As if Thanksgiving wasn’t already good enough, it’s been especially giving this year as not one, but two, of my short stories were published during the holiday week. These things get accepted months in advance and you often don’t know when they’re going to get released out into the world. But here we are, in feast week for Jay Hodgkins short fiction.

First up came “Eyes in the Woods,” PERFORMED in the NoSleep Podcast’s Sleepless Decompositions Vol. 19. I say performed because NoSleep is, well, as the name implies, a podcast, and the narrator, actors, composer and whole production team really did an incredible job bringing this story to life.

I have to admit, I hadn’t read or thought about this story in a while, and as I listened to it, I got goosebumps and felt the hair raise up on my arms a couple of times. Spooky! Give it a listen for free at the link above.

Then a couple of days later came “White & Gray & Tie-Dye,” which was published in the December 2024 issue of Black Sheep Magazine. There’s unfortunately no way to get this one for free, but we’re here to support art and artists, right? It’s available for sale on Kindle or in print on Amazon at this link.

If you can afford the extra couple bucks, I say go for the print. The magazine publisher and illustrator, Wayne Kyle Spitzer, is quite talented and seems to have a ton of fun leaning in to hard sci-fi, fantasy and horror art. It makes the whole thing fun. And as with the voice performers and music of NoSleep, it’s quite the honor to have my words paired with someone else’s art to really elevate the whole story experience.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and I hope you have room for a little Jay Hodgkins short fiction feast week during your holiday.