The Quintessential THE HEMATOPHAGES: SPLATTERINGS Post

 

Now available from:

Amazon

Around the Internet:

Goodreads

A review on The Voracious Gnome

A review on Long and Short Reviews

An announcement on Happy Goat Horror

A mini-review on Uncomfortably Dark

VIDEOS:

New Book Release: THE HEMATOPHAGES: SPLATTERINGS

Hey everyone, I have a new book to tell you about. You might have caught the news last month when I announced pre-orders, but now THE HEMATOPHAGES: SPLATTERINGS is finally widely available to purchase. I'd start screaming now before you read it, if I were you (because in space, no one can hear you...never mind.)

This collection of sci-fi horrors is set in the same universe as my novel THE HEMATOPHAGES, and the accompanying novella, SKINWRAPPER. You'll find parasites, things that squirm, strange behaviour, time-looped phantoms, and other things that will plague your nightmares. As a bonus, I've include a lot of story notes that cover my writing experience, inspirations, and some industry tea.

In a galaxy riven by paranoid greed, profane forces marshal to consume humanity…

- On an abandoned ice moon, broadcasts from a long-dead civilization warp both body and soul.

- On a bizarre medical asteroid, a deranged physician discovers a gruesome “cure” for parasitic infection.

- On a deep space derelict, time becomes utterly meaningless and suffering transcends infinity.

- And on Earth itself, a lake transforms into pure blood and becomes infested with the hate-filled, eel-like aberrations known as…

The Hematophages.

Available NOW from:

Amazon

Scares that Care Authorcon VI Autopsy

Scares That Care Or Bust!

Hi everyone!

AuthorCon VI is quickly approaching (it's this weekend, in fact!) and I just wanted to tell you all I'll be there and I'm hoping to see you. For readers, feel free to find me, get your books signed, and have some great conversation. Preferably at the bar...

AND I will be exclusively releasing my new book at this event.

THE HEMATOPHAGES: SPLATTERINGS is a collection of shorts (and loads of bonus content) set in my Hematophages universe. Body horror, sci-fi, parasites, pirates...even some space werewolves can be expected. Be among the first to feast your eyes (and hopefully hold on to them...) on this new volume.

For authors, I'm participating in a number of panels and events, including not one, not two, but THREE pitching sessions. If you have a manuscript and you're looking for a home for it, my indie press, French Press Publishing could be a good fit. We generally want horror and science fiction (and even better, a combination of the two.)

Click on the banner below for more information about the event or to get your tickets.

Dates: Friday through Sunday February 27 - March 1

Location: DoubleTree by Hilton 

50 Kingsmill Road 

Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 

Panels: 

Friday, 6:30 pm - "French Press Publishing Pitch Session" - 2nd Floor, Room E

Friday, 10:00 pm - "Who's Line is it Anyway?" (w/ Clay MacLeod Chapman, Nat Cassidy, CJ Leede, Bitter Karella, Shane McKenzie, Wile E. Young, and Jeff Strand) - First Floor Auditorium

Saturday, 11:30 am - "French Press Publishing Pitch Session" - 2nd Floor, Room E

Saturday, 2:15 pm - Reading (w/ Jonathan Gensler) - 2nd Floor, Room 8

Saturday, 10:00 pm - "Gross-Out Contest) (w/ Wile E. Young) - First Floor Auditorium

Sunday, 11:00 am - "French Press Publishing Pitch Session" - 2nd Floor, Room E

Sunday, 11:45 am - "Weird Westerns, Grimdark, and Military Honor" (w/ M - Robert Whitmore, Daniel J. Volpe, Jonathan Gensler, Andrew Najberg)

BRAINEATER JONES Available Now for Only 99c!

Hi everyone,

Since you are my favorite people, I have an awesome deal for you all. My first (and so far, most popular) novel, BRAINEATER JONES, is out now for a limited time for the sweet price of 99c. That's not even a dollar. It's practically nothing. In fact, it's probably more expensive for you to NOT get it.

