It's the first Saturday of March,
so it's time for a FREE short story! This time, I’ve chosen "Beyond the
Doomed Cave", a Bradburyesque Gothic coming-of-age tale about a witch in a
churchyard. Originally published in the Sinister
Landscapes anthology in 2008 and reprinted in my second collection, Spooky Showcase, in 2012. You can
read/download the free PDF here.
In case you missed the previous
entries in Short Story Time, you can download them at the links below. Enjoy
and drop me a line to let me know what you think of them!
“Silently It Creeps” is a short
and nasty, creepy little tale about the monster under the bed.
“The Chilling Hour” is a tale
about Nick Kubrick, a horror DJ who investigates and debunks supernatural myths
in his spare time in the foggy city of Bitternest, Louisiana. He would go on to
star in his own novel, Nocturnal
Offerings, a few years later.
“The Errand” is a tale about a
man who goes through the woods of Bitternest to run an errand and will see the
course of his life altered forever.
“Hershell’s Motel” is a strange
tale about an unusual motel where, you guessed it, bizarre things happen.
“The Rattling Man” is a coming of
age Halloween tale. Do you believe in the bogeyman? Do you believe in the
Rattling Man? Find out who or what he is!
“Crimson Nightmares” is my take
on the “Halloween” movie series. Written and initially published digitally back
in 2011, this 106-page novella picks up 33 years after the events of the second
"Halloween" film from 1981, the night when Michael Myers terrorized
Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and the residents of Haddonfield,
Illinois. It follows little Lindsey Wallace, the little girl Laurie Strode
babysat in the first “Halloween” (1978) film, who is all grown-up now and bears
the scars of that terrible night to this day. She has moved to my fictitious
town of Bitternest, Louisiana to get away from her past and has been leading a
quiet life, that is until something inside Michael Myers snaps and he comes
looking for her on Halloween. Add to that a killer clown with an agenda of his
own and it’s a Halloween you won’t soon forget. It’ll be a showdown for the
ages when Michael Myers comes to the eerie city of Bitternest.
“The Bypassed Mind”, a romantic
suspense/fantasy story with some hypnosis thrown in for good measure that was
directly inspired by the late, great Richard Matheson's novel Bid Time Return also adapted as the film
"Somewhere in Time".
“Breaking and Entering”, the
story of a man who enters people’s homes just for kicks, never stealing
anything, just to see what goes on behind close doors. One day he’ll stumble
upon something that will change his life forever…
“Scapegoat”, a tale about the
Curse of the Cubs, the love of baseball, some time travel, and a whole lot of
nostalgia. Even if you're not into baseball, this fantasy tale filled with
mystery is sure to entertain you.
Last but not least, fans of
Conan and Dungeons & Dragons can also download a PDF of the first two tales
of the ongoing adventures of my Sword & Sorcery character AMOK right here.
