Meet the Fungus People
They're my kind of people
Every once in a while, I wake up with the idea for a story and scribble it down as fast as I can. Sometimes the story my semi-conscious mind conjures is something interesting enough to polish and revise and scrub and revise into a piece I consider worth sharing. Sometimes the stories are nightmarish and strange in a way that faithfully conveys the horrors that can emerge fully formed from the mind’s dream state. Sometimes I just think they’re neat.
This is basically how two new little stories of mine, “Fungus People” and “A Reading,” came to be. I’m grateful to say both were published in ergot. today. Check them out, and then click around a little on ergot.’s website. The journal is riddled with odd, horrifying little tales that are absolutely worth your time. I’m super grateful to have stories appear there.
Speaking of fungus people, I’m delighted and humbled to say I’ll be contributing to Dark Spores, a Crone Girls Press anthology of fungal horror – IF the anthology meets its Kickstarter funding goals. The table of contents is bursting with some of the most exciting horror authors writing right now, including Gabino Iglesias, Gwendolyn Kiste, and Nicholas Kaufmann.
Chip in to the Kickstarter campaign to support the anthology’s publication if you can. There are all kinds of levels of support with a wide range of rewards. One of those rewards is an invitation to a Zoom reading tonight (Friday, May 24) for backers. I’ll be there, and I hope to see you there too.
I mentioned last time I am beside myself with glee and disbelief over the authors who agreed to blurb my new novel, SKULL SLIME TENTACLE WITCH WAR. Among these folks: Goop lord Lor Gislason, author of the wild and slimy meltfest Inside Out and editor of anthologies like Bound In Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror. Here’s Lor’s blurb:
"Nonstop insanity with a charming Bizarro family at its core. Claypool gets you emotionally invested in a guy that pukes knives and possibly the most disgusting baby ever. It's goop with heart."
You know you’re in for a melty good time with a blurb like that from Lor. Their book Inside Out is one of my favorite horror books to come out in the past few years. It’s grotesque and weird and sad and hilarious and fun in ways that I love. Highly recommend you check it out!
Ok that’s enough from me for now. Skull Slime Tentacle Witch War will be out on July 9 and I can’t wait for yunz all to read it. Remember, to be among the first to know when it’s available, make sure you subscribe to this newsletter. I’ll make sure you get a heads up about signed copies and secret goodies I’ve got in the works.
Stay weird as hell,
Rick
P.S. The photo at the top of this post is a photo of some wolf’s milk slime mold I found in the woods earlier this week. Aren’t they adorable?