Levi Athena Herndon.

First off, sorry for falling off the map for the past couple of months. I've been too busy getting to know my daughter, Levi. She was born on July 10th at a whopping 9 pounds 6 ounces.

Her coming into my life is by far the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and more than anything, her mere existence is the biggest motivator for me to work harder than I ever have before.

So expect to see a lot from me.

Horrorland (AKA The Comment Section)

It’s your typical boring day. You’re sitting in front of the TV, whether at home or in the breakroom at work. More than likely the channel is playing the news, which is depressing enough, an old rerun you’ve seen a hundred times before, or a soap opera, which is almost as bad as watching the news. You’re so bored you pull out your cell phone.

The first thing you click on? Why, Facebook of course.

What pops up? One of the many, many stories concerning Trump, a viral video of a random good deed (probably staged for likes/notoriety for the page that created it), a photo of someone’s kid, a status a close friend posted, proud of themselves for something or other, angry about this and that, work sucks, kids suck, yada yada. You know how it goes.

Facebook, or any social media website, for that matter, wouldn’t be all that bad if that were the end of it. But it never is, is it?

Enter The Comment Section.

Not to say that every comment on every photo, video, or status is absolutely awful. Some people are great. They’ll wish you the best, pick you up when you’re down, apologize for whatever bad thing might have happened to you even if they weren’t even close to being at fault.

The percentage of those people, especially on viral posts? I’ll be generous here and say… 2%.

No, I’m not underestimating. And no, I’m not a cynical writer man who just hates everyone and stews behind a computer all day. I simply happen to have an account on a lot of social media. I’m masochistic that way.

I happened upon the most adorable puppy video the other day. Seriously, the owner was tickling this golden retriever pup, so cute you could just eat him. The puppy fought back for all it was worth. Finally, the owner stopped the assault, and the dog, bless its heart, looked up at him with the saddest eyes, begging him to resume tickling. Eventually, he did.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” I thought as I clicked on the comments section. I wanted to see if anyone posted links to other cute dog videos. I like tagging my girlfriend. She gets quite the kick out of them.

But, no. Just a lot of talk about the president. People defended him. People slammed the people defending him. Hate speech getting flung around like monkey turds during a bad day at the zoo. I had to hit the back button so quickly I hurt my thumb.

I’m not exaggerating. I’m not lying to you. This happened in the comments section of a cute little puppy being tickled. I wish I were lying, for Pete’s sake.

The average American citizen has developed an overbearing sense of arrogance and righteousness, instilled in them by means of downloading an app that could carry their voices, their opinions, to millions. A hundred years ago we were a disconnected civilization. Rare phone calls were made, newspapers were still in mass production, and letters were exchanged. 

Fast forward to the present. I could pick up my phone at this very moment and have access to more than one billion people, if Facebook’s latest numbers are anything to go by. It’s a harrowing concept, and it’s one that should unite us all if it does anything.

As is nearly always the case, however, we’ve taken a great thing, turned it on its head, and made the worst of it.

In essence, what I’m saying is this, and it’s a good rule if you’re on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram;

Thinking about being a fucking prick? Don’t.

Thinking about calling someone a racist/homophobic/sexist slur? Don’t.

Thinking about slamming someone because you’re a republican/democrat/independent and the other person isn’t? Don’t.

You can judge other people in your head all you want. That’s your right. Hell, I do it all the time. Much as I pretend to be a people person, I generally find myself not liking a heck of a lot of people. But when you open your mouth and the ugliness spews forth like a poopoo blast from a shit geyser, everyone’s going to hate the real you.

These sites should all share a common slogan: THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK. OR TYPE. WHATEVER. When you think you’re being edgy because you just called the guy you don’t like a faggot, or you called a asian guy who disagreed with you a chink, or you just called the guy who didn’t vote for Trump a snowflake cuck, just stop. You’re not being edgy. You’re being a fucking stooge.

Unfortunately, until we can re-educate ourselves on how to be proper humans, you’re also the norm. So at least you’re blending in, right?

