Short Stories
My story "Twilight Crossing" is featured in
BAD-ASS FAERIES 2: Just Plain Bad
Debuting May 23 at Balticon 2008,
BAD-ASS FAERIES 2: JUST PLAIN BAD
will feature my brand new story
"TWILIGHT CROSSING"
"Twilight Crossing" My Bad-Ass Faerie story in this anthology features a bouncer faerie, three hired assassin faeries, and quite a few surprises.
"Twilight Crossing" is primarily a fantasy story with a hint of horror. It was a lot of fun to write from the perspective of a character who isn't quite what he seems and manages to surprise himself again and again. I kept discovering deeper layers to the narrative.
PURCHASING OPTIONS:
NOW AVAILABLE through AMAZON for $12.24 (32% OFF the $18 List Price)
Or... PRE-ORDER a SIGNED COPY from the Passarella Store!
Get a copy from the publisher's site. (Visit the site of one of the editors of the anthology to see a list of contributing authors and illustrators.)
You can also order the eBook version of Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad from these sellers: Marietta Publishing (the publisher); Books On Board; eBooks About Everything; and eReadable.
Now Available: "All Heaven in a Rage"/"Debts Long Due" Illustrated "Flip" Chapbook*
Two of my stories ("All Heaven in a Rage" & "Debts Long Due") are now available in a newly illustrated flip chapbook from Scrybe Press. Read one story, then flip the book around and read the other. Inside, you'll find a new introduction I wrote for the chapbook, explaining the genesis of each story.
Eric Asaris illustrated the chapbook, including two covers (pictured left) and three interior illustrations.
If you missed either of these stories in their original small press/short print run lives, you're in for a real treat. AHIAR (novelette length at 10,000 words) tells a tale of science gone horribly wrong, while "Debts Long Due" (4,000 words) is a chilling ghost-in-the-graveyard cautionary tale.
The chapbook will soon be available on Amazon.com, and I have signed copies available at my Passarella Book Store and receive a GIFT with your purchase. You can also order a copy from KayLeighBug Books. List price is $4.00.
*Chapbooks are booklets, made from 8 1/2 X 11 pages, stapled down the middle and folded in half, so they are 4 1/4 wide x 8 1/2 tall. Covers are usually heavier and/or glossy paper stock. Poetry is often published in chapbook format, along with short stories and, sometimes, novellas.
Wendy Ward: Breathless
PDF eBook - Only $0.99
First time available anywhere! The second Wendy Ward novelette is now available as a PDF eBook download for only $0.99. Contains an introduction by the author. Two download versions are available, a 272KB version for dial-up users and a 5.58MB high resolution version for broadband users.
This PDF eBook freatures a wonderful cover illustration by Eric Asaris. To order the eBook , visit the Passarella Store.
BUY THE LOW-RES eBOOK - $0.99 (272KB PDF for Dial-Up Users)
BUY THE HIGH-RES eBOOK - $0.99 (5.58MB PDF for Broadband Users)
Wendy Ward: Forces of Nature
PDF eBook - Only $0.99
The first Wendy Ward novelette is now available as a PDF eBook download for only $0.99 . This PDF download version of the story contains a new introduction by the author and a sneak preview of the SECOND Wendy Ward novelette, "Breathless." Two download versions are available, a 282KB version for dial-up users and a 5.06MB high resolution version for broadband users.
This PDF eBook freatures a wonderful cover illustration by Eric Asaris. To order the eBook , visit the Passarella Store.
BUY THE LOW-RES eBOOK - $0.99 (282KB PDF for Dial-Up Users)
BUY THE HIGH-RES eBOOK - $0.99 (5.06MB PDF for Broadband Users)
"Undead Air" in Modern Magic
UPDATE: "Undead Air" in Modern Magic is
available NOW!
Buy
from Amazon.com.
(Order
Modern Magic from Amazon.com)
ORDER a COPY DIRECT FROM & SIGNED BY
JOHN PASSARELLA via PAYPAL for
$17.00
(Free Shipping!)
-or-
Send a check or money order for $17.00 payable to
John Passarella
P.O. Box 381, Swedesboro, NJ 08085
"Undead Air", my fictional zombie story, features actual morning
show DJs Preston and Steve (93.3 WMMR, Philadelphia PA) and is based upon
the David Seidman painting
Zombie
Riot.
Look for "Undead Air" in Fantasist Enterprises's Modern Magic: Tales of Fantasy and Horror anthology. Fantasist Enterprises is a publisher of illustrated fantasy books.
Modern Magic features an Introduction by Kelley Armstrong, author of Bitten, Stolen, and Dime Store Magic.
