story and giving me feedback, so hopefully after I get their notes and make some edits, I can find it a home. Still, I think it’s got a chance. And if it does come out, I can’t wait to see how people respond to it.

For now though, I have a new story to research and start working on. And I have a feeling I’m not going to have any trouble writing it.

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares.

One last thing, my Followers of Fear: did you know it used to be a tradition during the holiday season to tell scary stories? I think it’s a damn shame this tradition has faded so much. And with the holiday season now upon us, why not revive it? Go out and get yourself or a horror fan you know a new scary story for the holiday season!

And if you’re at all interested, maybe consider checking out some of my work. As I said above, I have plenty of work out there that’s both unique and scary. If that’s your thing, check out my Book Links and Excerpts page. And if you or a friend end up reading some of my work, be sure to leave a review so I and other readers know what you thought.

Happy reading, Followers of Fear!

Book Links and Excerpts

My First New Story in a While

Posted: October 29, 2023 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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I actually wanted to write this post days ago, but you know how life gets. It gets crazy, and my life has been especially crazy lately. Still, it was nice that last week, on Wednesday, I started a new short story. And on Thursday, I finished that story. It’s been my first new work in…God, I don’t know how long.

So yeah, it’s safe to say The Great Editing has ended. However, because of that crazy life I mentioned above, I wasn’t able to start writing for several days after my last editing project. When I did, when I started working on that story, it was such a release! Like something that had been building up inside of my brain and in my fingers was released in the course of eleven-hundred words. And the next night, I wrote the rest of the story in one glorious sitting. Again, there was that sense of relief and release. Like, after so many months of editing and promotion, telling a new story that had been rattling around in my head for months was exactly what the doctor ordered.

So, how is the new story? Well, as the writer, it’s hard to tell. “White Leaves” involves the strange events occurring in an apartment complex on a chilly Halloween morning (hey, that’s coming up!). It’s also told in the second person, which is something I’ve only done once before. (If you’ve read The Quiet Game, you probably remember the story.) The reason why I did is because I read a horror story recently that was told in the second person, and it was awesome. When I formulated “White Leaves,” the idea of telling the story in the same method as that other story just seemed to make sense.

And, somehow, it’s under three thousand words, which is a surprise for me. Normally my short stories are at least seven-thousand words. I even said on my social media, “Who am I and what have I done with my normal writing style?”

Anyway, it’s weird and fun and I think my critique group is going to get a kick out of it. Perhaps, with their feedback and a bit of a polish, I’ll even be able to find a home for it that will enjoy the strange tale and what I’ve included. That would be nice.

As for my next story, I already have the idea and I’ve done the research necessary. It’ll be a Jewish horror story, so hopefully it becomes a great addition to that growing catalog. I’ll keep you guys updated on it, especially if the story gets published.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve had a long day and I’m going into the office tomorrow, so I better wrap up my night. Especially if I want to watch a scary movie. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

One last thing, my Followers of Fear: tomorrow night, at the Bexley Public Library in Bexley, Ohio, me and my fellow Ohio horror writers will be doing a flash fiction writing workshop. If you can come by, please RSVP and show up. We’ll have a good time, we’ll write scary stories, and you’ll see my new author costume in person. Trust me, it’s awesome.

Until next time, another good night and more pleasant nightmares to you.

Halloween Flash Fiction Workshop with HWA Ohio

“Azazel Dances,” Co-Written with Richard Gerlach, Has Been Published!!!

Posted: February 25, 2022 in Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first publication of 2022!

Some time ago, I met another Jewish horror writer by the name of Richard Gerlach. There was an anthology being created at the time of holiday horror stories, and we thought we’d team up to write one with a little Jewish flair. We wrote a story set around Hanukkah and submitted it. It didn’t get in, but it birthed a friendship and we both believed in the story, so we kept shopping it around.

Dead of Winter from Dublin Creative Writers Cooperative and Spark Street Media, which contains mine and Richard Gerlach’s story “Azazel Dances.” Looking forward to hearing what you think of it!