-

"Gee, what the heck is Craig working on?"

Some of you might be thinking that. Well, the four of you are lucky. I'm going to tell you, kind of.

I'm working on a few different things. I'm currently doing yet another readthrough of Speak Of The Devil before sending it out to a whole new slew of agents. I'm also logging editing progress on its sequel Heavy Lies The Crown and a novella that has nothing to do with this series called Secrets To The Grave.

The third book in the Ruination Trilogy, titled Deliver Us From Evil, is slow going, but I'll have more time to work on that bad boy once I'm finished editing the first two books and finding myself an agent, though the latter is much harder than it sounds.

I've also got two more books that I've already got outlined and whatnot. The first is Robin Banks Robbin' Banks, which is part horror, part crime, part adventure, part comedy... part everything, really. The second is a superhero thing I'm working on, titled Thorn. I'm not too sure whether to do this as a graphic novel or just a novel, but I've already got most of the story panned out.

On the short story front, there isn't much new going on there. I have been tossing around an idea about a collection of zombie stories all in the same world. I don't have the time or motivation to write an entire book centered in a post-apocalyptic zombie world, but I've had a few stories bouncing around in my head for as long as I can remember. My thing has always been trying to avoid writing something eerily similar to something that's already been written, and that's terribly hard to do when you're adding your voice to the clusterfuck known as the zombie horror subgenre. Nonetheless, I have high hopes for these stories, and I'm excited about writing them.

My story collection The Sadness Will Never End has garnered three 5 star reviews, for which I'm extremely grateful. If you're interested in buying a copy, it is available in both e-book format (here) and paperback (here), and if you'd leave an honest review I would be doubly grateful.

My baby girl Levi Athena Herndon is due on July 14th, less than three months away. I've never been a dad before, so wish me luck on that, too.

Until next time, friends!

Important Update.

I lied about this update being important, for one.

For two, I haven't really written anything in the last two months. Whatever. A thousand words here, a thousand words here. Nothing to write home to Mom about. I've been busy, tired, and uninspired.

But I'm back. Maybe not better than ever. But I am back, and I've got big plans.

Expect to hear neat things in the coming weeks.

Buy My Book... pretty please.

(BUY THE BOOK HERE)

It's exactly what it sounds like; a lot of the stories in this book will leave you feeling pretty upset. Whether we're talking sad, disturbed, or just plain creeped, you'll at least feel something. If you don't, then Craig's probably not that great of a writer, anyway, and chances are you'll wipe your hands of him after this. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.

It took Craig a while to build confidence enough to compile this collection, but after two and half years of publishing short fiction, he's finally done it. A cannibalistic B&B; a singer whose lust for fame takes a wrong turn; a woman who will go to any and all lengths to replace her deceased soulmate; a boy who takes the whole 'reincarnation' theory as far as it will go; and more!

While five of these stories have been published with great markets, three of them are original solely to this collection. Check out this collection of stories from Craig Steven, a member of the Horror Writers Association and one of the freshest voices in the horror genre.

"Craig Steven is that rare combination of talent and skill acquired early. His fiction is dark and evocative, searing images of violence and redemption in the soft tissue of your brain. His is a promising voice, all the better because of his clear dedication to getting the details right."

-Zachary Jernigan, author of The Jeroun Series

(Scant) Writing News.

No, that wasn't a joke this time. Very scant news indeed.

Pounding away at HEAVY LIES THE CROWN, the sequel to SPEAK OF THE DEVIL (which I've yet to find representation for, sigh). The manuscript is currently sitting pretty at 45,000 words, so it's getting there. I think it'll round out at about 75,000, then I'll be focusing on editing the last bit of my novella, SECRETS TO THE GRAVE.

I do believe I'll be publishing a Kindle Single here soon. It'll be my short story, THE FREAKSHOW, which I've sold twice. So that must mean it's at least decent, right?

That's all. Really. Been a slow month. Until next time, pals.

On Being Vegan.

