It's the first Saturday of April,
so it's time for another FREE short story! For my final short story—I’ll be
moving on to my novellas starting next month for the four following months—I’ve
saved the tale where I coined the name of my fictitious city where all my stories
take place, Bitternest, for last. Titled
“A Madman’s Atonement”, initially, it was going to be my first novel, way back
in the year 2000. Life happened, I got sidetracked, and never finished it.
Fast-forward to 2006, I went back to it and finished writing it as a novelette.
It was too long to submit anywhere, so I kept it in my virtual drawer for when the
perfect opportunity came along to publish it. In 2012, when I was putting
together my latest short story/novella collection, I decided to dust it off, trim
it, and include it in my second collection, Spooky
Showcase. It’s a story about a serial killer in Bitternest. That’s all I’ll
say about it. It’s become a fan-favourite over the years and I’m damn proud of
this one. 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!
"Beyond the Doomed Cave", is a Bradburyesque Gothic coming-of-age tale about a witch in a
churchyard.
“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.
