1. Tell us your name and a wee bit about yourself, please?

Dennis Latham/writer and freelance manuscript editor/ five children and four grandkids/Marine Vietnam veteran

2. In your opinion, who's the best horror short story writer to ever live and why?

Ray Bradbury because he was way ahead of his time.

3. What is the best short horror story of all time?

The Handler by Ray Bradbury

4. How did the universe begin?

As a discount item at Walmart.

5. What's the most important element in making a short horror story truly creepy?

The possibility that it could happen or has happened.

6. Who would win in a fight between Tsathoggua and Yig?

What weight class?

7. What's something unusual that scares the bejeezus out of you?

A phone call at 4:00 am. It's never good news.

8. What other talent besides writing do you have?

Professional vocalist and blues harmonica player.

9. How do you reconcile human freewill and God's foreknowledge?

We're already in hell, cursed with the knowledge we're going to die.

10. Could you please take this opportunity to pimp out your work and upcoming projects?

Just released Sudden Victims (story collection) and I'm going to adapt my screenplay for my story Floater to a novel.

~

Thanks, Dennis. Another Bradbury fan! I might have to agree with you that a phone call at 4 a.m. is always scary.

Posted on Saturday 23 of August, 2008 [18:27:57 UTC]

1. Tell us your name and a wee bit about yourself, please?

Michele Lee. I promise compared to others there I'm terribly ordinary and boring. I garden. I squee at dragonflies and vegetable sprouts. I even have a few sunflowers. I crochet, parent, slay mice, write, read, review... I'm handfasted to a Lokian reverend, dream of the day when I can ride horses again and until then I manage a family of the cleverest, most trying buggers you could imagine.

2. In your opinion, who's the best horror short story writer to ever live and why?

Tough, tough. I highly admire Jennifer Pelland, Palo Bacigulpa, Steven Savile, Mary Robinette Kowal, Kealan Patrick Burke and many others whose stories are only now being written. Time will only tell if "ever to live" will become theirs. Temporarily I chose Jeff Strand, who not only can write many different styles and genres but has a mastery of tension, makes readers laugh when they really shouldn't be and has surprising loyal readers in areas that other horror writers would never think to conquer. Strand was recently recommended to me by an avid romance reader who had no clue I was already a fan. Who knew he'd infected so many?

Yes, there are other fantastic writers out there, but the old, more classic masters have become distant enough from "today" that while I find them enjoyable they don't sing to me.

3. What is the best short horror story of all time?

Red by Richard Christian Matheson. I will never forget the pure terror of that story.

4. How did the universe begin?

Where do universes come from? They just are.

5. What's the most important element in making a short horror story truly creepy?

Tension.

6. Who would win in a fight between Tsathoggua and Yig?

Chuck Norris.

7. What's something unusual that scares the bejeezus out of you?

Success.

8. What other talent besides writing do you have?

I'm a fabulous organizer, a decent gardener, a decent cook, a fair photographer, passionate friend and keystone many people depend on.

9. How do you reconcile human freewill and God's foreknowledge?

1. The All Knowing "remembers" the future. The memories are less concrete and more flexible, easily shifting and changing due to a phenomena known simply as "The Pantlegs of Time". When we chose a new path the All Knowing remembers.

2. We were made to be free willed. Denying our will out of some sense of "Jesus said it was bad" is denying our God. The only restraint that should be shown is refraining from harming others when at all possible.

10. Could you please take this opportunity to pimp out your work and upcoming projects?

www.michelelee.net

I have a few odds and ends coming out, but while I search for representation my public effort is focused on helping others through reviews and interviews at micheleleesbooklove.wordpress.com

If you really want to know what I'm working on check out my blog (at the webpage) for occasional bits of fiction and various rants and essays.

~

Thank you, Michele. Handfasted to a Lokian reverend? That one threw me for a loop. Red by Richard Matheson is a good pick, BTW. I like Matheson's work, too.

Posted on Sunday 10 of August, 2008 [20:06:46 UTC]

Lawrence Dagstine - Short Story Superhero for Hire

1. Tell us your name and a wee bit about yourself, please?

Hi, my name is Lawrence Dagstine and I'm a prolific writer of short fiction. Mostly Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. I've been published 320 times. It's a nasty habit. Like cocaine. Or the Price is Right. It makes me feel dirty. What is Science Fiction, you ask? You know, that geeky genre stuff. Well, okay, I am a geek. But please don't tell anyone. I'm loved. I'm hated. The Industry wants to choke me... forgive me... chuck rocks at me. Regardless of my fiction being a guilty pleasure, there actually is something enjoyable and perverse about me. And mentally strange. H.P. Lovecraft cast me out to sea when I was a wee tot, where I was later found off the shores of Manhattan by my now-adopted mother. I blame my four-toed father though for much of my reckless inspiration; he shot himself in the foot during the Eisenhower years.

You can visit my perverted webpage at: http://www.lawrencedagstine.com

Or for media whores like myself: http://www.lawrencedagstine.com

2. In your opinion, who's the best horror short story writer to ever live and why?

Ambrose Bierce. The architecture of his prose produced three animals, and successfully turned it into one (and during an age where dark literature was revered): tension, suspense, and atmosphere.

3. What is the best short horror story of all time?

Geraldine's Addiction

4. How did the universe begin?

An egg was dropped through this large tube, gases were formed, there was an explosion of water - wallahhhh! Nine-billion months later the universe was born.

5. What's the most important element in making a short horror story truly creepy?

Originality. Being able to write good dialogue, theme, conflict, tone, and surprise the reader by the climax. Give them the unexpected. Not some rehashed bullshit. After all, originality AND creepiness is what they are reading you for in the first place. They go hand-in-hand.

6. Who would win in a fight between Tsathoggua and Yig?

Pikachu

7. What's something unusual that scares the bejeezus out of you?

Horror Writers.

8. What other talent besides writing do you have?

I can snap my shoulder socket back and forth to the Simpsons theme song. Oh yeah, I also have Tic De' La Rue (might be incorrect spelling).

9. How do you reconcile human freewill and God's foreknowledge?

I am God. And you have to pay me for freewill by the hour.

10. Could you please take this opportunity to pimp out your work and upcoming projects?

I have three short story collections being compiled and coming out over the next two years, the first to be released by Sam's Dot Publishing, and then a book still being decided upon, and talks about a special collectible steampunk anthology. Oh yeah, and a bunch of other anthologies with my stories in it (speculative fiction). I also have a controversial retrospective/interview coming out in a new graphic-novel like horror magazine later this year called PHOBIA (the art and fiction will be off the hook!)

~

Thanks, Mr. Dagstine. Bierce is one of my favorites too. I would say he's right up there in the top four with Poe, Lovecraft, and Blackwood.

Posted on Tuesday 29 of July, 2008 [23:56:33 UTC]

This was fun.:)

1. Tell us your name and a wee bit about yourself, please?

Mari Adkins. I'm a dark urban fiction writer, editor, HarlanBorg. Wife, mother, cat wrangler.

2. In your opinion, who's the best horror short story writer to ever live and why?

Ray Bradbury.

3. What is the best short horror story of all time?

Anything of Bradbury's. But I'm terribly biased.

4. How did the universe begin?

With a breath of conscious awareness.

5. What's the most important element in making a short horror story truly creepy?

The shorts I have written haven't been 'truly creepy'; they toed the line on "horror", honestly. For the ones I read, however, the writer has to employ "suspension of belief" and make me not realize it's happened - engage my mind, engage my senses, make me part of the story.

6. Who would win in a fight between Tsathoggua and Yig?

Wouldn't the universes implode before there was a winner?

7. What's something unusual that scares the bejeezus out of you?

It takes a lot to scare, freak, or creep me out.

8. What other talent besides writing do you have?

I've turned into a fairly good cook. I'm a wiz at organization and cat herding.

9. How do you reconcile human freewill and God's foreknowledge?

I'm passing on this one.

10. Could you please take this opportunity to pimp out your work and upcoming projects?

I've written four novel-length stories (looking for good home!), a couple of novellas, and several short stories. Am currently working on a prequel to aforementioned novels. I also write poetry, but it's kind of angsty, and no one much really wants to see it. ;0) Currently I am the project coordinator / editor for a new anthology coming out from Apex Book Company in the Fall of 2009.

~

Thanks, Mari. I'm a big fan of Bradbury too. Matter of fact, one of his stories is the first weird tale I ever read. After that, I was ruined.

Posted on Tuesday 22 of July, 2008 [23:24:23 UTC]

Ten questions posed to contemporary authors. First up is J. G. Faherty.

1. Tell us your name and a wee bit about yourself, please?

JG Faherty. I write dark fiction, am married with 2 dogs, and I own/run a resume preparation website, www.a-perfect-resume.com.

2. In your opinion, who's the best horror short story writer to ever live and why?

Stephen King, for 3 reasons: 1) He almost singlehandedly turned around the horror genre, brought it to mainstream more than anyone before him. 2) The sheer volume of excellent short stories and poems he's managed to produce. 3) He's written some of the scariest shit I've ever read.

3. What is the best short horror story of all time?

The very first one, whatever it might have been. Why? Because it's the basis for everything that followed. Was it a caveman version of a monster in the shadows at the back of the cave? Was it about a giant caveman who sucked blood, or transformed into a sabretooth cat under the full moon? Was it an evil cave dweller who lured unsuspecting victims to the tarpit and drowned them? Was it the primitive man's version of the guy with the hook outside the car? Who knows. But that first person to tell a scary story around a campfire initiated a form of storytelling that will always be a part of us.

4. How did the universe begin?

Who says it did?

5. What's the most important element in making a short horror story truly creepy?

Making the characters believeable and using prose in such a way as to suspend the reader's disbelief so that the story can continue to the end.

6. Who would win in a fight between Tsathoggua and Yig?

It wouldn't matter - we'd all be dead before then.

7. What's something unusual that scares the bejeezus out of you?

Thinking about the death of a loved one. But I guess that's not unusual. So...hmmm...giant ticks.

8. What other talent besides writing do you have?

I play guitar okay. I can draw a little. I'm good at music trivia. I used to be able to drink a quart of vodka without appearing drunk.
I can belch pretty loud. I'm a good salesman, although I hate to sell things. I'm an excellent photographer (used to do it for a living).
I'm great at wasting time.

9. How do reconcile human freewill and God's foreknowledge?

I don't think about it at all.

