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Dead
By Leya Kayas There were windows in the flat that looked out onto the street. Women were in the street, a signal of the changing world. They did not cover their hair, and spoke loudly. Sometimes he listened to their simple inflections, their calling each other habibi as they laughed. He thought about Zahra, and [...]
27Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedPeculiar Sacrifices
By M. K. A. Marble Mist shrouded the forest, blown in by the cold winds of November. Crows called to one another through the sounds of rain dripping from branches to the dead leaves that lay in shades of brown, maroon, tan and burnt orange on the ground. The gray clouds in the sky seemed [...]
23Jan2012 | admin | 2 comments | ContinuedClosing Time
By J.M. Jennings Eric Jenner was beginning to nod when the tires crunched on the gravelly side of the interstate. He jumped awake and swerved back into his place, thankful that no one was around to see him. Or hit him. He had tried turning on the air conditioning to full blast, and that had [...]
12Jan2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Rain
By Walter Kwiatkowski Darryl Wheeler stood in the doorway staring at the pellets of rain that pounded against the pub window. His reflection looked sadly back at him and for a moment he thought his twin in the mirror was shaking its head at him in pity. I’ve been clean for six years. No heroin. [...]
12Jan2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedAndrew Magenti
by Allen Kopp For as long as I live I won’t forget the night the young master was born. It was during a night of the worst thunderstorms I ever witnessed in all my life. All the fury of the heavens was unleashed upon us. The rain, thunder, lightning and wind tore at the old [...]
31Mar2011 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Water – Grave Retribution
by R.L. King “This can’t be happening to me, who is going to look after my mother?” “Fuck your mother. If you don’t shut up, I’ll set you on fire right now.” “If you’re just trying to scare me, you can stop now. I know you’re not really going to kill me.” She said, slumping [...]
27Mar2011 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Tell-Tale Soul
by R.L. King “This is how it’s going to be now.” The man’s ghost said. It sat off to the side, in the dense fog, where the flying dirt would not disappear through his body. “You know that right?” After everything that happened in the last four days, he did. Now, being haunted by the [...]
6Mar2011 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedPinewood
By Troy Massie It was a beautiful, breezy spring afternoon. The wind was very powerful, but the sun was shining and it was not too cold. The sky was blue with a few subtle clouds floating by. Birds were chirping and forming with one another in the sky, creating a beautiful series of designs. Fred [...]
17Feb2011 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedLEARNING TO SHUDDER
By Doug Johnson Mr. Gunderson handed Bill the crossbow nodding in approval. After a roaring fire, and chocolate all over the boys’ faces, Bill begged his Dad to tell them a story. It didn’t take long for him to get going. Bill said, Mr. Gunderson rose up to his full frame with the campfire flickering [...]
10Jan2011 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Loveoes
The fever had taken nearly everything out of me. I had spent most of the week lying in bed, tossing and turning, moaning, drenching my sheets in sweat. I kept my eyes closed as much as I could; not for the interest of sleep – the pain refused to let me do that – but [...]
24Dec2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe First Day
By Troy Massie Chef Jon Acker was very excited about going to work again. He had been laid off at his job at Mal’s Steakhouse for much longer than originally expected. After three months he decided that he could not go much longer without working. He had some money coming in, but it was just [...]
3Dec2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedAcross the Hall
By Troy Massie When I first met Nick Willow, my neighbor from across the hall, I thought he was a little odd, but also a very nice guy. He always had a large smile on his pudgy face; one that gave many the creeps. He would talk about comic books and recent movies a good [...]
24Nov2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedStumpy
By Matthew Lett It was going to be an easy job. Bust in, grab the cash, bust out. Just like that. Three simple steps, which if done quickly and correctly, would result in a net payoff near a quarter of a million dollars. At least that’s the way Jake Clemmons of Rock Springs, Wyoming saw [...]
20Oct2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Surrounding Sky
By Bruce Memblatt Red velvet drapes hung just to the left of David on the day he died. Just above the drapes the plaster cracked on the ceiling around the base of a hook that overlooked the window. A frayed rope hung from the hook. Sun streamed through a gap in the drapes affecting his [...]
26Sep2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedNeon Electric
By Ron Koppelberger Posey Wing lay beneath the window sill staring through the blinds; there were a few missing louvers and he could just make out the neon signs exclamation. “HOT….L” Vacancy the sign flashed. The red neon gave Posey a candent red eyed appearance, pupils dilate and undulates, scarlet like the eyes of a [...]
18Sep2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedChains to the Past (the spirit of morning)
By Ron Koppelberger (The Angel) The angel was a brilliant beacon of love and light shining down on the man and woman from above, ethereal and beautiful before god and heaven. The veil had become a gauzy rent in a place near the couple and so abbadon had taken advantage. He had put on an [...]
29Aug2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedBed Bugs
By Matthew Miller Death came eventually for each creature in the collection. Deprived of food and oxygen, they moved slowly until they stopped altogether–some frozen in mute agony, others curled into tight balls as they held onto their last breath. The bark scorpion, acquired from outside Phoenix, thrashed madly inside the glass prison using all [...]
16Aug2010 | Editor | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Shade Poems: White
By Rachel Johnson It was breezy and cool. The blue cashmere sweater was a good choice. I didn’t mind walking through the park, it was faster. White street lamps twitched as I passed. Each one popping on as the sun disappeared. The park was so empty today, no couples sharing kisses or joggers on the [...]
