January Book Giveaway

For the month of January, I’ll be giving away the first three books in my popular, post apocalyptic horror series the Greenland Diaries. Perfect time to jump into it. The have fantastic monsters, a raw found journal voice, and tons of suspense. FREE on the Kindle today through Monday. Links and descriptions below:

“It began with a drum. Then the monsters came. I’ve been hiding ever since.” The following collections of journals were recovered from a caravan outside of Duluth, Minnesota. The exact date of recovery is not known nor is the origin of the speaker. The Bureau for the Restoration of History (BFRH) would like help in identifying the man who kept these records. This unedited record of events is still considered the most accurate history of the apocalypse that occurred on April 15th, 2011.

Click here to get the Greenland Diaries: Days 1 – 100 for Free

The following collections of journals were recovered from a caravan outside of Duluth, Minnesota. The exact date of recovery is not known nor is the origin of the speaker. The Bureau for the Restoration of History (BFRH) would like help in identifying the man who kept these records. This unedited record of events is still considered the most accurate history of the apocalypse that occurred on April 15th, 2011.All errors have been left intact in the effort to preserve historical authenticity. If you have any information about these diaries, please contact your closest bureau to speak to a representative.

Click here to get the Greenland Diaries: Days 101 – 140 for Free

“They come for me at night. I will not outrun them. We can’t fight them every drum. They need to stop. They need to get away from me. I can’t keep fighting what I don’t see. When will it stop? There are faceless monsters in the night. There are faceless monsters in the day. People sewn together from dead parts like old clothes. I don’t understand it. Someone please help me.”

Click here to get the Greenland Diaries: Days 141 – 200 for free

#apocalyptic #author #blogging #bookgiveaway #books #fantasy #fiction #freebook #freeebook #freefantasybook #freehorrorbook #freekindlebook #freeonkindle #freereadWriting #horror #journals #kindlefreebie #monsters #novels #patrickWMarsh #reading #theGreenlandDiaries #writing

The Warehouse Window

For my sunlight,
its glass cut through a concrete wall
the edges crumbled and rocky,
like an unfinished birthday cake.
No place for symmetry or neatness
when testing and receiving
networking equipment with a candelabra of cords.
The whir of fans, hard drives,
circuit boards, modules, and power supplies
are their own orchestra.

I’m their repeating crowd for this ensemble
I have memorized all their
performances, crescendos, movements,
choruses, and solos.
The yoked fluorescent lights,
stallion forklift, or gluttonous cardboard compactor
endlessly feasting in the corner
by the loading dock where
an occasional wasp wanders inside this mirage
to die in a papery sleep.

That sunshine above’s the same
as in my son’s elementary school window
sloping through the courtyard where ferns
and flowerpots hide a dry duck nest.
The kids named her Simone.
She has three eggs
an opaque olive, pearl, and coral.
They’re blurbs of shell and membrane.
They wanted to name them too,
but those dreams weren’t real yet.
You have to know they’ll live.

I knew my classroom wall
beside our courtyard door
where we pasted, crinkled, and scribbled
dinosaurs, sloths, and squids
against paper sorceries of
marine life, prehistoric countrysides,
and endless amazon jungles.
We had our own momma duck too,
her name long empty amongst almost everything
I remembered, wondered,
and dreamed

in fourth grade.

#author #books #creativeWriting #emotionalWriting #literature #originalWriting #patrickWMarsh #poem #poemOfTheDay #poems #poet #poetsOnWordpress #spokenWord #writing

