Robert Kostanczuk’s ‘A Visitant Comes to the Window’ in WordCrafter Press’ Midnight Roost Anthology

I asked fellow Midnight Roost anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Roost (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

Let’s start with a Hallowe’en-themed introduction to the anthology as a whole:

Robert’s contribution is A Visitant Comes to the Window. Here’s the opening:

At first a bothersome thing, the bug noise became a lulling rhythm of nature for Pike Ansblath.
He accepted the ruffled bleating as part of summer.
One night, while lying on the couch, Pike tried to pin down what the noise sounded like.
It was, he determined, basically a whistle… with a little ripple effect.
A neighbor who overheard it one day likened the sound to a muted chirp; that made sense, too.
The sounds of summer insects always confused Pike. They blurred into one hodgepodge… crickets, flies, bees, etc.
Who cared?
He got mad at himself for thinking about bugs so much. There were other fish to fry — his love life, for instance, was motoring along quite swimmingly.

How the story came about:
The night sounds of bugs during the summer always intrigued me. I wanted to turn that into something darker, and combine it with a protagonist who’s a young lothario. I thought the combination would be quirky in an interesting way. Then, I introduced an insect like no other.

Robert Kostanczuk is a former full-time entertainment/features reporter for the Post-Tribune daily newspaper of northwest Indiana.
He won first place for “Best Personality Profile” in a 1992 competition sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, Indianapolis chapter.
Robert’s flash fiction “Coming Along Swimmingly” appeared in “Beyond Words” international literary magazine (Issue 13; April 2021): Beyond Words Publishing House; Berlin, Germany.
Robert lives in Indiana.
You can follow him on Twitter.

See all Midnight Roost stories here.