27Jul2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Shade Poems: Green
By Rachel Johnson It was her eyes. The sharp green picked her for me. Her high ponytail swung as she walked. And her eyes, those green eyes, watched the darkness. But she would never find me. Black hid me in the night, Unlike her blue sweater that glowed in the lights. The last victim blended [...]
26Jul2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Shade Poems: Blue
By Rachel Johnson Something smelled like old meat that had been sitting out for too long. Somewhere iron rich blood was collecting flies. They would buzz into the pool and feast on microscopic bits of flesh. Gorging themselves on someone’s death. The familiar smell I had grown to rely on. Dumpsters didn’t hold many prizes. [...]
26Jul2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Underground
by Bruce Memblatt They boarded the steel subway cars like they did every morning, praying for a seat, hoping there weren’t many delays. Greg had just finished his first cup of coffee. He’d rushed out of his empty apartment after another sleepless night. She’d never be back, he supposed. That report had to be on [...]
9Jul2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Battle That Ended the Century
By Howard Phillips Lovecraft On the eve of the year 2001 a vast crowd of interested spectators were present amidst the romantic ruins of Cohen’s Garage, on the former site of New York, to witness a fistic encounter between two renowned champions of the strange-story firmament—Two-Gun Bob[1], the Terror of the Plains, and Knockout Bernie[2], [...]
3Apr2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedTwilight Court
By Ron Koppelberger His confidence was a certain annoyance to the pool of spectators. Straying a glance at the prosecuting attorney, he offered a grin and an innocent expression of bewilderment. She returned his look with cool confessional disregard. He imagined the sweet passions of sleepy innocent indulgence and fresh air rather than the odor [...]
3Apr2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedBelievers in Savannahs of Grass
By Ron Koppelberger The landscape was an eternal vision of hungry grass, all encompassing in it’s wide vista; The cry of a dozen dreamers and believers in emerald waves of fervor blessed the virgin skies and the bond of grass, unique in fray and fringed horizons, in the singsong grasp of affection and tender embrace, [...]
2Apr2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedA Deep Love
By Ron Koppelberger “I’m alive with you baby,” Straw Berkley whispered into her ear, “ Alive and born again with you my love.” She grinned in an askew sort of manner and shifted on the leather sofa. A sticky squishing sound from beneath her shifting figure broke the moment, like Velcro peeling away from Velcro [...]
1Apr2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedA Bottle for Sandra
By Bruce Memblatt “I sold you the bottles, please I tell you one thing keep these ghosts apart. Do not even leave the bottles in the same room.”The old woman said, with haunting eyes, eyes that reminded Aaron of something eternal, something hidden away. He purchased the pair of bottles from the old woman at [...]
30Mar2010 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedNotes on Writing Weird Fiction
By H.P. Lovecraft My reason for writing stories is to give myself the satisfaction of visualising more clearly and detailedly and stably the vague, elusive, fragmentary impressions of wonder, beauty, and adventurous expectancy which are conveyed to me by certain sights (scenic, architectural, atmospheric, etc.), ideas, occurrences, and images encountered in art and literature. I [...]
26Mar2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Swaying Cattail
By Ron Koppelberger In the spirit of shadow, of gentle twilight passions and desires in velveteen darkness, he studied the cattail down, in perfect pose, still by the source of wonder. He knelt on bended knees amongst the castaway leaves of fall, near the ponds edge. A great grin of possession, the cattail was his, [...]
25Mar2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedLongfaces Reward
By Ron Koppelberger He held the cerulean sphere in cupped hands. His reflection wavered in the blue effervescence like a beseeching prisoner, a captured image of long faced desire, the desire for secrets and equal measures of beauty. His face elongated and drooped in long allay, his chin was a full foot beneath his pursed [...]
19Mar2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Death of One Life
By Phil Nova Sixty seven year old billionaire Howard Goldsmith was the center of attention at the congressional investigative hearing on illegal toxic waste dumping. Howard adjusted his five hundred dollar tie, cleared his throat, and said, “Could you repeat the question please, Mr. Chairman?” A puny man with a huge mustache, Chairman Brewster, glared [...]
17Mar2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedShanghi Dread
By Ron Koppelberger Lower than the planted twilight horizon and beneath the frayed forest edge, it lay near his young feet. The infinite in a simple paw, the velvet touch of rabbit fur and blue stain. He stared at the tiny paw and a mask of tense expectation flittered across his face. The evening became [...]
16Mar2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedLusty Cares
By Ron Koppelberger The necromancy was a passionate pastime in Truck Snarls pale-faced demeanor. He lusted in an elegant alliance with the wont of power, sex and pleasure, any pleasure. Truck sneered at the tiny auburn haired Daisy Chit. She was perched on the edge of the sofa as she baptized her tiny mouth with [...]
10Mar2010 | Editor | 0 comments | ContinuedDeclare me Recurrent
By Ron Koppelberger Ecru Dread was unimpeded by the trappings of life, the entrance of screaming, kicking tears and enchanted exclamations of Farwell to limbo, “By birth and by the tenants of death” he yelled. By age he thought ancient turns of fated revolution; to be reborn and to die over and over again he [...]
8Mar2010 | Editor | 0 comments | Continued