January Update 1/14/2026

• First update of 2026! Wow, hard to believe we’re already in this year. I can’t believe it. The last year went by so quickly with everything. Happy to be approaching some big events coming up. More details forthcoming.
• Had a good last week with two literary magazines accepting some of my work. Both acceptances in a 24 hour period. Really made me feel good. It feels weird to talk about these successes. I wasn’t really raised in an environment where you celebrated these things without some sort of guilt or takedown being on the backside of it. Hard to market success when you have this emotional baggage. I’m working on it.
• For every acceptance it seems like there are about 10 or 15 rejections. If you could see my submission tracker the amount of red is like an 80’s slasher flick. I constantly get rejections in my email. I suffer about them all the time, so celebrating the positivity feels like sort of a must.
• For years I have mainly used WordPress for my sharing of information and content, despite other places being more keen and prevalent. This is partially my innate shyness, but also what I write. Literary horror isn’t something you just talk about in a post or picture, but something you pull people into. Curiosity is your marketing, and the flash and giggle of social media doesn’t necessarily match up with it always. I sort of lure you in with less, so marketing has been a struggle for me. As I shift into traditional publishing more, I know I’ll have to continue to enhance my content and message. I’ll be sharing things more across all platforms.
• Beware the Ills and the Greenland Diaries continue to get shared on here in pieces every Monday and Friday. They have posts built for the next eight months so plenty of time to invest in the story and read it leisurely.
• I’m not sure what I’ll be doing for events this year. 13 Gears doesn’t sound like it is going to happen, and some of these other events are simply too expensive to justify. Twin Cities Con is a yes. The rest is sort of up in the air. Don’t know the details quite yet. Might be just smaller events like breweries, and potentially a new con.
• I’m thoroughly addicted to Cliar Obscur: Expedition 33. We’ve been playing it like crazy. What an incredible game. Reminds me so much of Legend of Dragoon. I’ve loved everything about it. I highly recommend it.
• Almost done with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Our anime list is out of control. The backlog is huge. I’m not sure when we’ll get through it, but Mob Psycho is next.
• Self-published projects coming up include a Greenland Diaries Omnibus of short fiction, with new material. For sure that one will be produced at some point this year, probably in Fall 2026 for Halloween.
• Alrighty, well, that is my sort of January Update. I have a lot going on this month. I’ll share those links to my new publications when they’re out and live. Thank you everyone for the continued support. Stay healthy! Stay safe!

#author #authorUpdate #behindTheScenes #blogging #books #creativeProcess #fantasy #fiction #horror #monsters #patrickWMarsh #reading #theGreenlandDiaries #workInProgress #writerSLife #writing #writingGoals #writingJourney #writingLife #writingProgress #writingUpdate

Shaving: A Greenland Diaries Flash Fiction

Nigel couldn’t believe his beard had gotten this long.

It was down to his chest, tangled and frizzy. It was black, but almost brown at its feathery edges. He could hear his father yelling at him to trim it, his high, almost husky voice echoing in his head. His father was ex military. He loved the clean shaven look and forced Nigel to follow that hairless motif, even though Nigel hadn’t picked up a weapon until the Drum started. Now, he always had one with him. The ravaged green world demanded it, even with the Drum destroyed and the Unnamed no longer hunting him at night.

Nigel wondered if his father was still alive in the nursing home in Saint Louis Park. He had barely been alive before the Drum. It wouldn’t make any sense for him to be spared.

Nigel had been lucky to hide in his Golden Valley home for most of the apocalypse. He had left for a few weeks to join survivors fighting an Unnamed by a lake that kept attacking them. It had been a hard fought battle. Only Nigel and a few others survived. None of them had the appetite for further confrontations with the Unnamed, and they all retreated to their former hiding spots. Those had been the last people he’d spoken to, except for a band of soldiers passing through who told him the Drum was destroyed, and the Unnamed were nonviolent unless attacked.

Nigel felt his dark, reflectionless face. His features were gaunt, weathered by a lack of nutritious food. His cheeks were flat, his nose large, his forehead dry. His lips were cracked and bloody in places. The weather had been fine. It was the fear eroding his flesh. The constant worry of the Unnamed returning, or a crazed Reanimated storming through the neighborhood.

Slowly, above his white bathroom sink, he began to trim his beard. There was no electricity for his razor, so he resorted to a pair of orange handled scissors he kept in his office for trimming documents. They were sharp, but loud as they crushed the fibers between its blades. In minutes, most of his beard was reduced to a prickly edge beneath his fingers. He sighed.

“I guess it’s time. They said it was safe.”

Ahead of him hung a wool blanket, yellow and brown, duct taped to the wall in miscellaneous streaks of silver adhesive. It dangled just above the sink.