“Overall, MODERN MAGIC ranks as one of
the best and most unusual anthologies I’ve read recently.... Guffaw
out loud as two radio DJs use their monster-movie know-how against zombies
in “Undead
Air,” a tale as perfectly calibrated and deadpan as a textual comic
book.” (excerpt)
—Tangent
Online review
“MODERN MAGIC is a wonderful anthology
of bright, inventive fiction, complimented by great art work that would
do any art show proud. Stephen King tells us that writing is telepathy,
and I was there in the magical realms with the authors—from Sarah
A. Hoyt's magical prelude, “Stock Management” to the gonzo
zombie attitude of [John] Passarella's “Undead Air.” Mary
Rosenblum (“The
Woman Who Walked with Dogs”) does not have to tell me twice to be
in my house by dark.”
—Nancy Holder, Co-editor (with Nancy Kilpatrick), OUTSIDERS,
and author of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: QUEEN OF THE SLAYERS
Click HERE to view larger cover image of Modern Magic.
Click HERE to read an excerpt from "Undead Air."
UPDATE: Look for "Undead Air" in Modern Magic, available NOW! Buy from Amazon.com.
PUB DATE: APR/MAY 2006.
Wendy Ward Short Story in Dark Notes
My first Wendy Ward short story, "Forces of Nature", appears in DARK NOTES FROM NJ.
For a limited time: Buy an autographed copy of DARK NOTES FROM NJ from this site and I will send you a free autographed WITHER'S LEGACY cover flat.
BUY NOW from SAFE, SECURE PayPal at the Passarella Book Store,
and receive a signed
WITHER'S LEGACY cover flat.
(While supplies last.)
Or send check or money order for $10.00 ($9.95 + $0.05 S&H) to:
John Passarella
P.O. Box 381, Swedesboro, NJ 08085
Also available at: Clarkesworld Books | Shocklines.com
STORY NOTES:
NOV 2004 UPDATE: SHORT STORY NEWS: I sold "Forces of Nature" a 9,600 word Wendy Ward short story (or novelette, based upon word length) to DARK NOTES FROM NJ, a Garden State Horror Writers anthology, due out the middle of February 2005. The theme of the anthology is stories inspired by songs from singers/songwriters born or closely associated with the state of New Jersey. My song choice was "Dancing Barefoot" by Patti Smith, later covered by U2.
This is my first Wendy Ward short story. My goal is to write several Wendy Ward short stories in the coming years, to bring forward the timeline of Wendy and company so that an eventual/possible 4th Wendy Ward novel won't need to account for a lot of time from the ending of WITHER'S LEGACY. "Forces of Nature" takes place in the summer of 2003, but includes some details about two incidents that occurred since the JAN 2002 end of WITHER'S LEGACY. Therefore, to avoid spoilers, you should read the Wendy Ward series through WITHER'S LEGACY before reading "Forces of Nature."
"Debts Long Due" in Best of Horrorfind II
My story "Debts Long Due" (a tale of ghostly terror) sold to
Horrorfind.com and had over 415 readers during its four-month run. For anyone
who missed it at Horrorfind, "Debts Long Due" is available in
the Best of Horrorfind 2 anthology, which debuted at Horrorfind Weekend
2003, and might still be available through shocklines.com. (Think this one
is sold out!)
"All Heaven in a Rage" in Unnatural Selection
My story "All Heaven in a Rage" is featured in Unnatural Selection: A Collection of Darwinian Nightmares, edited by Gord Rollo. This is an e-anthology from www.ltdbooks.com. Available as a download (PDF, HTML and Handheld formats) for $5, or on disk for $6, plus S/H.
Now in trade paperback ($15) from Cosmos Books. Or buy
from Barnes & Noble. (Availability Update: No
longer in print from Cosmos Books. We're looking for a reprint publisher.
Stay tuned.)
"It’s as fun as a big bug movie marathon, but with more intellectual
and philosophical depth."
—Garrett Peck, FeoAmante.com
Review
[4 BookWyrms]
"A strong body of work... frenetic
pace... graphic, visual detail... embarrassingly enjoyable... [with] a few
elegantly poignant pieces... on the whole, Unnatural Selection is a strongly
enjoyable collection." [And, about my own story, Audrey Snowden, the
reviewer, said:] "'All
Heaven in a Rage' by John Passarella... packs science-gone-wrong, interoffice
politics, romance, redemption and a wonderful ending into just a few pages."
— Inscriptions
Magazine
[4-STAR Review]
Availability:
ebook available from LTD
BOOKS:
$5.00 Download or $6.00 + S/H for a Floppy Disk Version
Click
on the button to the left
to download
Adobe's FREE Acrobat Reader.
STORY EXCERPTS
"Forces of Nature"
from the GSHW Anthology Dark Notes from NJ
(edited excerpt)
Copyright © 2005 by John Passarella
Somehow, she found herself in the familiar place she was loath to visit.
