Category: The Art of Writing

Information on the art of writing in general

Update April 27, 2019–The Charade

The day before yesterday, I started a sci-fi short story that I have since named “The Charade”. Today, I finished the first draft in pen and have started typing it up, editing as I go. The first draft should be a Word document tomorrow (which is actually later today as it is 1:09 a.m. right now). I will submit it to Fiction on the Web, an English online magazine. They have published several of my works before.

“The Charade” is set in the distant future in a bunker in the Rockies after a battle in which the US has defeated an alien invasion force. The alien commander has been captured and, at the story’s outset, is about to undergo an extremely hostile interrogation by the US commander. Of course, things are not what they seem.

This should be a really good story, if I can pull it off. Wish me luck.

Update, April 25, 2019

I have been writing flash and micro fiction like mad over the past few days. I have sent off at least three new stories for publication this week and 2-3 older stories to be reprinted.

The new stories are centered in horror: “Dirty Phoenix Rising”, “River of Lost Souls”, and “Twizzler”.

I need to get back to my novel, but I have had a sudden passion for flash.

“Diabolical: Three Tales of Jack Thurston and Revenge” is Available on Kindle and in Print

Please go to amazon.com/author/philslattery or Goodreads or any other social media to leave a review.

Jack Thurston is a retired professor of medieval literature and history. He is also a widower and father and a retired sorcerer who has returned to the black arts to exact revenge for the death of his wife, daughter, and brother. He has an intriguing position in the universe at a focal point of life, the afterlife, logic and reason, anger and hatred, the ancient and the modern worlds, grief and his attempts to escape grief through self-destruction. Though he wants to have the peace he once found with his wife, Agatha, he is pulled in many directions by circumstance and by his powerful negative emotions.

I am a fan of the old school horror practiced by such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Poe, Edward Lucas White, and Arthur Machen.  I endeavor to make a story as terrifying and suspenseful for the reader as possible without resorting to gratuitous blood and gore for a simple shock or quick feeling of disgust.

This collection of three short tales is perfect for those who have only a few short breaks to escape into the hidden world of horror, black magic, sorcery, and anger-fueled revenge.

You can find this and other works at my Amazon author’s page:  www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Currently, Jack has a Twitter account (@jthurston666), where he has attracted a small following and where it has only recently been revealed that he is fictional. Jack has his own blog at jackthurstonblog.wordpress.com (a work in progress) and his own e-mail at jackthurston666@gmail.com.

Information on more social media accounts and other characters (as they are developed) can be found at: philslattery.wordpress.com. Please interact with him at any of his social media accounts as you would with a real person.

Show your appreciation for these stories by leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other social media.

If you enjoy horror, check out my collection of horror short stories A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror: Stories of wizards, werewolves, serial killers, alien worlds, and the damned, which includes these stories.

Never Ignore Jill

I was going through my documents file and came across a flash fiction story I had written in 2017, but never submitted. Originally entitled “Jill”, I made a few changes and changed the title to “Never Ignore Jill” and submitted it to flash fiction magazine.com. Total word count: 906. I should hear back in eight weeks.

“Never Ignore Jill” is an amusing little tale of a man who ignores his girlfriend’s pleading to fix her car and pays a slightly painful but humorous price.