[No, this isn't about The Walking Dead, but it is about a free contest and a just-published zombie story I wrote. If you can forgive this unabashed self-promotion--though it is my blog--then please read on and enter the free contest!]
On page 65 of Black Chaos II, edited by Bill Olver and published by Big Pulp Publications, you'll find my short story, "The Zombie's Lament."
The cover looks great: bright colors, cool image from a known artist--Ken Knudtsen, who has worked on Wolverine for Marvel Comics, and on projects for David Geffen.
I've been very lucky with covers of magazines and books for my short stories. "Hide the Weird" was in an issue of Space and Time Magazine. That cover was really cool, too. Not too nerdy, very bright and colorful, and a skeleton is laying back, chilling out on the beach, having a drink--as the nuclear apocalypse mushrooms in the distance. What else can you ask for?
The book's print is in good shape. The ink is solid and it doesn't look unprofessional or cheap. The author bio came out great. There aren't any typos anywhere, and the book as a whole just looks good.
Anyway, the ISBN for Black Chaos II: More Tales of the Zombie, is 978-0-9896812-2-3. It's available via bookstores, both brick-and-mortar and online. The stories and poems are about zombies in relationships, zombies in the circus, zombies in a Christmas special, a mother-in-law zombie, and pissed-off zombies. In short, if you like your zombies a little bit different, you'll like this book.
So, now, the contest!
On my published works blog (just click the tab above), you'll find "Everything's Connected" and "So Many Reasons to Celebrate the Season." These stories were written by me and purchased and published by OverMyDeadBody.com and OnThePremises.com. And they're free! The first one is a very short, light detective piece and the latter is a very short (and, IMO, very funny--yet very not) slice-of-life piece about a writer coming home to a failing marriage and a houseload of people on Christmas Eve. Jack Nicholson in full The Shining mode makes a brief appearance in that one.
Anyway, to enter the contest, all you have to do is go to my Published Works page, choose one of those two free stories, click the link, read it, and leave a thought or two about the story as a comment on my Published Works blog beneath that story. Read both stories and comment on each and you get entered into the contest twice! The winner gets a free copy of Black Chaos II: More Tales of the Zombie. You don't pay for the book and you don't pay for the postage.
The contest will run until the end of June. I'll notify the winner via email and get the mailing address at that time. And because I have many readers outside the U.S., I'll leave the contest open to anyone in the world who wants to enter!
Thanks very much for doing so, and good luck!
And, by the way, if you've read "The Zombie's Lament," and you've found this blog entry from my author bio in the book, please feel free to leave a comment here and let me know what you thought of the story. Please and thank you, and thanks for reading my work!
