Buy a Book or Ebook: Help a Shelter Pet!!

Authors Patty G. Henderson, MG Williamz and VW Massie, are putting their art where their heart is with their latest anthology, DARK THINGS (Black Car Publishing, Lulu, $11.99, Kindle, $2.99).

The collection of dark fiction stories, which includes The Hunted by Williamz; Her Apparition and I Sing the Body Dead by Henderson; and Skin by Massie; is available in print, Kindle and ePub versions.

**ALL proceeds go to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (ASPCA). With foreclosures on the rise and families on the edge, family pets are being abandoned in shelters across the country.

Henderson, known for her dark supernatural fiction, calls it a "win-win" situation, saying "the book came out of a deep love and respect I have for God's creation of our four-footed friends. They are here to give us comfort, joy and laughter in our tough times. We mistreat them horribly.

"I once wanted to put together a short show on my local community public access television on our Humane Society shelter, but the PA funding went broke and I couldn't get the program put together. But I spoke extensively with the man in charge and got a tour of the facility. My sister just adopted a cute dog named 'Tanner' from the Humane Society and I have donated some of my artwork yearly to their annual fundraiser.

"DARK THINGS was an 'invitation only' project. I knew both authors invited. There are four stories in the collection and all four are top notch. I contributed two and both MJ and VW contributed one apiece." (Note: some stories do feature lesbian characters.) Vampires in New Orleans, haunted houses and a terrifying twist on modern cable and demonic beings are some of the story themes.

** The next anthology, DARK THINGS II: Cat Crimes, is open to all authors and will focus on cat stories. See submission guidelines. (Submissions open to 1/16/11.)