It’s time for holiday horror as we revisit the 80’s glory of the Gremlins franchise with Jack Cullen, Amy Kaplan, and host James P. Nettles III!
Tag: horror
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January 6, 2021 Riot: Never Forget
On January 6, 2001, a mob descended on the capital at the behest of Donald Trump for the sole purpose of stopping the ratification of the next lawfully elected president of the United States of America, Joe Biden. The world watched in horror as people assaulted police, vandalized and entered the capital unlawfully, and threatened members of congress and vice president Pence.
Let us not forget that this wasn’t “a day of love” as Trump is now calling it, and those rioters weren’t patriots. In fact, this was not a random or spontaneous event at all. Many of the participants came prepared with pepper spray, zip ties, and combat gear. These are definitely not the acts of peaceful protesters. Let’s also not forget how many hours passed before Trump, after watching this unfold on live tv, consented to text his people, and tell them to go home.
This convicted felon will soon be sworn in as our 47th president. He’s promised to pardon all the rioters in the first few hours of his presidency and retaliate against anyone who has ever opposed him. His cabinet choices are all people who will do his bidding, some of whom aren’t qualified for their positions.
Wake up America. It’s up to us to remember the truth and keep our history from being rewritten and our constitution intact.
See my January 7, 2021 post: THIS IS NOT AMERICA
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ConTinual Convention Hot Off the Press 81
Hot Off the Press
Authors and their new releases
Check out the latest Hot Off the Press at ConTinual’s You Tube channel.
“Hot off the Press 81 has a bit of something for everyone this Halloween season with new releases from Paige L. Christie, J.D. Estrada, John L. French, A.L. Kaplan, Gini Koch, Lucienne LeBeau, Patricia Sargeant, Marisa Wolf, and host James P. Nettles. Romance, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, poetry and short stories abound to load up your to-be-read pile!”
Sometimes a blessing can be a curse.
Young Maya bears the mark of the moon goddess, a sign that would doom her to be sacrificed in her village where the death god is revered. Forced to dye her golden eyes dark, Maya lives in constant fear of discovery. To save her family and the village’s future, she must find the courage to stand up to the high priest before he can bring the death god into this world.
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WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Nicole Kurtz
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Nicole Givens Kurtz is an author, editor, and educator. She’s a member of Horror Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Science Fiction Writers of America. Her novels have been a finalist in the Dream Realm Awards, Fresh Voices, and EPPIE Awards for science fiction. She’s written for White Wolf’s Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Anthology, Bram Stoker Finalist in Horror Anthology, Sycorax’s Daughters, and Serial Box’s The Vela: Salvation series. Nicole has over 40 short stories published as well as 11 novels and three active speculative mystery series.
Wolf: Nice of you to swing by. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Nicole: The strangest food I’ve ever eaten was a chocolate covered grasshopper. It was hard but sweet. Crunchy but not nutty, and because of that I didn’t like it.
Wolf: I’ve never tried one of those, but it’s on my list. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Nicole: The nicest thing I’ve ever done for my character, is in my Minister Knights series, Devourer, allowing Zykeiah to fall in love again. She’d been broken in the love arena, and I wrote a love interest for her that helped her become whole again.
Wolf: That was very sweet of you. Nothing beats love. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Nicole: I used to be a cat only person, but since getting married, I now have two dogs. They’re delightful and fun and frustrating and loving. I very much have been converted to a dog person.
Wolf: I’m particularly fond of dogs as well. If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Nicole: If I could have a super power, it would be telekinesis. I want to be able to move things with my mind.
Wolf: Cool. There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Nicole: I leave and call the police! I’ve seen enough horror movies to know better. LOL. I’d rather be embarrassed then dead.
Wolf: Good call. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Nicole: Right now, my favorite character is Prentice from my KILL THREE BIRDS novella. She’s a hawk who has a magical ability to see the unseen. She’s focused, but not hardened. She still has faith in people, and sometimes that bites her.
Wolf: Not too hard, I hope. What story are you working on now?
Nicole: I am working on the second story in my Kingdom of Aves fantasy-mystery series. It involves a kingdom based on birds, magic, and a matrilineal society.
Wolf: Sounds wonderful. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Nicole: I garden when I’m not writing. It’s another avenue for me to be creative. Subscribers to my newsletter get to see the results of my green thumb.
