SLUGGER is the creative effort of two horror writer pals.
Contact for general inquiries (please do not email stories- see Submission tab): Please put “QUERY” in the subject line and reach out to us at sluggerfiction@gmail.com
SLUGGER logos were created by P.L. McMillan.
Origins
I entered the indie horror scene as a reader in fall of 2022. I’m not sure how it happened, but I stumbled across Lor Gislason’s novella Inside Out. The story is about an infection that spreads through society. Written in a series of vignettes, Lor’s visceral and goopy take on body horror hooked me. I had found indie horror and haven’t looked back since.
In winter of 2023, I came across a call from Shortwave Publishing for first readers of their Wilted Pages anthology guest edited by Christi Nogle and Ai Jiang. I’ll never know why I was accepted, but it was such a great learning experience. Shoutout to Alan Lastufka, owner of Shortwave.
In spring of 2023, I wrote a terrible draft of my first horror story. I reached out on the Shortwave’s Discord critique-swap channel for a beta reader, and Alan was very kind to read my draft and provide feedback. I didn’t even know what “show, don’t tell” meant, and Alan sent me down a path to continue my writing.
Around this same time, I had continued down the rabbit hole of reading body horror stories, especially from queer authors. I read the Your Body Is Not Your Body anthology from Tenebrous Press that featured trans and gender non-conforming authors. I absolutely loved it. I identify in a normative way (straight, cisgender man/male), but I always feel like I’m in the ballpark of gender questioning and often use my horror writing to explore these ideas, especially from the perspective of not fitting in (which I 100% feel to my core). I hope my writing translates the authenticity I feel about my own gender.
I had experience teaching within the Honors College at my university which allows proposals of seminar courses on any topic open to students of any year and any major. I had taught courses about toy-based technology for children with disabilities and punk and decided to propose a body horror course. It was accepted! I’ve taught it twice so far (Fall 2023, Fall 2024). Students read body horror from queer authors and write their own short stories (with developmental editing provided by the incredible Nico Bell). The students have consistently blown me away with the bravery and boldness of their writing. At the end of each term, we compiled their short stories into a physical book and hosted SLUGFEST at our local DIY punk space where students read aloud their work.
SLUGGER is the next iteration in my efforts to provide students at Oregon State University with unique and impactful learning experiences.
SLUGGER is open for submissions from the general public. It also provides a space for Body Horror students to publish their work in a special issue, as well as Punk 101 students to publish album reviews.
The cover art and interior illustrations of each issue are from former or current Oregon State University students.They are paid $25 per cover and $10 per interior art piece.
I met Arwyn Sherman (Co-Founding Editor) in the Tenebrous Press Discord server in May 2024. We’ve become good writing pals ever since, and I’m thrilled to work with them on the project.
Resist in power,
Sam Logan, Co-Founding Editor
May, 2025
SLUGGER 