Don't think about that too hard, just trust me. Anyway, if you haven't had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of BRAINEATER JONES, here's a bit about the book:

 No memory. No pulse. No clue.

The undead private eye everybody calls “Braineater Jones” has an axe to grind. Somebody plugged him and dumped his corpse in a swimming pool.

Worse yet, his memory’s gone. He has no idea who killed him or why.

But he’s damn sure going to find out.

With a smartass severed head as a partner, Jones hangs up his shingle in the city’s undead quarter. When he’s not solving cases (poorly) Jones is always looking to keep his flask full.

Prohibition is in full swing, and the dead need alcohol to function. Without liquor they become mindless, flesh-munching ghouls. (In a word: braineaters.)

Everything will probably be fine. The investigation into his own murder probably won’t point Jones toward the city’s most important bootlegger.

And even if it does, it’s not like he’ll risk cutting off the hooch just to seek justice for himself, right? No one man’s life is worth unleashing a cannibalistic orgy of violence. Right?

Cracking this case will be a tall order, but one thing’s for sure: whatever happens, Braineater Jones isn’t getting out of this one alive…

This offer is available in the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia until the 24th Feb. Don't drag your dead (ha!) feet, gobble up your copy today!

GET YOUR BOOK FROM THIS AWESOME LINK 

THE HEMATOPHAGES is Back!

Hi everyone,

I've returned to the blood planet, skinwrapping, parasitic universe that many of you know and love from my previous works, THE HEMATOPHAGES and SKINWRAPPER. 

Fasten your eyeballs securely in your sockets and get ready for my brand new short story collection, THE HEMATOPHAGES: SPLATTERINGS. It contains several short stories within this sci-fi horror universe that you probably haven't read, and one you definitely haven't come across. Plus, there's a whole load of extra, exclusive content in the story notes. 

In a galaxy riven by paranoid greed, profane forces marshal to consume humanity…

- On an abandoned ice moon, broadcasts from a long-dead civilization warp both body and soul.

- On a bizarre medical asteroid, a deranged physician discovers a gruesome “cure” for parasitic infection.

- On a deep space derelict, time becomes utterly meaningless and suffering transcends infinity.

- And on Earth itself, a lake transforms into pure blood and becomes infested with the hate-filled, eel-like aberrations known as…

The Hematophages.

You don't need to have read the novel or novella to understand these stories, everything in this universe stands on its own as self-contained stories. If you'd like to plummet into this gory pool of terrors, you can pick it up at AuthorCon VI at its exclusive release. Scares That Care is an awesome charity that we support every year, so I'm thrilled to unleash this carnage there. If you can't make the event though, don't scream about it (no one will hear you in space anyway), you can pre-order it HERE. It will be released to the wider world on March 16th.

But, I mean, you should read them all otherwise you won't know what to do when organ-stealing space pirates raid your ship, or you stumble upon a blood planet. In case you missed it on its original run, let me tell you a little about THE HEMATOPHAGES too, you know, while we're here. And I suppose I may as well also fill you in about SKINWRAPPER too (which is conveniently bundled into one book along with the novel proper).

2018 Splatterpunk Award nominee

Includes the bonus novella prequel, SKINWRAPPER.

Doctoral student Paige Ambroziak is a “station bunny” – she’s never set foot off the deep space outpost where she grew up. But when she’s offered a small fortune to join a clandestine salvage mission, she jumps at the chance to leave the cutthroat world of academia behind.

Paige is convinced she’s been enlisted to find the legendary Manifest Destiny, a long-lost colonization vessel from an era before the corporations ruled Earth and its colonies. Whatever she’s looking for, though, rests in the blood-like seas of a planet-sized organism called a fleshworld.

Dangers abound for Paige and her shipmates. Flying outside charted space means competing corporations can shoot them on sight rather than respect their salvage rights. The area is also crawling with pirates like the ghoulish skinwrappers, known for murdering anyone they can’t extort.

