RESULTS: The Friday Challenge, 10/13/17 edition

After much thoughtful and careful deliberation, we have discovered that if you give seven stories to a nine-judge panel, the awesome power of pure mathematics takes over and you end up with 63 different opinions. Therefore in order to select the winner of  the October 13 Friday Challenge, we now appeal to the Wisdom of the Crowd.TM On the other side of the Read more...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “My Dead Uncle Rob,” by Stephen A. Dickson A week ago, my Uncle Rob died. The priest at the funeral talked about how everyone who knew Rob was blessed. That made me sad. I’d only met him a few times and never had much of a chance to hang out with him. Uncle Rob and Dad never got along. Dad’s never told me why. When it was Dad’s turn to stand up and...

Read More

In the Mood for a Scary Movie?

Nine Netflix (Streaming Only) Movies to Marathon on Halloweenby Jocelyn DeVore When it comes to compiling movies for a marathon, I follow the “High Fidelity” rules for making a compilation tape. According to Rob Gordon, the rules are as follows: You have to kick it off with something that will grab their attention, Then kick it up a notch, But you don’t want to go overboard, so you have to cool it down For the perfect Halloween marathon,...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Midnight, San Francisco,” by Samuel Marzioli Stellan slouched against the bar, hands cradling a shot glass as if he were warming an unhatched egg. For hours, he’d kept himself to himself, tipping back an assembly line of shot glasses, not bothering to look up long enough to notice anything beyond the increasing blur of wood grain on the counter-top. ...

Read More

The Clock is Ticking!

Remember, the Kindle Countdown deal on The Recognition Run ends in 1 day 17h 6m 23s. Which I guess means that that's when TWO: The Second Annual Horror Special goes out of print, too.  Hey! Why not splurge and buy 'em both?! Considering my story, "An Incident in Cain's Mark", is currently in my collection, Trouble My Bones, and is about to appear in Merchants of Misery (edited by yours truly), it probably seems like you can't throw a ...

Read More

Maintenance in Progress

For some reason all the Follower-related widgets in the left column have quit working and instead are returning 502 errors. Is anyone else seeing (or rather, not seeing) this, or is it just another fluke of our peculiar Internet configuration?...

Read More

Kindle Countdown Deal: The Recognition Run

As we try to learn the mysterious ways of Amazon, we've signed up for a Kindle Countdown Deal. Therefore, for the next 3 days 16h 33m 32s -- I have no idea why, but Amazon tells us this incredibly precise "ticking clock" is important -- you can get THE RECOGNITION RUN on Kindle for the special promotional price of just $0.99 USD! ...3 days 16h 31m 20s... "Struck...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “In Fall, After the Harvest” by S. Travis Brown The little cybernetic gadfly popped up as soon as I logged in. “Dave Miller,” it dutifully nagged, “you are now 15 minutes overdue for your appointment with the company fitness consultant.” Right. I clicked the ‘ignore’ button to kill the message and then continued with my morning routine. As soon as I...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Waters of Oblivion,” by Michael Haynes   Jackson always calls hyperspace the “waters of oblivion.” It seems an odd affectation, out of character with the rest of his carefree personality. His parents are both dead and he has no close relatives; he’s told me he plans to work the hyperspace runs until he’s thirty and then retire young and wealthy. I...

Read More

Friday Challenge Deadline Reminder

Just a gentle little nudge here, to remind you that the deadline for the current Friday Challenge is midnight CDT tomorrow, Friday, 10/27/17. If this post has you thinking, "Huh? What's a Friday Challenge?" you'll find a little more information here: Return of the Son of The Friday Challenge While we're on the subject, I'll add that I'm really pleased (and mildly surprised)...

Read More

99-Cent Last-Chance Sale: TWO: The 2nd Annual Horror Special

TWO: The 2nd Annual Horror Special goes out of print as of November 1, so for the next seven days you can buy the Kindle edition only for the special last-chance price of $0.99 USD. (Or free, if you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber.) I'd always considered TWO to be one of our biggest, best, and most cohesive books, as it contains fourteen short stories and two complete...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Edvard Munch,” by Robert W. Hobson   Sebastian Kane flew across the second floor of the mansion like his ass was on fire and his head was catchin’. His blue shirt was torn and bloody, his jeans were rags and equally as red, his chest would need an entire spool of thread to put back together, and he would be eating soup for the next week. He hit...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Jackie, We Hardly Knew Ye,” by Carly Berg Jackie oughtn’t watch. Yet she waited, heart in wild rhythm, for The Kennedy Conspiracy Theories to begin. Anniversaries of the incident were hard, the ten years intervening barely helped. She would finally watch. Jackie set aside the stack of papers from her latest volunteer committee. She made her way across the...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “The Beast,” by J. L. Phoenix October, what a month. People in this world are so fascinated with their “holidays” that they set aside any remaining good sense and judgment they have to allow for fun and festivities. Fools. They make the tasks of the underworld disgustingly easy, even more so than in the days of the plague in the Dark Ages, when strange...

