Ghost Tour Story Is Live (Afterlive?) At Jim Baen's Universe!

[dr_pretentious]

Sound the trumpets! Joy makes a braggart of me.

My short story New Jersey's Top Ghost Tours Reviewed and Rated is in this month's issue of Jim Baen's Universe. It's my first appearance in a SFWA-qualifying market, which is a Very Big Deal. I've been enjoying the fruits of their four-figure check for a while, and now I get to see that this month's cover art is straight out of my story. I am a very happy creature.

So, what's the story about? A ghost tour operator gets a haunted cabinet for a birthday present, and next thing he knows, all his ghosts are unionizing on the eve of the Halloween tourist season. For fans of the Rugosa Coven stories, there are some cameo appearances, but this piece is completely freestanding, with far more humor than horror. Enjoy!

Comments

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Oooh! The haunted cabinet from Ebay!!

Sorry, it's just I haven't read this one, so I'm all excited.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Ooh! The thing with the fennel bulb! One of the best things ever - EVERYONE loves the thing with the fennel bulb! It's now part of Thanksgiving Across The Pond.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Which fennel bulb thing do you do? The roasted one with the savory veggies, or the sauteed one with the pears and lemon zest?

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

Pears and lemon - huge hit every single time. Makes people think I'm a sophisticated cook. I give you credit each time.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Yes, and thank you for calling my attention to the haunted cabinet from eBay.

There's another piece out there in the world that I suspect was also inspired by that same eBay listing--the first novel by Joe Hill (nee Joe King, but if you were the son of Stephen King, you might also want to launch your writing career under a pseudonym, just to prove you could). When I read the jacket copy of Heart Shaped Box, I thought, Oh crap, someone has beaten me to the whole ghost auction thing, and with a much higher profile than I'll ever have, so now my story will never sell. Fortunately, I kept sending it out, anyway, out of pure ornery stubbornness.