Orla

Places near and dear to D.L.’s heart are having a rough go of it lately.

Last year, Hurricane Helene swept in and did a number on East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

This year, the Texas Hill Country just got walloped by devastating floods. D.L. lived and worked about fifty miles southwest of Kerrville in Uvalde. He’s driven along the highway that follows the headwaters of the Guadalupe River. Farther down the river, he also spent time working in Seguin (which was thankfully not affected by the flooding).

But this time, it’s not just D.L. Bobbi Chukran, who contributed to the Wandering Souls Edition anthology and Leticia Urieta, author of the 2026 collection The Remedy is the Disease, also live in the Texas Hill Country (fortunately in areas that weren’t as badly affected).

In short, while Undertaker Books isn’t a victim of this tragedy, we are affected by it.

And we want to help.

To raise funds for Texas recovery, we’ll be offering a special ebook release of D.L.’s short story, “Orla” on our website, www.undertakerbooks.com. All profits raised between now and the end of 2025 will be donated to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund (https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201). From 2026 onward, we will direct donations to the Brother’s Brother Foundation fund for US Disaster Relief. 

“Orla” is a psychological horror story about a hitchhiker who shows up in a small west Texas town. While at first it seems like things are better than ever, service station owner Gus has a feeling something isn’t right…

We hope you’ll pick up a copy, and let your horror-loving friends know about this opportunity to support flood recovery and get a story you’ll take to your grave in the process!