Fiction

It’s not looking good for the Angels. Top of the seventh, Game 6, series tied up at three a piece, and the Giants are leading 4-0, just ten outs away from winning it all. Francisco Rodríguez is struggling on the mound after allowing a home run from Barry Bonds in the top of the sixth,… Continue reading Mr. Loveless in Room 719

His prey was close by, crouched and trembling among a dense thicket of blackberry bushes, its breath visible in the cold night air. He stalked through the underbrush, carefully lifting each huge paw and placing it down silently. The breeze brought the scent of the deer, and an insatiable hunger gnawed at his belly as… Continue reading A Distant Howling

PART I – ON THE ROAD The first thing my wife says to them is: “No one is coming to help you. No one will ever come. Get that out of your head. The only person who can help you is yourself.” Her name is Marija, she is an M.D. psychiatrist and has been working… Continue reading Belgrade Butcher

What I’m about to write won’t sound like your usual introduction to a collection of short stories, especially not someone’s first collection. For one thing, I’ve decided to write it myself instead of asking someone like Clive Barker, Stephen King (like either of them would say yes), or Hal Archibald. Don’t know that last name?… Continue reading Introduction to What We Talk About When We Talk About Horror and Other Stories

The first thing Ruby could sense was the man’s breath. The scent of a clove cigarette—with Caesar salad dressing. He stood behind her, breathing heavily, as though he had walked a long distance at an anxious pace. It was approaching that magical time of evening in the mall. Ruby watched the orange crush sunset give… Continue reading Dead Pixels

The mouth jutting out of the pillow had the teeth of a piranha, snapping its jaws, dripping thick, gooey yellow saliva, and making tiny squeaks that echoed like distant screams. Squatting down in front of him, his father shook his head, the dark bags under his eyes deepening. Stephen had night terrors when he was… Continue reading The Mouth inside the Pillow

A sticky-sweet aroma from a new air freshener made the car’s interior seem like a low-rent nail salon, both acrid and artificial—the way an eleven-year-old girl would smell if she were given fifteen dollars and free rein at a fragrance kiosk in the mall. It did its job, though, masking odd and somewhat hidden odors… Continue reading Dolly

Jake Norton was tired of hearing everyone’s talk about Santa Claus. At twelve, he was pretty sure he’d outgrown the chimney stories—or so he told his parents. But deep down, a flicker of hope refused to disappear. Maybe the jolly old guy was real. Maybe he’d really show up on Christmas Eve, sliding down the chimney and sneaking cookies like some friendly burglar in the night. And Jake wanted proof—one way or the other.

APPEAL FOR INFORMATION – CAN YOU HELP? Police are appealing for witnesses after the disappearance of a child in Hulsted, Lancashire. Alice Stanley has been missing from her home since approximately 6.15pm on 10th October 2023. She is described as having shoulder-length brown, curly hair and green eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she… Continue reading Creepy Malcolm

A plastic wheelie bin had just gone skittering down the road when Colly Glennon heard his son roaring. “Daddy, dad-eeee.” It was just after 10pm and his six-year-old Cillian should already have been asleep. They stayed up late watching Despicable Me 2 for what could easily have been the thirteenth time. They feasted on popcorn… Continue reading Trunk Story

I had been journeying for several days when I occasioned to stay at the Château Hotel, with only my cat Artemis for companionship. Artemis, a mewling, foul-tempered feline, sat in her leather carrier under my seat as we crossed the countryside by train, crying from beneath me at regular intervals. We disembarked the train in… Continue reading The Bug in the Lamp

Northwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane was a stone-faced bastion in the rugged Appalachian coal country of northern Pennsylvania. I was a trusty there, an inmate who had garnered a modicum of independence by virtue of having a record of passable behavior, and also of providing a service that was desirous of the miscreants charged… Continue reading 84 × 28 × 20

Mortuary Affairs Specialist Corporal Alan Donohue knew he was dead. He felt certain as he pulled the zipper up on number 152’s cold, white face, he’d never been so certain about anything in his life. It wasn’t a clean pull. The tab managed to get stuck on a loose flap of rotting skin, making the… Continue reading A Rare Vintage