10. Could you please take this opportunity to pimp out your work and upcoming projects?

I currently have stories in Cemetery Dance and www.wrongworld.com. I'll have one soon in Shroud Magazine.
I'll be in a couple of anthologies later this year. I have reviews and/or interviews at Fearzone.com, Horror World, Dark Scribe Magazine, and the HWA's monthly newsletter.
Go to www.jgfaherty.com to find out more. And if you're out of work
or just looking for a new job, visit my www.a-perfect-resume.com site.

~

Thanks for taking the time, JG. I too share your fear of giant ticks - they suck way more blood than the most ravenous vampire!

Posted on Tuesday 15 of July, 2008 [01:34:21 UTC]

I knew she was a witch. But I didn’t know that that curse crap was real. I didn’t put any faith in magic but I suppose that doesn’t really matter. What mattered was her faith – her magical abilities. She was attractive and I was eccentric, but after several weeks even I found her a little too weird for my taste. At first the naked rituals were erotic and arousing. But then that became perverse and creepy for even me.

I should have known things were taking a bad turn when she asked me to hold a crystal so she could “feel my aura” on it. I thought it was silly but I held the little thing in my clenched fist. When I handed it back to her she narrowed her eyes at me and told me that the crystal was so cold and that I was soulless.

When I dumped her a few days later I never expected the curse. And I certainly didn’t expect it to actually work! I awoke from a dead sleep from a sharp pain in my head. I looked up to see her standing over me. She had snatched a tuft of hair right out of my head. I cursed at her and we argued and as I was slamming the door she exclaimed some diatribe about how I would experience a thousand and one horrors before the curse was lifted! How I would never be a recognized writer while the curse was upon me! How no matter how well I wrote I would be invisible and innocuous!

It took me awhile to find the loophole, but I finally did it. I found out how to experience a thousand and one tales without me being the central character. All I had to do was bide my time and remain invisible and innocuous. But that time has now passed! The curse is finally lifted! And here for all to witness are the 1,001 horror tales I have witnessed:

Hobnail - Abrogast, Crystal
The Unsettled Dust - Aickman, Robert
Silent Snow, Secret Snow - Aiken, Conrad
The Spectre Bride - Ainsworth, William Harrison
Me Me - Akins, Truman
Yellow Shadows - Aletti, Steffan
Strange Wisdoms of the Dead - Allen, Mike & Saplak, Charles M.
Bufo Rex - Amundsen, Erik
Ringfinger - Anderson, Eric B.
Pumpkinseeds - Anderson, Kevin
The Box - Anderson, Kevin
The Death Wagon Rolls On By - Andersson, C. Dean
Excision - Andrews, Scott H.
A Suffolk Miracle - Anonymous
The Phantom Woman - Anonymous
The Spectre Bride - Anonymous
The Dead Woman's Photograph - Anonymous
The Ghost of the Count - Anonymous
The Flying Dutchman - Anonymous
The Monk of Horror - Anonymous
The Old Mansion - Anonymous
The Parlor-Car Ghost - Anonymous
Can a Blind Man See a Ghost? - Anonymous
My Little Angel - Antieau, Kim
The Gentleman From America - Arlen, Michael
The Night Wire - Arnold, H. F.
Help Yourself - Arnzen, Michael A. & McLaughlin, Mark
Legal Rites - Asimov, Isaac & Pohl, Frederik
The Dead and The Countess - Atherton, Gertrude
Death and the Woman - Atherton, Gertrude
The Greatest Good of the Greatest Number - Atherton, Gertrude
The Sacrificial Alter - Atherton, Gertrude
The Striding-Place - Atherton, Gertrude
The Bell in the Fog - Atherton, Gertrude
The Cubist's Attorney - Atkins, Peter
A Deeper Level - Bain, David
Money Talks - Baldwin, Dick
How He Left the Hotel - Baldwin, Louisa
They - Balliet, Blue
Thurlow's Christmas Story - Bangs, John Kendrick
The Wasp Factory - Banks, Iain
A Dead Finger - Baring-Gould, Sabine
Coming to Grief - Barker, Clive
In the Hills, The Cities - Barker, Clive
Into the Silence - Barker, Lawrence
Whessoe - Barker, Nugent
Amontillado Cam - Beatty, Greg
Monopoly - Beatty, Greg
The Shadow of the Dead - Becke, Louis
To Whom This May Come - Belamy, Edward
That Lovely Land of Might-Have-Been - Bens, Paul G. Jr.
At Abdul Ali's Grave - Benson, E. F.
How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery - Benson, E. F.
Mrs. Amworth - Benson, E. F.
The Man Who Went Too Far - Benson, E. F.
The Room in the Tower - Benson, E. F.
Caterpillars - Benson, E. F.
Mr. Tilly's Séance - Benson, E. F.
Negotium Perambulans - Benson, E. F.
The Cat - Benson, E. F.
The Shuttered Room - Benson, E. F.
The Terror by Night - Benson, E. F.
Gavon's Eve - Benson, E. F.
Father Stein's Tale - Benson, Robert Hugh
When You'll Be Ten - Bertin, Eddy C.
The Green Thumb - Betancourt, John Gregory
A Baby Tramp - Bierce, Ambrose
A Diagnosis of Death - Bierce, Ambrose
A Psychological Shipwreck - Bierce, Ambrose
A Resumed Identity - Bierce, Ambrose
A Watcher by the Dead - Bierce, Ambrose
An Inhabitant of Carcosa - Bierce, Ambrose
Beyond the Wall - Bierce, Ambrose
Chickamauga - Bierce, Ambrose
John Bartine's Watch - Bierce, Ambrose
Moxon's Monster - Bierce, Ambrose
One Summer Night - Bierce, Ambrose
The Death of Halpin Frayser - Bierce, Ambrose
The Stranger - Bierce, Ambrose
Visions of the Night - Bierce, Ambrose
A Tough Tussle - Bierce, Ambrose
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Bierce, Ambrose
The Boarded Window - Bierce, Ambrose
The Damned Thing - Bierce, Ambrose
The Middle Toe of the Right Foor - Bierce, Ambrose
The Moonlit Road - Bierce, Ambrose
The Secret of Macarger's Gulch - Bierce, Ambrose
The Suitable Surroundings - Bierce, Ambrose
A Jug of Syrup - Bierce, Ambrose
Staley Fleming's Hallucination - Bierce, Ambrose
The Eyes of the Panther - Bierce, Ambrose
The Man and the Snake - Bierce, Ambrose
The Night Doings at Deadman's - Bierce, Ambrose
"Mysterious Disappearances" - Bierce, Ambrose
An Adventure at Brownville - Bierce, Ambrose
An Heiress from Redhorse - Bierce, Ambrose
Haita the Shepherd - Bierce, Ambrose
John Mortonson's Funeral - Bierce, Ambrose
One of Twins - Bierce, Ambrose
Some Haunted Houses - Bierce, Ambrose
The Famous Gilson Bequest - Bierce, Ambrose
The Haunted Valley - Bierce, Ambrose
The Realm of the Unreal - Bierce, Ambrose
The Ways of Ghosts - Bierce, Ambrose
Killing the Pain - Bilgrey, Marc
Is There Anybody There? - Birkin, Charles
Gravid Babies - Bishop, Michael
One Day at a Time - Black, Charles
An Egyptian Hornet - Blackwood, Algernon
Ancient Sorceries - Blackwood, Algernon
Confession - Blackwood, Algernon
Keeping His Promise - Blackwood, Algernon
The Listener - Blackwood, Algernon
First Hate - Blackwood, Algernon
Running Wolf - Blackwood, Algernon
The Wendigo - Blackwood, Algernon
The Willows - Blackwood, Algernon
A Victim of Higher Space - Blackwood, Algernon
A Woman's Ghost Story - Blackwood, Algernon
Accessory Before the Fact - Blackwood, Algernon
Secret Worship - Blackwood, Algernon
The Empty House - Blackwood, Algernon
The Glamour of the Snow - Blackwood, Algernon
The Transfer - Blackwood, Algernon
The Whisperers - Blackwood, Algernon
Max Hensig - Blackwood, Algernon
The House of the Past - Blackwood, Algernon
The Other Wing - Blackwood, Algernon
Ancient Lights - Blackwood, Algernon
Elsewhere - Blatty, William Peter
The Ensouled Violin - Blavatsky, Helena
The Shadow on the Doorstep - Blaylock, James P.
The Shambler from the Stars - Bloch, Robert
Fane of the Black Pharaoh - Bloch, Robert
Notebook Found in a Deserted House - Bloch, Robert
The Rubber Room - Bloch, Robert
The Shadow from the Steeple - Bloch, Robert
Emmy's Ghost - Blue, Elizabeth
A Father's Work - Boatman, Michael
A Professor of Egyptology - Boothby, Guy
Curfew - Boston, L. M.
The Circus - Bounds, Sydney J.
The Crown Derby Plate - Bowen, Marjorie
Fever Dream - Bradbury, Ray
Homecoming - Bradbury, Ray
Jack-in-the-Box - Bradbury, Ray
The Day it Rained Forever - Bradbury, Ray
The Emissary - Bradbury, Ray
The Scythe - Bradbury, Ray
The Time of Going Away - Bradbury, Ray
All Summer in a Day - Bradbury, Ray
Next in Line - Bradbury, Ray
Skeleton - Bradbury, Ray
The Jar - Bradbury, Ray
The Wind - Bradbury, Ray
A Medicine for Melancholy - Bradbury, Ray
The Crowd - Bradbury, Ray
The Great Collision of Monday Last - Bradbury, Ray
The Lake - Bradbury, Ray
The Small Assassin - Bradbury, Ray
The Town Where No One Got Off - Bradbury, Ray
The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone - Bradbury, Ray
The Shadow in the Corner - Braddon, M. E.
Mark of the Loser - Brandner, Gary
Across The Darien Gap - Braum, Daniel
Reflections of… - Braunbeck, Gary A.
Just Out of Reach - Braunbeck, Gary A.
Canavan's Back Yard - Brennan, Joseph Payne
The Wood, The Bridge, The House - Brennan, Marie
The Beasts that Perish - Bretnor, R.
His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood - Brite, Poppy Z.
Under the Cloak - Broughton, Rhoda
Styx and Bones - Bryant, Edward
I Who Am Nothing - Bunch, Chris
The Last Laugh - Burke, Kealan Patrick
The Number 121 to Pennsylvania - Burke, Kealan Patrick
Bells of Oceana - Burks, Arthur J.
The Last Supper - Burleson, Donald R.
Walkie-Talkie - Burleson, Donald R.
Smee - Burrage, Alfred M.
I'm Sure it was No. 31 - Burrage, Alfred M.
Bloodchild - Butler, Octavia
The Grave - Cacek, P. D.
The Pond - Cadigan, Pat
The Reason of Darkness - Cady, Jack
The Plain of Sound - Campbell, Ramsey
The Stone on the Island - Campbell, Ramsey
The Sunshine Club - Campbell, Ramsey
The Guide - Campbell, Ramsey
Cold Print - Campbell, Ramsey
The Faces at Pine Dunes - Campbell, Ramsey
Laid Down - Campbell, Ramsey
Next Time You'll Know Me - Campbell, Ramsey
The Entertainment - Campbell, Ramsey
Bad Weather - Cancilla, Dominick
The Madness out of Space - Cannon, Peter H.
Ticks and Tweats - Carl, William D.
The Jabberwocky - Carroll, Lewis
Fugue - Carson, Rae Dawn
The Fishers from Outside - Carter, Lin
The Doom of Yakthoob - Carter, Lin
The Slitherer from the Slime - Carter, Lin & Foley, Dave
Directions to Mourning's Deep - Carter, William
Early - Caselberg, Jay
The Methuselah Stone - Caselberg, Jay
Spring-Fingered Jack - Casper, Susan
Murgunstrumm - Cave, Hugh B.
The Repairer of Reputations - Chambers, Robert W.
The Yellow Sign - Chambers, Robert W.
The Adder - Chappell, Fred
The Limping Ghost - Chetwynd-Hayes, R.
The Haunted Author - Clarke, Marcus
A Madness of Starlings - Clegg, Douglas
The American - Clegg, Douglas
Fishhead - Cobb, Irvin S.
A Ship of Monstrous Fortune - Cole, Adrian
The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Back for Christmas - Collier, John
Catfish Gal Blues - Collins, Nancy A.
Miss Jeromette and the Clergyman - Collins, Wilkie
A Terribly Strange Bed - Collins, Wilkie
Mrs. Zant and the Ghost - Collins, Wilkie
The Most Dangerous Game - Connell, Richard
A Soft Pink Melody - Cook, Nickolas
What Dread Hand - Cooper, James & Jury, Andrew
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me - Coppard, A. E.
The House by the Tarn - Copper, Basil
Shaft Number 247 - Copper, Basil
The Candle in the Skull - Copper, Basil
The Crazy Chinaman - Coyne, John
All Hallows' Eve - Craig, Cody
In Kropfsberg Keep - Cram, Ralph Adams
The Dead Valley - Cram, Ralph Adams
For the Blood is the Life - Crawford, F. Marion
The Doll's Ghost - Crawford, F. Marion
Man Overboard! - Crawford, F. Marion
The Dead Smile - Crawford, F. Marion
The Screaming Skull - Crawford, F. Marion
By the Waters of Paradise - Crawford, F. Marion
The Upper Berth - Crawford, F. Marion
A Cold Day in the Mesozoic - Dann, Jack
Fun and Games - Darr, Rick
The Smile Thief vs. The Child Thief - Davies, Liam
The Elixir of Life - De Balzac, Honore
La Grande Breteche - De Balzac, Honore
The Last Test - De Castro, Adolphe
The Electric Executioner - De Castro, Adolphe
The Torture of Hope - De I'lsle-Adam, Villiers
Seaton's Aunt - De La Mare, Walter
Out of the Deep - De La Mare, Walter
Timeskip - De Lint, Charles
The Horla - De Maupassant, Guy
The Terror - De Maupassant, Guy
Was It a Dream? - De Maupassant, Guy
The Phantom Hag - De Maupassant, Guy
The Vendetta - De Maupassant, Guy
A Mother of Monsters - De Maupassant, Guy
The Horror - De Maupassant, Guy
The Inn - De Maupassant, Guy
The Ghost in all the Rooms - Defoe, Daniel
Beyond the Threshold - Derleth, August
The Dweller in Darkness - Derleth, August
Ithaqua - Derleth, August
The Thing That Walked on the Wind - Derleth, August
The Lair of the Star-Spawned - Derleth, August & Shorer, Mark
Faith of our Fathers - Dick, Philip K.
The Signalman - Dickens, Charles
The Tale of the Bagman's Uncle - Dickens, Charles
Vampyres and Ghouls - Dickens, Charles
The Haunted House - Dickens, Charles
The Trial for Murder - Dickens, Charles & Alston, Charles
Dead Men Talk A Lot - Dietz, William C.
The Terror by Night - Diffin, Charles Willard
The Owl and the Pussycat - Disch, Thomas M.
The Conqueror Worm - Donaldson, Stephen R.
Veronica In The T.V. - Donihe, Kevin L.
The Wind - Dorr, James S.
Catch - Downum, Amanda
The Visit - Dowson, Ernest
Absinthia Taetra - Dowson, Ernest
The Ring of Thoth - Doyle, Arthur Conan
The Bully of Brocas Court - Doyle, Arthur Conan
Flash Point - Dozois, Gardner
Down Among the Dead Men - Dozois, Gardner & Dann, Jack
Tea Time, In the House of Shame - Dracon, Paul
A Smoker's Bliss - Dracon, Paul
Bethmoora - Dunsany, Lord
Charon - Dunsany, Lord
The Food of Death - Dunsany, Lord
The Entrance - Durrell, Gerald
The Long Cellar - Dusendschon, Horace
In the Confessional - Edwards, Amelia B.
The North Mail - Edwards, Amelia B.
White Lady - Ellis, Sophie Wenzel
On the Slab - Ellison, Harlan
Anything - Engstrom, Elizabeth
Talking in the Dark - Etchison, Dennis
The Blood Kiss - Etchison, Dennis
The Chair - Etchison, Dennis
Deathtracks - Etchison, Dennis
Star on the Beach - Everson, John
The Freshman - Farmer, Philip Jose
A Rose for Emily - Faulkner, William
The Police Officer's Tale - Fielding, Henry
The Smackdown Outside Dedham - Finlay, Charles Coleman
The Horror on the Beach - Foster, Alan Dean
Triggerman - Foster, Cindy
The Celestial Omnibus - Foster, E. M.
Turbo-Satan - Fowler, Christopher
The Servitor - Fox, Janet
Surrogate - Fox, Janet
High Tide - Frahm, Leanne
The Tune in Dan's Café - Frazer, Shamus
The Wind in the Rose-Bush - Freeman, Mary Wilkins
The Shadows on the Wall - Freeman, Mary Wilkins
Luella Miller - Freeman, Mary Wilkins
Keepsakes and Treasures: A Love Story - Gaiman, Neil
Jane - Gallow, Barbara
A Gathering of Ghosts - Gardner, Craig Shaw
Aim for the Heart - Gardner, Craig Shaw
A Better Place - Garton, Ray
Crowley Castle - Gaskell, Elizabeth
The Old Nurse's Story - Gaskell, Elizabeth
Clopton House - Gaskell, Elizabeth
Two Fragments of Ghost Stories - Gaskell, Elizabeth
Inquisitors, Inc. - Gauthier, Bill
The Mummy's Foot - Gautier, Theophile
What Blooms in Shadow Withers in Light - Gavin, Richard
Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) - Gibson, William
The Ghost, The Gallant, The Gael and The Goblin - Gilbert, W. S.
The Yellow Wallpaper - Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
Beyond the Bourne - Glasby, John S.
Innsmouth Bane - Glasby, John S.
The Black Mirror - Glasby, John S.
The Keeper of Darkpoint - Glasby, John S.
Daddy - Godwin, Earl
The Lady of Finnigan's Hearth - Godwin, Parke
White Agony - Goldman, Ken
Out of the Cradle - Gonzalez, J. F.
Witness - Gonzalez, J. F.
Angie - Gorman, Ed
Beauty - Gorman, Ed
Broken - Gouveia, Keith
Devil's Night Out - Gouveia, Keith
Axis of Evil - Gouveia, Keith
Father's Pride - Gouveia, Keith
Needle Song - Grant, Charles L.
The Last Cowboy Song - Grant, Charles L.
The Phantom Regiment - Grant, James
Razor Eddie's Big Night Out - Green, Simon R.
The Body Corpse - Grisham, Brian
The Spook House - Gunner, Bob
Music to Eat By - Gunner, Bob
Advocatus Diaboli - Gustainis, Justin
The Ghost of Dora Hand - Hall, Loay H.
The Brush of Soft Wings - Hall, Melissa Mia
The Three Strangers - Hardy, Thomas
The Great God Pan - Harrison, M. John
Horror: A True Tale - Harwood, John Berwick
The Guardian of the Book - Hasse, Henry
Knocking - Hautala, Rick
The Tour Guide - Hawkes-Craig, Angeline
Halloween from Hell - Hawkes-Craig, Angeline
The Minister's Black Veil - Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Rapacinni's Daughter - Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Having a Woman at Lunch - Hazel, Paul
A Strange Tale of Cannibalism - Hearn, Lafcadio
New Orleans Superstitions - Hearn, Lafcadio
A Ghost Story - Hearn, Lafcadio
The Last of the Voudoos - Hearn, Lafcadio
The Killers - Hemingway, Ernest
The Furnished Room - Henry, O.
Working Out Our Salvation - Hergenrader, Trent
Landscape, with Fish - Heuler, Karen
Scarlet Dreams - Hewitt, M. J.
How Love Came to Professor Guildea - Hichens, Robert
Keys and Locks and Open Doors - Hicks, Jane Wallis
Transitway - Hirshberg, Glen
Like a Lily in a Flood - Hirshberg, Glen
Who Rides with Santa Anna? - Hoch, Edward D.
The Derelict - Hodgson, William Hope
The Haunted Jarvee - Hodgson, William Hope
A Voice in the Night - Hodgson, William Hope
Out of the Storm - Hodgson, William Hope
The Find - Hodgson, William Hope
The Hog - Hodgson, William Hope
The Shadow in the Sea - Hodgson, William Hope
The Valley of Lost Children - Hodgson, William Hope
The Cremona Violin - Hoffman, Ernst T. W.
The History of Krakatuk - Hoffman, Ernst T. W.
The Sand Man - Hoffman, Ernst T. W.
Untitled Ghost Story - Hoffman, Ernst T. W.
The Ragman - Horvitz, Leslie Ann
Signs of Death - Houarner, Gerard
Spider Comes Home - Houarner, Gerard
Taboo - Household, Geoffrey
Exeunt Demon King - Howard, Jonathan L.
Johannes Cabal & the Blustery Day - Howard, Jonathan L.
People of the Dark - Howard, Robert E.
Skull-Face - Howard, Robert E.
The Black Stone - Howard, Robert E.
The Children of the Night - Howard, Robert E.
The Fire of Asshurbanipal - Howard, Robert E.
The Gods of Bal-Sagoth - Howard, Robert E.
Dig Me No Grave - Howard, Robert E.
Recompense - Howard, Robert E.
The Hoofed Thing - Howard, Robert E.
The Thing on the Roof - Howard, Robert E.
Worms of the Earth - Howard, Robert E.
The Black Bear Bites - Howard, Robert E.
The Little People - Howard, Robert E.
The Shadow Kingdom - Howard, Robert E.
The Cairn on the Headland - Howard, Robert E.
The House in the Oaks - Howard, Robert E. & Derleth, August
The Abbey - Howard, Robert E. & Henderson, C. J.
Black Eons - Howard, Robert E. & Price, Robert M.
The Door to the World - Howard, Robert E. & Pulver, Joseph S.
The Challenge From Beyond - Howard, Robert E.; Lovecraft, H. P.; Long, Frank Belknap; Moore, C. L.; & Merritt, A.
The Sand-Walker - Hume, Fergus
The Floor Above - Humphreys, M. L.
A Quartet of Strange Things - Hurwood, Bernhardt J.
The Ghost - Ingoldsby, Thomas
The Spectre of Tappington - Ingoldsby, Thomas
The Tale of the German Student - Irving, Washington
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Irving, Washington
Wolfert Webber, or Golden Dreams - Irving, Washington
Saccharine on a Black Night - Jackson, Nancy
The Lottery - Jackson, Shirley
The Sticks - Jacob, Charlee
The Aquarium - Jacobi, Carl
The Interruption - Jacobs, W. W.
The Monkey's Paw - Jacobs, W. W.
Sir Edmund Orme - James, Henry
The Ghostly Rental - James, Henry
The Jolly Corner - James, Henry
The Real Right Thing - James, Henry
A School Story - James, M. R.
Canon Alberic's Scrapbook - James, M. R.
Casting the Runes - James, M. R.
Count Magnus - James, M. R.
Lost Hearts - James, M. R.
Mezzotint - James, M. R.
Rats - James, M. R.
The Haunted Dolls' House - James, M. R.
The Tractate Middoth - James, M. R.
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas - James, M. R.
Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad - James, M. R.
The Ash Tree - James, M. R.
Number 13 - James, M. R.
The Rose Garden - James, M. R.
The Paramount Importance of Pictures - Jamneck, Lynne
The Dancing Partner - Jerome, J. K.
21 Main Street No. - Jeromm, Z. Z.
A Flood of Harriers - Johnson, Jeremy Robert
To Cast Away Stones - Johnson, John Curtis
Hate Dough - Johnson, Mathew Paul
Electronics and the Occult - Johnson, Mathew Paul
The Wall-Painting - Johnson, Roger
Aliah Warden - Johnson, Roger
Stalker - Johnson, Scott A.
Ascension - Jones, Andrew Zimmerman
Father, Son, Holy Rabbit - Jones, Stephen Graham
Raphael - Jones, Stephen Graham
The Necromancer - Jones, W. R.
The Church at Garlock's - Kaufman, David
Ralph - Kaye, Marvin
The Thing in the Cellar - Keller, David Henry
Notes from a Damned Life - Kiernan, Caitlin R.
The Church Grim - Kincaid, Jack
Battleground - King, Stephen
Dolan's Cadillac - King, Stephen
I Am the Doorway - King, Stephen
I Know What You Need - King, Stephen
Quitters, Inc. - King, Stephen
Sneakers - King, Stephen
The Boogeyman - King, Stephen
The Last Rung on the Ladder - King, Stephen
The Lawnmower Man - King, Stephen
The Ledge - King, Stephen
The Mangler - King, Stephen
The Road Virus Heads North - King, Stephen
Children of the Corn - King, Stephen
Graveyard Shift - King, Stephen
Gray Matter - King, Stephen
Jerusalem's Lot - King, Stephen
One for the Road - King, Stephen
Sometimes They Come Back - King, Stephen
Suffer the Little Children - King, Stephen
The Man Who Loved Flowers - King, Stephen
Chattery Teeth - King, Stephen
Night Surf - King, Stephen
Nona - King, Stephen
Popsy - King, Stephen
Strawberry Spring - King, Stephen
The End of the Whole Mess - King, Stephen
The Night Flier - King, Stephen
Dedication - King, Stephen
The Woman in the Room - King, Stephen
Trucks - King, Stephen
You Know they got a Hell of a Band - King, Stephen
The Moving Finger - King, Stephen
It Grows On You - King, Stephen
The Mark of the Beast - Kipling, Rudyard
The Return of Imray - Kipling, Rudyard
They - Kipling, Rudyard
The Talion Moth - Kirk, John
Water Babies - Kishbaugh, Greg
Black Man with a Horn - Klein, T. E. D.
Growing Things - Klein, T. E. D.
Petey - Klein, T. E. D.
Enchantillon - Kluth, J. D.
"Minuke" - Kneale, Nigel
I Am The Coyote I Am The Snake - Knight, Brian
Extreme Denial - Knight, Nicholas
Wake 2041 - Kolacki, Douglas
Fairground Mermaids - Korn, M. F.
The Yankee at the Sitting-Up - Kroh, Clayton
Nine Gables - Kunstler, James Howard
The Invaders - Kuttner, Henry
The Salem Horror - Kuttner, Henry
Bells of Horror - Kuttner, Henry
The God-Clown is Near - Lake, Jay
Tom Edison & His Telegraphic Harpoon - Lake, Jay
The Fisherman's Story - Lancereau, Faith & Le Braz, Anatole
Among The Dead - Lane, Joel
Fish Night - Lansdale, Joe R.
Mad Dog Summer - Lansdale, Joe R.
The Last Laugh - Lawrence, D. H.
Robin's Rath - Lawrence, Margery
Outrage - Laws, Stephen
The Dream - Le Fanu, J. Sheridan
Green Tea - Le Fanu, J. Sheridan
Mr. Justice Harbottle - Le Fanu, J. Sheridan
An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street - Le Fanu, J. Sheridan
In Amundsen's Tent - Leahy, John Martin
ICU - Lee, Edward
Love Like Rotting Meat - Lee, Michele
Where Does the Town Go at Night? - Lee, Tanith
The Heart of Ice - Lee, Tanith
Xoanon - Lee, Tanith
Nunc Dimittis - Lee, Tanith
Downbound - Leeder, Murray
The Terror from the Depths - Leiber, Fritz
To Arkham and the Stars - Leiber, Fritz
Four Ghosts in Hamlet - Leiber, Fritz
A Madman - Level, Maurice
The Midnight Embrace - Lewis, M. G.
My! What Big Teeth They Have - Lewis, Melissa Kirkwood
The Dark - Lewis, R. J.
The Shadow, The Darkness - Ligotti, Thomas
The Last Feast of Harlequin - Ligotti, Thomas
Vastarien - Ligotti, Thomas
Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story - Ligotti, Thomas
Alice's Last Adventure - Ligotti, Thomas
Eyes of the Swordmaker - Linzner, Gordon
The Theater - Little, Bentley
The Addition - Little, Bentley
Channeling Jesus - Little, John R.
The Hounds of Tindalos - Long, Frank Belknap
The Space-Eaters - Long, Frank Belknap
Dagon - Lovecraft, H. P.
Hypnos - Lovecraft, H. P.
In the Vault - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Alchemist - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Dreams in the Witch-House - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Dunwich Horror - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Moon-Bog - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Music of Erich Zann - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Outsider - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Picture in the House - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Shunned House - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Silver Key - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Temple - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Thing on the Doorstep - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Tomb - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Transition of Juan Romero - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Unnamable - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Whisperer in Darkness - Lovecraft, H. P.
At the Mountains of Madness - Lovecraft, H. P.
Cool Air - Lovecraft, H. P.
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family - Lovecraft, H. P.
Herbert West - Reanimator - Lovecraft, H. P.
Imprisoned with the Pharaohs - Lovecraft, H. P.
Pickman's Model - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Beast in the Cave - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Call of Cthulhu - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Colour Out of Space - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Haunter of the Dark - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Hound - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Lurking Fear - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Rats in the Walls - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Shadow Out of Time - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Shadow over Innsmouth - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Evil Clergyman - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Festival - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Horror at Red Hook - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Street - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Terrible Old Man - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Tree - Lovecraft, H. P.
Ex Oblivione - Lovecraft, H. P.
Memory - Lovecraft, H. P.
Nathicana - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Book (A Fragment) - Lovecraft, H. P.
The White Ship - Lovecraft, H. P.
The Crawling Chaos - Lovecraft, H. P. & Berkley, Elizabeth
Poetry and The Gods - Lovecraft, H. P. & Croft, Anna Helen
The Green Meadow - Lovecraft, H. P. & Jackson, Winifred V.
The Crawling Chaos - Lovecraft, H. P. & Jackson, Winifred V.
In the Walls of Eryx - Lovecraft, H. P. & Sterling, Kenneth
The Abyss - Lowndes, Robert W.
The Phial of Dread - Ludlow, Fitz Hugh
Faraji - Ludwigsen, Will
No Sharks in the Med - Lumley, Brian
Rising with Surtsey - Lumley, Brian
Snarker's Son - Lumley, Brian
The Disapproval of Jeremy Cleave - Lumley, Brian
The Kiss of Bugg-Shash - Lumley, Brian
The Return of the Deep Ones - Lumley, Brian
The Statement of Henry Worthy - Lumley, Brian
The Statement of One John Gibson - Lumley, Brian
The Whisperer - Lumley, Brian
Vanessa's Voice - Lumley, Brian
The Hymn - Lumley, Brian
The Luststone - Lumley, Brian
Memory? - Lumley, Brian
The Man Who Killed Kew Gardens - Lumley, Brian
Aunt Hester - Lumley, Brian
Fruiting Bodies - Lumley, Brian
Discovery of the Ghooric Zone - Lupoff, Richard A.
The Crimson Wizard - Lupoff, Richard A.
Lights! Camera! Shub-Niggurath! - Lupoff, Richard A.
The Whisperers - Lupoff, Richard A.
The Haunted and The Haunters - Lytton, Edward Bulwer
The Haunted House - MacDonald, George
The Great God Pan - Machen, Arthur
Novel of the Black Seal - Machen, Arthur
Novel of the White Powder - Machen, Arthur
The White People - Machen, Arthur
Hot Party - Maclay, John
A Night Piece - Macpherson, James
Bamber's Godhead - Malach, Dan
The Sundial - Malden, R. H.
Six Scents - Mantchev, Lisa
Business is Business - Marks, Arlene F.
Disappearing Act - Marsh, Richard
The Fifteenth Man - Marsh, Richard
Mary Smith - Martens, Paul E.
Remembering Melody - Martin, George R. R.
The Hounds of Hell - Masefield, John
Davy Jones's Gift - Masefield, John
Duel - Matheson, Richard
First Anniversary - Matheson, Richard
Legion of Plotters - Matheson, Richard
Long Distance Call - Matheson, Richard
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet - Matheson, Richard
Old Haunts - Matheson, Richard
Prey - Matheson, Richard
Slaughter House - Matheson, Richard
The Children of Noah - Matheson, Richard
The Likeness of Julie - Matheson, Richard
Crickets - Matheson, Richard
He Wanted to Live - Matheson, Richard
Mad House - Matheson, Richard
The Distributor - Matheson, Richard
The Ghost Ship - Matheson, Richard
Wet Straw - Matheson, Richard
Blood Son - Matheson, Richard
Dress of White Silk - Matheson, Richard
The Holiday Man - Matheson, Richard
Dance of the Dead - Matheson, Richard
Through Channels - Matheson, Richard
Witch War - Matheson, Richard
Melmoth the Wanderer - Maturin, Charles Robert
