SPOILER ALERT! “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” a short story about a mysterious cannabis cultivator, won the 2026 Alien Buddha Horror Showdown. The win gives author N.J. Gallegos the high of being the competition’s first back-to-back and first three-time winner. Gallegos won in 2025 for her zombie pandemic tale “The Call Shift” and again in 2022... Continue Reading →
SHORT SHOTS: ‘Close Encounters of the ER Kind’
(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.) SPOILER ALERT! "Close Encounters of the ER Kind" by N.J. Gallegos begins as a typical night in the emergency room for Dr. Seline; however, it quickly transforms into an intense life-altering confrontation with one of the most... Continue Reading →