But the greatest threat to Paige’s mission is the nauseating alien parasites which infest the fleshworld. These lamprey-like monstrosities are used to swimming freely in an ocean of blood, and will happily spill a new one from the veins of the outsiders who have tainted their home. In just a few short, bone-chilling hours Paige learns that there are no limits to the depravity and violence of the grotesque nightmares known as…THE HEMATOPHAGES.

A single word strikes fear into the hearts of even the most experienced starship crews…Aboard the freighter Blue Whale, a young girl’s day begins like any other: texting her friends while her parents bicker about breakfast. Then, with a loud, sickening pop, their domestic tranquility is shattered. A single word goes out over the emergency warning system…The galaxy’s shipping lanes are plagued by a gang of vicious pirates. Suffering from all manner of terminal diseases, they require zero gravity to live. They also need a constant influx of fresh blood and organs, so their victims also become their unwilling donors. The band is so ruthless, so violent, that its very name has become a synonym for terror. A single word that chills the blood, even in the utter cold of space…The little girl finds herself alone, lost, and trapped aboard the vessel she called home, praying it won’t also become her tomb. She is about to learn there is nothing in the universe worse than being hunted by a SKINWRAPPER. This prequel novella shoves you screaming back into the world of “space horror masterpiece” (Daily Dead) THE HEMATOPHAGES.

Once again, if you'd like to be drenched in this bloody horror, here are the links:

THE HEMATOPHAGES: SPLATTERINGS

THE HEMATOPHAGES AND SKINWRAPPER

French Press Publishing's AI Policy

Our company's policy regarding generative Artificial Intelligence can be summarized as follows:

Fuck AI.

That about sums it up.  I don't know why, forty years after the release of The Terminator, we, as a society, are still debating this, but here we are for some fucking reason.  

If you think machines nuking the world and hunting down the survivors is hyperbolic, sci-fi nonsense, sure, maybe you're right for today.  I mean, the world's militaries are all currently tripping over each other in a contest resembling nothing so much as the Cold War's arms race to incorporate AI into every facet of their functions, but, sure, maybe nothing bad will come of giving the nuclear codes to literal code.

But even if the Terminator outcome is a bit farfetched for your tastes, the present stated goal of AI companies is to eliminate every white collar job so that corporate profits can go up.  So if the whole nuclear holocaust thing is, like, a ten year plan, laying off as many humans as possible is the short-term goal.  Why in God's name would anyone support the Great Depression 2.0!

Yeah, that's a great future, one CEO getting paid while five hundred AI programs run the store and the employees all fuck off and join the breadline.  I'm sure the same product that currently produces six-fingered memes and can't recreate words on a sign will accurately and completely conduct all of the accounting, sales, customer service, and marketing for your company, with absolutely no ghosts, glitches, or hiccups.

Oh, is that hyperbolic, too?  Maybe none of this will come to pass?  Sure, I'm also hoping that AI goes the way of the NFT and we never have to worry about any of these nightmarish scenarios.  But even if it all went away tomorrow, that wouldn't change any of the damage AI has already done.  Rivers dried up, rainforests hacked down, who knows how many towns and livelihoods destroyed to build and run data centers.  

Not to mention all of the outright theft!  These scions of the brave new world of the future seemed to think nothing of stealing every copyrighted work of art or fiction ever made.  Not paying, not renting, not composing some kind of fair rate for the novel service of training large language models, no, the AI companies didn't do any of that, they decided to just steal every book ever written and every painting ever painted and pay the human creators nothing.  "Fuck them, let them take us to court," seemed to be the prevailing sentiment.

And the human damage, my god!  I won't even go down the lost revenue rabbithole, because it's pretty much impossible to quantify how many people might have otherwise paid an artist for something they generated instead.  But all the research now is showing that students who use AI are unable to think.  Parts of their brain shut down, even if they eventually stop using AI.  A whole generation's critical thinking skills are being wiped out.  