It Rips - McBride, Michael
The Generosity of Strangers - McBride, Michael
The Meaning of Existence - McBride, Michael
Haunted World - McCammon, Robert R.
One Potential Destiny - McDougald, Jim
Sensation - McGillveray, David
Darkness - McKiernan, Dennis L.
Sweet as This - McRennary, Joel
Breathe - Menser, Frank
The Corrupted Verses - Menser, Frank
The Moon Pool - Merritt, A.
Brenner's Boy - Metcalfe, John
The Stone & Bone Boy - Mills, Calvin
The Yellow Dressing Gown - Monette, Sarah
The Ring of Truth - Monteleone, Thomas F.
Rehearsals - Monteleone, Thomas F.
The Ghost of the Capuchins - Montfort, Eugene
Dear Diary - Moore, James A.
Twilight Jack - Moran, Tom
Eating for Two - Morgan, Christine
Holes - Morlan, A. R.
Rio Grande Gothic - Morrell, David
The Dripping - Morrell, David
Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity - Morrell, David
The Typewriter - Morrell, David
The Thing in the Upper Room - Morrison, Arthur
No Laughing Matter - Morrone, Pasquale J.
Tested - Morton, Lisa
Sredni Vashtar - Munro, H. H.
The Open Window - Munro, H. H.
The Soul of Laploshka - Munro, H. H.
Don't Forget Halloween - Murfitt, Jamie
The Keeper of the Flame - Myers, Gary
The End of Wisdom - Myers, Gary
Uncle Abraham's Romance - Nesbit, Edith
The Big Fish - Newman, Kim
Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue - Newman, Kim
The Release - Newton, Kurt
She Climbs a Winding Stair - Nicholson, Scott
Dog Person - Nicholson, Scott
The Delilah Party - Nickle, David
Major Prevue Here Tonite - Nolan, William F.
Something Nasty - Nolan, William F.
The Train - Nolan, William F.
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been - Oates, Joyce Carol
The Ruins of Contracoeur - Oates, Joyce Carol
The Demon of the Gibbet - O'Brien, Fitz-James
The Golden Ingot - O'Brien, Fitz-James
The Child Who Loved a Grave - O'Brien, Fitz-James
What Was It? - O'Brien, Fitz-James
Claire's Story - O'Brien, Gerad B.
The Last Great Love of Cary Grant - Ochse, Weston
Phantom Ships and the Sargasso Sea - O'Donnell, Elliot
Banshees - O'Donnell, Elliot
Balance - O'Neill, Gene
Magic Words - O'Neill, Gene
The Beckoning Fair One - Onions, Oliver
The Next Room - O'Sullivan, Vincent
Accidental Ghosts - Pacione, Nickolaus
Halloween Girl - Pacione, Nickolaus
House of Spiders - Pacione, Nickolaus
Insect - Pacione, Nickolaus
Lake Fossil - Pacione, Nickolaus
Leviathon's Ghost - Pacione, Nickolaus
The Bath - Paiva, Jean
The Pride is Back - Paiva, Jean
The Man Who Felt No Pain - Palisano, John
Longtooth - Pangborn, Edgar
The Man Who Carved Skulls - Parks, Richard
Walkers - Partridge, Norman
The Footstep of the Aventine - Pater, Roger
As Old As Sin - Pautz, Peter D.
You Don't Know Jack O' Lantern - Peck, Garrett
The Diary - Peters, John
Grapefruit Spoons - Petty, J. T.
Bee Stung - Philbin, Mike
In the Palace of Repose - Phillips, Holly
Shadder - Piccirilli, Tom
Clubfoot - Pitts, C. N.
A Descent into the Maelstrom - Poe, Edgar Allan
Ligeia - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Bells - Poe, Edgar Allan
The City in the Sea - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Imp of the Perverse - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Masque of the Red Death - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Oblong Box - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Pit and the Pendulum - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Premature Burial - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Raven - Poe, Edgar Allan
William Wilson - Poe, Edgar Allan
Berenice - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Black Cat - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Cask of Amontillado - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Fall of the House of Usher - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Man in the Crowd - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Narative of Arthur Gordon Pym - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Oval Portrait - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Tell-Tale Heart - Poe, Edgar Allan
Metzengerstein - Poe, Edgar Allan
Some Words With a Mummy - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Sphinx - Poe, Edgar Allan
Eleonora - Poe, Edgar Allan
MS. Found in a Bottle - Poe, Edgar Allan
The Devil in the Belfry - Poe, Edgar Allan
Itinerary - Powers, Tim
Helljack - Pratt, Tim & Jasper, Michael J.
The Lord of Illusion - Price, E. Hoffman
Saucers from Yaddith - Price, Robert M.
Renovations - Pridham, Matthew
White Pumpkins - Prill, David
The House of the Worm - Prout, Mearle
Each Night, Each Year - Ptacek, Kathryn
The House of Idiot Children - Pugmire, W.H. & Snyder, M.K.
The Devils of Tuckahoe Gorge - Rainey, Stephen Mark
The Spheres Beyond Sound (Threnody) - Rainey, Stephen Mark
The Lake of Shadows - Rainey, Stephen Mark
Other Gods - Rainey, Stephen Mark
Terror From Middle Island - Rainey, Stephen Mark & Haire, G. Durant
Events at Fort Plentitude - Rambo, Cat
The Last Traveler - Ray, Jean
Courage - Reid, Forrest
Hanako From Miyazaki - Richards, Tony
The Moon Also Rises - Richards, Tony
The Last of Squire Ennismore - Riddell, J. H.
Hum - Riley, R. Thomas
Radio - Riley, R. Thomas
Dooley's Disappearing Dust - Riley, Shannon
Music of the Stars - Rimel, Duane W.
The Tattletail - Rogers, Ian
A House Possessed - Rohmer, Sax
Chamber of the Gods - Rollo, Gord & Savory, Brett
The Garside Fell Disaster - Rolt, L. T. C.
The Milk of Human Kindness - Rosenman, John B.
The Tears of Saint Agathe - Rowlands, David G.
On Shushwash Hill - Rubin, Norman A.
The Survivor - Rubinson, Greg
"I Had Vacantly Crumpled it Into My Pocket…" - Russ, Joanna
My Boat - Russ, Joanna
The Scourge of B'Moth - Russell, Bertram
A Ghost Can Be Born - Russell, Ray
The Ship Seen on the Ice - Russell, W. Clark
Death to the Easter Bunny! - Ryan, Alan
Bagged Lunch - Sarath, Patrice E.
Famine Wood - Sargent, Stanley C.
The Ropy Thing - Sarrantonio, Al
The Haunting of Y-12 - Sarrantonio, Al
Suspicion - Sayers, Dorothy L.
How Far We Fall From Grace - Scalise, Michelle
Three Floors Down We Cleanse The Soul - Scalise, Michelle
Des Saucisses, Sans Doute - Schneider, Peter
Happy Holiday - Schrader, Esther
Jack - Schrader, Esther
Twick - Schrader, Esther
Mugwumps - Schwaeble, Hank
Envy, the Gardens of Ynath, and the Sin of Cain - Schweitzer, Darrell
King Father Stone - Schweitzer, Darrell
The Messenger - Schweitzer, Darrell
The Warder of Knowledge - Searight, Richard F.
Yakov and the Crows - Sedia, E.
My Idea of Fun - Self, Will
Dream Spirit - Sells, Larry
The Midnight Sun - Serling, Rod
The Night of the Meek - Serling, Rod
The Rip Van Winkle Caper - Serling, Rod
The Shelter - Serling, Rod
Showdown with Rance McGrew - Serling, Rod
The Whole Truth - Serling, Rod
Araneida - Shannon, Harry
The Easy Way - Shannon, Harry
Legion of the Dead - Shayer, Jason
Dead Giveaway - Shea, J. Vernon
Fat Face - Shea, Michael
Creature - Shehadeh, Ramsey
On Ghosts - Shelley, Mary
Ghasta, or The Avenging Demon!!! - Shelley, Percy Bysshe
The Prize - Sherman, C. H.
The House of Sounds - Shiel, M. P.
Brothers - Silva, David B.
The Forgotten - Simmons, William P.
Getting Back - Sinclair, P. W.
Halloween For Sale - Singer, Glen
The Cafeteria - Singer, Isaac Bashevis
Halloween: An Acrostic of Little Horrors - Slay, Jack, Jr.
Chase's Fairy - Slay, Jack, Jr.
The Gorgon - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Maker of Gargoyles - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Monster of the Prophecy - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Necromantic Tale - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Planet of the Dead - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Return of the Sorcerer - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Second Interment - Smith, Clark Ashton
Ubbo-Sathla - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Double Shadow - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Immeasurable Horror - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Witchcraft of Ulua - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Seven Geases - Smith, Clark Ashton
The Book of Irrational Numbers - Smith, Michael Marshall
Smashing Pumpkins - Snell, D. L.
The Penhale Broadcast - Snow, Jack
Secrets And Silken Threads - Speegle, Darren
Sleight of Nature - Speegle, Darren
Circumstance - Spofford, Harriet Prescott
The Mad Lady - Spofford, Harriet Prescott
Dark Ways - Spofford, Harriet Prescott
Hemophage - Spruill, Steven
Harvest Time - Stauffer, Toni
Leiningen Versus The Ants - Stephenson, Carl
The Unthinkable - Sterling, Bruce
Cassie, Waiting - Stevens, Julie
The Body Snatcher - Stevenson, Robert Louis
The Bottle Imp - Stevenson, Robert Louis
The Philosophy of Relative Existence - Stockton, Frank R.
Old Applejoy's Ghost - Stockton, Frank R.
The Squaw - Stoker, Bram
Dracula's Guest - Stoker, Bram
The Castle of the King - Stoker, Bram
Sears James's Chowder Society Tale from Ghost Story - Straub, Peter
Spinning Tales with the Dead - Straub, Peter
The Pool - Strieber, Whitley
Talent - Sturgeon, Theodore
Beyond the Door - Suter, Paul
Demoniacal - Sutton, David
Detours on the Way to Nothing - Swirsky, Rachel
Larry Slaughter and the Order of the Beatniks - Taylor, Alfred
Out of Sorts - Taylor, Bernard
Derelicts - Tem, Steve Rasnic
Resettling - Tem, Steve Rasnic & Tem, Melanie
In the Company of Women - Tentchoff, Marcie Lynn & Trimm, Mikal
The Ghost of Sailboat Fred - Terry, Saralee
Blanca - Tessier, Thomas
Food - Tessier, Thomas
Figure 5 - Thomas, M. & Tremblay, Paul
Siren - Thomas, Ryan
Spawn of the Green Abyss - Thompson, C. Hall
The Howler in the Dark - Tierney, Richard L.
The Passage of the Marshes - Tolkien, J. R. R.
Hell Crow - Ulibarri, Lisa
The Fare - Vail, Chris
The Two Deaths - Van Belkom, Edo
In Darkness, Angels - Van Lustbader, Eric
An Exaltation of Termagants - Van Lustbader, Eric
Kitty's Zombie New Year - Vaughn, Carrie
Nailgun Glissando - Vernon, Steve
Those Who Wait - Wade, James
Extern - Waggoner, Tim
Home Security - Waggoner, Tim
I've Come to Talk with You Again - Wagner, Karl Edward
Sticks - Wagner, Karl Edward
Blind Man's Bluff - Wakefield, H. R.
Mrs. Lunt - Walpole, Hugh
Here He Comes… - Warwick, Keith M.
Pickman's Modem - Watt-Evans, Lawrence
In Your Image - Weber, Richard D.
Memories, Red and Wet - Welch, Christopher
Caretaker - Wellman, Manly Wade
Chorazin - Wellman, Manly Wade
Come Into My Parlor - Wellman, Manly Wade
Dead Dog - Wellman, Manly Wade
Dhoh - Wellman, Manly Wade
Frogfather - Wellman, Manly Wade
Hundred Years Gone - Wellman, Manly Wade
Keep Me Away - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Cavern - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Devil Is Not Mocked - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Ghastly Priest Doth Reign - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Theater Upstairs - Wellman, Manly Wade
Vigil - Wellman, Manly Wade
Warrior in Darkness - Wellman, Manly Wade
Where The Woodbine Twineth - Wellman, Manly Wade
Along About Sundown - Wellman, Manly Wade
Goodman's Place - Wellman, Manly Wade
Rock, Rock - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Pineys - Wellman, Manly Wade
At the Bend of the Trail - Wellman, Manly Wade
Ever the Faith Endures - Wellman, Manly Wade
Lamia - Wellman, Manly Wade
Parthenope - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Kelpie - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Petey Car - Wellman, Manly Wade
What of the Night - Wellman, Manly Wade
Yare - Wellman, Manly Wade
Young Man With Skull At His Ear - Wellman, Manly Wade
The Third Cry to Legba - Wellman, Manly Wade
A Dream of Armageddon - Wells, H. G.
Jimmy Goggles the God - Wells, H. G.
Pollock and the Porroh Man - Wells, H. G.
The Cone - Wells, H. G.
The Red Room - Wells, H. G.
The Truth About Pyecraft - Wells, H. G.
The Country of the Blind - Wells, H. G.
The Door in the Wall - Wells, H. G.
The Diamond Maker - Wells, H. G.
The Sea Raiders - Wells, H. G.
Dogs of War - West, Michael
Gallows Hill - Weston, Nora
Afterward - Wharton, Edith
Lukundoo - White, Edward White
The Burning of Saint Elizabeth - Whitefield, Timothy
The Napier Limousine - Whitehead, Henry S.
The Canterville Ghost - Wilde, Oscar
Seeing Things - Williams, Steve
Excerpts from the Records of the New Zodiac and the Diaries of Henry Watson Fairfax - Williamson, Chet
The Class of 666 - Wilson, Andrew
The Return of the Lloigor - Wilson, Colin
They're Everywhere - Wilson, David Niall
Good Friday - Wilson, F. Paul
Foet - Wilson, F. Paul
The Barrens - Wilson, F. Paul
H.P.L. - Wilson, Gahan
Scare Tactics - Witchy, Eric M.
Lord of the Land - Wolfe, Gene
The Tree Is My Hat - Wolfe, Gene
Doorslammer - Wollheim, Donald A.
The Horror out of Lovecraft - Wollheim, Donald A.
The Blank Card - Wood, Jonathan
Acceptable Losses - Wood, Simon
In the Eye of the Beholder - Wood, Simon
Moonlight Sonata - Woollcott, Alexander
The Canal - Worrell, Everil
The Marybell Women - Wright, T. M.
Coasting - Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn
The Arrows - Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn
Sugar Skulls - Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn
Feeders of the Woods - Yount, Brian E.
Unnecessary Needs - Yount, Brian E.
24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai - Zelazny, Roger

