I was very happy to get the news that one of my short stories, a horror western (an experiment I was trying) was finally accepted after over a dozen rejections. It's not a big payday in any way (a few bucks) but it felt good having someone like this story that so many had turned down.

Tell us who you are, and what you write. You don't need to share your name. You don't need a publishing credit or a finished manuscript. All you need is a love for dark, fearless storytelling. Tell us: What kind of dark fiction do you write or read? Which author or book pulled you into this world? What are you working on right now? We'll start, this is a place where your darkest ideas finally have a room to breathe.

Rather obnoxiously, way back when I wrote my first novella (A sci-fi by the name of "Defying Gravity"), I emailed it to a well known Australian author. They had zero reason to reply at all, let alone with advice. And yet they did. The advice was.... "Swap your first two chapters around. Your first chapter is boring, because I'm not invested in any characters. Your second chapter, with a character in peril, is a much better start, and a reader is more likely to make it through your info-dump afterwards." 🙂

No, they're not a cult. And yes, I'm a member. lol.

I've realised that a lot of my stories include this theme (trope?). So I thought I'd waffle about a couple. "Mother's Little Angels" is set in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by women, who keep men for two reasons - Slave workers, and breeders. It if forbidden to teach men anything beyond the basics required for them to perform their duties. All but those selected for breeding are castrated. This is to prevent men from becoming dominant and screwing up the world like they did when they caused the apocalypse and the return to the dark ages. Sulon is an accomplished hunter, one of her tribe's best. Being sent to the slave markets to buy another breeder for the chief is somewhat below her, and she initially treats their new slave with disdain. But as the story progresses and the tribe finds itself under attack from a crazed radical group known as the sisterhood, the breeder proves himself to be much more worthwhile than first imagined. He earns Sulon's respect, and maybe even friendship. Blurb: A thousand winters after the apocalypse. Women rule the world. Another useless man has failed to put a child in Chief Jaboo's belly. In a rage she sends her best Hunter and Weaver to the slave markets, under orders to swap him for a more fertile seeder. Sulon the Hunter decides to try the faulty merchandise along the way. But the fun is short lived. Dark clouds of war are gathering. Can the village survive an attack by the radical sisterhood? Or does their salvation lie in the hands of yet another useless man? An ARC review: Be forewarned - if you do not approach this book as a rather biting satire of patriarchal/misogynistic society, you may find yourself offended. If you are offended by the social commentary of George Carlin and Dave Chappelle, this book is probably going to offend you as well. Having said that - full disclosure - I am a male over 60, and I found it to be pretty darned funny! I'm sure the blurb gives you enough to figure out the basic premise: fantasy neolithic setting, women fully in control, men serve as slaves (neutered and otherwise), etc. If you're familiar at all with the "Tarnsman of Gor" series by John Norman (which most assuredly was NOT a satire, but was overthetop patriarchal and misogynistic after the first one!), this novella is basically the 180 of that - sex (a lot), violence (a bit), and ruthless domination of one sex by the other, but with the shoe completely on the other foot. It's satire, and funny as only good satire can be. The author even manages to make the sex scenes (which are pretty hot) funny at times.