Category: Short Story

Ash and Bones: Tales of Terror has returned, with a new edit and formatting from the awesome Velox Books! I’m so excited to this edition hit the shelves and kindles of the world. If you love creepy short stories of monsters and mayhem, and also my anxieties about climate change, the decline of the United States into fascism, and parenthood, well, here it is! Should I talk to a therapist? Probably! But until then, I’m distilling my fears and issues into bite sized morsels of terror. For you. I love you.

The releases of the Velox Books editions of my collections will begin with Ash and Bone: Tales of Terror! I love this collection, it features some of my favorite stories I’ve written, such as Nature of the Business and Funny Kittens. This collection and Last Night in the Damned House were written at a time when I was working from home with a new baby and just utterly exhausted. I wrote during nap times, or in the middle of the night when my youngest refused to sleep. Hell, a few were written with her sleeping on my shoulder. I think the sleep deprivation gives them an extra layer of weirdness…

You can preorder the ebook for just $2.99, and it will drop on June 22nd. The paperbacks and hardbacks should be available then as well!

Don Tackett is a horror aficionado with a voice like smooth velvet, and he’s been reading classic horror stories from legends like Poe and Lovecraft, and new works from incredible modern voices like Brandon Applegate and Steve L. Clark, on hos channel Grisly Details.

So, I was pretty stoked when he took on three of my epistolary tales for his YouTube channel. He doesn’t just read them, he also creates some fantastic videos to accompany them too. Check ’em out:

Marble Springs Cemetery Association

Pete’s Pizzeria

Camp Summerside

I love Voices From the Mausoleum! This podcast features interviews with horror writers and creators, and on the Spooky Saturday Stories episodes, Angel reads selections from of indie horror writers. Last Saturday, my stories The Church on Bethel Cannon Road and The House Beyond the Creek, from the collections We Will Find a Place for You and Find Us and Other Stories, were featured on Spooky Saturday Stories!

We Will Find a Place for You is my latest horror story collection, and probably my weirdest. I approached it like it was a double album. There’s something magical about double albums. They’re sprawling, experimental, and weird. For all the reasons some people despise them, I can’t get enough. I wanted to capture that feel with this collection. Now that this book is out in the world, reviews are trickling in!

Ksenia Murray, author of the excellent collection, Compendium of Creatures, reviewed We Will Find a Place for You on Kendall Reviews, giving it four out of five stars! “Elford Alley’s newest horror collection, We Will Find a Place for You, grabbed me from the very beginning with the first story…”

David Szweduik, author, review, podcaster, and creator of AIC Stories, also took time to review We Will Find a Place for You! “Elford Alley does this so well, establishing and maintaining a solid base in humanity in all of his stories, which leaves you really feeling connected to his dark tales.”

Since we’re still baking in a hotter-than-usual summer, (a result of the climate hell that will be the only lasting legacy of our doomed specie lol), why not share a slasher story? Enjoy the orientation materials for the new members of Unit A at Camp Summerside! The elite squad responsible for keeping campers safe from a certain lumbering killing machine…

This one also has Easter Eggs!

Continue reading Camp Summerside

Do you need a little terror in your summer? Then I got you covered! Enjoy a free short story about a young boy who loses his family to a tragic sinkhole collapse, only to find them reappearing years later, changed and desperate to bring him home.

Continue reading They Wait Underground