Interview: Ron Collins on On Being (And Becoming Again!) A Writer - Blackbird Publishing Ron Collins is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author with around thirty years of writing under his belt. His book in the Write Stuff StoryBundle

Ron Collins' book On Being (And Becoming Again!) A Writer is in the 2026 Write Stuff bundle, which is available for a limited time. In this interview Ron talks about how he's learned to see writing for the gift it is. 💝

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Interview: Darcy Pattison on Picture Books: Write and Publish - Blackbird Publishing Darcy Pattison has been writing and publishing children’s books for decades. She’s published over seventy books, both fiction and nonfiction, and has earned

An interview with Darcy Pattison on Picture Books: Write and Publish, which is in the 2026 Write Stuff bundle. All fifteen books in this year’s bundle are exclusive to the bundle, so you literally can’t find this collection anywhere else! 🌟

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Story Spotlight: “The Wreck of the USS Hollander” by James Pyles - Blackbird Publishing Three miles down, in the crushing dark of the Pacific, a submarine wreck taps out a message no one should be able to hear. In James Pyles’ “The Wreck of the

When a research crew descends into the abyss to explore the wreck of the long-lost USS Hollander, they awaken more than echoes of the past.

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Interview: “Whispers of the Drowned” by Charles Eugene Anderson - Blackbird Publishing In “Whispers of the Drowned,” Charles Eugene Anderson plunges readers into a 1941 Atlantic convoy, where a mysterious artifact recovered from the sea carries

In “Whispers of the Drowned,” Charles Eugene Anderson gives voice to the ghosts history tries to forget—melding wartime dread and mythic retribution in a story where the sea itself becomes a keeper of memory.

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Story Spotlight: “A Dismal Death” by Debbie Mumford - Blackbird Publishing Somewhere in Virginia’s Mournful Mountains, fifty miles east of Boring and forty west of Tenebrous, sits a town called Dismal Notch—where the librarian talks

When a neighbor mysteriously dies, Delilah is dragged into a supernatural whodunit involving kelpies, curses, and the restless dead. Even in the strangest town in the Mournful Mountains, family is forever—and love may be the most powerful spell of all.

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Interview: “Above Us, Hell” by Alicia Cay - Blackbird Publishing In “Above Us, Hell,” Alicia Cay sends a treasure hunter and his grandfather into the Caribbean deep, where a WWII submarine has risen from the

In “Above Us, Hell,” Alicia Cay plunges readers beneath the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, where greed, ghosts, and the wreckage of war rise together from the deep.

Check out the interview with Alicia!

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Interview: “Final Walkthrough” by Lou J. Berger - Blackbird Publishing In “Final Walkthrough,” Lou J. Berger sends a man back to his family’s old farmhouse to settle an estate—and settle a score with the past. What begins as a

In “Final Walkthrough,” Lou Berger brings the ghosts home—a dark inheritance steeped in Southern soil, where love poisons as easily as it redeems. Check out the interview with Lou! 👻

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Story Spotlight: “Whispers of the Drowned” by Charles Eugene Anderson - Blackbird Publishing November 1941. A British convoy pushes through the storm-tossed North Atlantic, and somewhere in the hold sits a relic that should have stayed at the bottom

When an intelligence officer and her crew recover a mysterious artifact, they awaken something older and far more dangerous than the war around them.

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Interview: “The Bone Nest” by Tami Veldura - Blackbird Publishing When bone witch Nariah Boyd is called to a haunted parking lot on the city’s edge, she expects another ghost, another forgotten dead. What she finds

When bone witch Nariah Boyd is called to a half-drowned parking lot at the city’s edge, she uncovers something ancient and furious: a crocodile spirit who built her own altar from bones and grief.

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Story Spotlight: “A Better Place” by Jamie Ferguson - Blackbird Publishing In the quiet hills of Ireland, beside a sacred spring that no one visits anymore, a goddess waits. Dideacea is the last of her kind—ageless, alone, forgotten.

Once, Dideacea ruled a sacred spring, revered by warriors and poets alike. Now she walks unseen through a world that no longer remembers her name.

