Two New Published Stories! (Kinda New)

Good news today as two of my previously published stories have been picked up in anthologies! I spent about 8 months writing a long piece and the accompanying synopsis, then had a bunch of rejections on the stories I finished recently so these acceptances are welcome news.

“Little Pieces” which was originally published in the October 2010 issue of Necrotic Tissue. The story deals with the harsh realities of dealing with death, knowing when to let go, and the complicated family issues that can accompany such pain.

“Little Pieces” was accepted into a Wildside Press’Haunts & Horrors’anthology. The editor said:

“It was great fun to read; very well-written and atmospheric, with an excellent ending.” I hope others agree.

“Cookers” was originally published on August 10th, 2010 in the aptly named Tales of the Zombie War. The story follows our young heroine in a coming of age story as she struggles to survive with her father and grandmother in…wait for it…a zombie apocalypse! These undead are super-heated, their flesh overdone and falling from the bone, and are just as dangerous as the mutated, meat-eating plant life.

“Cookers” was accepted into the ‘Zombie’ Anthology.

Dates are not set for either publication, but I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

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The Undead Critics

Everyone’s A Critic Part II:

I’ll share some of the comments from “Cookers” my story that revolves around a small family traveling through a wasteland filled with man-eating plants and legions of super heated undead. I’ll leave out comments that include spoilers

Here’s a link to the story:
http://www.talesofworldwarz.com/stories/2010/08/10/cookers-by-matt-piskun/

The Bad:
OK…believe it or not…there were NO negative comments. Huzzah, mead and salted meats for all!

The Good:
omg! i am blown away by the amount of good stories on this site! nice one Matt, the cookers is seriously intense and entertaining. =) much like the other writers i am hoping you will keep adding more to this story.

That…was…AWESOME.

This sotry is out of this world yet never fails to make that human connection.
The best stories use the environment of its worlds
to drive a point into that mystery we know as the human soul.
This is the best example ive come across on this site.
Thanks Matt, i hope you make this a series..
Id really like to know what happens to the characters.
I really liked grandma, if you turn this into a novel………..
Thanks to all the writers, no the wordsmiths on this site.

Just killer. Nice take and VERY well written. Can’t wait for more… hopefully.

CREEPY,GROSS,TWIZTED,WELL WRITTEN WHERE WE CAN PICTURE THE CHARACTERS IN OUR MINDS OF WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE.
A VERY GOOD JOB

Definitely a diff. take on “zombies”. Reminiscent of “The Road” & the animal zombies of those books by Keene & I kinda saw the cannibalization part from the 1st mention of them eating but very good w/brief backstory & good action scenes depictions. This site is great not to add just typical zombie stories but all kinds. Thanks all authors

Wow,
Just…wow. The world-setting was an original twist, while borrowing in the best sense from I am Legend in a couple ways, and the characterization/byplay between grandmother and Brie was both intense and savagely touching..Awesome, awesome story. Bravo!

And the Greatest Comment of All:

holy fucking hell up the ass with a chainsaw that was an awsome story dude please write some more

Feel free to take a read and write your own!

Desert Walker – Still on Shroud Magazines Short List

“Desert Walker”, a supernatural tale of family and determination in a barren world of sand and death, was added to the short list of stories to be accepted in Shroud Magazine. I was notified of this on August 23, 2010, so at this point I figure no news is still good news.

Not much else to speak on at this point. My writing resume to this point reads like this:

1. “Infestation” story #145, Pseudopod, June 2009
2. “Painkiller”, House of Horror issue #10, April 2010
3. “’Til Death”, Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine, July 2010
4. “Cookers”, Tales of the Zombie War, August 10th 2010
5. “Little Pieces” to be published in the October 2010 issue of Necrotic Tissue
6. “The Key” to be published in Morpheus Tales #15, January 2012

So, obviously I’m hoping Desert Walker will be lucky #7.

I have about 3 to 5 more short stories that I think are fit for publishing. I would love to hit double digits for when I finish my grand attempt at a novel. I’m at about 11,000 words in on the first draft. All my stories published to date are basically horror but the novel will be more of a dark, young adult novel. It’s going well so far although I am not sure how a novel manuscript should look, but let’s not put the cart before the horse.