07/30/2025 Author Notes Series: Tales from the Gutter

So, fun little fact for everyone. A few years ago, I wrote under the pen name Candle Phillips as an experiment for a series of short stories

So, fun little fact for everyone. A few years ago, I wrote under the pen name Candle Phillips as an experiment for a series of short stories that I published with another author, who was writing under the pen name of Harvey Bastard. These were published under Gloom House Publishing.

The reasons for this were quite simple. I have a corporate job, and adding my name to this type of content was something I was not comfortable with. They do know I’m a horror author, not that they’ve ever read it, but out of respect for my job and my position there, I decided to test these particular waters under a pen name.

My second reason is also simple, I was testing my comfort level with taboo topics, containing a heavier sexual content, much more graphic and depraved than I’d ever written. The pen name let me explore new boundaries without tarnishing my other work or turning off my readers that expected content of a somewhat milder approach. Though I am known for extreme content, it tends to be light on the sexual depravity.

My first story was The Garden of the Forgotten in which a hospital morgue worker takes his creative pursuits a bit too far. This one is raunchy, gory, vulgar, and extremely depraved. It’s best read after reading Scrape by Harvey Bastard as we both wrote in some crossover bits to connect the stories. These stories were first published by Gloom House in a novella titled STRANGE CORRIDORS.

The second story, Penance, follows a series of murders befalling young nuns at a convent. A vigilante of sorts offers her services to Mother Superior to help catch the culprit. Things do not play out as you might think once the suspect is in hand. This one is very sexually depraved, violent and sexually graphic with a couple assault scenes that are far more graphic than my usual Splatterpunk and extreme horror stories. This story was published in a novella titled TWISTED SISTERS with Harvey Bastards story, Maelstrom, which compliments my nun story very well.

My final story as Candle Phillips was called Bog Worms. I went a different route with this story, more of a body horror/ old folklore blend. It follows a couple of bored, trouble-making teens chilling at a local hangout spot when a heavy storm kicks up. To pass the time, a legend is told to the group, but laughed at, as tough teens often do. After all, such stories are never real, right? This one is also raunchier than my normal work, a lot more gross in a creature feature way, but still horrific, gory, and violent.

This story was written for the full collection TALES FROM THE GUTTER, that combined all of the Candle Phillips and Harvey Bastard stories in one volume. You will also find two more insanely depraved stories from Harvey Bastard in this collection.

We decided to end the pen name series last fall and revealed who we were after holding a fun raffle to see if anyone could guess. No one got it right. James Carlson, owner of Gloom House, is Harvey Bastard and of course, I am Candle Phillips.

If you are interested in reading this depravity, I do have about 15 copies of TALES FROM THE GUTTER left. Just message me and you can grab one for $10 plus shipping.