S.J.Budd

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 ...

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...