S.J.Budd

Cody Wheeler has had one stressful year and wants nothing more than to relax, forget about his problems, meet up with his buddies  for a beer or two. He can't wait to wave out  the old year and welcome in the new. However all his problems seem to be following him, such as his long term girlfriend Kendall Simpson, things haven't been right lately, he just can't put his finger on where it's all going wrong. He tries his best to be the perfect boyfriend but everything he does winds her up. He's beginning to question whether she's worth all the effort and against his better judgement after one argument too many he decides to leave her at the roadside and go to the party alone... This tale by Calvin Demmer is a great dark story guaranteed to counter-act the sweetness of the festive season for all you horror fans out there. In this, Calvin Demmer takes something very old and makes it new for the 21st century. If you love this tale and eager for more, this i

I was very honoured to have been interviewed by Deadman's Tome about my writing for their special Trumpocalypse Edition! This is a great site through which I have been previously published and by buying collections like these you're helping to support new and upcoming writing talent! As the title suggests it is a short story collection of twisted satircal tales all about Donald Trump! Deadman's Tome Trumpocalypse is loaded with dark twisted stories featuring the President, riffing his ego, his micro-penis, and his love for his daughter. Trumpocalypse deleivers more laughs than scares, but the dark tones and demented edge is everything Deadman's Tome. Check out where he confesses a bombshell. You can buy this for kindle and print too! If you're a lover of dark and twisted horror then you can find much much more at Deadman's Tome  

Thanks Sinning is the third short story to be released by upcoming horror writer Calvin Demmer. "It all started with a glass shattering..." Deshawn Williams sits in a dingy bar contemplating how his life took a wrong turn. The only source of excitement in his life was watching a heated exchange take place between a barmaid and customer. The barmaid accused of being a homewrecker looks like trouble, one to be avoided but when she approaches Deshawn stuck in hs quiet life he is powerless to resist the danger that surrounds her. He's supposed to be going home to his mum for dinner for Thanks Giving. She takes him away and promises him a night of passion if he can do one thing for her. But what she asks of him goes against everything he believes in. He takes a second look at her and realise she's not all she seems but can he show her that sin doesn't always win. I really enjoyed reading this great little tale, highly original and a great ending. Did Desh

Delighted to say I've had a short story recently published on Aphelion Magazine, called We Belong Together  It is the tale of a young woman desperate for a new life with a new family. For those of who who haven't heard of it before, Aphelion is an online magazine dedicated to bringing you the best new tales of science fiction and fantasy. They have recently celebrated their 20th year! This is the second time I've been published on their brilliant site, my first was The Tail of the Sea upon the Thief's Path which you can read here Please take a look at this great site, all content is free and the stories are great! Thanks

This is the third short tale from Calvin Demmer which takes place on Halloween with Barry Steiner taking to his neighbourhood for an annual bout of trick or treating. He's not looking to amass hordes of sweets but something else far less obtainable. Barry Steiner s a young man who is desperate for popularity and will do anything to increase the number of subscribers on his youtube channel. He thinks he's come up with a brilliant idea; pranking. Except the joke is on him, he's blind to everything that goes on around him with devastating consequences.He has everything he wants in life, he just has to look past his nose, but sometimes these realisations come much too late. A great little tale that blends humour with terror, full of tension and foreboding doom and of course there's a nice little twist at the end. Another great tale from an emerging horror author! If you enjoyed this story you'll be glad to know that Calvin Demmer has two other short stories, Hun

I'm delighted to say that I've had a another short story accepted on the epic   Deadman's Tome  which features some really great dark tales from up and coming authors such  as S.E.Casey, Gary Buller , Jovan Jones amongst many others. Deadman's Tome is a horror site for those who like their horror dark, edgy and pushing boundaries. They publish short stories and weekly flash fiction and all their content is free. It's well worth taking a look and if you like what you see Deadman's Tome have just released their second, Deadman's Tome Book of Horrors 2 for your enjoyment. My tale, Hold Me Tight, features a young boy sent to stay with a grieving mother desperate for a new start, but does she deserve one? You can read it here . Enjoy!

