Did you resolve to read more in 2022? No? It’s not too late. Yes? Good for you! And me, because I’m pleased to offer my freshest short story, “Hunting el Chupacabra,” now available in Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging (ebook, paperback, & hardcover). You know, because the 2020s haven’t given us enough monsters.

This one’s an adventure story featuring two unlikely hunting partners: a wounded veteran of the War in Afghanistan, now employed shooting feral hogs from helicopters, and a patchouli-perfumed Sasquatch enthusiast on break from Lewis & Clark College in Portland. Following a string of reports—and one photograph—of a bipedal, hairless creature mutilating sheep across Texas, our odd couple teams up to hunt el Chupacabra … and the $20,000 bounty a rancher has posted for whoever brings him the body of the beast.

What our pair finds, deep in the Texas backcountry, is unexpected … and even more valuable than the bounty.

I hope you enjoy the adventure. As always, I love to hear your thoughts. Happy New Year, humans (and monsters too)!