Some time last year, the story was accepted by the Dublin Creative Writers Cooperative,* who in partnership with Spark Street Media are releasing the anthology Dead of Winter. And our story, “Azazel Dances,” is featured in the anthology! Which is out today!

Honestly, Rich and I are so excited for you to read this story, which centers on a demon who interferes with two feuding Jewish families around Hanukkah. Not only do we get to add to the ever-growing subgenre of Jewish horror (something I’ve been trying to do anyway), but we worked really hard on this story. Like really hard. Like oh my God, the amount of work that went into this story to make sure it was ready for publication! And it was not easy for either of us to find time to edit it, either. Like, I tried to buy the guy a bottle of wine because we somehow made the deadline despite the amount of work and how crazy our lives got! Sadly, mailing alcohol without subscriptions or memberships to special clubs is troublesome.

The point is, we put in a lot of hard work, and I’m very proud of the work we put in to write and edit this story together. So I hope you read it and see what we managed to create together. And if you like what you read, please make sure to spread the word somehow. Goodreads, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok, whatever. Leaving your thoughts online somewhere allows us writers to know what people think of our work, as well as helps other readers decide whether or not to check out the book.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll leave a link to check out Dead of Winter below. Ebook is already available, and paperback shouldn’t be far behind. Either edition, there are a lot of great stories in there besides the one by Rich and me, so it’s worth your while. And while you’re at it, you should also check out Richard Gerlach. He’s a great writer with another story in another anthology and has more on the way. He also writes for Divination Hollow Reviews and is a co-host for the podcast Staring Into the Abyss. You can find him on his Twitter account here, his previous publication here, Divination Hollow Reviews here, and the Twitter account for the podcast here.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I don’t know how we got to the end of February so fast, but I’m looking forward to whatever March brings. So until next time, good night, happy reading and pleasant nightmares!

*Dublin Ohio, which was used for a short scene in Rose. Not Dublin, Ireland. Just clarifying.

DEAD OF WINTER Amazon Page

Halloween Releases are Here!!!

Posted: October 31, 2021 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Raise the banners of all the Dark Lords! Wail in terror and in jubilation! Dance like the flames and music of Hell are moving through you! Halloween is here! I’ll be posting about my Halloween activities later on, my Followers of Fear (believe me, there’s plenty to talk about while I’m in Vegas during this holiday). However, the reason you’re here is because there are new releases today. Two new anthologies and a new issue of a magazine, to be precise. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!

The Jewish Book of Horror

From the Denver Horror Collective comes an exciting new anthology! I recently spoke to the Columbus Jewish News about the release of TJBOH (you can read that here if you’re curious), and I mentioned that Judaism and the Jewish people are no strangers to horror. All of our history involves other nations trying to annihilate and subjugate us, so we haven’t had to make up monsters to menace us that much. We have enough of those without using our imaginations.

That’s partly why I’m so excited to be part of this anthology (that, and some good old Jewish pride). As far as I’m aware, nothing like this has ever been released before. We’re literally breaking new ground here! I’m so honored to be part of it. So with that stated, I hope you’ll check out TJBOH and let the readers and writers know what you think. And if you don’t, I’ll make your cholesterol test come back with terrifying results (now that’s a Jewish horror if ever there was one).

The Jewish Book of Horror: Amazon, B&N

Dark Nature: A Horror Anthology

You know, I didn’t think I would get into this anthology. Besides the huge amount of competition to get in, my story “Natural Predators” is a pandemic story, and we’re in the middle of a pandemic. However, it was accepted and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

Not only that, but you should get ready to read the rest of the anthology. Thirteen hair-raising horror stories about Mother Nature getting her revenge against humanity for all the shit we’ve put her through in the name of our survival and greed. I’m looking forward to hearing what people think of it. As well as basking in the irony that they may be reading the book in a paperback format. Enjoy!