I'm also deeply concerned about what happens when a mentally ill person - or even just someone who's bored or sad - turns to the yes-man of AI seeking help.  It will justify paranoia and delusions.  "I can absolutely see why you think the lizard people are following you, and it's reasonable to be concerned about it."  It will encourage immature or even dangerous life choices under the guise of being positive.  "Sure, abandon your family and move to Hawaii.  Here are some tips on being a better macadamia farmer."

AI's ethical applications are limited at best and open to flagrant and worrisome abuse at the best of times.  And based on the damage - physical, emotional, environmental - that AI is currently doing and is capable of doing, I'm not sure that it is ethical to use it at all.

But perhaps most fundamental to our position as a publishing company, a person who is using AI to generate content is missing out on the purpose of art.  We write, we paint, we sing, we sculpt because of the joy and pain and fulfillment and frustration that comes from the act.  The durability of the product can range from that of a mandala to that of the Pyramid of Giza.  But it is not the fact that a work of art exists that makes it worthwhile.  It is the blood, sweat, and tears of the creator that makes it worthwhile.  AI-generated slop is not art and, philosophically, AI use is diametrically opposed to what we do here.

Great damage has been done by AI and greater damage still may yet come, but neither I nor my company will be a part of it.  French Press Publishing will categorically:

- not publish any author whose work is partially or wholly created by generative AI

- not hire any artist, editor, or other contractor who utilizes generative AI

I am not agnostic on the matter.  I am not uneducated on the matter.  I am actively anti-AI.

(This post was originally published here on the FPP blog.)

Gross-Out Contest Rules (Scares That Care Authorcon 2026)

Hey, everybody!

My writing partner and collaborator Wile E. Young and I are delighted to remind you that we will be hosting the Gross-Out Contest this year at Scares That Care Authorcon 2026.

Please Note: You must pre-register if you wish to participate in the Gross-Out Contest. You can do so by emailing frenchpresspub (at) hotmail (dot) com after 12:01 am EST on Saturday, January 17.

Make sure you pre-register so we can keep the lineup fast, funny, and fair. Pre-registered intended contestants should show up at 9:50 pm EST on Saturday, February 28 so that we can confirm you are present and ready to present.

What about the other rules? Well, I'm glad you asked.

1. Contestants should prepare a five minute story. Every contestant will have three minutes to present, after which the audience will decide whether they can continue for another two minutes. After five minutes total, you will be stopped.

2. There will be no recording of any kind. This is an event for fans of extreme horror and splatterpunk and we want contestants to feel free to leave it all out there on the stage. If you don't want to be exposed to that, please don't attend.

3. Contestants will be judged on three criteria – grossness, crowd engagement, and performance.

4. Prizes will be awarded to the first, second, and third place, as well as a special "Judge’s Choice” award.

5. YOU MUST PRE-REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE! Tell your friends, spread the word, but get us an email after midnight this Friday into Saturday evening.

So, now that you know the judging criteria and the basic rules, who will be the judges? Well, we are pleased to announce the following panel of horror luminaries:

R.J. Benetti

Eric Butler

Viggy Parr Hampton
Amanda Headlee
R.J. Joseph

Can't wait to see you there, everybody!

FAQs (Updated as of 19 January 2026)

1.  Is there a registration deadline?

No, there is no deadline.  However, the longer you wait to register, the less likely you are to get a slot.  Anyone who waits until the day of to register is very, very unlikely to go on stage.  So make sure your friends know about pre-registration!

2.  Are there guaranteed slots?

There are four, by which I mean, literally four people on the planet who are guaranteed slots.  I don't care how funny or important you think you are, if you did not receive an e-mail from us last spring saying "you are guaranteed a slot in next year's contest as a consolation for being bumped for time" YOU ARE NOT GUARANTEED A SLOT!

3.  Are there any topics or visuals that are off limits?

I would dearly like to say no, because the Gross-Out Contest is supposed to be a boundary-pushing exercise and I don't think it's appropriate for the hosts to decide what is or is not kosher.  However!  Contestants should use their best judgement and bear in mind two things: 

- the audience will be large and diverse 

- this is a charity event and we will not tolerate anything that negatively impacts Scares That Care

4.  Are there any limitations to who can enter the contest?

No, any valid attendee of the convention can attend or enter the contest.  I suppose people wandering in from off the street would not be welcome - supporting the charity always comes first.