It blocked the mirror.

He’d put it up during the first week, when he noticed the shadows watching him. Now, with the Drum destroyed, survivors passing through told him mirrors and reflections were back to normal. They no longer held phantoms.

He slowly reached for the fabric, then stopped.

“I can’t do it.”

He walked out of the bathroom with a shrug.

“I can’t believe it’s okay.”

I really enjoy writing about these quieter moments in the Greenland Diaries, where characters are learning to live again after a horrifying ordeal that shook the foundations of humanity. These bits of flash fiction give me ample opportunity for it. You can learn more about the mainline series right here. Thank you for reading!

#author #blogging #bodyHorror #books #cosmicHorror #darkFantasy #darkFiction #decay #fantasy #fiction #flashFiction #grief #hauntedLandscapes #horror #horrorWriting #identity #isolation #liminalSpaces #machines #memory #monsters #obsession #patrickWMarsh #poeticProse #prosePoetry #psychologicalHorror #shortStories #speculativeFiction #survival #teraryHorror #theGreenlandDiaries #transformation #trauma #weirdFiction #writing

I Can’t Leave: A Greenland Diaries Flash Fiction

Rob had memorized the pattern of abandoned cars in the parking lot outside the building. A red van, a blue truck, a few white sedans, silent and sun faded, lay scattered across the velvet sheet of greenery in the basin around the office tower he’d been hiding in. He’d been fixing a boiler in the basement when the Drum began. Most of the building was empty that first night. Everyone had already left for the day. Only a handful were torn apart beneath the Unnamed’s obscene claws.

And then the office was empty.

Except for Rob.

He had always imagined himself different at the end of the world. At six foot five, all elbows and height, with an unkempt beard dropping to his chest and a perpetually worn Minnesota Twins cap, he’d figured he’d look the part. He had thought of himself as stereotypically male, chew, flannels, and a quiet, lumbering confidence. But when the monsters arrived and stalked the hallways, he learned quickly how fragile that image was. Back on his grandfather’s farm, he and his friends in their local anti government militia had joked that if the world ever collapsed, they’d be ready.

But once the Unnamed descended and began mutilating and resurrecting their victims, the only thing Rob grew adept at was hiding.

For someone so tall and broad, sneaking through the office should have been impossible, yet he’d shaped himself to its shadows. He learned to bend beneath desks, wedge between bookshelves, flatten against cubicles. Even when the Reanimated drifted through, he found ways to slip past them, though other survivors told him not to fear them. Those survivors were nothing like him. They weren’t afraid of the shadows. They fought them day and night. He’d heard their skirmishes echoing through the Drum. Even now, with it finally over, the night outside carried only wind, insects, and the soft groan of the building settling.

How were they so brave?

A few survivors had passed through recently and told him he could go home, or even find work with the Reestablishment. But he couldn’t force himself to leave the gray block of the office. Every time he packed his few supplies, slung the rifle he’d taken off a dead soldier, and started toward home, he barely made it a few blocks. A shadow, a rattle of debris, a shift in the wind, anything could spook him, and he’d sprint back to the familiar corners of the office floor.

Day or night didn’t matter.

He just couldn’t leave.

Thank you for reading my flash fiction from the Greenland Diaries. In this story, I wanted to show a character you might expect to be strong because of how they postured their identity, but when the apocalypse appeared they realized it was all an image without integrity. They weren’t actually built for the conflict they thought they were seeking. Monsters are an excellent mirror.

#author #blogging #bodyHorror #books #cosmicHorror #darkFantasy #darkFiction #decay #fantasy #fiction #flashFiction #grief #hauntedLandscapes #horror #horrorWriting #identity #isolation #liminalSpaces #literaryHorror #machines #memory #monsters #obsession #patrickWMarsh #poeticProse #prosePoetry #psychologicalHorror #shortStories #speculativeFiction #survival #theGreenlandDiaries #transformation #trauma #weirdFiction #writing