Wolf: Thanks for visiting. Catch up with Nicole at these sites:
http://www.nicolegivenskurtz.net
http://www.facebooks.com/NicoleGKurtz
STAR TOUCHED
Sometimes it’s hard to be who you are meant to be.
Especially when your powers can get you killed.
Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population.
Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble.
Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.
WOLF DAWN
A Hidden Past – A Deadly Secret
Gifted with the ability to wolf-talk, Kara has lived with the wolves since she lost her memories eight years ago. Now at sixteen, snippets of her past send her searching for answers.
But the warm welcome she receives in the human village hides more danger than life with the pack.
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WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Scott Fowler
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Wolf: Scott Fowler is visiting us today. Tell a something about yourself.
Scott: Ever since I could remember I wanted to be a writer. Over my forty odd years on this Earth, I’ve written quite a bit and continue to do so when my home and work life allow. I reside in Jessup, MD with my wife and son.
Wolf: If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
Scott: I always thought wolves were cool. Especially those lone wolves that roam the forest by themselves.
Wolf: I just so happen to like wolves as well. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Scott: I usually eat pretty normal Americana food. I supposed the alligator steak I once ate is about the strangest. Should we count all the flies and spiders we end up eating every night as we sleep?
Wolf: No. Definitely not. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Scott: Nothing works better than a good sword at your side, ancient, powerful, and sturdy. A well-made sword can be beautiful and practical.
Wolf: I agree. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Scott: I’m generally not very nice to my characters. I see truth in the troubles one goes through rather than in one’s accomplishments. I supposed giving a lonely teenager a loving relationship was the nicest thing I’ve ever done to a character.
Wolf: Aww. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Scott: Too many mean things to choose from, actually. I suppose luring a college student to the basement of his professor so he could be decapitated was pretty high up there. I once trapped a man in a world of solid ice where he was stuck in a tiny space trying to survive. That story will be in my forthcoming book.
Wolf: Gives me chills. You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.
Scott: I’m small bush, rotting, with long roots under the surface spreading out in every direction, searching for moisture that isn’t there.
Wolf: Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Scott: Since I’m allergic to cats, that pretty much makes me a dog person.
Wolf: Sorry. While walking in the woods you come across…
Scott: An abandoned cemetery from decades (perhaps even centuries) gone. The ground is now more swamp than solid making the tombstones half-sunken in the ground and cockeyed this way and that. It’s dusk. The sun’s about to disappear under the horizon. At this point, your imagination will conjure up images of what happens in this graveyard at night. And you don’t want to be there.
Wolf: True statement. If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Scott: I’ve always liked Spider-man’s ability to climb walls. Then again, I’ve always liked the sensuality of the vampire. Bram Stoker had Dracula climbing walls so maybe the powers of a classic gothic vampire (no sparkling) would be good.
Wolf: Speaking of gothic, there is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Scott: For God’s sake, don’t open the door!
Wolf: What five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?
Scott: A good sword, a good book, pen and paper, good music, and my family by my side.
Wolf: Which of your characters is your favorite?
Scott: Kenny Myer from Back Looks The Abyss has a special place in my heart. He came from very deep within me and has the most of who I am as part of him than of any of my other characters. I believe it’s very difficult for a writer to create characters that don’t have some aspect of themselves incorporated with them. Some, obviously, incorporate more than others.
Wolf: So true. Describe a meal you would be served while visiting another world.
Scott: Since I am primarily a horror writer, this could go in any number of frightening directions. I supposed being served another human being would be a “meal.”
Wolf: Ick. What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)
Scott: I’ve always found the ocean to be a fountain of good stories, out in the middle of nowhere, fighting nature or each other just to survive. There’s much above and below the surface that lends itself to great story telling.
Wolf: Who influences you the most in your writing?
Scott: It’s hard to write horror without some sort of influence by Stephen King. He’s had such a huge impact on the genre, it can’t be ignored. I’ve read King since I was child and particularly love his short fiction. Of course, I’ve been influenced by other writers. I gain a huge amount of inspiration from anthology television shows like The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and Tales From the Darkside.