Dark Nature: Amazon

The Dark Sire issue 9

I was really excited to learn one of my stories was going to be serialized in The Dark Sire. Issue 8, which came out back in July, was full of amazing stories. And not only that, but I heard from people saying they were intrigued by my story “Blood and Paper Skin” and wanted to know how it would end after reading Part One. Well, Part Two is out today in Issue 9 (Amazon link coming soon, so I’ll post that later), and I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone says about it.

I’ll leave links to both issues below. If you haven’t checked out Issue 8, I suggest you check it out and enjoy the stories and poetry within. And for those who buy Issue 9, I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of Part Two of “Blood and Paper Skin.” Things are about to get violent.

TDS Issue 8: Amazon

TDS Issue 9: Website download

One More Surprise…

You guys remember Indie Author Book Expo? It’s the group that held that book expo in Iowa I attended last year, and was hosting the one in Aurora until COVID-19 canceled it. Anyway, the group put together a horror anthology and I contributed a story for it, “Afternoon Tea,” about a haunted silent film. I kind of forgot about it because I got busy, but then the anthology, “Nightmare Collective Part 2,” was released yesterday. The book’s sales will benefit future Indie Author Book Expo events, so if you would like to help indie, hybrid and/or smaller-name authors continue to have venues to sell their work directly to the people, buying a copy and leaving a review could help. I hope you’ll check out “The Nightmare Collective Part 2” and let people know what you think. And I hope you’ll let me know what you think of “Afternoon Tea.”

Nightmare Collective Part 2: Amazon

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to enjoy myself on this fabulous Halloween day. I hope you will enjoy yourself as well, while also checking out these new additions to the world of horror literature. Until next time, pleasant nightmares and Happy Halloween!

Updates on “The Pure World Comes” and My Other Projects

Posted: September 24, 2021 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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September has gone by so fast, but I’m having a lot of trouble believing that it’s only been a month since The Pure World Comes has been released. That’s right, an entire month! And man, it’s been doing well. Not only that, but there have been other updates on my projects and upcoming publications. Let me tell you about it.

The Pure World Comes

The cover for “The Pure World Comes” on the Readict app.

So, if you’re new here, The Pure World Comes was a novel I wrote last year and which was published, as I mentioned at the beginning, exactly a month ago on the Readict literature app. The novel was a love letter to the Victorian era and to Gothic literature from that era, which I’ve been obsessed with for quite some time now. Here’s the summary:

Shirley Dobbins wants nothing more than to live a quiet life and become a head housekeeper at a prestigious house. So when she is invited to come work for the mysterious baronet Sir Joseph Hunting at his estate, she thinks it is the chance of a lifetime. However, from the moment she arrives things are not what they seem. As she becomes wrapped up in more of the baronet’s radical science, she realizes something dark and otherworldly is loose within the estate. And if left unchecked, it’ll claim the lives of all she holds dear.

The app records how many people have been reading the novel and aggregating their ratings of the chapters, as well as the novel in general. When I was writing this post, 728 were reading or have read the novel and rated it a 4.7 out of 5 stars! I don’t think any of my published works have ever scored so high before.

But the best feedback was from my sister. She actually doesn’t read much of my work, as she’s both got a busy life and is not a big fan of horror (I can’t even remember if she’s read Rose). But because it was on her phone, she was able to read it more easily than other books, and she tried to read at least a chapter every night. As of last night, she actually finished it and said she loved it. She especially loved the characters and the mystery hanging around the story.

Considering she doesn’t have much time to read, let alone read all my work, I’m happy to hear that.

And if this is how the first month is going, I can’t wait to see how the next year goes. In fact, I hope to get an ebook and paperback out some time next year. I’ll start working to that end after the new year. I look forward to hearing what people say when they can own a physical copy.

In the meantime, you can find it on the Readict app. It’s free with ads, so why not check it out before Halloween? I’d love to hear what you say.

The Jewish Book of Horror

As you may remember, I submitted a story to The Jewish Book of Horror, an anthology all about what scares my people (besides cholesterol and allergies, of course). I’m happy to say that The Jewish Book of Horror will be released this Hanukkah (so December-ish) and will feature my story, “The Divorce from God.”

