My story, Survival Instinct, is now available from Horrific Scribblings.
Is survival cowardly? Would you sell your soul if it meant more time? Don’t answer that so quickly. You think you know.
Horrific Scribblings is a new horror publisher from California editor/author L. Andrew Cooper. Andrew’s goal is to create an archive of quality horror fiction and make sure authors are fairly compensated for their contributions. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to be author #4 to be published by the archive, where you can find my story.
WRITING ABOUT CANCER
They say we don’t choose our battles. They choose us, and reluctantly, I keep coming back to my fight with cancer. My initial fight with Lymphoma happened when I was 17 and it’s been decades, yet I live with the disability that I agreed to when I decided to live, not that it was really a choice. Every year, I struggle with new symptoms, and as I’ve gotten older, the chances the cancer will return only get worse as I’ve entered this post-twenty-year phase after radiation. And my team of physicians insist on new scans and bloodwork every couple of months now.
It’s not really a question of if. It’s a question of when and how bad and how early I can get it.
I continue to explore this in myself, processing my feelings through my short stories. They say write what you know, and you never really stop thinking about it, especially when you have to live through the symptoms every day. And now, facing the erosion of Medicare and ACA, I trust my longevity even less.
SURVIAL INSTINCT
Faced with his own mortality after a diagnosis of cancer, street soldier Matteo discovers that an alien force has infiltrated his crime family as the prelude to something much darker. How far does this go? And will he be strong enough to defend their honor when his courage is tested? Will he succumb when offered a deal? “Survival Instinct” is a horror crime noir set on the streets of Philly that asks the question, does anyone really know how they’ll react when faced with their own death?
It’s a classic monster story, playing on paranoia. Because of politics, there’s been a real ‘body-snatching’ effect with people with care about. Because of the polarization of our political views, we suddenly don’t recognize people we’ve long since had in our lives. Matteo, my protagonist is facing a lethal cancer. He’s young, in his prime, and it doesn’t feel right to him. How could this be happening to him? He’s healthy, strong, virile and in his prime, yet he has this disease that’s eating him alive.
At the same time, he sees a way of life on the streets changing, and he no longer recognizes the world outside of him, the world within.
DEATH ISN”T REAL TO MOST PEOPLE
People think they’ll be brave. They think they’ll respond a certain way. They think they understand because they’ve seen it on TV or has known someone dealing with it. Trust me. You don’t get it, and that’s not a bad thing. I’ve been fighting nihilism for years, this sense of no matter what I do, it won’t matter. Your priorities change.
Matteo believes he will face his end with dignity, but nothing has prepared him for the intensity of the terror that burdens every thought, every decision, every relationship.
Is survival cowardly? Would you sell your soul if it meant more time? Don’t answer that so quickly. You think you know.
Trust me. You don’t.
Thank you, L. Andrew Cooper. I needed a boost, and you gave me my first sale for 2025.
This is ‘Silas’ The Scribble Man.
