"A New Adult" in Slash Magazine's Latest Issue

I don't want to bury the lead, so let me start off with the news right away. My short story "A New Adult" is in Slash Magazine's latest issue. You can read it right now... for free! And of course, you can read all the other pieces in this issue... after mine. But if you want to read a thriller/horror story that's less than a 10-minute read... here you go!

To backtrack a little to the beginning of the story...

When I was a little boy...

I'm kidding. Not that far back.

There's a publication called Elegant Literature which I recommend you all check out some day. I often submit to them. Each month, they have a new theme that you have to fit you story into. One time I got an honorable mention, but none of my other stories have gotten published. But I keep trying, and best of all, after the stories don't get accepted, I tend to have a story that I am proud of, and that I will submit elsewhere.

There was a theme recently which was "Predator & Prey." I wrote my story, submitted it, but it got turned down. Oh well.

Later on, I found out about Slash Magazine and how they had a theme called "Feast." Due to the nature of my story, I felt that it fit it! For Elegant Lit, the word count maximum is 2,000. For Slash it was more, I believe 3,000. I felt that the story was a good fit, but it could get better, and it could get better by having some more detail.

So, I went back to edit my story with the intention of having it be a good fit for Slash Magazine. I have done this a few times with other publications, and it hadn't worked yet... but it did here! Slash Magazine told me that they liked my story and they wanted to published it! Alas, I am in the issue with "A New Adult" with my main character who is a young girl. I'd never actually written a story from that perspective before, so it was new, but I enjoyed telling a story from a different perspective like that.

I had known it was going to get published at some point, and the editor was in constant contact with me about the issue, how it would be in digital and print, and all the other great details... and then it got published on September 16th!

By the way, on September 16th, my story here on Vocal "One Week at the Bar" also was announced as a Runner-Up in the "Last Call" competition, so that was a pretty great day in terms of news. Funnily enough, I was working in the office (which I rarely ever do) and had tons of meetings (which I rarely ever have) so I was really busy, but finding out about the news in between meetings. It was some fantastic news to get while being quite busy, and now, I'm finally able to properly celebrate and spread the news.

I wanted to make sure to make a Vocal post talking about the story, but also sharing it, because I hope people will go check it out. And I hope you horror lovers enjoy it in the many-day-lead-up to Halloween. You can never have too many Halloween Eve Days! Also, it's great to support these independent publishers, so I hope you all can support the magazine and check out the other pieces that are alongside my own. I still have to go check some of them out when I get a chance.

I hope you enjoy "A New Adult."