Posted on Thursday 12 of June, 2008 [22:42:07 UTC]

Inevitably, when people find out just how deep my interest in reading and writing short horror stories goes, they ask, “Why are you so interested in short horror stories?”

The underlying message usually being that it is 1) a bit abnormal to be so fascinated with something that has a stigma of the darker side of human nature, and 2) that short horror stories are an inferior and baser form than, say, horror movies and horror novels.

Of course, I would like to explain and hopefully dispel these misconceptions a bit. More importantly, I would hope to expand the reader’s understanding of the many intriguing facets of the art of crafting a truly good short horror story. Call it “Short Horror Appreciation 101”. Who knows, maybe the reader will even look at short horror stories in a new light and appreciate them the way I do.

I must first address the issue of the sinister, dark, ugly, and evil side of our world and just why it is that the subject matter of so much horror stories explores this taboo region of our reality. For the dark is, in the end, a natural part of our reality no matter our level of disdain or fascination.

In philosophy and religion the debate rages on concerning the fundamental nature of good and evil and how they influence our morals and lives. The view that good and evil exists as independent forces outside of any sentient, intelligent being is the foundation of many beliefs and belief systems. It provides the backbone of religion and the existence of the moral law. However, the arguments against such an independent existence of these forces are much stronger and closer to what science has revealed about the inner workings of nature.

My personal belief is that good and evil are largely creations of the relationships of individuals and societies and rests in the nature of intelligent beings struggling to understand their place in the cosmos. No person is wholly good or wholly evil. Every person possesses the capacity of both within their nature just as the cosmos possesses the potential of both to arise within itself. We are mirrors of the cosmos and express the same processes on a more microscopic level.

Therefore, it is completely natural for humans to explore their nature and since the dark nature is a part of that, it follows that humans will always be compelled to explore their darker nature just as they shall always explore the good. This is evident everywhere in society and expresses itself on many levels across a broad spectrum. Our curiosity is bent in this direction through the media, our entertainment, in businesses, in sports, in our religions, and on and on. After all, most great stories are incomplete without the tension created by the villain.

Many religious people warn that such explorations lead, inexorably, to a possession by evil forces. While they are entitled to their beliefs, I find these beliefs childish and ignorant. Arguments as to how I can prove this would entail a whole other essay. Let me just say that I don’t believe in Heaven, Hell, Satan, the God of the Bible, angels, demons, or any such similar fanciful mythologies.

I do believe that there are dangers in being wholly obsessed with just evil and leading or justifying a decadent and immoral life. But reading and writing short horror stories is just an outlet for the expression of the darker side of our nature. It is the same as listening to music, watching movies, or playing video games where you temporarily escape into a fantasy realm.

If these things really caused people to be evil then we would expect to see everyone who played Doom to be gun wielding maniacs, everyone who had read Misery to be crazed torturers, and everyone who listened to Black Sabbath to be swelling the ranks of Satanic churches across the globe. These things may be influences on people bent on doing evil but they are definitely not causes of evil. Conversely, if exposure to goodness and religion were guarantees of a person being good then we wouldn’t see priests raping young boys or evangelists lying about their sexual deviance.

As to the view that short horror stories are a lesser art form than other styles of writing or other forms of horror, I hold the opinion that it is a very unique art form when executed well. Unfortunately, in the current marketplace, it is neither popular nor frequently executed well.

Most authors feel and succumb to the pressure to write novel length works in order to gain attention. There just isn’t a market for anthologies of short horror stories by individual authors, so the publishers push authors to write novels.

This is fine but another problem has arisen in the pulp style, trade magazines because of this. It used to be that magazines were the place that featured short stories as the ends and means of themselves. But now, the magazines are just a place to prostitute the author trying to sell their novel. The authors generally churn out a sub-par short story so they can market their novel in the introductory blurb to the story.

Judged on the merits of the short story alone, they fall far short of the benchmark set by such luminaries as Poe, Lovecraft, Bierce, Blackwood, and James. Oft times the most horrible thing about their story is the plot.

Horror’s goal is to elicit feelings of fear in the reader. Fear is a very powerful emotion that causes very tangible physiological and psychological reactions. It is this goal that must be in the forefront of the author’s mind as he or she writes.

Of course, there are many tools at the author’s disposal with which to accomplish this task: atmosphere, plot, language, word usage, imagery, tempo, situation, character development, the list goes on and on.

What makes the short horror story unique, however, is that it is a perfect vehicle for tension that rises and rises until the end of the story – whether or not the end releases the tension or only serves to leave the tension unresolved. Usually, the story can be read at one or two sittings whereas a novel has a tougher time sustaining this type of continually rising tension (although there are some exceptions).

A novel is generally better suited for character development because there is more space and time to create a bond with the character. Horror movies share the shortness of the short horror story and have an added benefit of direct imagery. Some think this to be better but it isn’t always the case. Many readers have quite inventive imaginations and their interpretations are varied and more terrifying than a movie might portray.

