Abysmal Antics Publishing is a home for dangerous writing from authors with skin in the game.
We publish provocative fiction that explores the human condition. In genres that include erotica, gay themes and magical realism, we seek fierce stories about characters at dire crossroads.
We’re looking for the moments of truth that define a person; stumbles that show what they’re made of; antics abysmal and otherwise that bring about epiphanies, dilemmas, hard choices. We want to be there when a character asks: “Who am I? And how did I get here?”
And if along the journey, people get it on or there’s some magic happening … all the better.
We’re not looking for pretty writing about the dappled light coming through the green and brown leaves. Or if we do read that, there better be two (or more!) people going at it in the shade of that oak tree.
Abysmal Antics Publishing seeks no-holds-barred stories that grab the reader by the throat and say “This is the real shit, man!” We want writers who aren’t afraid to say “This is my truth, ugly as it. Beautiful as it is.”
Our first author is journalist David M Hancock, who has published two volumes with Abysmal Antics Publishing.
In April 2014, Hancock startled his friends and work colleagues with a frankly erotic fictional debut “The Man Who Lost His Gayness.” In his nine stories, Hancock wrote fearlessly about casual sex, betrayal, prostitution and other gritty issues. He also threw in several pieces of speculative fiction where magic is erupting on the landscape, to the dismay of people trying to pretend otherwise.
In March 2015, Hancock released his first novel, “Tricks Gone Bad.” It’s an autobiographical take on a terrifying episode Hancock experienced in real life: Having lawyers blackmail him and threaten him with exposure if he didn’t drop criminal charges against their client. Into that central plot, he weaves in other stories of hookups gone off the rails, as well as two real-life murders and his high-adrenalin experiences as a crime reporter on deadline. The different chapters, spread across 15 years and four cities, also look at the evolution of his sexual persona from cruising libraries to gay bars to Internet hookups.
Hancock is a well-respected, longtime journalist who reported for The Miami Herald and several newspapers in Texas. He now works at CBS News in New York City, where he programs the content on the front door of the network’s main hard news web site, CBSNews.com.
Do you have the courage to write frankly, to tell your truths?
Then drop us a line, send us a link; tell us what you’re up to.