Michael Picco, Author

Review notes from Instagram Reviewer Danielle V. "luna13darke."  I think my favorite comment from her review was "Ho. Lee. Shit." ;-)  

Full disclosure: I hardly ever look at my reviews on Goodreads. It's not a platform that generates a lot of traffic or sales for me, so it tends to get overlooked when I am promoting or reviewing what readers say about my work. Still, it came as a bit of shock to see the low star ratings piling up there.   Independent authors and publishers rely on HONEST (and thoughtful) reviews. Whenever I send out a story or a collection, I ALWAYS mention the  thoughtful  part to the reviewer. EVERYONE has an opinion. But, if you can't justify it (or at least explain how you arrived at that opinion), it's JUST an opinion. Most of these sorts of reviews say more about the reviewer than the work itself. Shrug. Trolls are gonna troll.  I saw a book dedication once that read: "This is not for you." That really resonated with me, and I might just make that a boiler plate dedication for future books that Sisyphus produces. Why? I write because I LOVE to do it! It's challenging an...

 Check out my interview for The 4th Circle! Desi posed some great questions about my process and about horror in general.

I am thrilled to announce that the Jewish Book of Horror (featuring my story, "The Horse Leech Has Two Maws") received a Bronze Medal for Horror in the 2022 Independent Publisher's Book Awards!

  I am thrilled to announce that The Horse Leech Has Two Maws is featured on the Pseudopod Podcast #796! The production value on this is superb!  PseudoPod 796: The Horse Leech Has Two Maws

Some works in progress, posted for your amusement...

I am happy to announce that I have been awarded a spot in D&T Publishing's upcoming novel: Fill The Void . I am one of fifteen authors chosen to write a chapter in the novel (Chapter 2, as a matter of fact).  Fill The Void  is an apocalyptic themed story, set in a world devastated by an nuclear blast (and/or EMP). As a child of the Cold War, this particular story line really resonates with me. It taps my long-standing fear and anxiety of nuclear annihilation and explores what happens to humanity afterwards. As I understand it, each author will be given 30 days to write their chapter before handing it off to the next author. As you might expect, this is going to be a very organic sort of story approach (which I appreciate, being that's how I write most of my own stories). There's a terrific group of authors tasked for this novel and I am very excited (and honored) to be included. Look for release sometime in 2021.  Following is my entry for ...

I've been steadily working on a new short story called, The Bark Men . It takes place in my back yard, (Ouray, Colorado) and is told from the perspective of a thirteen year old boy (someone whose voice I can hear quite plainly. A testament to the tough little kid still alive and kicking in my head after all these years!). The story is an offshoot of the Dust Bunny Monster ... it's progenitor, really. I came to realize this fall that I was trying to tell two separate stories, and have since separated the two. Now at nearly 6,000 words, The Bark Men  is nearly three times the length of the Dust Bunny Monster and has gained a lot of momentum. Hopefully I will have it completed by the end of the year. Here's an excerpt:

{Author's note: although this story won't find its way into Corpse Honey (I simply do not have the room for it), I was happy with how it turned out, that I just had to share it. I think my regular readers will find it delightfully twisted and macabre. My thanks to Rob Mosher for inspiration and collaboration on the piece. } The ones who screamed the longest were the first ones to die.  Cimarron, the stone mason’s daughter, had been the first to go. Her desperate pleas had changed to cries as the wheel turned. Those cries steadily dissolved into ragged screams as she was lowered down, into the trough. Sebastian could still hear her even after she was plunged under the murky black waters. Even now, days later, he could still hear her gurgling screams as she had thrashed and strained against her lashings. He’d watched her go under that first time. Watched as she had closed her eyes, her tears running down, over her forehead, falling down into the basin. Sebastian remembere...