Kevin E. C. Curdgel, Writer

  Life has been flying at me rapidly. I've started a new job, I've started therapy (everyone needs a therapist, it's ok), I've been trying to take my health more seriously, and I've got plans to get my eyes looked at in the near future. Working with computers now is playing with my eyes and I'd like to keep them in better shape. Anyway, you should all pick up this book: https://www.amazon.com/Reaperman-Drabbles-Black-Ink-Fiction/dp/B09DMR991B/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1PJZTCK81CCBF&keywords=reaperman+black+ink+fiction&qid=1630368936&sprefix=reaperman%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-2

 It's been an interesting few days. So many of my friends excitedly sending me photos holding a book that has words and my name in it, friends asking me for a link to order it on pay day. Lost within pages are short stories pulled from my own brain, written in my car one early morning on my smart phone, or maybe in the kitchen in between feeding the dogs and petting the cats.  In a moment of raw nerve honesty, I've got a lot of self doubt. It's something that no amount of therapy (so far) has been able to touch, and I've tempered it a bit with some successes here and there. This (becoming a published author and legitimizing myself) has been a huge boost, especially in this post pandemic weird landscape that we're calling "normal".  This is something my sisters will be able to pass on to her kids or great grandkids and tell them about how their Uncle Kev was a writer back in his day. Something my nieces and nephews will one day read and hopefully get spooke...

The face of a very happy author.  Buy this book.   The books are here, in my hand. It is very real to me now, and I'm thrilled. As a writer, artist, maker, I'm sure everyone feels that creeping sensation that people may not enjoy your work, might find flaws in the efforts you've put out. Instead, right now, I'm feeling immense pride over the fact that 5 of my stories got selected to be shared among all of these other talented authors. I hope you'll order a copy or two (one for the Kindle, one for your shelf) and enjoy the tales of zombies and mayhem inside. Until next time. -Kevin

INFECTION A collection from Black Ink Books "418 Pages of Zombie Goodness!" "It's the Popes favorite book!" "I'm reading it to my newborn!" These are just some of the things nobody is saying about this unique collection of zombie and undead fiction put together by Black Ink Fiction! Countless authors (Including my good friend and fellow writer,  Dorian Sinnott ) have contributed quick 100 word short stories, drabbles if you will, about your favorite walking corpses and put them all in one collection. Handy! Yours truly, Kevin EC Curdgel, has 5 stories included in this team effort and I can't wait for everyone to read them. To be a new writer, especially in the age of electronic media, while everyone has a keyboard in their pocket, is a daunting task. In a world full of literally everyone's opinion, where do my stories and ideas fit in? Enter Black Ink Fiction . Brandi and Shelly are a remarkable team of editors who managed to see some skill...

 Admittedly, writing during this pandemic has been both the easiest thing I've ever done (it comes so naturally some days) and the absolute hardest . I've been unemployed for over a year (thanks to C19 and reduction in force), and while it's been a great opportunity to work on my education (I spent a year doing Stan Winston School for Character Arts, a few months learning barely passable German via Rosetta Stone, and the university of YouTube for various other things I wanted to learn about) I've been writing in spurts. Some months I went about writing every single day. I even did some freelance writing here and there for a realty gig. I've gotten over 30 contracts signed to publish my short stories (coming soon for sale, I'm hoping), and I've written almost 51 thousand words in my own novel. My problem is how easily distracted I am at home. I'll worry about others in the house, the dogs and cats, who has eaten, what's on the TV, what YouTube subscr...

This story I'm sharing with you today is an exclusive for a collection of short stories I'm working on getting released this summer. This book (as most things I write) is zombie themed. Not every story is blood and gore. I took my beats for this story from older people I've known in my 35 years on this planet; people who have fought in world wars and people who protested each time. “If You Grow Enough Flowers” Living in rural Virginia, with the Blue Ridge Mountains, some people fared better in the Zombie Plague. One man, Roy “Chickenplanter” MacKenzie, left a stunning handwritten journal documenting his experiences in his life, and over the course of the Zombie Plague. The following selection is carved in stone and now resides as a monument to rugged individualism in his home-town of Pikebrook, Virginia. ‘My Granddaddy fought in the second World War, and he would always talk about the ingenuity of the French. He’d married my Granny, a Frenchwoman, and brought her here to th...