New story out now – Doorways

My cosmic horror story Doorways is out now in the Rogue Planet Press anthology Exomoons.

This was the first collection I was invited to write for, as opposed to taking a shot in the dark, and I enjoyed writing the piece.

It’s about Tom Kinsella, who is called to an island off the coast of North America following the death of his father, Preston, and uncovers hints that the older man may have found where the dead end up … and may be able to bring them back.

Doorways is set in my Fairgale Island universe, which is also where Through the Gateway, included in Eldritch Encore, takes place. I created it for the novel I have in progress, Worlds Without End, but Doorways and Through the Gateway, written more than a year apart, have nothing to do with each other (at least right now, I might change my mind in another year or so).

I might actually earn royalties if enough people buy ebooks or paperbacks so if it sounds like your thing, give it a whirl.

Exomoons is a fun anthology that’s a mix of science fiction, horror, and grimdark all themed around moons that are outside our solar system – sometimes, like in Doorways, very far outside of it indeed.

A note from the editor, Sergio Palumbo:

Think of alien exomoons where once life was present and whose archaeological remains today have become the valuable prey of plunderers from space. So, in this book you’ll read a story about an exomoon that is bigger than planet Mars’s size, on which lifeforms are present, though orbiting a gas giant that doesn’t give them light, and warmth, the same as our Sun does. You’ll also read stories about exomoons that aren’t moons at all… And there is also a story about what happened to exomoons partly damaged by something that apparently almost turned them into pieces of shapeless rocks in outer space. Then, here you’ll also find a story about strange exomoons approaching our Sun. And an unusual moon out there in space where some Cthulian deities are at work, maybe… Be that as it may, for starters there’s a story that is about a werewolf and some different, very different exomoons!

Are those exomoons full of surprises, or just as dead as our Moon is? Have some alien species visited them, or do they plan on doing it in the next future maybe?

David O’Mahony – Irish horror author

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David O'Mahony, author

David O’Mahony is a horror and dark fantasy writer from Cork, Ireland. He specialises in ghost stories but can also be found writing contemporary fiction.

A prolific writer of short stories, he was a finalist in the 2024 Globe Soup primal fears competition and his first round entry to the 2024 NYC Midnight short story challenge was praised as a “creative, original take on the ghost story”. He has been published or is about to be published in Ireland, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, India, and Thailand.

An award-winning newspaper designer, his non-fiction work tends to focus on history, in which he has a PhD, or on books and literary matters. Read his non-fiction for the Irish Examiner here.

When not writing he is assistant editor of the Irish Examiner, where he has picked up numerous awards for eye-catching front pages. One of his efforts, marking the publication of the mother and baby homes report and naming all the children who died at Bessborough mother and baby home, featured on Sky News, BBC, and CNN as well as being raised in parliament as an important historical document.

His front page on the murder of Lyra McKee was named front page of the year in 2019, and his team produced the front page of the year for 2020 as well as having an unprecedented double nomination. The Bessborough page won the award in 2021 and he won the 2023 award for Thank you, Vicky.

Story bylines: 

Losing Your Grip, 2RulesofWriting.com, October 2023

Brotherly Love, davidomahony.ie, October 2023

Out of Time, Spillwords, December 2023

A Winter’s Wrath, Christmas of the Dead: Krampus Kountry, December 2023

Head Case, Flash of the Dead: Requiem, January 2024, and Exquisite Death, October 2024

Ghost of a Chance, Triumvirate volume 4, February 2024

Ties That Bind, 2RulesofWriting.com, February 2024, and Metastellar, July 2024

Atonement, Soulmate Syndrome: Certain Dark Things, March 2024

Blood Price, Masks of Sanity: Hidden In Plain Sight, April 2024

The Door, Spillwords, May 2024

Indistinct Background Character on a Field of Grey, 2RulesofWriting.com, May 2024

Sacrifices, Flash of the Undead, June 2024

Family Reunion, miniMAG,  July 2024

Opportunity Knocks, Blood Moon Rising,  July 2024

The Archaeological Findings of Ballybrassil, Cork: A Challenge to the Traditional Narrative, Perseid Prophecies, July 2024

Armageddon, AntiopdeanSF,  August 2024

Holy Ground, Spillwords, September 2024

The Coachman, Children of the Dead: Shadow Playground, September 2024

Through the Gateway, Eldritch Encore: Stories Inspired by HP Lovecraft, September 2024

What Gets Left Behind, Stygian Lepus, September 2024

Family Tree, Mono No Aware, September 2024

Grave Tidings, Flash of the Dead: Halloween ’24, October 2024

Lantern Jack, Halloweenthology: Witches’ Brew, October 2024

Doorways, Exomoons–Natural, and Unnatural, Astronomical Bodies Orbiting Strange Planets – A Sci-Fi/Horror/Grimdark Anthology, December 2024

Whispers of the Wooded River, Perseid Prophecies, January 2025  

Beneath the Skin, Infernal Delights, January 2025 

Shadow of the Wyrm, Dragon Flight, January 2025 

Onward, Petting Boo, January 2025 AND Frightening Friday (Twisted Dreams, 2025, forthcoming)

House of Sorrows (novelette, Graveside Press 2026, forthcoming)

Upon Reflection, The Gothic Gazette: Withered Love (Wicked Shadow Press, April 2025)

The Hungry Man, Parabnormal magazine (June 2025)

Sea Sacrifices, The Stranger At My Window (2025 forthcoming) 

Grave Tidings, Readers’ Choice collection (Dark Holme Publishing, 2026)

Weighed Down, Channel the Dark vol 2, (Temple Dark Books, October 2025)

Seafoam, Lured into the Deep (Dragon Soul Press), May 2025

Amounting to Something, Sea of Monsters (Dragon Soul Press), June 2025

The Urge, Dark Descent: Whispers From Beyond (Dark Holme Press), March 2025

Moving On, Blood Moon Rising magazine, July 2025

Finding the Light, Spooky Sunday (Twisted Dreams Press, 2025, forthcoming)

Sic transit gloria mundi, Schlock! magazine (December 2025, forthcoming)