Mr. Loveless in Room 719
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…
Fiction
A Distant Howling
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…
Belgrade Butcher
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…
Introduction to What We Talk About When We Talk About Horror and Other Stories
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…
Dead Pixels
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…
The Mouth inside the Pillow
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.…
Dolly
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…
Twas the Night Before Christmas
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.
Creepy Malcolm
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…
Trunk Story
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…