Christmas Eve Writing Update 12/24/25

• Hey everyone, just wanted to get on here and share a little update about what I’ve been doing with my writing. I hope everyone has had a good holiday season. Thank you all for your continued support. These are all the things I’m working on in some capacity or another. Ugh. This is an exhausting journey.
• My next self-publish project will be something new and different for me. It will be a collection of nonfiction poetry called: The Owl Wraith. It will include 25 poems detailing my battles with depression, historical trauma, and how that translates to my relationship with my sons. The Owl Wraith will walk that line between nonfiction and literary horror. I’m excited to see what people’s reactions will be to it. This book will include many difficult pieces of subject manner, but we’ll take the journey together. I’ll be releasing the book March 20th, 2026.
• I did an interview on a podcast called Total Conundrum. It was really fun and they have an awesome program. You can find it right here.
• I wrote a nonfiction poem called “You Are the King, and I am Your Star” on here. It is a poem about an inscription I found in the basement of the house my father grew up in. He had to sell it when I went through a bad batch of depression with an ex. I carried some guilt with me about it. You can read the poem here. I will eventually take it down since it will be part of the Owl Wraith. This poem is an example of what you can expect in the poetry collection.
• In terms of literary horror releases, I will be pivoting to release more flash fiction from the world of the Greenland Diaries on here at least a few times a month. I’ve written a whole collection of stories that takes place after the Drum is destroyed. Eventually, I’ll publish this as a collection as well. I will always be writing this series and building it up. Much more is planned outside the original narrative. You’re investment in my series will pay off for years.
• Gears are still fully turning on submitting to literary magazines and looking for traditional publishes for other projects. Stay tuned. I might share some breadcrumbs from each of those endeavors. Really cool stories are lurking in the background.
• I wrote another nonfiction poem called “I Can’t Change the Sunlight” that you can read. It will be part of my Owl Wraith collection. It is about me accepting my traumatic past, and my depression, and acknowledging the existence of triggers. You can read it here.
• I will say writing about these nonfiction subjects takes a lot out of me. I try to pretend that it isn’t difficult, but I can only do so much of it. This collection I’m release is a bit of a last hurrah with it. We’ll see what happens.
• Some of the media I’ve been digesting recently is pretty varied. Been watching a ton of anime. Dr. Stone, Tokyo Ghoul, Dandadan, the Summer Hikaru Died to name a few. All were really good. Tokyo Ghoul gave me some problems with pacing because its characters outpaced the narrative, but it was still decent. Dr. Stone is probably my favorite of all of them. The Summer Hikaru Died resonates most with my style as a storyteller. Truly creepy and wonderful.
• Okay everyone, I just want to say stay safe this holiday season. I hope for the best for you and your loved ones. I appreciate you all. Take care of yourselves!

#author #authorUpdate #behindTheScenes #blogging #books #creativeProcess #fantasy #fiction #horror #monsters #patrickWMarsh #reading #theGreenlandDiaries #workInProgress #writerSLife #writing #writingGoals #writingJourney #writingLife #writingProgress #writingUpdate

Listen to my Interview on Total Conundrum Podcast

Recently, I did an interview for the podcast Total Conundrum. I talked about a variety of things with my writing, monsters, and the connections life built between them all.

Big thank you to Total Conundrum for hosting me and creating a nice list of insightful questions for me to answer. That always helps me with this sort of thing.

You can listen to that interview right here

Interviews and talking about my writing have always been challenges for me. I think I’ve done my best, but I always want to improve and give the audience and readership some insights they might not find elsewhere. I will be doing more of these in the future.

I highly recommend checking out Total Conundrum overall and exploring their content. They’re a great podcast who many local ties to the Twin Cities. I met them at Crypticon this last year and we instantly hit it off. I love making these connections and supporting other creators. They’re great people.

Anyways, thank you for listening/reading.

Again, you can check out that interview right here.

#author #blogging #books #fantasy #fiction #horror #interview #monsters #patrickWMarsh #podcast #podcastInterview #podcasts #reading #theGreenlandDiaries #writing

Free Book Weekend

We’re back to Leave the Name in the free kindle book rotation. This is an excellent short story collection. It contains bits and pieces from my other universes, along with some unique narratives like Factory 9, which I will turn into a full length novel at some point. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, it is all here for your enjoyment. Free today, tomorrow, and Monday.

