Today I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve recently signed a deal with Charon Coin Press for the inclusion of one of my short stories in their upcoming “State of Horror” books.
I’ve been sitting on this news for a while but now it looks like things are official and underway.
Charon Coin Press has been producing a series of anthology books under the title “State of Horror.” Each book contains a collection of short stories that centers around a given state.
A while back I started looking around to see if there were any book agencies accepting short story submissions. I found a couple of sites look for specific stories that used a certain theme, i.e. gothic poems, stories about castles, stories about the autumn harvest, etc.
One of the submissions I came across that was opening up was the “State of Horror” series and, lo and behold, it was accepting for Louisiana – my very own hometown state. The submission was for stories up to 9000 words. So I came up with an idea that I thought was cool, worked on it, edited it, re-edited it… and my story was still almost 11,000 words. So I edited it some more and came up with a cool and condensed story that is loosely based on the old Jimmy Swaggart Bible College dormitories in Baton Rouge.
If you’re from Baton Rouge you’ll know what I’m talking about. Back in the day when Jimmy Swaggart was a major televangelist the money was really flowing in to his church. He decided it would be a good idea to make his own bible college. As they started building the dorms the whole Jessica Hahn scandal broke – pretty much putting a major halt to his ministries and the idea of the college and dorms. Remember his whole “I have sinned against you,” thing? Yeah, that was what put the brakes on his ministries for a while.
For years the dorms sat there unfinished and unguarded. Anyone could mosey on in and hang out if they wanted.
My story, The Bells of Rue La Barriere, is based on an abandoned dormitory that is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the world. It centers around a paranormal investigation team that just got their hands on some of the most advanced detecting equipment ever and their exploits in this derelict building. The twist to the story is that across the street is a successful coffee shop where a group of paranormal groupies gather around to witness the investigation. So you’ve got this otherworldly experience going down on one side of the street and everyday normality on the other side, and one of the characters can, kind of, go back and forth between the two.
“State of Horror: Louisiana” should be available early next year before Mardi Gras hits. Come back to the site and I’ll have some updates as they come in.
Check out their company’s site for more info on the series and the other authors involved with it.
