The First Apocalypse

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It’s Wednesday and that means new content here on Jersey Devil Press. Which, in hindsight, we never actually announced, so let’s do that. New content every Wednesday on Jersey Devil Press, with new issues the last Wednesday of every month. And, if for some reason we don’t have something new, we’ll recycle older stuff or link somewhere else. There will be stuff to read is the point.

Anyway, this week it’s “By Any Other Clock,” by Eirik Gumeny, the first of The First Twenty-Two, a series of short stories set in the EA universe prior to the events of the novel.

It had been fifteen solid minutes since anyone’s phone had last rung. Even the guy Jorge had been keeping on hold had hung up. The entire customer service department was beginning to get worried. But, more than that, they were bored. Fifteen minutes in a call center is an eternity by any other clock.

Read the whole thing here, or refresh yourself on Exponential Apocalypse here first.

Short, Fast and Furry

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As today is, apparently, Groundhog’s Day, I thought I’d write a little something to commemorate the holiday:

Once upon a time there was a groundhog. He woke up, bright and early, scurried his way outside of his tree trunk, poked his head around and was startled to see his own shadow. He turned to run back inside, waving his furry little ass in the air, but was immediately beaten to death with a shovel by the entire Northeast because fuck you, groundhog. Don’t you dare threaten six more weeks of winter. Seriously, fuck all this snow.

Thank you. Thankfully the actual Punxatawny Phil didn’t see his shadow and was thus spared a brutal end.

Speaking of writing that’s short, fast, and deadly, though, Short, Fast and Deadly has released their 2010 anthology, entitled Deadlier Than Thou. You can find it here in both dead tree and (free) magic digital formats. Edited by Joseph Quintela, the anthology features short, short fiction by JDP contributors Eirik Gumeny, Stephen Schwegler, Jack Frey, and Kenyon Ledford, as well as, like, a hundred other fine authors. OK, maybe fifty. It was early and we didn’t actually count.

And speaking of Ken Ledford, don’t forget that the February issue of Jersey Devil Press is now online. It came out last week, but that was technically January, so it’s only fair that we remind you again, now, in February. Which it is. What with that groundhog and everything.

Issue Seventeen now online!

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There’s a thin line between love and hate, between friends and enemies, between helping someone and hurting them. And there’s an even thinner line between lust and a trip to the emergency room, between leaving a man behind and laying down cover fire while he makes his escape, between poetic license and an ill-conceived run-on sentence. And the line between wanting a hamburger and punching your buddy in the face? You need a microscope.

So, to honor that thin, poorly painted, hard-to-see line – the one that runs haphazard through your psyche, crosses a busy interstate and then doubles back on itself and jumps off a cliff, leaving you simultaneously sad, furious, horny and tired – we bring you issue seventeen of Jersey Devil Press.

First up is the based-on-a-true-story “The Monster at Baggage Carousel #3,” by Matthew Bey. Next it’s Carol Deminski’s tender “The Fortune Teller,” followed by Ken Ledford’s “Space Creature Versus Earth Creature.” Then we move onto the action-adventure part of our program with “Courting Aleksandra,” by Mark J. Reagan, and “Out of Sight, Out of Time,” by Timothy Miller.

Five magnificent stories presenting a grab bag of emotions, all guaranteed to be less straightforward than you’d think.

Read it online here, or download the .pdf here. As always, if a particular story tickles your fancy – or any other parts, for that matter – be sure to leave a comment, or share it on the social site of your choice, or buy the author a drink. Or all three. Trust me, they’re not gonna mind.