And the cover is already being circulated around the internet. You can see it on the left, and isn’t it terrifying/sexy? I love it! I’m so honored to have a story in there. I can’t wait for people to read it and the other stories in the anthology and to let me know what they think.

Anyway, it’s only a couple of months till Hanukkah, so I’ll be sure to let you know when the book is available for preorder and purchase. I hope you’ll support it. As I’ve mentioned before, I think it would be cool to have more Jewish portrayals in fiction, especially from Jews. And the Denver Horror Collective, which is putting out the anthology, has hinted that if it does well, they may pursue doing a sequel anthology. I would love to see that (and maybe submit to them again).

Other Stories

I mentioned in a recent post that I had settled on a new novel to write and was working on an outline. The outline for that novel, Crawler, is finished and I should be ready to work on it after my vacation (more on that later). I’m not sure if the novel will be any good, but I think it’s going to be at least fun to write. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Also, the next part of “Blood and Paper Skin” will be published in Issue 9 of The Dark Sire, which should be out at the tail end of October. I’ll post links when they’re available.

And I’m shopping around several more stories, looking for homes for them. I’m even waiting to hear back from publishers regarding a novel and a collection of short stories. Hopefully I’ll be able to give you some great news very soon. I’m trying to get a few more stories accepted for publication before the end of the year, so I won’t let up on writing and editing and submitting.

And I have more stuff I can’t wait to tell you about. I’m just waiting for the right time to tell you.

In the meantime, I’m hoping you’ll check out some of my work that’s available, including The Pure World Comes. Except for that novel, all my stories are sold wherever great stories are sold. I look forward to hearing what you think.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to enjoy the weekend and relax after a rough week. I’ll be starting with a Phantom of the Opera movie starring Robert Englund. Yeah, that apparently exists. And it’s apparently really bad. Still, it sounds like something you gotta see to believe. I can’t wait!

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares.

I Want to Write More Jewish Characters in My Stories

Posted: September 4, 2021 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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What would happen if I featured my faith more in my stories? Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on Jews in the media I consume.

As you probably know, in addition to being an eldritch abomination from another universe in human form, I’m Jewish (we need faith too, you know). I’m not super-religious, but I follow many rituals and feel close to my heritage and my definition of God. But except for a couple of stories, my religion doesn’t really show in my writing. Or at least, characters who share my faith don’t show up in my stories a lot.

There could be a lot of reasons for that. Part of it could be that horror, the genre I’m drawn to and find most exciting, doesn’t necessarily need religion. Horror may draw on religious beliefs a lot, but that doesn’t mean the stories are religious. Religious elements are just tools for telling a good horror story. Also, Judaism itself isn’t really a scary religion. We don’t have a Devil or Hell, and demons and evil spirits are still subservient to God’s Will and Plan. Beyond golems and dybbuks, the biggest sources of horror for us is our history of being oppressed. And finally, I may have never felt a real need to emphasize the beliefs of my characters. It just doesn’t matter that much. Unless I need to state it, their religion is, “Whatever.”

But lately, I’ve been thinking a bit about that. It started with an essay on Variety about Jews in Hollywood and how we’re represented that brought up some good points. I’ll let you read the article yourself, but it made me aware that I don’t see many members of my faith in the media I consume. And that includes in horror. Yeah, there are some: Stan Uris in IT; Yakov Ronen in The Vigil (one of the best horror films I’ve seen yet this year); Tzadok in The Possession (played by musician Matisyahu, believe it or not); and then some.

But still, it’s a small number. And in an age with resurgent anti-Semitism, I feel like that’s something that needs to change.

Besides, I want to challenge myself. What kind of stories can I tell with a Jewish character as a lead? And not just any kind of Jew, but an amalgamation of the Jews I’ve known throughout my life, from secular to religious and old to young, from all walks of life and all types of spirituality? What if I decided, for a few stories, not to make their religions “whatever?”

Well, I actually already know the answer to that. As you probably are aware, my short story “The Divorce from God” is to appear in The Jewish Book of Horror this holiday season, and a short story in this collection I’m working on has two Jewish men as the leads. And I like to think both stories are good (I only have confirmation of one).

