Hello everyone.
Firstly, I wanted to thank you all for reading and giving feedback; this has certainly been my most fruitful writing experience, and having a small audience, I find, keeps me honest.
That said, I’m starting to go back and edit some of my previous stories, expanding them or cleaning them up, with the eventual goal of submitting them to one of the millions upon millions of increasingly lucrative short-horror-fiction markets. (Let me know if you know any…)
So, what I ask from you is this: If you’ve enjoyed these stories, or any one of them, please leave a comment on this post. Tell me your favorite story, or stories. Tell me which ones you think deserve to be polished and expanded upon. Tell me which ones, if any, you think are almost ready for submission, with only a scrub of grammar and spelling. Tell me which ones you hate, and why.
Thanks in advance for the feedback, and thank you again for reading.
Several of you have sent me artwork based on some of my stories, and I’d love to post in here. If you’ve done so, please drop me an email letting me know it’s okay to post it (under the creative commons license of your choosing, and let me know how you’d like to be credited).
If you have some art, and would like to share it, please send it my way as well.
Finally, here’s a little something for the midweek: This is a short film done for a small competition last year. The assignment was a 30 second horror film, and this was our entry, shot and edited in a few hours. This seems an appropriate place to share.
The Josef K Stories 
Zero and Before are two of my favourites so far….but Underground had me reading an inch from my monitor. riveting, quite frankly.i shared this blog with three people after i read that one.thank you, and keep up the phenomenal work.
In no particular order, I present to you what stories I liked a lot.Thaw, Underground, Fog, West, North.Underground was probably my favourite thus far. The way the tunnel changed from a safe haven to a cold prison to a monster’s den… it made the tunnel just as much of an enemy as the monsters within it.I’m not sure if expanding on a previous story is a good idea. I think you would do better plotting out a new, longer story.I look forward to every story you post. =)
I would love to see your work published. I’ve been an avid reader for quite a long time, and your stories always have a hold on me, even though I’m quite the horror fiction… What’s the word, connossiuer? Fan? Fanatic? Something like that. So far, my favourites have been:Barricade. Can’t beat psychological discord, I loved it.Fog. I really quite like the characters and how they change, for instance the quote about the XO being a strong willed man that was affected by the madness but not as much. That was win. I really don’t like stories wherein someone has a resistance to some supernatural phenomenon because they have some crazy genetic thing, etc. Just seems a little excessive and makes the story become uninteresting for me personally. Before. Ho. Ly. Crap. I don’t think anything else really needs to be said there. And I’ve just finished reading Underground. I’ve gotta say, as strange as it may sound, it made my day. I had a horrendously bad day at work, and I came home to realise “Oh yeah, he would have updated a few days ago”, and read through that. Fantastic story. The characters are believable and moving, and the environment eerily changes from the horrors without to the horrors within. Needless to say, its probably my favourite so far. All in all, I love your writing, and hope to see you continue your work. I’ll be rooting for you!
This probably won’t help but i love your stories so much it’s difficult to find a favorite, this is in no order by the way.Zero, Thaw, Underground, North, quiet, before (My name is caleb as well XP)Sorry that won’t be much help, but maybe one of those will be listed the most in the comments, :3
I dont know if I have ever commented befor, but I read you’re blog weekly, and have for a long time, it is by far one of my favorite horror blogs, and think some polishing would be nice to see on some of these.Well with that said, in no real order, here are my favorites.Collision.Fog.Underground.
Josef K, I read a story of yours on 4chan /x/ and months later searched on YouTube for more.Since finding your blog I’ve been reading your stories each week and will eventually read them all.My favorite is Zero and I strongly connect with it. So much that I plan on doing a short amateur film about it in the coming years and mixing it with some of my own deep research and writing.Thanks Josef K, “zero”
I’m not sure if “How This Ends” is eligible for informal nomination, but it’s the story of yours I find most intriguiing, and perhaps the most already polished. It’s part Children of Men and part Night Surf, which was kinda nice.Speaking of Stephen King, “Collision” to me feels like it could’ve *been* some of his work, for better or for worse. The aesthetic differences between writing styles, those are present, but it feels somewhat derivative. Not necessarily bad, though.But since we’re aiming at recommendations, I thoroughly enjoyed “Before” and the crypticism of “Thaw,” and I believe each of these will benefit immensely from some much-needed revision and shine.
