Joyous news!  It’s exciting whenever a young writer like myself can add a new publication to his resume, but when two come out so close together it truly becomes cause for celebration.  The first one, an illustrated short story called “Family Reunion,” came out on April 25^th.  It was published as part of a series of anthologies by a group called Ink & Drink Comics.  They are a great group of guys based out of St. Louis, Missouri who have taken it upon themselves to showcase the talent of their hometown, of which I am a proud member (though not at the moment).  For more about them, check out this article from the St. Louis Beacon.

My favorite thing about this anthology series is that they make each new volume specialize in a specific genre, with the second being that the title of each volume has a drinking reference in it (Ink & Drink, get it? ;))  Anyway, the newest volume is a Western anthology and it’s called Off the Wagon.  This is the second story I’ve published with them and in a recent review my story even got a specific mention (LINK!!)  So if you’re from around St. Louis and you want to get a taste of some of the local artistic talent, check it out.

But as excited as I am about that, it pales in comparison to my latest anthology publication, which is due to come out this month.  The anthology is called A Thoroughly Good Blue and it is going to be available both as a print publication here in Dublin, Ireland (my current city of residence) and as an eBook on Amazon (the eBook is only $3.99 for U.S. residents, and $4.91 for people in Ireland and the U.K.  Either way it’s a real steal!).

My contribution to this particular anthology is the first two chapters of my fantasy novel, Children of the End.  Some of you might recognize the name from the teasing snippet I posted here.

While the novel as a whole may still be nearing completion, anyone who wants to see what I’ve been working on for the past couple of years can get a special sneak peek within these pages.  Tempted?

And while I will admit that I’m more than a little biased towards this book as a whole (seeing as I’m one of the contributors), having read everyone’s stories I can honestly say this is a wonderfully diverse and well-written collection of work.  Whether you like poetry or prose, fantasy or literary fiction, short stories of sections from longer works, you will find what you’re looking for within these pages.  I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have worked with such a talented group of writers and could not be more proud of what we have put into this anthology.  I encourage anyone who sees this anthology (whether it be the print book or the kindle edition) to pick it up and give it a read.  You won’t be disappointed.

A Thoroughly Good Blue officially hits the shelves on May 17th, for those of you around Ireland, but the eBook hit Amazon last week and thus can be found anywhere with an internet connection.

Happy readings everyone!