The area where a short horror story is better than a movie is in the psychological realm. Movies just can’t relay the thoughts in a character’s head as well as a first or third person narrator. A movie draws the viewer’s attention primarily to visual things and reading draws the reader’s attention to primarily whatever the author deems necessary at the time to making the story successful.

All of my preaching from atop my soapbox is fine and good but the real proof is in the pudding. After quite extensive reading of hundreds and hundreds of short horror stories I can point to a whole slew of stories where the author fully grasped the keys to creating a truly successful short horror story that can stand alone as a true work of art that both explores the dark side of our nature and creates a very real sense of fear in the reader.

Posted on Thursday 10 of January, 2008 [21:28:11 UTC]

Trying to define just what the genre of Horror Fiction encompasses is a rather difficult task. The problem is that horror is based on the emotion of fear; and fear is a basic part of the human experience. It would be akin to trying to lump all tales, stories, myths, and novels that have any element of anger in them under a genre called Mad Fiction. The emotion of fear and elements of horror are an integral part of a good tale. Even before the invention of the written word, tales involved elements of fear and horror. One could very well imagine early man sitting around a campfire listening to a storyteller recount some myth or legend with everyone cringing at a part where the hero faced some horrifying event. But over the years tales that were specifically designed to delve into the fears of humans have evolved into a complete genre of fiction. Trying to classify all tales of horror into their well-organized sub-genres is a really difficult task and is most likely impossible. However, I would like to try and throw out many of the sub-genres that are in existence and give an archetypical description of that sub-genre.

Dark Fiction is many times seen as a term that is synonymous with Horror. Unfortunately, the term just hasn’t caught on as well as Horror and will probably never usurp the throne. It sounds like a more dignified term but people are used to the word Horror.

Dark Fantasy sounds similar to Dark Fiction but it is usually used to describe Fantasy stories that are set in an ominous or dark atmosphere – sort of a merging of Fantasy with Horror. When I think of Dark Fantasy I usually think of the Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock. Elric’s world is a world of sword and sorcery but the tone of the tales are dark and horrific in nature.

Supernatural Horror is used to describe horror stories that host creatures that are classically considered to be supernatural creatures. The typical list would include ghosts, spirits, demons, vampires, werewolves, and zombies. There have also been many sub-genres sprung out of these specific creatures – most notably are Vampire Horror, Ghost Stories, and Zombie Horror. Supernatural Horror doesn’t necessarily have to use creatures of myth and legend. There are also Supernatural Horror stories where there is an unknown or unnamed presence or force that produces the supernatural element needed for the classification. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood is a good example of a Supernatural Horror story that uses an unknown supernatural force to produce a quite effective sense of fear. Stories about haunted places also fall under the canopy of supernatural.

Weird Tales and Weird Fiction are two terms popularized by the pulp magazine Weird Tales. Although the magazine tried to publish stories that crossed many genres or couldn’t be categorized due to the fact that the tales were just too weird to fit a category, the terms have been hijacked by horror writers influenced by H.P. Lovecraft or who were influences to Lovecraft. Other sub-genres that have evolved that are akin to Weird Tales are Lovecraftian Horror, Lovecraft Mythos, and Cthulhu Mythos. These sub-genres are largely Lovecraft pastiches and/or writers who influenced or expounded on Lovecraft’s style or subject matter. Incidentally, I haven’t seen the word pastiche used so much as in connection with H.P. Lovecraft. I think it is a right of passage to write a Lovecraftian Horror pastiche as some point in a horror writer’s life.

Gothic Horror is another of the larger sub-genres of Horror Fiction. Gothic Horror describes the formative styles of horror elements in eighteenth-century English literature. Typically, the stories have oppressive, dark atmospheres and are set in large, brooding castles or locales. It was this type of literature that influenced the early horror writers of the short story format in both England and the United States. When I think of the quintessential Gothic Horror story I think of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Alan Poe.

Dark Suspense and Thriller are two categories used to denote a sub-genre that is a mixture of Horror and Mystery in the former and Horror and Adventure in the later. Algernon Blackwood’s John Silence stories are good examples of Dark Suspense and Robert E. Howard wrote many horror stories that have his typical flare for adventure in them.

Psychological Horror is used to denote horror that is designed to affect the reader by building tension and fear within the psyche. Usually, this type of horror is more subtle in its presentation and doesn’t use external forces to explain the horror. It is common for Psychological Horror to present an altered or warped sense of reality. When I think of Psychological Horror the first short story that comes to mind is The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Contemporary Horror is the name given to the modern style of short horror writing that emerged around the 1960’s and 70’s. This style of writing abandoned the Gothic Horror style and dispensed with verbosity of writing, ancient settings, and a reliance on subtler storytelling to achieve the intended effect on the reader. Contemporary Horror typically uses modern settings and tends to be more graphic in nature. Sub-genres that have emerged from Contemporary Horror are Erotic Horror, Noir, and Splatterpunk, which push the limits of what is acceptable in the mainstream by using blatantly graphic sex and violence and is usually set in an urban environment.

References:

http://horror.fictionfactor.com/articles/subgenre.html
http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/590_lec_horror.html

Posted on Tuesday 28 of August, 2007 [21:59:33 UTC]

THE DISSONANT PLACE

“The moment that his face I see,
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.

What loud uproar burst from the door!”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge


1.

Back roads line the sides of Shades Mountain like the fractured surface of some Jovian moon. The main thoroughfare runs the spine of the mountain and bears the name Shades Crest Road. Many people have taken up residence on this paved road for the breathtaking view, which can be glimpsed through the trees, of the surrounding villages of Birmingham. There are many more prominent paved by-ways that give access over the mountain all the way from Homewood in the East to Bessemer in the West. But the remainder of the roads of which I speak are all rutted, dirt trails - some only accessible on ATV, motorcycle, horse, or foot. It is these roads that offer the only break in the dense forest that lies west of Morgan Road – it being the last major road that crosses Shades Crest Road. This area is well outside of the Birmingham City Limits. It was down one of these roads that the most preternatural phenomena of my life took place. I have tried countless times to rediscover the spot but have yet to divine its location. It’s almost as if the surrounding woods reclaimed the road I took on that evening. At first I tried to find it by my memory, but I soon exhausted those possibilities. Then I began a systematic search of each road and any intersection I met; but I have yet to find any trace of that dissonant locale where this world overlaps with that of the dead.

The particular evening of which I speak was late in September and the evenings were beginning to get cool and breezy. I had recently been enjoying these pre-Autumn eves by taking my ATV out across the pasture in my back yard and down into the woods. There was a trail that led to a few other trails, which in its way eventually networked with the countless other trails. I had explored a great many of these woodland paths and would ride from early evening until dusk before returning home again. Well, this evening I was filled with an incredible, insatiable urge to take a series of turns and trails that I can’t, for the life of me, recall. I drove as a man possessed to reach an already known destination, which promised some vast cache of treasure. I can’t say what force caused my obsessive behavior but I drove like an animal migrating to some never seen ancestral ground by the navigation of instinct alone.

I remember passing old Chamber’s Gristmill and crossing the power lines that cut a mighty swath through the mountainside like a line of megalithic prisoners strung together. I remember crossing Shades Creek and Turkey Ridge; after that though, my mind begins to grow sketchy with routes. What I do recall is the feeling the woods emanated as dusk settled in. The trees seemed to hum like those power lines I had passed and the whole of the land seemed to breathe as if imbued with some enigmatic force. A web of quasi-mystical attitudes pervaded the air.

The crows were the ones that roused me from my hypnotic state – it was a sudden change in my state of awareness. One second I was cruising along at a brisk rate, my eyes tearing from the cool evening air that began to settle in, and the next second I was stopping on the crude, backwoods road to marvel at the unusually large number of crows. It was at this point that I realized the strangeness of the previous manner of my journey. I could not recall which paths I had taken to reach the spot where I now sat mesmerized by the black congregation of cawing, onyx-eyed creatures.

The woods became quite a bit thinner in comparison to the dense forest that was common in this area. Hills could be seen ringing the locale, giving the impression of a sparsely treed, leaf-covered crater. And there, lying in the midst of those uncountable crows was a small cemetery. A dozen tombstones still stood at disjointed angles amidst the leaves. Many tombstones had fallen to become partially covered; and no telling how many were lost amongst the autumn foliage. A small, black, foot-high wrought iron fence surrounded the small, ancient graveyard. But what captured my attention beyond even the unnaturalness of the volume of crows was the mausoleum that sat in the back of the lot glaring out from the umbrage of a large oak tree.

I said that the place had a dissonant quality about it; I felt as an interloper in a time that had passed away many years ago. My ATV was my only connection to the world I knew; yet I was being drawn to the mausoleum. I dismounted my vehicle but left it running. There was no way I was turning the motor off, for I might need to make a hasty retreat; or worse, I might not get the thing started again.

I began to slowly walk toward the cemetery eyeing the little, black beasts as they milled about the trees and ground. I got about twenty-five feet from my ATV when the crows, in a wild flurry of beating wings, scattered from the area. The suddenness of their departure scared me to no end. I was halfway back to my ATV before I realized what happened. I stood there with every hair on my body standing up and my heart pounding in my chest.

After several seconds I regained my nerves and once again began my slow walk towards the mausoleum. A singularly unsettling feeling came over me then. It was the fact that the crows had vacated the area. The crows provided at least some form of companionship. Now I was left utterly abandoned and vulnerable to the lure of the mausoleum. If not for the comforting hum of my ATV’s engine, I am positive I would have fled as abruptly as the crows, not stopping until I was well away from that chilling, ancient place.

What I saw there inside that mausoleum was a sight that shall haunt me the rest of my nightmare filled days; yet, it still did not hold the force of horror as what I would uncover over the next several weeks. What I saw that day I did not fully comprehend until I had thoroughly researched the history of the name scrawled upon that tomb meant as an epitaph of mockery – Ignore the cries of Hatty Loftin, sentenced for witchery, may she rot in Hell.


2.

For days after my encounter with the cemetery, nestled in those nether spaces between the land of life and the hereafter, I lived in a state of hazy perplexity. The entire episode was almost dream-like in quality, but there is no denying what I came across in that dissonant place. I didn’t tell anyone about the cemetery at first. It wasn’t for fear of ridicule; it was because I didn’t know anyone who might have any knowledge of those back woods that I frequented on my evening rides. I did, however, have this incredible curiosity for knowledge about who Hatty Loftin was. All of the eerie, repugnant energy that permeated the area of the ancient graveyard emanated from the mausoleum. I could feel it even before I opened it. I knew that it was her influence from the afterlife that caused this chilling aura.

