Great tips on self-editing from the New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/smarter-living/how-to-edit-your-own-writing.html?algo=random&fellback=false&imp_id=519429509&imp_id=182397775&action=click&module=Smarter%20Living&pgtype=Homepage

Midwest Book Review Likes Kudzu Stories

Midwest Book Review has a great review of Arterial Bloom. Being vain and selfish, I've snipped out the part that covers my story, Kudzu Stories. Arterial Bloom has some great reviews from This Is Horror, Midwest Book Review, and the iconic horror magazine, Cemetery Dance. Here's the snippet about Kudzu Stories:

 Contributors to this anthology are diverse in their approaches, plot development, and themes, and so under the general 'horror' umbrella there is no unifying purpose other than to gather works that are truly exceptional.

Take, for example, Linda J. Marshall's 'Kudzu Stories'. In the hot, stifling heat of summer, Jenny can hear the kudzu growing (it's an invasive species known for its lightning-fast development, but here, that attribute assumes new forms). The meat of the story lies not in kudzu's reputation for astonishing expansion, but Jenny's magical connection with it, which leads to some deadly surprises and a strange interpretation of love. But, note that this promises kudzu stories, not a singular production. Kudzu thus plays a role in the dark purposes and perceptions of not just Jenny, but Clarice (married to suffering war veteran Roy) and Trish (who lives on the wrong side of the levee in a house on stilts).

 

The atmosphere of the South is captured by poetic references to kudzu and the weighty feel of a night in which "...that old alligator...goes boom all night long. It thinks it's singing." (Or, is the kudzu making that deadly noise?) 

Buy Arterial Bloom now from Amazon.com  13.99 for the paperback. 3.99 for the kindle book. From the best indie publisher of horror, Crystal Lake Publishing.