But what if I expand that? What if I tell more tales–not all of them, but some of them–with my fellow members of the Tribe? What if their faith is both an aspect of themselves, though not the only one, and a source of strength? What if the lead is that amalgamation I mentioned?

Well, perhaps I’ll find out sooner rather than later. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m thinking of working on another novel after I’ve finished editing this collection and a couple more stories. And while I don’t think it’s necessary for the lead, I can also see them being Jewish. It could actually fit them very well.

We’ll see what the future holds.

I look forward to the stories I write in this vein.

You know, it’s funny. At one point when I was young, a grown up tried telling me I should write less horror and more of what I know. Which at the time was mainly going to a Jewish day school, having rabbis for parents and being annoyed by my sisters. I absolutely refused, telling this well-meaning grown up “that would be boring.” I think they were worried I was going to turn out to be some psychopath who murdered people in basements and then wrote about it (we horror lovers and creators are so misunderstood!). Still, I wasn’t going to write something I wasn’t attracted to or found boring. Stories are an escape from reality, not a regurgitation!

Now I want to incorporate what I know into a horror story. I guess it’s true what they say, when people “write what they know,” they’re writing it in a completely different way than expected. I wonder that well-meaning adult would make of this now? Hopefully they’d be intrigued enough to read it (and realize I grew up much more well-adjusted than they anticipated).

Anyway, it’s late and this post has gotten insanely long. I’m going to sign off and say Shabbat Shalom, an early Happy New Year (Rosh Hashanah starts Monday evening, it’s our New Year), pleasant nightmares, and a good night. See you next time, my Followers of Fear!

Double Publishing Acceptance!!!

Posted: May 13, 2021 in Journalism, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Pour the drinks! Start the party music! Feed the dragon bats a little extra blood and meat with their dinner tonight! I’ve had two acceptances! That’s right, you read that correctly. Two. And I am so excited that the editors loved them enough to include them in upcoming publications, let alone that you will get to read them.

So, the first acceptance actually came last week, but I only just got permission to start screaming from the high heavens. A short story I wrote is being accepted by “The Jewish Book of Horror,” an anthology from the Denver Horror Collective coming out this holiday season in time for Hanukkah. That’s right, a book emphasizing horror from a Jewish slant. When I first heard of that, I knew I had to write something for it, which I did: a short story called “The Divorce from God.”

I’m adding to Jewish literature! It’s not typical Jewish literature, but I’m not complaining!

“The Divorce from God” is a story that was inspired by the New York divorce coercion gang. For those of you who haven’t heard, the New York divorce coercion gang was a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews who forced men into divorces. Yeah, even the Jews have our fair share of fanatics, and they do bad things sometimes. In this case, they meddled in divorces. In traditional Judaism, divorce has to be granted by the husband, and occasionally that’s held over the wife’s head to hurt her. Normally, non-violent means are sought to encourage the husband to grant a divorce, but in this case, the gang members went to violent means. It’s pretty sick and twisted stuff and I encourage you to read up on it if you’re curious.

Anyway, I took the case and put my own fictional spin on the story. After letting some beta readers give me some feedback, I made some edits and submitted it. And I’m happy to say it’ll end up in the anthology! Woo-hoo! I get to be part of a big contribution to Jewish literature while still being scary! I’m sure my parents and teachers and rabbis are proud of me.

Also, apologies that I didn’t write a blog post for this story like I usually do. The subject matter and the targeted anthology was so specific, I didn’t want to post about it only for it to maybe get rejected. But I’m telling you now, so it’s all good, right?

And today, I got some more good news! I wrote an essay recently on a character trope I call “the broken child.” What is that? Well, you’ll have to wait till August to find out. It’s going to be published in the August edition of House of Stitched magazine (don’t you just love that name?). They were looking for articles on the craft and process of horror writing, and I’d been turning over some article/essay ideas in my head, including an examination of the broken child. I wrote it and sent it in, keeping my fingers crossed. And today they sent me a contract. I signed and now I’m on cloud nine!