5. When will people that pre-registered know if they got a spot?

People who have pre-registered will receive an email stating that their interest has been noted.  If you haven't received a confirmation e-mail, you can follow up via one of Stephen or Wile E.'s other social media or contact methods to confirm.

However, pre-registration does not guarantee a slot.  The audience will determine at the event how much time we have for entrants.  The con and venue have given us the auditorium for ninety minutes, which means that if we did literally nothing but entries, at five minutes apiece no more than eighteen people could go on stage.  If everyone were booed off at the three-minute mark, that would allow for thirty entries.  More realistically, between introductions, time for judging, some people being booed off, and so forth, there will probably be space for about fifteen entrants, give or take.  So if you wait too long to register and you're number sixteen on our list, well...

6.  Are there rules regarding props?

This is a little more in the weeds than we'd like to get.  I would review question #3 and bear in mind nothing that would damage the charity.  It's probably a safe bet to do nothing that would in any way harm or inconvenience the audience.  No one's going to be prepared for a Gallagher show.

2026 Appearances

Hey all! 

Here is my schedule of appearances for 2025. As changes occur, I will update this page, so be sure to check back often. Events in red have occurred in the past. Events in orange are tentative. 

 If you'd like me to make an appearance at a convention, signing, or other event you're organizing or attending, feel free to contact me and we'll discuss it. Most events in Baltimore or Philadelphia are a slam dunk for me to attend, but I'll consider travelling if invited. 

Farpoint 33

Dates: Friday through Sunday January 30 - February 1 

Location: Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel

903 Dulaney Valley Road

Towson, MD 21204

Panels: 

Saturday, 11:00 am - Signing - Author Autograph Table 2

Saturday, 3:00 pm - Reading - Private Dining Room 1

Saturday, 4:00 pm - "When Good Books Die" - McIntosh (M)

Scares That Care Authorcon VI  

Dates: Friday through Sunday February 27 - March 1

Location: DoubleTree by Hilton 

50 Kingsmill Road 

Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 

Panels: 

Friday, 6:30 pm - "French Press Publishing Pitch Session" - 2nd Floor, Room E

Friday, 10:00 pm - "Who's Line is it Anyway?" (w/ Clay MacLeod Chapman, Nat Cassidy, CJ Leede, Bitter Karella, Shane McKenzie, Wile E. Young, and Jeff Strand) - First Floor Auditorium

Saturday, 11:30 am - "French Press Publishing Pitch Session" - 2nd Floor, Room E

Saturday, 2:15 pm - Reading (w/ Jonathan Gensler) - 2nd Floor, Room 8

Saturday, 10:00 pm - "Gross-Out Contest) (w/ Wile E. Young) - First Floor Auditorium

Sunday, 11:00 am - "French Press Publishing Pitch Session" - 2nd Floor, Room E

Sunday, 11:45 am - "Weird Westerns, Grimdark, and Military Honor" (w/ M - Robert Whitmore, Daniel J. Volpe, Jonathan Gensler, Andrew Najberg)

Ephrata Public Library Author Book Fair

Date:  Saturday, April 25

Location:  

Ephrata Public Library
550 South Reading Road
Ephrata, PA 17522

Panels:

GenCon 

Dates: Thursday through Sunday July 30 - August 2 

Location: ICCLOS 

100 S. Capitol Ave 

Indianapolis, IN 46225 

Panels: 

British Fantasy Convention 

Dates: Friday through Sunday October 9-11 

Location:  Glasgow Crowne Plaza

Congress Rd

Glasgow G3 8QT

United Kingdom

Panels:

New Year's Eve 2025-2026 Chat

Hey kids!  Farewell to the old year and hello to the new.  Check out my initial thoughts on both here: