Since episode 22 of The Electric Chair—the weekly horror show I host—I’ve been producing a segment where I read a short work of fiction. On top of reading from authors whose work is in the public domain, such as HP Lovecraft and Ambrose Bierce, I’ve also been reading from current authors who are so kind as to grant me permission to read their tales.

Here’s one I just read on the show: part one of HP Lovecraft’s “Herbert West–Reanimator.”

Herbert West–Reanimator, Part 1

If you’re an author who’s been published—either in print or on the web—I’d love to consider reading some of your short stories. Email me: corey AT midnightcorey DOT com. I’d love to hear from you.

On episode 3 of the podcast, I talked with Eric S. Brown about holding some sort of contest. Amazing author David Dunwoody has joined in the fun! So now I present to you the Eric S. Brown and David Dunwoody Zombie Flash Fiction Contest.

Here’s what you gotta do:

We want a zombie story from you. It has to be completely original, and be no longer than 500 words. Here’s a good article to help get you familiarized with flash fiction if you’re new to it.

Type it up, put it into the body of an email message (along with your name), and send it to: corey AT midnightcorey DOT com. Please put “Zombie Flash Fiction Contest” in the subject line.

All the entries will be read by Eric S. Brown and David Dunwoody, and they will decide on the top three stories.

The prizes:

• First Place: Bigfoot War by Eric S. Brown; Empire (first edition, signed) by David Dunwoody
• Second Place: How the West Went to Hell (signed) by Eric S. Brown; UNBOUND & Other Tales (signed) by David Dunwoody
• Third Place: Kinberra Down (signed) by Eric S. Brown and Jessy Marie Roberts

The three winners will also be read on an upcoming episode of Midnight Corey’s podcast.

The deadline:

Your entries must be received by 11:59pm on July 4, 2010. Say happy birthday to America by writing a 500-word zombie gorefest!

The contest has officially begun, so start writing! Multiple submissions are allowed (in separate emails, please), but please limit to 3 entries per person.

A huge thank you goes out to Eric S. Brown and David Dunwoody for offering their books and judging expertise!

Head on over to http://bryanwolford.net/ and start reading his first serial novel, 48 Pieces.

I’m very proud to announce the release of Dark, a horror anthology. It features a short story, “Redemption,” by yours truly. And there are a lot of other authors in the book whom I’m honored to be alongside.

Order your copy from CreateSpace or Amazon, or check out the official web site.

The opportunity to write this book with Melzer has motivated me to go back and watch some of my favorite horror movies of all time. I find myself getting so busy with keeping with all the new zombie movies coming out, that I rarely take time to go back to the greats — the reasons I fell in love with horror movies to begin with.

This weekend I watched Basket Case (1982) and Nosferatu (1922). And there’s a whole stack sitting here, just waiting for me to watch them again. They’re nothing new; I’ve seen most of them a million times. But they’re the greatest horror films ever made, and every time I watch them, I experience the same magic that I did the first time I saw them.

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be collaborating with James Melzer, author of The Zombie Chronicles, on a nonfiction book. For the time being, we’re calling it 100 Horror Movies You Have to See, and it’s exactly what you would think: a tribute to the 100 horror films that Mr. Melzer and I believe to be ones that you simply cannot go through life without seeing.

Expect our own thoughts about these movies, plus interviews with cast and crew involved in these films.

You know I’m a big fan of the horror genre — I have been my whole life. James is highly knowledgeable in the realm of film, especially horror, and it’s an honor for me to be working with such a talented guy.

Expect updates as the project moves forward!

For the fourth year in a row, I wrote 50,000 words in the month of November. And an even bigger accomplishment is that I actually completed the story. In the past years, I would hit my word count and stop, not really ending the story. Well, this year I wrote about 4,000 extra words to make sure I brought it all to a close.

Thanks to everyone who read it over at MidnightCorey.com. I’ve begun revising, and have some additions/rewriting in mind. Some people have suggested trying to get it published, and I very well may try. But before I do that, I’m going to make some major revisions.

Here we are — I forgot to mention that for National Novel Writing Month this year, I’m blogging my novel. Courageous or stupid? You be the judge.

http://midnightcorey.com

I did it. Somehow. After Day 28, I was right around 36,000 words. I had all but given up, but once Saturday came around, I decided to put ‘er in overdrive. I wrote about 5,000 on Saturday, then the remaining 9,000 while I watched football on Sunday.

Speaking of that, how ’bout them Steelers — they wiped the floor with those retard Patriots. I loathe the Patriots, and love to see them lose.

Anyhow, my novel sucks. I had an outline that I carefully crafted in October, but the story veered way off course about half way through. Then, as I got closer and closer to the 50,000 word goal, I realized I’d have to wrap things up pretty quickly. And it was bad.

But I did it. And maybe I’ll pull it back out at some point in 2009 for some HEAVY editing and re-writing.

Oh, God. I find myself in a gigantic hole with 2 days left to go. What a hellish month. There have been so many days that I haven’t been able to write at all. This has, by far, been the most difficult year for me yet in trying to write a novel in November.

Today I start my last-ditch effort at winning for the third year in a row. I have to write 13,190 words between today and tomorrow.

Oh, God.