Wolf: Glad you could stop by. Connect with Scott Fowler through his website: https://scottwfowler6.wixsite.com/fowlerfunnyfarm
STAR TOUCHED
WOLF DAWN
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WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Lexie Carver
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Lexie Carver’s love of horror started in childhood after watching the TV show Goosebumps and grew from there. She watched her first horror film, a slasher, at the age of 11. She watches horror films, goes to horror film festivals, and surrounds herself with darkly inclined muses. Lexie is a feisty woman who loves indie rock and can’t function without at least one cup of black coffee. She has an adorable dog named Remy who is quite a handful.Lexie prides herself on being a woman, a feminist, and a horror writer—she offers no apologies, pulls no punches. Her poems and short stories are meant to hold up a mirror to the fears and secret longings of us all. A Fine Day for Murder, is a collection of horror short stories featuring demons, stalkers, evil clowns, vampires, murders and ghosts and more. Into the Dark, a collection of horror poetry features story poems of lost love, demons, psychotic lovers, stalkers, werewolves, vampires, toxic love, and murder. The poetry compilation also includes some of Lexie’s photography, all of which can be found on her website, lexiecarver.com.
Two of her short stories, “Vampires Anonymous,” and “Death Proof Inc.” as well as her poem, “Behind the Glass,” were published in Sirens Call Vol 39, a female-owned horror ezine. She was also interviewed by Kettle Whistle Radio. Lexie spoke in 9 horror panels and moderated 1 horror panel at RavenCon 2019
Follow her on Twitter @Lexie_Carver for horror movie recommendations. She has written 132 fanfics for the TV show Supernatural, over 80 of them about Crowley, the King of Hell. She is affectionately known on Tumblr as the Queen of Hell. It was through her love of that show and fanfic writing that she met some of her best friends. Come say hi and stop by her table at the various conventions she will be attending this year.
Wolf: It was great meeting you at RavenCon. If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
Lexie: It’s a tie between a Phoenix and a red wolf. I’m constantly changing and evolving with outside stimuli. The old me “dies” and a stronger version rises from the ashes like a Phoenix. I’m shaped by my experiences. I love who I am now and I’m at peace with everything that has brought me to this point. I have a kinship with wolves. Like them, I feel alive and energized by the night. I feel grounded being in the woods. I have a small group of friends — my pack — who I know very well. I prefer that over a large group of acquaintances. I also mate for life. Wolves as spirit animals symbolically mean loyalty, instinct, freedom, intuition, protection, community, independence and communication. Fits me pretty well.
Wolf: Excellent choice. I kind of like wolves as well. You may have created a new creature. Maybe your next story will have a wolf phoenix. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Lexie: If I had to pick a weapon it would be a double-edged dagger like the Haladie that was used in ancient India by the warrior class. Not only does it look badass but it’s easy to use and creates a hell of a lot of damage. It’s small, comfortable to hold (or at least looks like it is), and easy to move quickly through the air. If choosing a weapon for the Apocalypse, look no further. That being said, I am able to assess a situation quickly and I’m resourceful, calm under pressure, and quick to act so I think my brain could also be a weapon.
Wolf: Love it. That’s a cool blade. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Lexie: In “Vampires Anonymous,” I gave vampires a support group under the leadership of Lainie, to help wayward vampires find the strength to fight the monster within, to stay “human sober.” I also gave the group resources like a taxi service, guardians, and a halfway house. Here’s hoping that Lisa and Ethan don’t give up the fight.
Wolf: Super. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Lexie: Meanest? Hmm…well I am a horror writer so there’s always the possibility of death for my characters, but I did feel a bit guilty at everything I dumped on Nikki. In my short story called “You’ve Got to be Kidding Me,” I put the main character, a waitress named Nikki, through a terrible Monday night. She not only has to stay till 1AM to close the restaurant but she has to deal with drunk, handsy men, a horrible boss and superficial and jealous coworkers. To top it all off there’s a supernatural stalker waiting for her to leave the restaurant. But to Nikki’s credit’s she really does take all of this in stride and through her hardships she finds the strength to fight. I make her realize what’s important and what’s worth fighting for.
Wolf: Poor Nikki. You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.
Lexie: Given that I’m a horror writer, my choice shouldn’t come as much of a shock to you. I’m a Venus Fly Trap, a carnivorous plant that’s pretty, deceptive, yet clearly dangerous. I lure bugs, mainly ants, spiders, beetles and grasshoppers onto my sticky leaves and then seconds later devour them. I may look pretty like any other plant but I’m so much more. As a closing note, Little Shop of Horrors featured a talking and homicidal Venus Fly Trap whose meal of choice was humans.