I really enjoyed Thaw, North, and Before a lot. Honestly, all of your writings are amazing and I think that they are all worthy of some type of publishing.
Thaw and How This Ends are two of the best things I have ever read.
I loved Cordyceps, Dust, and Zero (though I dunno how the hidden thing will fly in a competition–I certainly didn’t get it until you gave it away), but definitely my favorite story has been Barricade. Everything about that story freaked me out.Anyways, your writing is great, and I can’t wait to see it published. Good luck, sir.
It’s hard to pick a favorite, I’m pretty sure I’ve enjoyed all of your stories. I’d like to see a new longer story rather than an expanded old one.
Barricade for sure. I love the whole ‘Might be zombies, might not’ feel of it. I also particularly liked Fog, Quiet, Underground, Zero and Collision. How This Ends, if you’re considering it for publication, would be my top pick though. It’s both subtly terrifying and overtly touching, and my personal favourite.
Hey Josef,You’re stories have all been incredibly entertaining. You have a great skill at writing. I can honestly say there is not one that I did not enjoy or became bored of at any point during the reading. These days, I look forward to every Sunday night because of these great stories you write. Since you asked for favorites, I’d say that North, West, Thaw, Fog and Sick are my favorites.
Hi Josef, I really admire your work, and am impressed that it is consistently excellent. Not really sure if I want to know what your source of inspiration is though 😛 My favourite thus far is Before. I’m a sucker for zombie/apocalyptic writings, so that of course put it in my good books instantly. However, it was the themes of horror through personal conviction and belief that sealed the deal. People all have morals, beliefs, and ideals that they hold close, that they allow to define them, and the thought that they could be destructive or borderline ‘evil’ is terrifying and strikes close to home. I look forward to reading your future work. Regards, ~Mirror
Hello Josef, As a whole I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your work, as I’ve said in previous posts, and I’d be glad to give you some constructive criticism about your stories. I have to say that I’m excited to hear your considering finding a publisher. Honestly, we may be witnessing the King of a new generation in the making. I have noticed that your most recent stories (specifically those after “How This Ends”) seem rushed to me. Not in the sense that they are badly written works, but they lose their edge. “Dust”, “Before” and “Underground” suffer from this the most. “Underground” and “Dust” were simply too much all at once. There wasn’t much to be learned about the characters before they were crushed and cleaved. I think “Before” could benefit from a more in depth back story, explaining the events surrounding the yellow flags and sense of a doom, rather than leave it to speculation. However I enjoyed the Caleb character very much, and his unyielding dedication to his “cause”. Very disturbing.It’s your older stories that really get me though.For example, I loved the sense of total hopelessness in “North”. The man’s feeling so completely helpless to save his family was extremely vivid to me, and enigma of the perfect stalker/killer was equally disturbing. The gore in the story didn’t seem so much of like a shock tactic, as it did a way to create suspense. I also appreciated the fact that you left the ending the way it was, too often great stories are ruined by the cliche mastermind sociopath who takes it upon himself to punish humanity for their wrongs. (See: Every “Saw” movie after number 1)”Barricade”, “Thaw”, and “Exit” are a few of my top picks as well. The intensity from beginning to end in those stories kept me on the edge of my seat. I could easily see many of your stories made into short films, but “Barricade” ran through my head almost shot for shot. Maybe it could be adapted in the future to film? “How This Ends” should be kept how it is, or with little revision. I think if it were to be expanded on it would lose it’s powerful message about humanity, which makes it one of my favorites.Hope I provided some good criticism, I WILL be looking forward to buying a copy of your book, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. Thanks Again. D