This night, under a waning gibbous moon, she strolled absently around the clearing, wondering what had brought her back. "Music," she whispered finally as the truth became evident to her. "Strange music…"
Conscious of the return of the pleasant refrain, Wendy stopped walking. "Humming," she said to the night. Midsummer night, she remembered. Alternately known on the Wiccan calendar as Litha, Midsummer was the day when nature's magic was most powerful. More than coincidence at work here.
Years ago, while ensconced in this oblong glade, she had performed a feat of powerful magic. Now she sensed magic not of her own creation, an eerily charged atmosphere of expectation and infinite possibility. At once alluring and frightening.
On impulse, Wendy kicked off her shoes--bedroom slippers, actually--and walked barefoot on the cool, packed earth. Belatedly, she realized she was wearing her knee-length white cotton nightgown, which meant she had climbed out of bed and into the Pathfinder without pausing at dresser drawers or closet. Never prone to sleepwalking, she recognized some other agent was at work. Whatever it was, the song was part of it.
Raising her arms on either side of her with her elbows bent, palms up and fingers spread, she began a slow, twirling dance, hesitant at first because she needed to disregard the rhythm of the magical song and find instead another beat, the pulse of this place, issuing from the ground, imparted to the soles of her feet like a magical guide instructing her in the performance of an enchanted initiation rite.
Wendy remembered the fateful line from Wither's curse: "One by one—and by one more—seek her out, forevermore…"
As she danced in tranquil loops around the glade, Wendy spoke to the one who hummed the elusive night song. "Is that what you are?" she asked curiously and, strangely, without fear. "The next one in line?"
Replacing the hum, yet almost as pleasant, a male voice whispered in response, "Welcome back, Wendy."
"Back?" Wendy asked. "You know I've been here before?"
"Of course."
How? Magic? Made her wonder if she'd stumbled into a velvet-lined cage. Above her, the dark and lush intermingled canopies of leaves and pine needles acquired sudden, ominous weight and the cool ground beneath her bare feet conducted an electric charge of fear straight to her spine.
Reflexively, her right hand drifted to her left wrist, but found it bare. The multi-bead bracelet, her primary magical aid and focus, was at home on her nightstand, where she placed it before turning in each night, and where sleepwalking-Wendy had no doubt left it in her haste to come to the forest clearing. With the touch of a quartz crystal, she could instantly raise her protective sphere. Without the crutch of the crystal, she could still conjure a sphere, but she would need a few precious seconds to concentrate, to center herself for the task. The Crone had warned her about her reliance on the beads. Now that debt might come due, with usurious interest. Hesitantly, she asked, "Who are you?"
Soft laughter.
She couldn't tell from which direction the sound had emanated. Nowhere and everywhere at once. Turning in a slow circle, she strained to see beyond the dark phalanx of looming tree trunks, to spot the slightest movement, some visual clue that would reveal his location. "What—what's so funny?"
"Each night, you're quicker," he said. "But I must always reintroduce myself before we begin again."
Various questions bounced around her frantic consciousness. Each night? Quicker? Begin what? She verbalized one. "What do you mean by 'reintroduce'?"
"This is the third night in a row that we have… met for the first time," he explained. "My name is Morgan."
Name recognition tickled at her consciousness but nothing more. She tried, unsuccessfully, to conjure a face from the depths of her subconscious. If she had a visual memory to pair with the name, it remained repressed. "I don't know anyone named Morgan."
"Until two nights ago, that may have indeed been true."
Performing a crude imitation of a pirouette, she cast anxious glances in every direction. "Why can't I see you? Are you a figment of my imagination? A lucid dream? Or… something else?"
"Depends on how you define reality."
Though he had the ability to project his voice from no particular direction, Wendy peered into the depths of the nighttime forest with the continuing hope that a telltale movement would reveal his position, thus ending one mystery. "Shouldn't reality be a constant?"
He laughed again. "Reality is subject to creative perception," he said. "You excel in that regard."
"I do?"
"Yes, you do, Gwendolyn Alice Ward," he said. "Suffice to say that I am real enough… for now. For tonight, at least."
"Real… but not real all the time." To herself, Wendy wondered, Is insanity a sudden condition, or does it creep up on you when you aren't paying attention?
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm always real," he said. "The perception of others, however, is variable."
During their discourse, Wendy continued to amble around the clearing, feigning a casual air while remaining inwardly wary. She cast what she hoped would appear to be mildly inquisitive glances into the various layers of shadows clotting the deep spaces beyond the intermittent wall of trees. Beneath her pretense of calm, a growing fear bubbled and percolated within her, threatening to overwhelm her at any moment. After everything I've faced and survived, she thought, I'll be damned if a disembodied voice is going to intimidate me!
"Show yourself."
This ends the edited "Forces of Nature" excerpt, but...
DARK NOTES FROM NJ is Available from:
Clarkesworld
Books
Shocklines.com
or Order Direct from Passarella.com for $13.00 (thru
PayPal)
and received a signed Wither's Legacy cover flat
whiles supplies last!
Last update: 9-may-08
