LONGMEADOW – Howard Odentz, a resident of Somers, CT, and Longmeadow High School class of 1981 graduate, has released his third book – a collection of 26 horror short stories called “Little Killers A to Z,” which features a fictional version of Longmeadow called Meadowfield.

Odentz told Reminder Publications his writing features other fictional communities inspired by real-life locations in Western Massachusetts – the town of Littleham is a fictional version of Wilbraham and Palmer and Monson are fictionalized into the town of Apple.

“I love writing about Western Massachusetts,” he explained. “There’s a lot of good stuff to write about here … I think New England has an inherent creepiness to it … It’s the perfect setting for horror books.

Odentz described Longmeadow as the “perfect little town” while he was growing up.

“Even inside those perfect little bubbles, things happen,” he noted. “And people don’t talk about them, but I like hearing underneath the surface.”

His new book is more adult and older young adult oriented and features psychological horror and some supernatural horror stories, he added. The stories are filled with monsters, psychopaths, and murderers.

“It’s all about kids and teens who kill,” he explained. “Either they kill because they have to. Some kill for revenge. Some kill to protect themselves. Sometimes you can murder by inaction, just by not telling someone something is happening. They all have an endgame in mind.”

One of the stories is inspired by his childhood fear of a large black Great Dane named Fury, Odentz said.

“He was like the monster dog that separated the two houses,” he noted. “To a little kid, that can be really scary.”

Another story is inspired by Blueberry Hill Elementary School, Odentz said.     

One story called “A is for Andy who watches his dad” is about a teen’s dilemma after watching his abusive father slip and fall on ice, he noted. Another, “Z is for Zina who suffers starvation” is set in a world plagued with disease where a street gang known as the gods survives at all costs.

Characters across the stories also connect to one another, he explained.

“There is a character in the very first story of ‘Little Killers A to Z’ who is a minor character and she is also a minor character in my first book ‘Dead A Lot.’ My next book coming out in October called ‘Wicked Dead,’ – she’s a major character,” he added.

“Wicked Dead” is a sequel to Odentz’s first novel, which is a young adult zombie apocalypse novel with a good dose of humor, he noted.

"Everybody thinks it’s laugh out loud funny, but I wasn’t really trying to be funny, but I guess it is,” Odentz said. “It’s about what kids would do if a zombie apocalypse happened without parental supervision.”

He said “Dead A Lot” and his second book “Bloody Bloody Apple” both became number one bestselling books in several categories, including horror, young adult horror, and humor horror.

Odentz, who is inspired by novelist Stephen King, said at one point he surpassed his literary idol in top sales for one category.

For more information about Odentz visit www.howardodentz.com/index.html..