A week ago, I was laid off from my job of nearly thirteen years without any notice.

This year has been hard for a lot of people, and I counted myself quite lucky that aside from being stuck at home for the last seven-plus months, I escaped any serious repercussions from COVID-19. Well, now I've been hit and in a way I never expected. Really, I never saw this coming.

That said, the immediate future looks rather bleak, and I could use some help. 

If you'd like to donate something, I would be very grateful.

There are numerous free to read comics and stories on my site, so please browse, read, enjoy and if you find something you think worthy, go ahead and donate whatever you think its worth.

That said, please also check out my Amazon author page. There are dozens of publications still in print and buying my short story collections, for example, or "The Home Place"--the Full Speed Single I had published earlier this year, directly benefit me. This includes my latest novel, BURN ME OUT.

And, of course, sharing the word always helps immensely. If you can't make a purchase or a donation, please take a moment to share one of my works you enjoyed on social media or tell a friend directly.

Thank you in advance.

The new issue of The Big Thrill, the official magazine of the International Thriller Writers, is out and includes an interview with me!

Rick Reed and I talked about BURN ME OUT, its influences and what the future holds!

Click here to read the interview and check out the whole issue!

Start the Halloween season early with some horror comics!

As you may have seen, BURN ME OUT was briefly on sale recently. It generated some new reviews I'd like to share.

And that's just two of them!

BURN ME OUT is currently five-star-reviewed across the board on both Amazon and GoodReads!

If you haven't checked it out for yourself yet, what are you waiting for?

This is a book that's really dear to me as a writer, so I'd love for you to give it a try and let me know your thoughts.

Click below to be whisked away directly to the Amazon storefront!

The Awesome Gang were kind enough to interview me about my newest novel, BURN ME OUT!

We talked about this book, and why it's so important to me, as well the writing process and one of my favorite authors!

​Check it out!

And if you haven't already, make sure you check out BURN ME OUT, too! 5-star-rated across the board by Amazon readers and going strong!

It's Western Wednesday, so here's a new to the site (steampunk-) western, free to read!

​Bo Jeter and the Iron-Horse Wind-up!

Close to eight years ago, I believe it was, I was approached by someone putting together an anthology of steampunk comics. They wanted a mixture of all sorts of genres with steampunk, and I thought a western was a good fit. The story, with art by Stefano Cardoselli and Peebo Mondia, came out wonderfully. Unfortunately, the anthology never did. I never again heard from the guy running it and eventually, the cover art disappeared from the publisher's site without the book ever appearing.

Rather than let it sit on my hard-drive forever, I thought I'd share it here, so here it is: a free to read, full-color comic for your enjoyment! Click the button below or right here!

I came across a review of BURN ME OUT by Margaret Walker, hosted on reviewer Matt McAvoy's website, that is simply stellar. Perhaps the best review I've gotten of any of my work!

Here's one of my favorite quotes from the review:

"Barrows convincingly describes the false psychology of the Mob, its illusion of power over life and death and the men who exploit that. His insights and vivid, imaginative prose raise the novel above other mafia works."

That is very high-praise and the rest of the review is just as good. 

I'm updating a day later than usual because this is the biggest news of the year!

BURN ME OUT is finally released!

​BURN ME OUT is a very important and personal novel for me. It is, in large part, about things I've been dealing with over the last few years: desperation, depression, hiding the most significant part of yourself from everyone (especially those you love because hurting them is the last thing on earth you want) and a deep, aching desire to matter and be recognized for it. I really want people to read this novel and enjoy it, but I also hope readers can empathize with some of the characters and their situations. Few, if anyone, in this novel is a decent person, but I think they're very human and finding the humanity in bad people is just as important as finding it in the good ones.

The book has been getting excellent advance reviews on Goodreads--5-stars across the board so far!--and I'm thrilled that it's now finally out in the world.

It's available in print or on Kindle on Amazon and in print or on Book on Barnes & Noble. 

Please give it a chance and please let me know what you think!

Earlier this week, I was contacted by a Nate Wallace, an independent scholar of horror fiction, asking for permission to use references (and an image) from MYTHOS: LOVECRAFT'S WORLDS, the Lovecraftian comic I did with artist Hugo Petrus, back in 2016, published by Caliber Comics.

Nate wrote an essay on "Pickman's Model" and its subject matter's depiction in art and included the adaptation from MYTHOS in it. He also gave it great praise, which I appreciate very much. He told me he presented this essay at NecronomiCon, the Lovecraft-themed convention in Lovecraft's home town of Providence, RI, to an excellent reception and wanted to include it in a new volume of a book series called Lovecraftian Proceedings, for which he was seeking my permission.

I was glad to give my permission and I'm grateful to Nate for his kind words and enthusiasm.

I'm told the next volume of the book will be out at the end of September, so look out for that.

Meanwhile, if you haven't already read MYTHOS, might I suggest now is a perfect time to check it out?

Just wanted to share another great, five-star advance review for BURN ME OUT!

BURN ME OUT is coming in September from Black Rose Writing and there's still time to preorder your own copy!

Click here to preorder and please let me know what you think when you receive your copy!