All right, so I'm coming up on my three month anniversary of being a vegan. I haven't really talked about it publicly, nor do I really have a reason to. I doubt any of you care what I eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's a great lifestyle change, though, and on top of all the weight I've lost (about 35 pounds in less than three months), I just feel like a new person.

The strange part for me, though, is the stigma surrounding veganism. Hardly anyone knows about me doing it, personally, and I still take a lot of flack for it. The thing is, though, that people are just now judging what I choose to eat instead of doing so when I got so heavy as 280 pounds (and in high school, at that). Eating things that are good for you and living an ultimately healthy lifestyle is apparently the strangest, most blasphemous thing in the world when you could be shoving your face full of a bleeding, greasy meat patty.

That's all. Not really writing related, but hey, nothing wrong with changing it up a bit.

Selling My First Short Story.

Since I already went into excruciating detail about how I came to write my first short story, I will now go into even greater detail (maybe not; depends on how much I feel like writing) about how I sold that story.

So, of course, I finished "Follow My Lead (formerly titled "Robbin' Banks With Robin Banks)" in April, but I didn't sell it until late July. That's because the idea of spreading my fiction around to the world (something I've never done before) intimidated the hell out of me. For people who edited and published magazines to read my stories and tell me whether or not they were good enough for publication? Astounding!

Of course, now I don't think it's so intimidating as it was. The number one rule of being a writer who submits a bunch of short stories; hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Anyway, I found this neat little site called Duotrope, which not only gave me the names and websites of hundreds of markets looking for short stories, but also how much they paid, their word limit lengths, when they'd be closed periodically for submissions, etc. It also let me keep track and when and where I'd send a short story, and for a scatter-brained bastard like myself, this proved invaluable.

So I set up my account, looked around for a magazine, and I found one! And it paid TEN CENTS A WORD. It was called Clarkesworld. Yeah, that's right. First short story I ever tried selling was to Clarkesworld. Laugh it up, 'ya yuppies. I got a form rejection within two days. Big deal.

Then I found Beyond Imagination Digital Magazine, ran by Dayne Edmonson. A nice little startup magazine. So I sent my story in, my expectations set low. In truth I'd already found the next market I was going to send it to once Dayne inevitably rejected me. I forget the name of it now, though.

Because Dayne accepted the story. I was thrilled. I couldn't believe it. Someone else besides me and my mom liked my stories. Holy cow, was I floored. I must have bragged about that for weeks.

And they just kept going. I'm up to almost three dozen sold now, and that's a nice number. Still aiming for that big five-o announcement, so we'll see how long that takes.

Until next time.

My First Short Story.

When I first started writing my book back in like, late 2012, I knew it would take me a while. But I didn't want to work on anything in between working on that. Though I did jot down some other ideas for some ideas concerning long fiction, I was pretty damn focused on getting that novel completed.

I never wanted to write short stories. I really didn't want to leave my comfort zone. Writing a book, at that time, anyway, was hard enough for me, and I wanted to focus solely on that and not dedicate time to anything else.

Stupid idea.

It wasn't until early 2014 that I had an inkling for a short story. I don't know what brought it on. But I heard a lyric from a Fall Out Boy song (that's right, I listen to them sometimes) and it said something about "making a career out of robbin' banks." And when I first heard it, I asked myself, did they say something about a person named Robin Banks, or are they talking about someone whose career is literally robbing banks?

And then I thought, why not just combine the two, and just for kicks and giggles, make him a werewolf while we're at it?

I wrote the story in one day, and it rounded out at about 4,500 words. At that time, it was my most productive writing day ever. I wrote it for fun in April, and when I decided to start writing a lot more short stories and selling them in July, I sold it on my second try. I'm still pretty proud of that.

There you have it. If you want to read the first short story in the "Robbin' Banks With Robin Banks" saga, it is available on Amazon in the 7th issue of Beyond Imagination Magazine.

See 'ya, pals.

My Favorite Song (Right Now)

There's also a cover by Dustin Kensrue, the lead singer of the band Thrice, and it's just as beautiful as the original, if not more so.