I'd never thought I'd get to this point of actually having any sort of resemblance of a manuscript that could possibly be worthy of submission but I think I might have just made it. My latest venture isn't the first novel that I've written  but this is the first one that has potential. But despite after writing it there's still so much left to be done for it to be ready. Compared to sending off short stories it seems a much more daunting prospect. To be honest I have so much fun writing my short stories that even if no one else likes them I'm not to be fussed but obviously it's great when they are selected from the slush pile. However my longer pieces are like my babies, the end product is so much more than words it represents many sleepless nights of working away and fretting, pouring my heart and soul into each of the characters to bring them to life, and the constant fear that it's been a huge waste of time. This time however I determined to ac

For hundreds of years, the flame-wielding Embers have been the last line of defense against the nightmare creatures from the World Apart, but the attacks are getting worse. Kole Reyna guards Last Lake from the terrors of the night, but he fears for his people’s future. When Kole is wounded by a demon unlike any they have seen before, the Emberfolk believe it is a sign of an ancient enemy returned, a powerful Sage known as the Eastern Dark. Kole has never trusted in prophecy, but with his people hanging on the precipice, he reluctantly agrees to lead the Valley’s greatest warriors in a last desperate bid for survival. Together, they will risk everything in search of a former ally long-thought dead, and whether Kole trusts him or not, he may be the only one capable of saving them.   Valley of Embers is a powerful  debut by Steven Kelliher which is incredibly  fast, fantasy fuelled and action packed, despite being set in another world there is no info dumping which is a big pet hate

In this short tale Jared Rogers is already in trouble and has no idea of the downward spiral he's about to get himself into when he accepts the offer of two hundred dollars for just two hours work. That's a lot of money to anyone but to him it's a lifeline. Orphaned when he was just twelve after his parents died in a car crash Jared was raised by his doting and loyal aunt and uncle, helping run their electrical hardware shop which is dying a slow death. After the tragic passing of his uncle he realises his aunt is on the verge of bankruptcy and answers the ad as a way of providing her with some means for survival. And he too has dreams of his own, despite graduating from university he has never made it out of the small dead end town he grew up in and the chance to earn a bit of money to help him escape is too tempting... In search of cash plucky Jared arranges to meet the mysterious Tim Lewis who put out the ad in an abandoned warehouse where he is doomed to find

I stumbled across this awesome magazine whilst looking for places to submit my short stories to and instantly fell in love with it. The Wild Hunt magazine is an exclusively online magazine which publishes the very best fiction that celebrates the weird and the surreal and I was incredibly fortunate enough to be published by them. So if you grew up devouring fairy tales, old legends, old myths of magic beasts and adventures, ghost stories that leave you tingling then look no further than the Wild Hunt Magazine. The great news is that all their content is free and they have a great selection of stories to read at your pleasure so go on, enjoy. In here you'll find tales of dandy popinjays, super cute bunnies, strange plants, lost love, ancient magic heroic quests, intoxicating music and ethereal hippies. The Mound by S.J.Budd Overnight the garden had perceptibly shifted, even Marilyn with her city eyes could see that. Betwixt the falling of twilight and the lifting of

Today is a special day for me as I've reached the milestone of having 13 short stories published in the two years I've been writing. When I first started out my tales were truly terrible but I feel that from an awful lot of rejection I've learnt a lot about the craft of writing and now I feel I'm starting to have something to show for it. I feel very honoured to have had just one story accepted and getting my work published is absolutely the best motivator to keep me tapping away at the keyboard. My latest tale, The Mound, is now proudly featured in the epic Wild Hunt Magazine. This is a great site and has some great fiction already published. They are a selection of beautiful haunting stories, best described as ethereal. Having read all the stories already published on their site I'm really chuffed to be included amongst them. The Wild Hunt is an online literary magazine that celebrates the weird, surreal,the other, and imaginary worlds. Its aim is to fea

You've just finished your totally awesome and amazing first draft of your novel. You feel epic on the verge of literary stardom but then you glance down to the word count and see it is dangerously small. There just doesn't seem that many words for all your efforts. Unless you're Stephen King or J.K.Rowling the word count of  your novel is really important. If it's below 40,000 words it's a novella, nothing wrong with that, unless you want it published. The problem with having a very small word count/novella is that agents won't want to sell it to the big publishers as financially it's not worth their time and if you want to be published by one of the giants you'll need to have representation in order to get them to read your work.. So in short only novels will interest an agent. Word count requirements are different within the literary genres. Young adult fiction can get away with having a shorter word count of 55-70k  whilst fantasy novels can be