Wolf: Feed me Seymore. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Lexie: I’m definitely a dog person. I used to walk dogs and even the most aggressive, dangerous dog loved me. I will always remember a huge golden retriever running across the street, his owner screaming, “no” as he charges at me and licks my face. Mind you, I had never met that dog before, but he definitely wanted to say hi. I have a dog and we have a very deep and rich connection. I enjoy taking him for walks, which he gets so excited about. I take pictures and he smells literally every blade of grass. Suffice to say, our walks are usually quite long. He’s not a huge fan of other dogs — favors humans instead. He loves to snuggle on the couch while I watch a horror flick or on my bed while I sleep. I always wake up to an adorable fuzzy face staring at me accusingly as he waits for me to walk him. His favorite toy is a green devil duck. Ha!
Wolf: Sweet. My pup is curled up next to me now. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Lexie: My favorite character would have to be Bobo the clown from, “Never Fear, Bobo’s Here.” He is such a dysfunctional, klutzy, incompetent villain that’s also quite creepy. I loved blurring the line between horror and comedy. His character stands out the most to me and I remember him fondly. Leave everything you think you know about clowns at the door. Bobo is truly one of a kind.
Wolf:What story are you working on now?
Lexie: I’m working on a new compilation of horror short stories and poems right now actually. The new short story compilation that’s tentatively called Heroes Don’t Stand a Chance, will feature stories a bit darker than the ones found in A Fine Day for Murder. In my new compilation, I will be giving old horror tropes a new twist. My new poetry compilation will be more horror and less memoir at least at this moment. It will also feature more of my photography. Both are still works in progress but I’m excited to show them to you as soon as I can. Keep your eyes peeled.Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Lexie: When I’m not writing, I’m living out loud, taking photos, connecting with fans at conventions, and reviewing horror movies every day on Twitter. I love to stay active and do something artistic every day. I’m also a huge fan of the arts in general so I dig concerts, museums, art galleries, flea markets, theater shows, vintage bookstores and film festivals. I hope to one day travel the US exploring haunted locations. Horror is at the core of who I am and I feel lucky that I can do what I love.
Wolf: There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Lexie: Rumbling like an earthquake? Find a doorway. Rumbling like a roar from a demon or monster? Yikes! Why did I walk down this dark corridor? Did I get lost? Damn — I need a better GPS. Or maybe I was looking for something? It doesn’t matter now. The rumbling sound was terrifying, and the ground is vibrating — so yeah, gotta run. I’m going to be the smart chick in a horror flick, thank you very much. I’m positive I have learned from watching horror movies all the time and I wouldn’t investigate the sound. I would just run the other way and while I’m running, I’d look for a weapon.
Wolf: Good move. Thanks for visiting. Connect with Lexie through at links:
Social Media Links:
Twitter: Lexie_Carver
lexiecarver.comStar Touched
Wolf Dawn
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WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Harrison Demchick
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
This week on Wolf Notes, we have Harrison Demchick.
Raised in Baltimore, Maryland on a steady diet of magical realism, literary fiction, science-fiction, and Spider-Man comics, Harrison Demchick spent most of his formative years inside his own head, working out strange thoughts and ideas that would eventually make their way into stories, screenplays, and songs.He went to Oberlin College to attain one of modern day’s most notoriously useless degrees, a BA in English with a creative writing concentration, but then actually used it, working for over a decade as a developmental editor of fiction and memoir. Harrison is also an optioned screenwriter, winner of the 2011 Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, and an inaugural fellow of the Johns Hopkins University/Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund. His first film, Ape Canyon, is currently in production.
The Listeners, his first novel, was published by Bancroft Press in 2012. Short stories “Magicland” and “The Bead” were published in 2019. Otherguy, his debut EP, launched in 2018. He currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his girlfriend and their two cats with a combined seven legs. He’s working on a series of short stories, a couple screenplays, a pair of musicals, a concept album, and whatever else keeps him distracted from the dark void that will one day consume us all.
Wolf: I beat your BA in English with a Masters in Sculpture. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Harrison: Yo-yo. Because no one ever picks the yo-yo, and I don’t want it to feel left out.
What are we picking this for again?
