After some hemming and hawing, it looks like the next project will, indeed, be a second collection of short stories. And why not? At 40K words and counting, it’s all ready robust enough to stand on its own, and once it is wrapped up the collection will be twice the length of my previous collection, Now That We’re Alone.

An added bonus? This new collection all ready has an interested party . . .

And I’ve been invited to submit the manuscript once it is complete, so it looks like I’ll be taking an extended break, once more, from social media circles in order to finish this as soon as possible.

Unlike Now That We’re Alone, which consisted almost entirely of reprinted work, this new collection is made up of mostly new, unpublished material. And though not every story deals with the subject matter, there is a strong undercurrent of body horror throughout the selection. A happy coincidence, I suppose, as I had not really intended for there to be a theme.

Fittingly, the working title is After The Flesh.

For those of you who enjoyed Now That We’re Alone, there is some crossover appeal, as I intend to include a follow up to “Chomp Chomp” and a prequel, of sorts, to “Beast Mode.” Both stories are reprints, but including them in this collection will give them a new lease on life and access to a wider audience, I hope.

The table of contents isn’t finalized, by any stretch, and I may add or cut a story or two, but this collection is quickly coming together. If all goes well, then I’ll have it submitted in June. It’d be crazy to see this get picked up right on the heels of At The End Of The Day I Burst Into Flames but I certainly won’t complain if that happens.

For interested parties, here’s an unofficial list (in no particular order) of included works:

Breathtaking (a poem)

Elephant (reprint)

How Old Is A Shadow (reprint)

Capistrano Boulevard (reprint)

Beast Mode III (reprint) (will be re-titled for this collection)

Pollyanna (reprint)

Wake Up, Daddy (reprint)

After The Flesh (original)

Who Am I . . . I Have Always Been (original)

Constellations On The Face Of A Lover (original)

Who Will Survive And What Will Be Left Of Them (original)

That Trick With The Salt (original)

The Transmutation Of Gregor Samsa (original translation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis)

Shadows In The Old City (original)

***

Like I mentioned above, there’s a good chance that the final table of contents looks a bit different. I may not include all of those titles in the final draft. Or I may swap out one story for another. I’ll know soon enough, however, as I plan on getting this done within the next month and change.

And then, I can move on to the next project, and the next, and the one after that . . . and eventually the grave.

TTFN