This Is Halloween...Horror Volume 3

          "There are a lot of shadows in my hometown." 

          So speaks Madeline Harker, the narrator of my short story "The Shadow," which appears in DBND Publishing's latest anthology, Halloween Horror Volume 3. The hometown in question is my spooky little creation Shady Grove, New Jersey, which has existed in my head since my early years of high school and has inspired countless novels, short stories, and poems along with page after page of ideas that have yet to come to fruition, but "The Shadow" marks its first appearance in print. And honestly, it's sort of fitting, since Madeline, a twenty-one-year old witch with an avid interest in local history, is a direct descendant of two major figures from said history, including a white witch who narrowly escaped death during a colonial-era witch trial—no, I'm not handing out any names here, because that story forms the basis of the first Shady Grove novel (or Shadow Grove, as the earliest settlers named it), which I've rewritten twice now and am hoping the third time's the charm for, pun not intended. Madeline works at the town's historical society, as well as occasionally playing tour guide for sites like the Crandall House, but to pick up some extra pocket money she also babysits for her friends and neighbors, which comes into play in my anthology contribution.

          It's almost Halloween, and on her way to the Pantone house for a babysitting gig Madeline's enjoying all the autumn splendor Shady Grove provides: crisp evening air, colorful leaves, spooky decorations...and a huge dog staring at her from behind someone's house that quickly flees when she notices it. Weird, but Shady Grove is a weird town, and she knows that better than most. But babysitting beckons, and she lets it slip from her mind. It's not like she doesn't have anything else to occupy her attention, either, because lately she's begun to receive love letters from an anonymous secret admirer. They start off sweet and shy, but as they keep coming they grow darker, more twisted, and to top things off the massive black dog returns, with eyes only for the local witch. Could there be a connection between the admirer who's quickly becoming a stalker and the creature, about which there's more than a whiff of the supernatural? It all comes to a head—when else?—on Halloween, in a town full of shadows...and things that lurk in them.

          I'm so thrilled to be working with the gang at DBND again, and for the chance to have my work appear in their latest Halloween Horror collection. It's available now in paperback and digital on Amazon, the perfect way to keep spooky season going a little longer—although if you're doing it right (or if you happen to live in Shady Grove), spooky season never has to end.

          Happy Halloween!

          https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HN2XXCG/