Scary Water Buffalo and Other Absurdities

Careful now! Photo credit

If you're a genre fiction writer looking to break in by getting some short stories published in anthologies, look no further than Pill Hill Press. Based in Western Nebraska, they have a good variety of anthologies that focus on horror, sci-fi, westerns, and mysteries. The payment of 1/4 cent per word probably isn't going to be enough to save Grandma's farm, but the collections are thoroughly enjoyable and reasonably priced. Also, the covers are usually pretty kick ass.

There's a submission call for an anthology called "Trigger Reflex", which is a monster hunter anthology follow-up to Leather, Denim & Silver. Since most of the stories will undoubtedly focus on vampires and werewolves, I thought I would throw the editor for a loop and submit a piece on a water buffalo that's run amok in the rice fields of Isan (northeastern Thailand). It's being edited by my little brother, but hopefully they'll consider it on comedy value alone (in a shit economy, everyone needs a good laugh).

Having come across a few water buffalo in my day, I can tell you there is nothing too spooky about them. My wife and her friends laughed at me when asked if it would be a good horror story. So to spice things up, I threw in some pissed off spirits of the ancestors lurking in the night and a child murder. Can you blame me?

If your looking for other good places to submit works for anthologies, DL Snell's website is a good resource also.

Scary Water Buffalo and Other Absurdities