Guest Post: Susan Abel Sullivan

“CURSED is a small package of strangeness and charm, delivered by a writer blessed with imagination and wit.” – Hugo Award Winner Allen Steele, author of THE COYOTE TRILOGY and THE COYOTE CHRONICLES

“Quirky, clever, and just a little savage, CURSED is a delightful read!” – Lane Robins, critically acclaimed author of MALEDICTE and KINGS AND ASSASSINS

Wickedly fun short stories featuring witches, werewolves, limericks that can change fate, and a sinister vine bent on murder and the destruction of Alabama! Inside quirky settings with creepy plots, characters discover new and unsettling powers as their worst fears manifest.

“Engrossing, imaginative, and funny … Susan Abel Sullivan’s debut collection of short stories will have you both laughing out loud and checking your closet for monsters.” –Kelly L. Stone, author of GRAVE SECRET and THINKING WRITE: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind.

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Guest Post:

I never knew I wrote comedy until I joined a writers’ group. 

I’d spent the first year with the group rewriting a serious heroic quest fantasy novel that became so convoluted I had to take a break from it.  The group was actually a course at the College of DuPage in the Chicago area and I had to have something to turn in every week in order to get a good grade, so I thought I’d try my hand at a short story.  Every week three volunteers would take turns standing up before the rest of the class--about thirty students--and read their piece aloud while everyone followed along with a printed copy. 

Not one to shy away from public speaking, I agreed to read what I thought was a serious sci-fi horror piece titled “Space Invaders” about aliens disguised as toys who take over the world.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the laughs it got.  I later sold the piece to the now defunct eZine AlienSkin and the editors told me it was the funniest story they’d ever read.  Talk about the things that make you go, “Hmmm.”  If I was this humorous without trying, I wondered what would happen if I consciously tapped my funny bone when I wrote. 

The result was a series of short stories, poems, novels and even a couple of songs about vampire hookers from outer space, fried zombie dee-light, bucktoothed queens, a haunted Velvet Elvis, were-dogs, certified zombie instructors, an advice column for supernaturals, and a school for the supernaturally challenged.  There’s a fine line between humor and horror and I love to explore that line, sometimes straying to one side or the other within the same piece.  My humor runs the gamut from laugh out loud funny to wry, dark wit and everywhere in between. 

CURSED: WICKEDLY FUN STORIES is a quirky mix of dark wit and lighthearted humor about witches, werewolves, killer kudzu vine, and limericks that change fate.  After reading this collection, you’ll think twice about accepting a deal with a bucktoothed woman. 

About Susan:

Susan Abel Sullivan lives in a Victorian house in northeastern Alabama with two dogs, way too many cats, and a ghost. When not writing she likes to get her groove on by teaching Zumba classes. She is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop for speculative fiction. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous online and print publications, including Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, ASIM Best of Horror: Vol II, Beyond Centauri, New Myths, AlienSkin, and Writers’ Journal. She is currently working on a YA novel about the supernaturally challenged. Visit her website at susanabelsullivan.weebly.com or twitter @susan_abel.