Free Previews of New Collection

So I've been working on some short stories for another Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse collection. (Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse II? More Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse? Not sure, yet.) While the first collection contained mostly stories which had been originally published elsewhere, I'm going to let you, the reader, preview these new stories here on my blog for free, until I get enough stories together for the collection. I already have a handful written, and am working on about ten more.


I'll try to put up at least one new one each month. The first story up, fresh off the presses, is called The Mule, and can be found under the Free Story of the Month tab.


Spread the word! And thanks very much for stopping by.

Musical Influence

I grew up with two brothers, one who is nine years older than me, and one who is seven years older, as well as my big sis who is ten years older than me. My brothers, especially, had a big impact on a lot of the music I grew up listening to. They introduced me to the Beatles, AC/DC, the B-52s, Devo, the Clash, Warren Zevon, the Dead Kennedys, Bow Wow Wow, Oingo Boingo, the Plasmatics, the Runaways, Blondie, the Suburbs, Queen, Gary Numan...the list goes on, but it was never just the usual pop shit you’d hear on the top 40’s stations.

They had a stereo in the basement, and they’d crank the volume way the hell up so that the whole house would vibrate with the music. You could be upstairs and feel the music in the dinner plates set out on the dining room table.

My brothers were like the crack dealers of music. Come on – just try a little taste of The Clash. That’s right, just a taste.

My parents took me to musicals, like Bye Bye Birdie, The King & I, The Music Man, and West Side Story, and I’m thankful for those influences, too. Good to have such a wonderful introduction to a wide variety of music at an early age. I need to try harder to share that love with my own kids.

Who influenced your musical tastes?

Fingers Crossed

Earlier this week I finished and sent off my murder mystery story for the next Minnesota Crime Wave anthology. They’re the folks who put together Resort to Murder, which I have a story in. I hope they like it. It was a bugger to write – I restarted the thing at least half a dozen times. I kept changing the point of view, the number of characters, etc. At first it was from one person’s pov, then another’s, then an omniscient pov, before I finally settled on the way I thought best to tell the story. I changed the beginning a bunch of times, cut out a scene I really liked (since it didn’t work with the pov I ended up using) but eventually the story shaped up, and I like how it turned out. I also learned what a pomander is.

So for now, I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Branches - 3 Stories about Family

I released a new mini-collection of three short stories that's currently only available on Amazon.

"BRANCHES contains three short stories about family relationships in general, parent-child relationships in particular.

In 'Korean Mother is Dying' a divorced mother deals with the difficulties of raising a teenage daughter while coming to grips with her own past.

In 'A Hand to Hold' a mother and her son form a bond over an elderly woman who lives across their street.

In ''Jump!' the Water Master Cried' a father brings her daughter to meet her grandfather for the first time to see if there's anything left to salvage of a damaged relationship.

While mostly known for his horror and suspense novels and short stories, here author Joel Arnold presents a trio of emotionally charged literary shorts that just may leave you crying, cheering, or both."


Take a look if you get a chance!