Read More

Life Here in the 21st Century

Here in Minnesota, the seasons change fast. A week ago it was nearly 80 degrees outside. Last night, the temps dropped into the low 40s. The forecast calls for it to dip down near freezing by Wednesday morning, with the possibility of snow on Friday. To deal with these kinds of changes we have a dual-control electric blanket, so that my wife and I can set the temps separately for our respective sides of the bed. She usually prefers it a...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Fulfilling,” by Jocelyn DeVore I’d been born and raised in sunny Florida, so isn’t it ironic that the one thing I fear most in life is a night-stalking bloodsucker? I’ve spent many nights staring out my bedroom window at eyes glaring back at me from the trees.   My friends and family think I’m crazy, of course. Which is why they will be utterly...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “This Cat Must Die!” by Jason Lairamore The heavy ceramic angel sitting high on the shelf above the sliding glass door was perfect for what Sham, the ethereal, had in mind. That fat, orange cat had to die. Its death was the only way he could become a real ghost. Late morning sun shining through the glass door warmed the tiled floor. That cursed cat,...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “The Van Helsing Women’s Shelter,” by Aaron DaMommio I answered the door myself, as I always did when the shelter had visitors after dark. The gaunt man on the doorstep swept aside his cloak with one hand. “I am Nikolai,” he said. “I haff come to take Lucy home.” More than his emaciated physique, the power of his stare gave him away. I sighed. This...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “I, Boy,” by Stone Showers Henry Newman and I had been friends ever since his parents first brought him home from the yard sale. I didn’t care that he was older, and it didn’t matter to me that he couldn’t swim or speak seven languages. In so many ways, Henry was just like me, and because of that we did everything together. In the mornings he and I would...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Stingray,” by Peter Wood The stingray swam out of the pile of leaves and whipped its barbed tail around Dale’s ankle. Dale dropped the rake and fell into a puddle of salt water. The trouble was, he was hundreds of miles from the ocean. Dale jumped up and noticed a thin tear at the bottom of his jeans where the stingray’s tail had grabbed him. He kicked...

Read More

Return of the Son of The Friday Challenge

Long-time friends of STUPEFYING STORIES know that it began life as an offshoot of The Friday Challenge, a sort of writing workshop -slash- writing contest that ran from 2009 to 2013 (and was itself in turn a spinoff from The Ranting Room, a blog that ran from 2005 to 2009). The very first, print-only edition of STUPEFYING STORIES was in fact a compendium of Friday Challenge...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Till Death Us Do Part,” by E.N. Loizis Jennifer stared at the man sitting across from her. “Excuse me, what was that again?” “I’m a vampire.” “You’re a vampire?” “Yes.” “As in—dead?” “We prefer the term undead.” “As in a drink-blood-sleep-upside-down-live-forever-kind-of-thing?” “In a nutshell.” “Any other tidbits I need to know about?” “I sparkle...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Elves Are Douchebags,” by Robert Lowell Russell Floriel’s eyes were gold, her hair silver, and her features so fine, Jack thought they should be chiseled in marble: paint and canvas would be too temporary. Her smile made him ache. Braless, she wore a bright pink t-shirt several sizes too small that proclaimed her the World’s Greatest Grandmother. Loriel’s...

Read More

Of Jackalopes and Cancer

Science Fact: “Of Jackalopes and Cancer” - Genomic Research Suggests Strange New Insights Into Disease - Cancer. The word is both terrible and terrifying, as it should be. Even when the disease is not life-threatening or disfiguring, it’s life-changing. You hear your doctor say those words—“I’m sorry, it’s malignant, you have cancer”—and suddenly the monster under the...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “The Real Reason Mrs. Sprague Came by Her House So Cheaply,” by Karin Terebessy Mrs. Sprague paused in front of the china cabinet when she heard a thunk. “What was that?” she called into the parlor. “Boys?” “Nothing, Mrs. Sprague,” they sang back in unison. Mrs. Sprague let out a tense breath and headed toward the noise when a knock on the kitchen door...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

No column this morning. I tried to write one but it proved too difficult, as this morning we’re at the oncology clinic, getting the results from my wife’s latest diagnostic imaging workup. I wanted to write about how crucial she’s been to the development of STUPEFYING STORIES, right from the very start, but everything I wrote kept coming out wrong. Ergo, here instead is today’s...

Read More

Return to the Moa

And here I am, back at the Mall of America again. Twenty-some years ago, when the MOA was shiny and new and I was a promising young writer with both a new novel out and an American publisher who actually put some promotional effort behind such novels by such writers, I got booked to do a signing at the MOA, at what was then the flagship store of a now-defunct bookstore...

Read More

From the SHOWCASE archives...

Fiction: “Invasive Species,” by Steve Quinn “Do you know how many species of post-arboreal bipeds we have on the conservation list?” the vaguely froglike creature asked. It was the size of a rhinoceros and using its tongue to manipulate a three-dimensional holographic listing of species and their home systems. “Not offhand, no,” Megan said. Her supervisor, the American...

Read More

Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049

Review by Sean CW Korsgaard Love it or loath it, Blade Runner has gone on to become one of the most influential science fiction movies ever made, shaping a generation of cyberpunk literature and influencing dozens of movies, from Ghost in the Shell to Dark City to Ex Machina. Entire books have been written about Blade Runner, so I won’t spend too much time talking about...

Read More

EXCITING AWARD NEWS!

All mercenary self-interest aside, this is seriously cool. Big congrats to Rampant Loon Press author Henry Vogel on advancing to the quarterfinals in the Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Prize competition. Not only is The Recognition Run in serious contention for the award, but we got some great quotes for future ad copy use from the BookLife Prize critic’s report. Without further...

Read More