Picked Up for Publication

by Matthew Tansek | Aug 12, 2022 | Uncategorized

Well, I’m happy to report that my last two story submissions have been picked up for publication by the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers. It’s been a minute since I was included in one of their anthologies, and am very happy to have my work back in one of their books.

The first story will be part of the Recurring Nightmare series, which if I were to write an elevator pitch for it would go something like this:

The Dreams of Pan

Jessica couldn’t help but be excited to start her new job. The fact that it was in such a small out of the way town seemed strange at first, but the chance to put together a new library was such an opportunity. However when she comes across a unique book that should have never been included in the collection it sets her on a course to collide with powerful forces both tangable and cosmic.

The second story that the GLAHW group picked up was one that I submitted to their flagship anthology series Erie Tales. This particular collection was one that was themed for classic movie monsters. While I did briefly consider doing a mummy attack on an airplane, I landed on doing my take on the The Blob, which is such a fun monster.

Here is my elevator pitch for this story:

No Country for Old Blobs

While monitoring the extraction data for one of the new mobile fracking installations chemists Moxy and Buck discover something strange floating in the wastewater. Could this strange living substance have something to do with the death at the nearby farm? Could the nearby town be in danger?

If you enjoy my work or are interested in reading these two fun pieces of short fiction, that I must say I am proud of, please pick up a copy of the books when they become available. I’ll be sure to have updated information posted when it is known to me and link to the titles on the homepage, so keep your eyes peeled.

Cheers,
Matthew

New Short: Hometown Horror

by Matthew Tansek | Jul 28, 2022 | Creative Exercise, Uncategorized

I’ve gone through and edited a new short story for you all to enjoy. This one came out of a writing prompt that asked for the perspective of a bystander to an event that involved an extraterrestrial. Freed from the need to explain all that is witnessed I was able to focus more on the experience of the characters and the chaotic panic that ensues.

Like so many moments throughout the course of our lives we dont’ know all of the answers, and will never know. What the characters experience in this story is both incredible and terrifying , and explores what it would be like to be thrown in such a bizzarre situation.

Additionally the feeling of familiarity and alienness that the main character struggles with is both in line wiht the story and one that I can speak to with personal experience.

Hopefully you all enjoy this one, it was fun to write.

Click Here For More Info

New Short: Ancient Grains

by Matthew Tansek | Jun 23, 2022 | Uncategorized

I’ve got a new short story coming out next month called Ancient Grains. Believe it or not this story came bout from a writing contest that I entered a while back that was calling for supernatural horror shorts that had bread as the subject matter. I thought that the premise was so strange and challenging that I gave it a shot, and what was eventually written was a version of this story!

The inspiration for this story came from a bit of ghoulsish trivia that I read about how people in the middle ages would consume ground up mummy (and perhaps other human remains) because they believed that they contained revitalizing and/or magical powers. Go ahead, google it and you’ll see what I mean. Add to this the fact that I’ve become quite the avid sourdough baker this past year and you’ll agree that this story was kinda inevitable.

Full of fun imagery edging toward the gross out I hope you find this short story as much fun to read as it was to write.

Click Here For More Info

The Light of Day

by Matthew Tansek | Mar 28, 2022 | Uncategorized

There are different kinds of writers out there. Some sit down and hammer out a story, one at a time, while others like myself dabble across a ton of different stories seemingly simultaneously. I tend to think that if you are rating these styles in terms of efficiency the former would end up producing things on a more regular basis, while the latter will see intermittant flurries of activity.

I’ve written quite a bit lately, and while some stories are going out to calls for submissions, many were just written for fun. Most of the time when this happens I squrril them away into my Google Drive, and await for a call for a submission that matches the content that I’ve created, or for some distant day when I’ve written enough stores along the same theme or world to bundle them together and release an anthology.

But several of the authors that I follow release their shorts as stand along products on Amazon, and I thought that was a cool idea. Releasing stories for a couple of bucks allows them to see the light of day, instead of just languishing in my digital folder.

So bare with me as I dust off some old gems and throw them out there for you all to enjoy.

-Matt

Here is the link to my Amazon page if you wanted to check out any of the short fiction I’ve released so far.
Featured image by Matti Johnson on Unsplash

Another Year Begins

by Matthew Tansek | Jan 6, 2022 | Uncategorized

Often times when I publish anything on my obscure little blog here I feel as though all I am really doing is talking to nobody. My grey cells composing sentences for the ether of the Internet, and nothing else. And sometimes that is a comfort just as much as it is a punch to the gut. But here we are in 2022, and I’m at it again.

There are just certain things that I can’t help but gravitate toward in my life. My fascination with bugs, my love for windy days, and writing fun little works of fiction. With this new year I hope to find the time to enjoy all of these things.

My Kindle Vella series is a good start. I’m five episodes in, and having fun flying by the seat of my pants. Taking a page from Stephen King’s book, I’m setting the stage and letting the characters really fight in my mind. It’s been fun seeing how they can find their way out of the jams I put them in.

Here is a link to that Vella series of mine: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B09GH5J1SY

But I’m addition to this I want to continue to build up the number of publications I have to my name. So finding a monthly submission, and writing to those specs will be a goal of mine. If I do 9 in a year I’ll be happy.

Then there is editing my novel. Yes that’s right, my novel. Did you know I wrote one? No one did. It’s sat finished in my Google drive for years now. Waiting to be edited and cleaned up. This year is going to be the year, and if I have to Sept publish it, so be it.

And that’s it. There you go. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Jack. May we all have a great 2022!

November Sonnet

by Matthew Tansek | Nov 1, 2021 | Creative Exercise, Uncategorized

November Sonnet

With waxen features, its head jerked around
and lock eyes with me who stared down at it.
That dim well of ancient air underground
hid it from those who abided the writ.
Not I who had passed the posted warning,
and pulled free the iron disc that sealed.
To see what horror had caused the burning
to see if the horror of old was real.

I tried to move, and block the passage fast,
to stop the eagre staggering approach
it was too quick, and I too weak, alas!
It rose above me terrible and spoke:
“The sons of Adam hoped to keep me penned,
but all things hidden will return again.”

sonnet
son·net | \ ˈsä-nət \

Definition of sonnet

: a fixed verse form of Italian origin consisting of 14 lines that are typically 5-foot iambics rhyming according to a prescribed schemealso : a poem in this pattern