Ameri-Scares West Virginia: Lair of the Mothman (ePub)

The writer is not the infamous Stephen King antihero Mort Rainey, but the far more nefarious author of the novels Dark Shadows: Dreams of the Dark (with Elizabeth Massie, HarperCollins, 1999), Balak (Wildside Books, 2000), The Lebo Coven (Thomson Gale/Five Star Books, 2004), The Nightmare Frontier (Sarob Press, 2006, and in e-book format by Crossroads Press, 2010), and Blue Devil Island (Thomson Gale/Five Star Books, 2007); three short story collections; and over 80 published works of short fiction (for a complete bibliography, click the button in the left-hand frame that says "Bibliography" and then run like hell).

Those with long memories may recall that I edited Deathrealm magazine, from 1987 to 1997. In its decade-long history, Deathrealm won a bunch of nice awards and featured hundreds of short stories, poems, and essays by authors ranging from the most established professionals to young, aspiring first-timers, many of whom proceeded to carve out names for themselves in the horror/dark fantasy field. Note: Deathrealm has been dead, bereft of life, and pushing up daisies for roughly twelve years now, so please don't send me your submissions anymore. Really. Please.

In 2004, I edited a new anthology for Delirium Books, titled Deathrealms, which features a wide selection of short stories from the magazine. I've edited a couple of other anthologies as well. The Song of Cthulhu (Chaosium, 2001) features 20 stories of Lovecraftian horror, and in 2006, I co-edited (with James Robert Smith) a new anthology for Arkham House titled Evermore, which features short stories about Edgar Allan Poe.

In summer, 2008, Dark Regions Press released a new collection of my short fiction, titled Other Gods, featuring 16 of my tales, including one never-before-published story ("Antidotes"). Dark Regions is scheduled to release another collection of my short fiction, titled The Gaki & Other Hungry Spirits in late 2010.

I have a number of dark and delightful tales coming down