Ten Tips For Surviving The Hungry Ghost Festival. 1.Do not interfere with any offerings. If done by accident, immediately apologise aloud 2.Do not open an umbrella indoors as ti may invite ghosts. 3.Do not marry, start a new business,or move home during ghost month. 4. Do not wander after midnight. 5.Chopsticks placed upright are a direct invitation for ghosts to partake in your meal. 6.Do not sleep facing a mirror or reflective surface. This may guide ghosts to you. 7.Do  not pat anyone's shoulder or forehead. It brings them bad luck and puts them at risk of being possessed. 8. Do not swim. Drowned evil ghosts seek victims for their rebirth. 9. Do not take photos,selfies or videos. Ghosts may appear. 10. Do not turn around if a voice calls you from behind. Lara and Ray have just reach their hotel in China, their first holiday abroad. The trip of a lifetime and beyond! They have arrived during the Hungry Ghost Festival. The streets are adorned with

As some of you may know, at the beginning of this year I stumbled across this quote from Ray Bradbury and set myself the challenge of writing 52 short stories during 2016. Ray Bradbury argued that; "When you start writing short stories, the quality doesn’t really matter; you’re practicing your craft. At the end of the year, you’ll have 52 short stories. It’s almost impossible not to have at least one good story among those 52. Writing short stories will teach you to be constantly looking for ideas. In addition, every week you’ll be happy, because by the end of each week you’ll have something to show for your efforts." And now suddenly it's August and over halfway through the year, and my challenge. So far at week 31 I've written 20 short stories. I don't think that's too bad and despite being a bit behind with the numbers I've felt that I've learnt a lot. It's not just honing the skills of my craft that I've experienced but also the

I'm not embarrassed to admit it but I love Young Adult fiction even though I'm in my early thirties and have two children. To me there's something really delightful in slipping into the mindset of a teenager like Rory Devereaux and pretending I'm young again. The Madness Underneath is the second instalment of The Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson. I've previously read the first book of the series, The Name of the Star and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I think I'm a bit hooked and this book The Madness Underneath, ended on the highest cliff hanger I've ever come across in a book and I'm  now experiencing painful withdrawal symptoms. I think the reason why I like these books is because of Rory Devereaux, the sassy teen from Louisiana U.S.A  who's come to study at college in London. There's something quite adorable about her but she's also feisty and wise for her age.  She's really interesting because she is real and has flaws

Morpheus Tales is a  top independent UK publishing company that has been running since 2008. They publish a quarterly magazine celebrating the top new horror  and weird fiction around. You can purchase many of their back issues and special themed issues from their website  http://www.morpheustales.com/  for next to nothing. In this Anthology  Morpheus Tales, The Best Weird Fiction Volume 5 (Edited by Adam Bradley) you'll find a dark hand picked selection of the finest macabre stories. In here we learn of the strange machinery capable of ripping apart the very fabric of reality. What it is that waits for us on the other side? You'll hearts will be warmed by romance that doesn't go according to plan, of friendships turning sour and strange creatures that like to play with their prey. Enjoy! The Cherry Tree by David Lear "Thirty Chimes Avenue is a ramshackle, with it's rotten front door, broken and boarded windows, and skate tiles missing from the roof

"Rumour has it that somewhere deep in the dark abyss lies an ancient relic of wicked men, a product of madness. A tome of horrors so unimaginable, so unfathomable that a few lines was all it took for people to go mad." And here it is! Deadman's Tome Book of horrors Volume One Deadman's Tome started off as a webzine run by Jesse Deadman (I really hope that's his real surname) dedicated to publishing horror fiction considered too dark for mainstream publishers. Since it's conception Deadman's Tome has grown massively in popularity and now the finest darkest tales have been collected together in one anthology. Due to the high demand they will shortly be publishing Deadman's Tome Book of Horrors  Volume Two which will be available September 2016. The site is well worth checking out and they also produce epic podcasts for all things horror. Here is my spolier free lowdown on the great tales you'll find inside. You can buy this anthology fo