The Scroll of Anubis TOC

Looks like the TOC for the Scroll of Anubis anthology has been finalized:

The Lockwood Collection, By Mary Rajotte
Amunet, By Rhiannon Frater
The Companion of Jacob Bleek, By Jeffery Scott Sims
The Rise of Terefini, By John McCuaig
Let Justice Be Done, By Alva J. Roberts
White Cloud's Return, By Janett L. Grady
Family Under Wraps, By David Bernstein
Styx and Stones, By Malachy Coney
Kiss of Death, By Jessy Marie Roberts
The Jaws of the Jackal, By Patrick Rutigliano
Caves of Gold, By Jim Bernheimer
The Baron and the Cat, By Megan R. Engelhardt
The Legacy of Seshat, By Jameson T. Caine
The Dry Man, By Amanda C. Davis
Amun’s Curse, By Carey Burns
Beneath The Floorboards, By Robert Essig
The Book of Osiris, By Charles Kyffhausen
Balam, By Megan Bamford
Mistress of the Scarab, By Miles Boothe
Egypt, PA, By Wayne Goodchild
The Lurker In The Depths, By Michael C. Lea
The Desecrators, By Paul A. Freeman
Pharaoh’s Best Friend, By Adam Blomquist
The Eternal Resurrection, By, M.S. Gardner
Calixite’s Curse, By Deborah Walker
Abu Timsaah, By Zachary Thomas Tyler
The Pyramids of Rock Lake, By Derek J. Goodman
The Curse of Djer, By T. Patrick Rooney

Yup, I managed to get my comedic take on mummy thieves in there. Gotta love that cover.

Nightmare Imagery

I think it's safe to assume that just about every writer out there, published or not, has at one time or another fueled one of their stories on something taken from a dream or nightmare. Be it an entire story idea, a setting or just a quick image, I'm sure we've all done it. The other night I had a dream that was filled with such nightmare imagery that I fail to see how I cannot use it in a story. The subjects of the dream? Tarantulas.

Now, let me be clear. Spiders rank number two on my list of things that cause instant heart failure and/or the spontaneous calling for "Mama!" If you must know, number one on that list are sharks and some day I will regale you with the story of my long vanished surfing days, when on one fateful day I had a close encounter with one of Satan's fishes. But that is a story for another day (or ask Mercedes Yardley, she's heard it). Anyway, back to spiders. I hate them. They freak me out big time. This stems from waking up in my crib as a baby and seeing a huge specimen just a few inches away. I cried and screamed and hollered up a storm that would have put a banshee to shame. So what if it was just a piece of stuffing from my teddy bear? I thought it was a spider and ever since then, spiders have been the enemy.

The really strange thing about my tarantula themed dream from the other night is just that: it was a dream and not a nightmare. Despite the abundance of eight legged hell spawn, and their proximity to me in the dream, I never felt any sense of fear or loathing. It was quite odd. I awoke with such an odd feeling of awareness, as if on some subconscious level my mind had come to a realization about the dream spiders that I had not yet processed. The images and ideas in that spider dream would normally have freaked me out big time (especially the part where I was concealing tarantulas in my mouth), but even in the dream things were calm. I plan on using those ideas and images in a story at some point, because I'm sure it will scare someone. I just need to be patient and wait for the right story to come along.