Story spotlight: “The Haunting of Melsbury Manor” by Rebecca M. Senese

Charlotte and her maid Trudy stalk the halls of Melsbury Manor, alone since the last tenants fled. But now new tenants are moving in, Andrew and his son Mark, and their presence threatens the careful equilibrium Charlotte has developed. Will she be able to escape them? Just who is haunting who?        …

Interview: Alexia Purdy on “The Ruins of Oz”

  “The Ruins of Oz” is in the Once Upon a Quest anthology, a collection of fifteen tales of adventure, all brand new fairy tale twists from bestselling and award-winning authors. With inspirations ranging from The Ugly Duckling to Snow White, and everything in between (including trips to Camelot and Oz), these fabulous tales are…

Story spotlight: “The Ballad of Molly McGee” by DeAnna Knippling

Witches weave curses out of words; the less you use ‘em, the more powerful they are. Blessings are weaker—but you can use them more often, wear them in like shoes. Judith’s red-headed granddaughter Molly, also a witch, curses her way through life, and now look at her—pregnant, a widow, and an adulteress with the spirit…

Interview: The Editors of Electric Spec

Electric Spec Founded in 2005, Electric Spec is a not-for-profit speculative fiction magazine published four times per year. The primary goal of the editors is to get great speculative fiction into the hands (or screens) of readers; they’ve published short stories from authors all over the world. Meet the editors! Grayson Towler has a lifelong…

How-to: Convert an image to black & white using an adjustment in Photoshop

There are a number of ways to convert an image to black & white in Photoshop; this post explains how to do it using an adjustment, which can be applied via either a smart filter or an adjustment layer. Both smart filters and adjustment layers apply changes to the color and/or tone of your image,…

Interview: Chuck Anderson and Jim LeMay on “Edward Bryant’s Sphere of Influence”

Meet Chuck and Jim! Chuck Anderson and Jim LeMay are the editors of Edward Bryant’s Sphere of Influence, a collection of stories by writers whose lives were touched by the late Ed Bryant. In addition to creating this collection as a tribute to Ed, Chuck and Jim are both very talented speculative writers in their…

Story spotlight: “Freshly Ghost” by Chuck Heintzelman

  Being dead was unlike anything Chance Phillips had expected. For one thing, he’s forced to change his name. For another, he discovers he can move through time.   When Chance learns a friend, an alive friend, is in danger will he and his ghost friend Jeremy be able to save her in time?  …