R. Michael Burns

As well as my new supernatural crime novel MR MENACE, I have some short stories coming out (or already out) this year:

“At the Cat Parade” in Books of Horror Community Anthology #2 — Two young American tourists find themselves caught up in an ancient and terrifying festival in an out-of-the-way English town.

“Cravings” in Consumed: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo, from the Denver Horror Collective — A pregnant woman, trapped in her car after driving off the road in a raging blizzard, is overwhelmed by the urgent need to eat anything she can get her hands on…

“Snow Angels” in Santa Claus is Coming to Deathlehem — A lonely widower is haunted by dark spirits from his home’s forgotten past.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly’s latest Best of anthology (volume 3) is now available!  Included is my short story “Shadows and Foxfire”, the fourth of the tales of the samurai Hokage.  I won’t lie — it’s my favorite of those stories.

HFQ’s other anthologies have been excellent, and I expect this one will be as well.  I am especially fond of the artwork that accompanies my story.  The artist really nailed it.

Also available is the mini-anthology Off the Beaten Path (also volume 3 in its series).  This one features my short story “Going Nowhere”, which appears here for the first time.

Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly volume 3

Off the Beaten Path volume 3

Of all the anthologies in which my work has appeared, this one is truly among the best.  Not a single weak entry among them — not even my own.

My contribution is the first tale of samurai Hokage, “Shadows from Firelight.”  I am very pleased that the editors of HFQ selected my tale of medieval Japan to join the excellent stories gathered here, and even more so that the sequel, “Demon-Fang” will appear in the forthcoming Best Of Volume II.

A fantastic collection of fantasy tales by a group of truly fine writers — and me!

You can buy it on Amazon from here:  Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Volume I on Amazon

And remember — Volume II (fully illustrated!) is on its way…

The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (Volume 1) is now available on Amazon.com!

The anthology features the very first of the Hokage stories, “Shadows from Firelight”, along with fiction by Richard Marsden, James Lecky, William Gerke, Christopher Wood, Robert Rhodes, Dariel R. A. Quiogue, Jesse Bangs, P. Djeli Clark, and David Pilling, and poetry by Danny Adams, Joshua Hampton, W.E. Couvillier, John Keller, Megan Arkenberg, and Daniel Sklar, along with an introduction by Black Gate Magazine‘s John O’Neill.

Check it out right here!  http://www.amazon.com/Best-Heroic-Fantasy-Quarterly-2009-2011-ebook/dp/B017OLT0UI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448239216&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Best+of+Heroic+Fantasy+Quarterly

or here: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Heroic-Fantasy-Quarterly-2009-2011/dp/1519150377/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1448239216&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Best+of+Heroic+Fantasy+Quarterly

The fine folks at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly have just released this truly excellent cover art by Justin Sweet for their first “Best Of” volume, which features my first tale of Hokage the samurai, “Shadows from Firelight”.

The anthology will soon be available in both e-book and paperback form!

Stay tuned here for more exciting information to come soon…

Now Available:  From the newly-launched Strigidae Publishing, One, an anthology of tales from the members of the Fiction Foundry, featuring my until-now out-of-print story “The Gallery” — a morbid tale of love, loss, and art — and dressed up in this awesome cover created by publisher Henry Snider:

You can purchase your copy of One right here: http://www.amazon.com/Fiction-Foundry-Presents-Amity-Green/dp/0692413790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427569237&sr=8-1&keywords=Fiction+Foundry+Presents%3A+ONE

It’s now available!  The Horror Society’s new anthology, Forgotten Places, featuring my story “The Treehouse”!

This is probably the most personal short story I’ve ever written, and one that means a great deal to me, fictional though it is.  The anthology also contains tales by a number of other talented writers, including the great William F. Nolan.

You can link to the anthology right here:  http://www.amazon.com/Horror-Society-Presents-Forgotten-Places/dp/1505602564/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1427340570&sr=8-3&keywords=forgotten+places+anthology

Also, in case you missed it, “Shadows and Foxfire”, the latest tale of the samurai Hokage is now available — for free — at HeroicFantasy.com.  Or just follow this link:  http://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/?p=1708

First, I’m very happy to announce that Carnival of the Damned is now available from Evil Jester Press (in both paperback and e-book format) via Amazon.com — http://www.amazon.com/Carnival-Damned-Gregory-L-Norris/dp/0692247815/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1413134554&sr=8-10&keywords=R.+Michael+Burns

Second, I’m ALSO happy to announce that my ever-so-slightly-in-the-most-highly-fictionalized-sense autobiographical short story “The Treehouse” has been selected to appear in the The Horror Society (http://www.the-horror-society.com )’s forthcoming anthology, Forgotten Places.

Third, I’m triply happy to be able to tell you that my newest Hokage short story “Shadows and Foxfire” will be in the November issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (http://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/).  For those new to the Hokage tales, this one offers a fun early adventure for the stoic samurai.  For those who have read the others (check out the page on this site dedicated to Hokage) this one offers an answer to a long-standing question about Hokage’s past!

Very pleased to announce that my short story, “The Roar of the Greasepaint” will be out in August in the new Evil Jester Press anthology Carnival of the Damned.

What happens when an aging clown realizes he’s sold his soul for cheap laughs?  Pick up a copy and find out!

The antho also contains works by Hollie Snider (author of the novel For the Rank of Master), Amity Green (author of the novel Scales), and J. T. Evans, among others.

The new anthology from Evil Jester Press!

Thanks to my friend in Japan, Miguel (yes, he lives in Japan, but as his name suggests, he’s French Canadian; no, I don’t get it, either) Gemma Vidal at JETWit has been kind enough to feature some of my work.  JETWit is a website featuring news and information about those of us who have been participants on the Japan Exchange Teacher Programme.  I was a JET from 2000 to 2003 and taught at a couple of junior high schools in my Japanese hometown of Fukaya, Saitama, just northwest of Tokyo.  And — just in case it isn’t clear — none of the tales of Hokage the Samurai would exist had I not had this amazing opportunity to explore the Land of the Rising Sun and its culture and history.

Have a look at the JETWit page here:  http://jetwit.com/wordpress/2013/02/08/new-to-the-jet-alum-author-beat-r-michael-burns/

Thanks Gemma and JETWit!