What’s with me and zombies? It probably began when I was four or five, scared out of my mind, hiding under the dining room table as “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things” played on the TV in the next room. (It was most likely playing on WPIX’s Chiller Theatre. Remember that?) That final scene when the undead get on a boat and head for the bright lights of the big city haunted me for a long time. Of all the movie monsters, zombies have probably disturbed me the most. They’ve also been pretty good for my burgeoning fiction-writing career.

Bards & Sages Quarterly just bought my short story “The Zombie Who Had a Name,” which follows a recently animated corpse as it travels through the apocalypse. It should be out in October, just in time for Halloween. The funny part? This is my third short story sale–and in each there’s a zombie (though they’re more of the sympathetic variety than the scary kind).

So here’s my dilemma: Do I continue writing about the walking dead or bury (heh-heh-heh) the zombies for the time being?

Today One Forty Fiction published my microfiction tale “Who’s There? Who Cares?”

Stories don’t open better than Fredric Brown’s 1948 short story “Knock.” (“The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.”) It’s so good an opening that the rest of the story is often forgotten. One day I started riffing on those 17 words, and couldn’t stop. Go read “Who’s There? Who Cares?” and then check out my other six variations. Feel free to join the fun with your own microfiction.

1. The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. He didn’t hear it. He was wearing headphones.

2. The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. It was just the wind. He went to bed.

3. The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. “Great! I didn’t miss the last man on Earth con,” said the stranger as he entered.

4. The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. It was the last woman on Earth. She looked pissed.

5. The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. He didn’t answer it. He liked being the last man on Earth.

6. The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door. Fucking Avon Lady, he grumbled.

I’ve been published! The flash fiction anthology “At Year’s End: Holiday SFF Stories,” which includes my story “They Will Be Home for Christmas,” came out today. Though it was my second story to be accepted this year, it’s my first to be published. So, it’s a pretty historic book. Buy it. All the holiday-themed stories are 500 words or less — some are poignant, some are funny, some are dark, and others, like mine, are dark and funny.

Table of Contents:
“Foreword” by L. Lambert Lawson
“A Unicorn for Christmas” by Beth Cato
“When Friends Come to Call” by Zach Shephard
“Autumn Waits” by Ken MacGregor
“Nuclear Family” by Alex Shvartsman
“The Christmas Zombie” by James S. Dorr
“Mission Log, Day 67″ by Lance Schonberg
“Resolution” by Amanda M. Hayes
“The Conjurer” by Alicia Cole
“Nativity” by Brandon Alspaugh
“History Lessons” by Sandra McDonald
“Gifted” by Dan Hart
“Mistletoe” by Casey Peterson
“New Year’s Revolution” by Katherine Sparrow
“They Will Be Home for Christmas” by James Aquilone
“In the Bleak Midwinter” by Michael H. Payne
“The Greatest Tiger Lantern of All” by J. Deery Wray
“A Visit, A Gift” by Matthew Johnson
“Electric Hatsuyume” by Deborah Walker
“A Reason to Linger” Alexis A. Hunter

Buy “At Year’s End: SFF Holiday Stories” for Kindle or Nook.