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Interview: “Saving Unquiet Creek” by Kari Kilgore - Blackbird Publishing When Annie Griffith visits her great-uncle’s mountain home, she discovers that the nearby creek is more than just lively—it’s crying out for help, and someone

An interview with Kari Kilgore about her story "Saving Unquiet Creek," a tale where land and lineage speak with voices that ripple like water.

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Story Spotlight: “Aye, Plank” by Robert Jeschonek - Blackbird Publishing In Robert Jeschonek’s “Aye, Plank,” the most feared instrument of pirate justice becomes the narrator of its own strange, mythic story—a tale of

As the pirate ship Defiler prowls the seas in 1750, one crewman awakens something ancient and forgotten in the wood beneath his feet.

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Interview: “Echoes of a Forgotten Day” by Meyari McFarland - Blackbird Publishing In Meyari McFarland's “Echoes of a Forgotten Day,” Marie sets out alone on a storm-battered hike along the Oregon coast, determined to honor a promise made to

An interview with Meyari McFarland, author of "Echoes of a Forgotten Day." 🌊👻

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Story Spotlight: “Final Walkthrough” by Lou J. Berger - Blackbird Publishing This is Southern Gothic at its most intimate—not a crumbling mansion full of strangers, but a family farmhouse where every warped board and rusted hinge

In Lou J. Berger’s “Final Walkthrough,” inheritance isn’t just a legal matter—it’s a haunting, and the dead have terms of their own.

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Interview: “The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour” by Steve Vernon - Blackbird Publishing In “The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour,” Steve Vernon spins a salt-soaked fable of pride, punishment, and the price of a bargain struck with

When the sea goes still and the sails hang limp, only one woman in Weird Water Harbour can sell you a wind—and she’ll take more than your coin in return.

An interview with Steve Vernon, author of "The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour." 🌬️

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Story Spotlight: “Above Us, Hell” by Alicia Cay - Blackbird Publishing In Alicia Cay’s “Above Us, Hell,” a down-on-his-luck treasure hunter and his grandfather chase a salvage score in the Caribbean—and surface something from the

Treasure hunter Owen Moore and his grandfather find a World War II submarine risen from the Cayman Trench—only to unleash the restless spirits trapped inside.

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Interview: “The Ocean is My Wife” by DeAnna Knippling - Blackbird Publishing When Harwood is pulled beneath the waves by the cursed ship Merry Mermaid, he must face not only the monstrous Milady who rules the abyss, but the truth of

In *The Ocean is My Wife*, DeAnna Knippling conjures an immortal sea-epic of gods, ghosts, and sailors bound to the deep—a ballad of love, rebellion, and the eternal pull of the tide.

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Story Spotlight: “By Still Waters” by P. D. Cacek - Blackbird Publishing In P. D. Cacek’s “By Still Waters,” a son drives his aging father to a funeral—and straight into the dark heart of a secret that's been drowning them both for

Some hauntings aren't curses. They’re consequences.

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Interview: “The Wreck of the USS Hollander” by James Pyles - Blackbird Publishing In “The Wreck of the USS Hollander,” a deep-ocean recovery crew descends on a sunken Cold War submarine—and wakes something that's been waiting in the dark.

The wreck of the USS Hollander lies three miles beneath the Atlantic. When a recovery crew finds it, they also find someone onboard is sending an SOS...even though the submarine sunk over 40 years before.

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Story Spotlight: “The Code” by Annie Reed - Blackbird Publishing In Annie Reed's “The Code,” a ghostly enforcer bound to the ocean's will haunts a dying seaside bar, waiting for a man who broke the oldest law of the sea.

The sea is vast and unforgiving, and those who sail it need to trust each other. Break that trust, and the ocean itself becomes your judge.

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Interview: “Drip, Drip, Drip” by Jeff Wood - Blackbird Publishing In “Drip, Drip, Drip,” nine-year-old Tommy wakes to find his little brother standing alone in the dark kitchen, staring into the sink. Something is talking to

Nine-year-old Tommy knows the voice isn't coming from inside his head. It's coming from the kitchen sink—from something ancient and hungry hiding in the garbage disposal, something that's been waiting for a long, long time.

