Coming soon:
LADY – Historical Fiction Novel From Mirror World Publishing
Publications Available now
“Cellar Door” Second Place Winner in the Bucks County Short Fiction Contest
“How do we live after our working years are over and to whom are our lives ultimately responsible? To ourselves only or also to the people who love us? These are the questions taken up in ‘Cellar Door,’ a story that follows a retired novelist through the house of mirrors her life has become as she grapples with questions of aging, creative production and mortality…” – Contest Judge, Emma Copley Eisenberg on “Cellar Door”
“Strawberries” in the Out of the Darkness Anthology
Mental Health issues have long been stigmatized, with those facing them pushed into the shadows, often unable to deal with the darkness they find themselves trapped in.
In this collection, stories explore many types of darkness – Suicidal Ideation, Death from Suicide, Survivor’s Guilt, PTSD, Chronic Pain, Chronic Illness, Depression, Death of a Loved One, Secrets, Bullying, and other forms of darkness are explored. Some related to mental health issues and some not, but all of them offer very human perspectives. As in real life, some stories have happy endings and sadly others don’t.
We offer these stories of darkness without judgement, but with hope and compassion. Some roads should never have to be traveled – but we understand that for many they are being traveled alone.
Proceeds from sales of Out of the Darkness will be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – for more information on AFSP please visit their website at: afsp.org
For those who may be in crisis – PLEASE call or text 988 to connect directly to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. For those outside the US please connect with your local lifeline
“The Town Bike” in Incubate: a horror collection of feminine power Edited by LCW Allingham
In a ruthless world, we must become monsters to survive.
A bitter woman terrorizes her husband’s perfect new wife.
A predator stalks a college town, seeking a very specific type of prey.
Found family can be the most unforgiving of all, when a mother, maid and lover fails to care for her boys.
Girls go out alone at night, exhuming the lies their town propagates to keep them in line.
A fussy baby and an ignorant husband leave a new mom feeling not quite herself.
If it is divine to suffer, then revenge might be the sweetest reward.
There are no limits to how far a girl will go to achieve perfection for the man she loves, if that love lasts an eternity.
The hunger to become one’s true self must be fed…
If women must be monsters, what kind of world will they give birth to?
“A River in The Desert” Spring 2022 Issue of Electric Spec
A girl who grows up being trapped by others’ expectations discovers a mysterious connection to her lost mother… and a forgotten truth.
LADY IN WHITE: A COLLECTION OF UTTER SPECULATION
A woman walks on the side of the road. She wears a white dress and is known by many names: the Ghostly Hitchhiker. The Phantom Prom Date. The Woman in White. She may accept a ride, but she disappears before she ever reaches her destination.
Is she an apparition? A memory? Or something beyond our understanding? Five authors offer their speculations on her story – of love, loss, and redemption.
Rumors of a ghostly hitchhiker draws a woman back to her hometown twenty years after the death of her sister, revealing bonds and betrayals buried under years of grief.
A fresh start for a mourning widower turns into a hunt for the truth about an old tragedy, and a match made beyond the grave.
Confusion clouds the awakening of a young bride, frightened by memories she doesn’t understand in a world she doesn’t recognize, and a duty she has tried to forget.
A heartbroken musician struggles to stay afloat during COVID-19 lockdown, and discovers a love song that unites two souls.
Two women, separated by ages, connect across the veil of time, allowing hope to grow from despair, and a desperate but bright will to tether itself into a better world.
Watch the roads and be prepared, for though these stories are utter speculations, the lady in white still looks for a ride, somewhere on the other side.
(Last Shift at Dooney’s Pizza Shack)
Managing Editor: John Schoffstall
Associate Editors: LCW Allingham, Candace Barret and Natalie Zellat Dyan
Fiction, Poetry and Prose from the Bucks County Writers Workshop
Alternative Histories, Dark Comedies, nostalgia so thick you can cut it with a knife and visions of wild and bleak futures. The BCWW has a long stranding tradition of excellence and imagination and their first un-themed anthology, featuring stories from John Schoffstall, Ilene Raymond Rush, Chris Bauer, and LCW Allingham offers something for every reader.
“Riders of Harvestland”, in Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse
It’s time to turn the “man and his dog wandering through a dystopian world” trope on its head, and tell the stories about cats and their women in appropriately dystopian settings. Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse wanders through the broken world narrative in stories of survival, technology, magic, and sheer human determination. But – like their cats – the authors frequently slipped out the upstairs window or knocked things off of countertops, and their stories are stronger for it. In these pages, cats help their women find a better life, protect and defend and fight for the women who have sheltered and protected them – and vice-versa. Because these are not only stories about surviving troubled times, but of the relationships between the women and their cats, between the members of communities both small and large, and how they thrive, even in the face of catastrophic loss. Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse – it’s time to take them seriously!
The Jersey Devil: A Collection of Utter Speculation
(Seeking Monsters)
Authors Susan Tulio, River Eno, LCW Allingham, H.A. Callum, and Melissa D. Sullivan
The Jersey Devil mystery has endured for centuries, birthed from within the untamed acres of the Pine Barrens. Is it a monster? A man? Or a hoax? What does it want and where does it hide? Five stories explore the origins of a mystery that preys upon our most primal fears.
In a future fighting to recover from environmental catastrophe, a young girl’s attempt to prove herself to her parents leads to a startling discovery.
A close encounter leaves two men obsessed, fifty years apart, but the twisted path they follow leads them away from the futures they imagined.
A reclusive rancher spins a web of intrigue for a reporter looking to change her luck. Can they find happiness together or will his secret destroy her?
Sisters seeking solace find themselves immersed in a land of myth, discover magik weaving in and out of their world.
A young woman fighting the vicious rumors that plague her small colonial town turns to her fiancé for help, but the perpetrators of the vicious hoax are more powerful than she imagined.
Is it utter speculation? Or do one of these stories hold the key to the truth behind this enduring legend?
The Lost Colony of Roanoke: A collection of Utter Speculation
(Goodwife Dare)
Authors River Eno, Dan Kinter, Susan Tulio and LCW Allingham
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This message, carved into a tree, was the only clue to the fate of the colonists on Roanoke Island. For centuries, stories have circulated, theories were explored. But to this day, no one is really sure what happened to those first English settlers in the Americas.
These stories may offer a clue:
A road trip through dystopian United States brings adventure and danger, and perhaps answers about the mysterious disappearance of the settlers.
Gods of different worlds converge but their people may not blend as well as they do.
A history teacher’s quest to liven up her lessons leads to a startling discovery about love, roots and the fate of the missing colonists.
A young mother thrust into leadership struggles to establish peace between the English and the Natives of Roanoke. But a greater threat lurks in the dark forests that may consume them all.
Four stories from four authors, all exploring the fate of the missing colonists. Are any of them the answer to the greatest mystery of the United States?
Probably not.
LC W. Allingham 