Wolf: Just curious. Yo-yos are fun – and dangerous. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Harrison: Well, I’m a horror author. So.
In my genres (tossing in magical realism and dark fantasy), it’s fair to say that some very bad things are going to happen in some very weird ways. But one thing that scares me more than anything is the notion of losing yourself—of forgetting the basics of who you are, and knowing that you have. Even if your life before was terrible. That happens in a yet-unpublished novelette called Rugaru, Montana, and my protagonists are more or less faced with the choice of letting themselves forget everything or embracing the lives they were desperate to escape. That may be the meanest thing I’ve done to my characters.
Though I also do some pretty mean things to Daniel, the protagonist of my novel The Listeners.
Wolf: Forgetting who you are is mean. I’ve done that to my characters as well. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Harrison: I co-wrote a musical with a friend of mine. It was a zombie musical, so terrible things still happened, but at least they got to sing some fun songs beforehand.
Wolf: Too funny. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Harrison: I’m a cat person. Actually, honestly, I have a major phobia of dogs. But in my defense, this is only because all dogs secretly want to eat you and eventually overthrow humanity. My cats will also eat me, but only after I’m dead, which when you come down to it is more thoughtful than spiteful.
Wolf: Interesting way of looking at things. I hope you don’t mind being interviewed by a wolf. While walking in the woods you come across…
Harrison: Bigfoot. It has to be Bigfoot. I did a school project on Bigfoot when I was in fourth grade. I taught cryptozoology as a college class. I wrote a screenplay about searching for Bigfoot, and now Ape Canyon is my first film. I’ve earned Bigfoot.
Wolf: You have indeed. There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Harrison: Well, hold on. There are a lot of variables in that scenario. First off, from which side of the door is the rumbling coming? And what sort of rumbling is it? Is it the rumbling of a train over tracks? An earthquake? The growling stomach of some unseen monster?
These latter questions will not be answered because I will be heading briskly in the opposite direction. The door is irrelevant. My characters go through these things so I don’t have to.
Wolf: Great answer. What five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?
Harrison: Oh, I wrote about one of these! The first and most important thing I would want is the most important thing Daniel in The Listeners suffers without: a friend. I happen to have a friend who owns a sword. I think a friend with a sword is a good bet in a post-cataclysmic world.
My second item would be a second friend, which is good to have in case the first friend dies or goes full-on zombie. Or if I do.
Actually, at least four of the five items would be friends. In all seriousness, there are all kinds of basic necessities you need to survive in a post-cataclysmic world, but it’s not worth surviving if you don’t have a reason to live. Friends will give you that. Friends will make the end of the world okay. One of them would be my fiancée, because she makes everything okay.
The fifth item is a guitar. I don’t know how to play the guitar, but if the world has ended I’d have plenty of time to learn.
I shouldn’t have evoked the concept of having time enough at last in a post-cataclysmic context. Now something terrible and ironic will happen.
Wolf: You want to live, not just survive. Friends are important for that. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Harrison: I’ve been writing a lot of shorter fiction the last couple years, and the nature of short fiction is such that you don’t live with an individual character for all that long. So it stands to reason that I become more attached to the ones with whom I spend the most time. There’s a special place in my heart for Cal Piker, the protagonist of Ape Canyon. Though I may identify most with Mindy, the protagonist of my screenplay Time-Traveling Idea Bandits. She’s a wildly enthusiastic aspiring writer struggling with serious self-doubt. That describes too many of my friends for me not to love her.
Wolf: What story are you working on now?
Harrison: I’ve just wrapped up a short story called “Sophie Anne” about a mother, her young daughter, and the Honey Tree Baby (think Cabbage Patch Doll) the mother gives her for her birthday. That sounds like the setup for a creepy possessed doll story. It’s not. Or not in the way you expect at least. It’s actually become one of the saddest things I’ve ever written. I’m very hopeful about it once I start submitting it to literary magazines and anthologies.
Wolf: Hope it does well. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Harrison: Wait—there are other things—?
Wolf: Perhaps not. Thanks for visiting. You can catch up with Harrison at these links:
http://www.harisondemchick.com
www.facebook.com/HarrisonDemchick
https://www.facebook.com/ApeCanyon/
https://twitter.com/HDemchickStar Touched
Wolf Dawn
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AIN’T GOOD
“Look at all them owls in that tree,” said Lowell. His jowls wobbled as he wiped sweat from his face with an already soaked and disgusting orange sleeve.
