The short stories I've sold this year are starting to appear in publications.

This is an examble for new writers in the horror and suspense genres to be aware of. Don't give up. Hang in there and keep writing no matter how bad it looks. All you need to do is find one person who likes your stuff and then everything changes for the better. I barely sold any of my work during the past two years. A story here and a story there. Since Thanksgiving, however, I've been on a roll and have sold several short stories that are due to be published this year. Some are out right now as I write this posting.

The first is my short story, A Step in the Shadows, which is about an infamous serial killer living in Las Vegas, Nevada. A former FBI agent read the story and was totally caught off guard by the ending. He loved it. It's only five pages long, but leaves a lasting impression on the reader. I sold this story to Rainstorm Press, and the anthology it's in, I'll Never Go Away, is now up on Amazon's Kindle store. The paperback version is due out on Amazon within a week or so. The cover of the anthology looks great. I'm really pleased with it. Rainstorm Press is also holding onto the sequel of this story, Trick or Treat, for possible publication in their 2013 anthology of the same name, but Volume 2.

The second, third and fourth of my short stories, known as The Countess trilogy, were sold to JMS Book. The first story in the trilogy, A Night of Hunger, will appear tomorrow (Monday, April 8th) on www.jms-books.com. With the help of the publisher, I was able to pick out a fabulous cover that will tie into all three stories. The common theme of the stories revolves around the Countess, who is a beautiful vampire and dominatrix in San Francsico. She uses an S&M lounge to pick out her next victims. Each of the three stories moves toward a grand finale. The second story, The Den of Inequity, will appear on May 27th. I just corrected the proof of this story and sent it back to them. The third and final story in the trilogy, The Countess, will appear on June 17th. The country's greatest assassin will go up against her for the murder of his younger brother. It will be a fight to the death.

The fifth short story, The House of Pain, was purchased by Short Scary Tales Publications in England. My story will appear in their Peep Show, Volume 2 anthology at the end of the year in paperback. This story is tied into the Countess trilogy. It's about her sister who runs the House of Pain in an underground cavern in Las Vegas. She, too, is a vampire and dominatrix, and uses the clientele of the cavern to pick her victims from. The police are getting ready to raid the cavern and send in an unarmed officer to check things out. He has to go through a metal detector in order to enter the caveren, so he can't have a weapon on his body. But, he's good in hand-to-hand combat. He will be in for the fight of his life before the story is over.

Stories six and seven are now up at www.FemDomCave.com in England. They are selling my erotic/horror novel, The House of Blood, in e-book. Two of my stories are being used to promote the novel because each of the stories take place inside this house of pure, unadulterated evil. The first story is The House of Palomino Lane, and deals with a homeless man who breaks into the house during a snowstorm in Vegas and encounters the evil spirit of the former owner. The second story, The Hunt, centers around an ex-Las Vegas Homicide Detective who has been chasing a serial killer for years, losing his job and family in the process. He's finally tracked the killer down to the house of Palomino Lane, only it's not one killer, but several, and they aren't human. He goes into the house, ready to die, but also wanting to take as many of the killers with him as possible.

My eight tale, The Bus, is due to be published by Undead Press this year. It takes place in and out of the Blue Bayou Hotel & Casino here in Las Vegas, across the street from the infamous House of Pain.

The ninth story, The Garbage Disposal is being published by Grave Demand sometime later this year.

I have three more stories out to various magazines, and I'm waiting to hear from them. I've got my fingers crossed. After such a long dry spell, I want to sell as many of stories as possible while the rush is in progress.