A collection of short stories from a variety of worlds.

During the Greenland Diaries, in the shadow of an apocalypse, a survivor awakens with no identity or hope. He only knows that the monsters worship him, and want to keep him safe. Off the coast of Key Largo, a group of survivors stumbles through survival in the wake of the drum. The scared live and the ambitious die. So is the reality of the drum.

On the Cursed Island, a new assassin appears on the blood-soaked shore. Their goal, to infiltrate the Diamond Town and battle the freshly appointed Guardian, who despite the weight of the sword, can still remember her name. For now.

In the dark cloud of Hidden Oaks Park; a woman’s dead husband stirs to life, a grocery store devours a young man, and a playground appears and disappears overnight. It all flows according to the monster living in its otherworldly center.

Two brothers hide in an abandoned robotics factory after radiation and monsters have ravaged their world. They find an unlikely ally, and search for a bit of hope beneath the nuclear snow and forgotten sun.

Click here to get Leave the Name for FREE on Kindle

#apocalyptic #author #blogging #bookgiveaway #books #fantasy #fiction #freebook #freeebook #freefantasybook #freekindlebook #freeonkindle #freereadWriting #horror #journals #kindlefreebie #monsters #novels #patrickWMarsh #reading #theGreenlandDiaries #writing

“You are the King, and I am your Star”

It was etched, carved, and bled there
by you and my uncle.
A lost language scribbled
upon your trauma Rosetta Stone.
Years after you’d moved off
the street, shack, slum
and into this real home,
devoid of rats, rags,
and abusive fathers.

It was on a beam in the basement,
behind an old TV box,
with dead earwigs in its folds.
The house once had a garden
from your mother, my grandmother.
And those bugs, the clawed ink-drops
were living everywhere
their husks, fossil-songs
to her stalks of cherry tomatoes.

The wood was creased, parted,
and curled, as if the vignette had just happened.
You were still the two little boys
marking it yours, with the sunlight
tracing through a ground-level window,
growing life in a non-chlorophyll pattern
from 94 million miles away
a natural spotlight on hope between past and future.

We found it when I was moving out.
Another bout of depression, failed
relationship, and unpaid rent
for your childhood home
you bought when grandma died.
It was a piece of you; something you wanted
for memory, family, a forever symbol of safety.
A limb of hope after
so many emotional dismemberments.

I could not hold onto it,
It was slippery, slimy, a dream that didn’t want
to be held, an eel lurking in the quagmire,
eternally wriggling away
beneath the subtlest grasp.
Your sanctuary was another rubble-sunk Atlantis,
so now, years after it was sold and lost
your first glimmer amongst the poverty

I can at least remember what it said.

#blogging #books #creativeWriting #emotionalWriting #literature #originalWriting #patrickWMarsh #poem #poemOfTheDay #poems #poet #poetsOnWordpress #spokenWord #writing

Free Book Weekend

Back to the Greenland Diaries: Days 1 – 100 as my free book promotion for this weekend. Again, this is my big enchilada. The main event when it comes to my self-published books. There are five more books in the series. Short stories as well. I even publish flash fiction from the Greenland Diaries for free on this blog. So yeah, I nurture this story and universe. The first book is FREE today, tomorrow, and Monday on the Kindle. Get it now.

“It began with a drum. Then the monsters came. I’ve been hiding ever since.” The following collections of journals were recovered from a caravan outside of Duluth, Minnesota. The exact date of recovery is not known nor is the origin of the speaker. The Bureau for the Restoration of History (BFRH) would like help in identifying the man who kept these records. This unedited record of events is still considered the most accurate history of the apocalypse that occurred on April 15th, 2011.

Hit it HERE to get the Greenland Diaries: Days 1 – 100 for FREE on the Kindle

#apocalyptic #author #blogging #bookgiveaway #books #fantasy #fiction #freebook #freeebook #freefantasybook #freekindlebook #freeonkindle #freereadWriting #horror #journals #kindlefreebie #monsters #novels #patrickWMarsh #reading #theGreenlandDiaries #writing