Brian Martinez's Blog

The Vessel Returns

I'm very happy to announce that, after a long and unplanned hiatus, space horror podcast The Vessel will be debuting new episodes in March. This has been a long time coming, and I'm grateful to everyone who patiently (and sometimes impatiently) waited for its return. All of your questions, whether posted online, in reviews, or emailed directly to me, kept the engines burning long enough to keep the ship going. 

For those who know the show, Jason Hill's dark and distinct voice was a major part of...

The Unseen Returns

Yes, friends, The Unseen is back for thirds. My new book, Dead as Dirt, will release on September 1st. The ebook preorder is already up, with paperback soon to follow. 

This is the third and final redux/relaunch of the original Obscured books. Once again I've gutted and rebuilt the thing from the ground up, ending with what I hope to be a much stronger story. This series relaunch has been a long (and some say ill-advised) journey, but I'm happy knowing I have the best possible version of my book...

Eater [short story]

​​A young woman named Susan had just started a new job that was giving her some trouble. Well, just one part of it, actually.

Susan had told herself this one part of her job wouldn’t be a big deal. A piece of cake. A walk in the park. After all, they were just people, and she generally liked people. But from the moment she saw, from the very first peek she got from the hallway, she knew the truth she’d been avoiding all along.

Susan didn’t like the dead bodies.

Where in most jobs a fear of dead bo...

The Thing Is

Cover Art: Fritosparrow
This article first appeared on The Horror Complex, a series by Manor Entertainment, now available in podcast.

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“The Thing Is” by Brian Martinez

I was assimilated as a child.

Growing up in the suburbs of Long Island, there were pretty much two directions a person could drive once they crossed one of the bridges to the mainland. One was into the great city of Manhattan, the perpetually-beating heart of the United States, where dreams lived and died by the minute. The other was...

A Ghost Runs Through It

For me, and I suspect for most writers, stories represent a kind of dark magic. They live, they die, they transform and live again, taking on new shapes as easily as smoke filling a jar. As the person responsible for bringing a story to life, it's amazing to simply stand back and watch it move through the world on its own wings.

"Salt in the Dark River" is a ghost story I wrote five years ago, as a submission for a writing contest on Inkitt. It didn't win. In fact it didn't do much at all...

Twelve Tiny Terrors

Happy Halloween, boils and ghouls.

For the past few weeks, I've been celebrating the unholiest of months by writing and posting short horror stories based on the prompts of #mabsdrawlloween, a popular hashtag for graphic artists. My challenge to myself was simple: each day at 6 a.m. I sat down and read the day's prompt. Then, from 6 until 7, I came up with a simple horror concept and wrote it out, start to finish, posting the results to Instagram by around 7:30.

With the mont...

Space Horror Movies to Stream for Halloween

I'm a huge fan of Space Horror and Cosmic Horror in any form, as evidenced by my podcast The Vessel (currently on hiatus). It's not the easiest Horror subgenre to track down, however, and movies in particular can be a bit spread out. So, being that it's October, I figured I would round up a collection of Space Horror flicks and where to currently stream them without having to put down any additional money for a rental.

Here's what I found, with a few favorites and new releases near the top. I...

City of Demons is out...

City of Demons, the second, completely redone book of The Unseen, came out this past Saturday. I already considered City of Demons one of the better books I've written, and in my mind the new version has cemented that opinion. I don't say any of that to brag, it's just that- redo's like this one aside- there are usually two different versions of every book, the one a writer envisions, and the one he or she ends up writing. An Expectation versus Reality situation, based on everything from tim...

Grave Riser

This past Tuesday I released a new book, which was also an old book. Shallow Graves is the completely improved and expanded take on a story originally titled Shallow Veins. I had a lot of hesitation going into this, mainly because I feared a backlash from those people (few as they might be) who had already read Shallow Veins. But starting with the first person I told- my wife, who continues to be the series' biggest supporter- through the public announcement and finally the launch this past...

Second Chances

Original cover concepts for Shallow Veins
As is always my goal, I want to talk honestly with you about something.

One of the biggest regrets in my writing career to date has been the failure of my Obscured series. I know 'failure' is a harsh word, but ultimately it's the right one. Exactly five years ago I announced Shallow Veins, 'the first book in an ambitious Urban Fantasy series.' I had big plans for a multi-character story that would grow and grow in scale as our world was beset with anci...