Today, ‘Til Death came out. This is a terrific anthology from Crimson Pinnacle Press. My story kicks this one off, Death of Creativity, a tale of Death’s purloined pen. Laurie happened upon two mysterious figures one night when she was a teen. She saw a pen gleam in the dark and took it. Death has returned for his pen, and animal crackers. Trust me.

And my story, Kafka and the Fly, ends this one, Head Blown from Merrill David, the organizer of Texas Author Con coming up in July. Kafka and the Fly is my love letter to Franz. An imagining of what drove him to write Metamorphosis. I haven’t made it a secret that Kafka is my favorite author, and the favorite author of most of my other favorites as well. I’m not vain enough to think I did him justice, just vain enough to try I suppose.

You can ask writers and they will say the lead off or final spot is the sweet spot in a book. Draw them in or make them leave wanting more. I’m honored that these guys chose my stories.

And finally this. They didn’t tell me ahead of time they were dedicating ‘Til Death to me. Because I would have fought and screamed. But we have to accept kindness when given, and this was truly a great kindness bestowed upon me.

(un)broken is coming next. Then Cuckoo will finally fly free. More on them as we get closer to August. I’ve got a full whiteboard of stories to write. Head down, keep writing. Thanks for coming along for the ride. I’m scared to death of what’s coming, but we’ll face it together.