R.E. Dyer

Get it here!

When I started writing for publication, a few publishers topped my wish list. For a couple of reasons I’ll explain below, Undertaker Books led that initial pack.

I suspect the first thing that attracted me to Undertaker is obvious: I’m a fan. I read their stories as they release each month, and I buy their anthologies. They don’t disappoint. Consistent quality, as well as a frequent Appalachian flavor and passion for Western horror draw me back month after month, year after year.

Beyond the stories, though, is the blog. The Undertaker Books blog is a trove of the best-presented writing and publishing tips I’ve found online. Updated at a reasonable pace, it’s possible to read and assimilate the guidance, and incorporate it into your writing before the next installment arrives.

What really makes the blog stand out, though, are the articles that offer a peek behind the curtain into the publishing side of things. The piece on dialogue is great, for instance, but the one on cover letters changed the way I present myself to publishers. My first experience with Shunn formatting came from an article in the Undertaker blog. The occasional explanation of what publishing looks like from the editor’s perspective is always welcome to an author striving to succeed.

And don’t get me started on D.L. Winchester’s June 22, 2024, blog on autopsies. As a retired (“reformed”) undertaker, D.L. goes into great detail about how autopsies are misrepresented in fiction, and what really happens—from “Do you sew their eyes and lips closed?” to “Where does the blood go?”

Inspired by their stories and their blog, I sent off several submissions over the last couple of years. I was quite proud of my ill-fated story for Carnival of Horror. I had run a D&D campaign for two decades that heavily featured an undead character known as the Grand Jester. Sadly, I think my attempts to convert gaming matter into fiction got a little convoluted.

I also submitted for Judicial Homicide, a rejection that later went through intense revision before finding a home at Carnage House. (And no stones thrown; the original was not ready for publication. I’m proud to say the revised version later appeared in The Best of Carnage House Year Two and was recently called out in a complimentary review by Tony Jones of Horror DNA—but none of that changes the fact that my original vision started too early and ended too soon.)

But as of this week, I can finally say that the dream has become reality. The right story at the right moment. “Dog That Bit Ya” follows Max, a man who wakes to searing pain in the middle of the night only to find a tattoo he didn’t have when he went to bed. And his new tattoo is hungry.

“Dog That Bit Ya” is free, but only for a short time. At the end of the year, all of the Ink stories will be collected, along with a few unreleased stories, into Stories to Take to Your Grave: Tattoo Edition, and made available for purchase.

Come join Max…but don’t let your guard down. That thing on his hand can smell fear.