“Ghostwitch”: two thousand words of terror
This an update I actually should have shared over a month ago, but time got away from me. By which I mean, I misremembered “Ghostwitch’s” publication date in the online Two Thousand Word Terrors anthology as August instead of July, and I also have spent the summer in a fugue of work — editing, of course, and some writing, but also preparing for the 2023 Sustainability Fair in Waukesha County. If you’re in Southeast Wisconsin and looking for a fun and informative,...
Read MoreAn excerpt: “What’s going to happen after I’m dead?”
“There’s one thing that’s bothered me.” He felt the camera’s gaze and flushed, knowing those at the window would hear. “Maybe I should ask you to excuse me for saying this…” “You will never have to apologize to me for anything.” “What’s going to happen after I’m dead, when John Kosichev keeps giving the Commonwealth hell?” Gloria released his hand and smoothly reached for her dropped pocketbook. “I couldn’t answer you for certain, but I do have a theory—don’t worry about them,” she said when...
Read MoreNew ghost story publication and a Year-End Sale!
I’m excited to announce my short story “Ghostwitch” will be published as a free read on the site of publisher Rooster Republic on a Monday in 2023 – which Monday is yet to be determined, but announcements will be coming out in January and February. And then, you’ll probably want to catch all of the series of Two Thousand Word Terrors, which begins Monday, February 6 and will run for the next 45 weeks. While you wait for next year, there’s also the Smashwords...
Read MoreRelease Day
Three collections of revised and reprinted short fiction are out today! John Kosichev and Other Heroes: Stories of Resistance In small ways and large, ordinary people and extraordinary ones defy the regimes that would crush them. Available on Amazon and wider distributors through Draft2Digital – and in paperback! The Astrologer’s Telling: Stories of Worlds Ending and the Cost of Survival What would you be willing to sacrifice to go on? And when going on becomes impossible, what choices...
Read MoreNew Story Collections: Heroes, Apocalypse, Loyalty and Betrayal
Embarrassment is a poor motivation for writing, so I won’t be ashamed about how little readers have seen of me over the past few years. I haven’t been wasting my time – I’ve edited dozens of amazing novels, helped to plan two Waukesha County Sustainability Fairs, and found out this online dating thing might be all it’s cracked up to be (even if it means off-line interactions require an hour-long drive. I’m taking audiobook recommendations, by the way!). All...
Read MoreHeroic Fantasy Author Q&A
Flame Tree Publishing’s gorgeous hardcover Heroic Fantasy anthology will be released July 31st. As the date approaches, contributors are sharing the inspirations behind our stories at the Flame Tree blog. From writing challenges to a love of H.P. Lovecraft and Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog to pure stubbornness because someone said you should never do something, it’s a interesting peak under the hood. Previews of the book are available in Flame Tree’s store. Heroic...
Read MoreA Checklist to Start Publishing Short Fiction
This post originally went live on Fictionvale in 2014 and was reprinted in Short Story Writer Magazine. Unfortunately, Fictionvale has since closed and the article is no longer available online. I’m taking the opportunity to repost it while I’m moving to my new apartment and have less time available to blog. While it’s focused on writing short fiction, the advice may also be helpful to novelists, article writers, artists, and anyone curious about how publishing works on the...
Read More“Of the Generation” in Heroic Fantasy Anthology from Flame Tree Publishing
Flame Tree Publishing has posted the Tables of Contents for its new Gothic Fantasy anthologies: Time Travel and Heroic Fantasy. It’s pretty unreal to be on the same list as the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The full ToC for Heroic Fantasy is: A Matter of Interpretation by M. Elizabeth Ticknor Burned Away by Kate O’Connor Dragon and Wolf by Zach Chapman Erzabet and the Gladiators by Susan Murrie Macdonald Five Fruits I Ate in Sandar Land by Michael Haynes Laya by Voss...
Read MoreLiving with Imposter Syndrome
This post originally went live on Fictionvale in 2014. Unfortunately, Fictionvale has since closed and the article is no longer available online. I’m taking the opportunity to repost it while I’m moving to my new apartment and have less available to blog. If you’re currently battling a bout of imposter syndrome, I hope it proves timely. This is a piece to read not when you’re fleeing constructive criticism, but when no feedback, not even positive feedback, feels...
Read More“John Kosichev” in Storyteller magazine
As I said in my last post, it turns out that when you send stories regularly in answer to calls for submissions, you sometimes get stories accepted! I’m very excited to break my long publishing silence with a release in a new magazine, Storyteller, with a story that’s been a particular favorite of mine (even when it took a few drafts), “John Kosichev.” This issue of Storyteller includes some gripping and rather timely stories tackling issues of virtual reality,...
Read MoreAbout Therese
Therese Arkenberg's first short story was accepted for publication on January 2, 2008, and her second acceptance came a few hours later. Since then they haven't always been in such a rush, yet her work appears in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Analog, Daily Science Fiction, and the anthology Sword & Sorceress XXIV. Aqua Vitae, her science fiction novella, was released by WolfSinger Publications in December 2011.
She works as a freelance editor and writer in Wisconsin, where she returned after a brief but unforgettable time in Washington, D.C. When she isn't reading, writing, or editing (it's true!) she serves on the board of the Plowshare Center of Waukesha, which works for social, economic, and environmental justice.