I mean, wouldn’t you be? Last year, I was only able to release one story. But two months ago, I was able to get an article published on Ginger Nuts of Horror and release a new scary story. And in just one week, I was able to get a short story and an article accepted as well! It’s very encouraging and makes me hopeful for what’s to come.

I’ve been writing up a storm lately. Glad to see it’s been worth it.

A big thanks to the Denver Horror Collective, who will be putting out “The Jewish Book of Horror,” for accepting “The Divorce from God.” And an equally big thank you to the team of Stitched Smile Publications, the publisher of House of Stitched magazine, for accepting “The Horror of the Broken Child.” I’m so excited to be working with both of you and I hope your readers enjoy my contributions as much as I hope you did.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the August issue of House of Stitched magazine and “The Jewish Book of Horror” once they’re released. I’m off to enjoy a walk in the nice weather. I’ll probably also have a beer or two tonight in celebration as well. And I’ll be working on my next short story as well. Gotta keep up the writing and submitting so I can get a few more stories out there.

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, stay safe, pleasant nightmares, and don’t approach my dragon bats! They may be cute, but they’re alpha predators for a reason.

Review: The Vigil (2021 film)

Posted: February 26, 2021 in Review, Scary Stuff
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Okay, technically this film is a 2019 film, but it’s being released in the States in 2021, so that’s the designation I’m going with.

Also, just a little background for my non-Jewish readers: in Judaism, it’s traditional that when someone dies, the body is constantly watched over and had Psalms recited over in order to comfort the soul of the deceased. The person doing this is known as a shomer, or a guardian. Usually this is done by friends and family of the deceased, but occasionally people are paid to be shomrim. This is all explained in the movie, I just wanted to put it upfront here.

And to complain that nobody ever hired me to be a shomer while I was job hunting. Seriously, I have experience with dead bodies and I charge reasonable rates. I would have been great at it!

Okay, onto the review. The Vigil follows Yaakov Ronen, a Jewish man who has left his ultra-Orthodox community for a more moderate style of Jewish living after a terrible tragedy befalls him. His old rabbi asks him to be a shomer for a man who has recently died. Desperate for money, Yaakov agrees, but soon finds himself up against an ancient evil that oppressed the deceased in life, and is now looking for a new victim to torment.

Wow, this movie did not disappoint. It took what could have been just regular popcorn horror movie fodder and made something really amazing out of it. Camera work and lighting is used really effectively to build a tense, creepy mood. There are these long, uncomfortable moments where we’re forced to watch as Yaakov uses his phone or gets comfortable around the body, which is laying in the living room under a shroud like something out of the Victorian era. You really get to know the folds and creases in the blanket, and it makes things creepy and disconcerting.

The monster of the movie, a Jewish demon called a mazzik,* is also well done. I’ve said this before, but showing too much of the monster can backfire on films, especially in popcorn horror films. Thankfully, the filmmakers keep the mazzik hard to see throughout the film, and that only adds to the terror. Like no matter what, you can’t truly see, let alone comprehend, this creature.

Add in some mind games right out of the movie Oculus and a couple of nods to Nightmare on Elm Street, and you’ve got one hell of a scary film.

It’s also a deeply personal film. Yaakov, played with powerful pathos by Dave Davies, is a very sympathetic character. He’s dealing with PTSD, he’s struggling with himself, his faith, and making his way through this world. The events of the film really force him to confront what he’s been dealing with and it’s amazing to watch.

I could find something to dislike with this film, but I would be nitpicking. On a scale of 1 to 5, The Vigil stands at a solid 4.2. Creepy and dark, led by a lead you can identify with, you won’t be able to turn away. The film is currently available through Amazon, so grab a seat, pour some kosher wine, and get ready for an unnervingly good time.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be back soon, believe me. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

*And yes, I think we can be sure mazzik and the plural mazzikim is the source of the name for the comic book character and the character we love and adore in Lucifer.

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