Harvey wrinkled his nose. The putrid scent blowing down the hill wasn’t much worse than Lowell’s odor. If he didn’t still need the despicable little man, Harvey would have strangled him on sight.
“They’re vultures,” said Harvey. “Owls ain’t up in daytime and don’t flock like that.”
“Well they stink. I don’t wanna go this way.”
“It’s this or rot in prison.”
Lowell continued to whine. “You said you had a way out, a secret way.”
“I do,” said Harvey, as he trudged to the top of the ridge and gazed at the vultures.
Lowell joined him a moment later, gasping from the exertion, eyes closed. It was a full two minutes before Lowell opened his eyes and saw the partially decomposed bodies strewn under the tree. Their telltale orange jumpsuits marked them as prisoners. His meaty hands grasped Harvey’s arm.
“Those are guys who supposedly escaped.” Lowell’s voice rose in pitch. “They’re dead! We’re gonna die!”
“No, Lowell,” said Harvey. “WE ain’t gonna die.”
Dozens of beady black eyes watched as Harvey cut Lowell’s throat and pushed him against the tree. Blood coated the bark, which began to glow.
“Hurting little girls ain’t good, Lowell. Judge went too easy for what you did to my sister.”
Harvey watch Lowell’s eyes widen as the birds descended then stepped through the portal.
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“SUPPOSE” Is Now Available In Print
For those eager readers who have been asking, “Suppose” is finally available in print: A collection of over sixty riveting tales, with new and expanded stories.
Suppose: Drabbles, Flash Fiction, and Short Stories has undergone a complete rewrite, with new and expanded stories: over sixty tales of humor, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, and life experiences so unbelievable that they have been disguised as fiction.
Suppose you saw something you couldn’t explain. And then suppose it turned out to be something far stranger, or funnier, or more horrifying than you ever expected. That element of surprise, and a different way of looking at things, is what this anthology is all about. Most of the short stories take less than fifteen minutes to read, and the ultra-short drabbles take less than thirty seconds.
Kathy Steinemann, Amber Hayward, A. L. Kaplan, and Donna Milward share their tales and fantasies in this book of drabbles, flash fiction, and short stories.
Why would the government force an artist to paint portraits of despots or drug lords? Why would healthy people die for no obvious reason? Do you suppose that wishes could ever be dangerous? What’s a BioInterFace Fluxxatron? Do aliens watch reality shows? Why would someone pay double the usual rate to move a heavy trunk? Why is the mud from Sludge Flats so valuable?
Discover the answers to these questions in this eclectic collection.
For a limited time, readers can receive a discount on the print edition at CreateSpace, the company that produces books for Amazon. The reduced price of $9.99 USD is further reduced by $2.00 with the discount code below:
DISCOUNT CODE: FPHUKVQB
https://www.createspace.com/5572855
And here are the other formats currently available.
Digital Editions:
Amazon.com – Amazon.ca – Amazon.co.uk – Amazon.de – iTunes – Barnes & Noble – Smashwords
Paperback Editions:
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The Ghosts of Northgate
Sweat dripped down my back despite the freezing temperature outside. I glanced at the frost covered window. Only inside felt like Hell’s furnace. And maybe it was. I stared in terrified fascination as flames danced across the cafeteria of the Northgate Sanitarium. Each human-shaped bonfire acted out a well-rehearsed script in a macabre ballet. One figure beat another with a rubber pipe. Another arched in spasm as electricity coursed through its body. A parody of a doctor drilled into a patient’s scull, clearly without anesthesia. Figures grappled and screamed a chorus that had probably started long before the place was shut down in the early 1950s.
The doctors here called it experimental treatment of the criminally insane. Most people called what it was: Power hungry sadists loose in a playground, all with the approval of the state prison system. God only knows how many people suffered in this place.
But that was old news. There had been rumors about disappearances in the past few weeks. When I decided to spent the night in this crumbling old building, I expected to find kids playing tricks or a new street gang pumping its muscles. Either of them would have made great stories, maybe even gotten me an early promotion at the Northgate Observer. If I wrote about this, my career as a journalist would end before it began.
Notebook forgotten, all I could do was watch the horror unfold and pray I survived the night – with my sanity.