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Story Spotlight: “The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour” by Steve Vernon - Blackbird Publishing In Steve Vernon’s “The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour,” a desperate sea captain makes a deal with a witch who sells the wind by the knot. But some debts

When the sea goes still and the sails hang limp, only one woman in Weird Water Harbour can sell you the wind—and she’ll take more than your coin in return.

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Interview: “A Dismal Death” by Debbie Mumford - Blackbird Publishing In "A Dismal Death," Debbie Mumford blends wit, warmth, and ghostly mystery as a seer, her stubborn ancestor, and a dashing sheriff uncover murder and magic

In "A Dismal Death," Debbie Mumford blends wit, warmth, and ghostly mystery as a seer, her stubborn ancestor, and a dashing sheriff uncover murder and magic in a town where the dead won't rest.

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Haunted Waters–15 Tales from the Depths - Blackbird Publishing Step into Haunted Places — an anthology of spectral stories shaped by memory, magic, and the haunting spaces we never truly leave behind.

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A soft, twilight slice of the anthology cover: tall trees drift into shadow, and red leaves carpet the forest floor like scattered pages. The tone is reflective and warm—echoing the quiet reverence and literary spirit of “To Everything There is a Season” by P. D. Cacek.

P. D. Cacek explores the haunting bond between writer and story in “To Everything There is a Season.” In our interview, she shares how fiction becomes legacy—and why letting go is its own kind of magic.

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A pale, frozen-toned slice of the anthology cover: mist coils over a stark forest and the red leaves seem to hover like scattered warnings. The chill in the composition evokes the frozen tension and spectral quiet of “Haunting Chloe” by James Pyles.

A ghost on the ice. A girl who won’t be fooled.

James Pyles’ “Haunting Chloe” is a quiet, eerie winter tale about grief, boundaries, and a haunting that wants more than friendship.

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#blackbirdpublishing #ghoststory #hauntedplaces

A stark segment from the anthology cover: shadows stretch between narrow trees, and fog drifts low across a forest floor streaked with crimson leaves. The scene radiates isolation and tension—echoing the haunted tech, recursion, and emotional unease of “When You Can Walk Away But You Can’t Leave” by DeAnna Knippling.

DeAnna Knippling’s “When You Can Walk Away But You Can’t Leave” turns a haunted escape room into a site of personal reckoning.

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#blackbirdpublishing #storyspotlight #hauntedplaces #ghoststory #speculativefiction #techhorror #amreading

A bold crop of the anthology cover: pale mist clings to dark, upright trees, while red leaves slash across the forest floor. The scene pulses with quiet intensity—evoking the haunting, defiant energy of “Zero Proof” by Erik Kort.

In “Zero Proof”, Erik Kort crafts a furious, tender ghost story rooted in queer community and chosen family. In this interview, they share how haunting becomes healing.

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#blackbirdpublishing #hauntedplaces #ghoststory #amreading

A stark, cold slice of the anthology cover: skeletal trees stretch into mist, and the red leaves lie dusted with pale frost. The tension is brittle and somber—evoking the wintry dread and haunted grief of “Blue Bride” by Alicia Cay.

Alicia Cay’s “Blue Bride” is a gothic ghost story of vengeance, grief, and the chilling truths we uncover when it's almost too late.

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#blackbirdpublishing #storyspotlight #ghoststory #hauntedplaces #gothichorror #amreading

A soft-edged crop from the anthology cover: mist clings to the edges of a quiet forest. The image feels nostalgic and low-lit, mirroring the warmth and gentle eeriness of “That Lake House Summer” by Deb Logan.

Deb Logan’s “That Lake House Summer” is a warm, gently spooky coming-of-age ghost story about creativity, connection, and one life-changing summer.

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#blackbirdpublishing #storyspotlight #ghoststory #hauntedplaces #speculativefiction