I began my investigation into who Hatty Loftin had been at the Bessemer City Library. In the back corner is the area where old newspaper articles are archived on microfilm. I had no real luck here however, as most of my inquiries were based on guesswork. There was no date of birth or date of death to mark the mausoleum. I was, in essence, searching for a needle in a haystack.

My next course of action was to search courthouse records that were archived in the library to try to first establish a birth date and/or death date, but again my search was futile because I didn’t even have a range of dates from which to narrow my search. So, in exasperation, I went to the front desk and asked the Librarian how I could go about finding birth dates or death dates on a person. She gave me some advice that basically amounted to blind searching and lucky guessing. I thanked her and told her that I guess that would be the only alternative. Then she asked me if I knew any other information that might help and I told her, almost jokingly, that the person was a witch. To this the elder Librarian nodded, wrote down the name of a book, and told me where to locate it.

I was somewhat bewildered at this but willing to try anything so, I walked to the area she had pointed to in one of the far corners of the library. While walking I looked at the title of the book – Occult Lore of the Alabama Highlands Region, by Rev. Samuel Bassett. I found the book to be a very large and timeworn tome. I scanned through several pages of the Table of Contents until I found the story I was looking for entitled – Hatty Loftin the Rocking Witch. Immediately a chill crawled down my back reminding me of the events by which I stumbled across that elusive, bizarre cemetery and the intense panic that gripped me upon beholding the contents of that mausoleum.

I was numb as I turned to the page of the story, not really sure if I wanted to know its contents but helpless to stop. This is what Rev. Bassett recounted:

Hatty Loftin the Rocking Witch

In the summer of 1853 four children from four prominent families disappeared from the small town of McCalla. Each disappearance was followed by a full search by numerous townsfolk throughout the outlying areas. Each disappearance was separated by exactly thirteen days. Local authorities were perplexed when no bodies, either alive or deceased, were discovered.

The first child was the seven-year-old son, Robert, of Dr. Joshua Millard. Dr. Millard was a model citizen and an upstanding Christian. Robert disappeared on June 7th from the family property while the children were busy tending to their chores. When Robert was discovered missing a search in the surrounding woods began. The search grew in number and support until, by the fourth day, the news spread throughout a five county area.

The second child was reported missing on June 20th. The child’s name was Mary and was the six-year-old daughter of Elias Moore. Mr. Moore was a local farmer and he too was a forthright citizen and an upstanding Christian. Mary was discovered missing when she did not return home from playing at the neighbors. Mrs. Nellie Ann Hudson, the Moore’s neighbor, reported that Mary left her house after playing with their daughter at about four o’clock. The child never made it home. The search for Robert was still underway with some force and it was no great effort to include the Moore’s daughter in the search.

The third child was Constance Weaver, the eight-year-old daughter of Douglas Weaver. Douglas was a Postal Carrier for the region and was known to be a good man and a fine, upstanding Christian. Constance was discovered missing on the night of July 3rd. She went out in the evening to the barn on an errand for her mother and never returned. Constance’s whereabouts were incorporated into the search for Robert and Mary. Authorities felt that if they could gain a lead into one of the children’s whereabouts then they would most likely find all three children.

The fourth child was discovered missing on July 16th. This was the six-year-old son of Mr. Andrew Wesley, Andrew Jr. Mr. Wesley was a dairy farmer, a fine citizen and a devout Christian man. Andrew Sr. was working his farm when he discovered his son had wandered off. He searched for the child but was unable to locate him. Authorities were summoned and young Andrew Jr. was included in the search with the other children.

Two months went by without any sign of the children; nor were the authorities able to find any leads. The massive search dwindled until each of the families were left to rely on the police forces of the local areas and prayers to God for their hope of a safe return of their children.

Then one Monday morning Douglas Weaver had a run in with Hatty Loftin. Hatty was a recluse of a woman who lived in a shack house. She had the reputation of being a crone and fooling with witchery. No one trusted her and refused to lend her any personal items. She could be found most days sitting on her dilapidated porch rocking in her rocking chair and talking to spirits.

Douglas had returned to work as a Postal Carrier only recently and this particular day he had to deliver public mail to Hatty, as she never received any personal mail. Douglas approached the house where Hatty sat on the porch rocking, humming, and staring into the air with her rheumy eyes. Douglas was extending the mail towards Hatty when she turned to look him straight in the eyes and said, “You ain’t gonna find them young ‘uns Douglas Weaver.”

“What do you know about them children old woman?” Douglas exclaimed.

“I ain’t had nothin’ to do with takin’ ‘em but I know they ain’t comin’ back,” Hatty cackled.

“You lyin’ old crone!” Douglas screamed. “It was you who took them kids with your witchery!” Then Douglas fled in fear as Hatty rocked and cackled behind him like some grotesque, wild-eyed, lunatic creature. Douglas went straight to Sheriff Hodges to relay the conversation that transpired between Hatty and himself. Word quickly spread to the families of the other missing children and pretty soon a small band of people were demanding that Hatty’s house be searched and she be brought to justice.

Sheriff Hodges led several men, including Dr. Millard, Elias, Douglas, and Andrew, to the residence of Hatty, where a thorough search was conducted. None of the bodies of the children were discovered but Hatty was taken into custody. She refused to vacate her rocking chair and was thus tied, rocking chair and all, and removed to the jailhouse.

Sheriff Hodges returned with an officer of the law and the victim’s fathers to conduct a thorough search on the following day. The bodies were not discovered but there were many bloodstains found in the cellar, as well as many items used for witchcraft. Hatty remained in custody for three days but refused to speak of the incident. She just sat in her cell and rocked, as if back on her porch, while talking and humming to spirits.

Two days before appearing before the Magistrate, Hatty was found missing from her cell. She was found in short time to be sitting on her porch in her rocking chair. The only explanation for such an escape by such a decrepit woman could only be witchcraft. Sheriff Hodges and his deputy went to retrieve the old woman. When they tried to take her into custody she put up a violent fight. The Sheriff and deputy both said later that her strength was “supernatural”. A wrestling match ensued and when it was over the elderly crone was dead.

Hatty Loftin never stood trial for the murders of the four children. The four bodies were never recovered. The house was shunned as being a haunted house. Many people who went near the house after dark reported hearing the creaking of a rocking chair on the porch as well as humming noises. Those few brave souls who ventured into the cellar said they heard the crying of small children just moments before fleeing the accursed house of Hatty Loftin.

I finished reading the account and stood there in the library for several minutes in shock. The entire story was enough to send me back to that day in the woods. Just thinking that I had actually opened and saw what I saw in that mausoleum was enough to make my skin crawl; and I had been completely alone.

The story didn’t end there though; I wish to God that it had because I would be a far more sensible man today. I probably would not suffer the fits of terror that set upon me in the small hours of the night, I probably would not be so jittery at the slightest provocation to my enfeebled nerves, and I might not have to retreat into the haze of medications that keep my insanity at bay no matter how volatile it may be.


3.

For many days after discovering the odd book at the library, I had the most unnatural gnawing in my brain. Something about the story seemed to nag at me. I felt that there was more to the bizarre little story in Rev. Bassett’s book than was reported. There was no mention of the manner in which Hatty Loftin was removed from her home to be placed in that elusive, little mausoleum in God-knows-where. Nor was there any mention of the etched mockery on the door of the mausoleum that I had seen with my own eyes. I had even touched it with my own hands! The epitaph read – Ignore the cries of Hatty Loftin. The story said that she was killed at her residence. If she were killed at her residence then why write those particular words on the mausoleum. The mausoleum was not even built for her. The original owner’s name was lost in antiquity because whoever etched the epitaph meant for Hatty destroyed the name of the original occupant. It was scratched through.

The story also mentioned that Hatty was never brought to trial, but the epitaph said – sentenced for witchery. There seemed to be discrepancies between the story and the tomb of the hated, old woman. But there were more than just these things. I was feeling consumed by the entire story. I was having trouble sleeping, concentrating, and socializing with people. Every waking moment my thoughts seldom strayed far from the burning desire to know the truth of the story of Hatty Loftin.

And so it was that I returned to the Bessemer City Library several days later with notebook and pen to begin further investigation. I forced a polite smile to the elderly and mysterious Librarian who seemed to never move from the front desk. She eyed me with a queer expression over the top of her reading glasses perched at the end of her nose, almost as if she expected me to return. I proceeded to the back corner of the library and removed the old text from the shelf. I set about writing down all of the names and dates the story mentioned. I figured that these would be enough to occupy my search for quite a while.

I will not labor the reader with details about my search. I will say that it took close to two weeks of daily searching before I finally arrived at the elusive source of the truth. In the first few days I discovered several bizarre things that encouraged me to continue my research. The first thing I uncovered was the fact that Joshua Millard, Elias Moore, Douglas Weaver, Andrew Wesley and Matthew Hodges (I discovered the first name of the sheriff) all died shortly after the death of Hatty Loftin. Not only did they die shortly thereafter, but they also died in either traumatic or freak events.

Dr. Millard contracted a bizarre disease, which left him covered in painful lesions. His clientele soon dwindled until he finally closed his practice all together. He was hideous to look upon and the pain was so unbearable that he committed suicide. He was found in his office with a needle protruding from his neck. He injected himself with a lethal dose of painkiller.

Elias Moore was discovered decapitated beside one of the grain silos on his farm. Apparently he was in the process of filling the silo when the door trapped him. His body was buried by grain until only his head was sticking out of the gate. No one ever discovered how his head was severed from his body.

Douglas Weaver was found mauled by some ferocious beast on a country backroad. He was delivering mail in the small hours of the morning when something set upon him. He was found beneath a tree with one arm and both legs missing from his corpse. The remaining hand was found to have tree bark imbedded under the nails, which suggested that he had attempted to flee up the tree. Investigators could not identify the bite and claw marks on the body, as they did not conform to any known predator or animal indigenous to the area.

Andrew Wesley was discovered impaled upon a fence post. Apparently he went out to investigate strange noises coming from the roof during the middle of the night. When he did not return after many minutes his wife went to investigate and found him still alive and wriggling on the fence post. She went into immediate hysterics. Poor Andrew died shortly thereafter.

Matthew Hodges disappeared for several days without any warning. He reappeared in town wild-eyed and filthy mumbling to himself about “the other side” and “the crows”. People were completely bewildered about what might have happened to him. Any time someone tried to approach or talk to him he began screaming and thrashing about. He remained in this state for about three days until finally, he walked in front a train.

Needless to say, this account of “the crows” intrigued me greatly. I cannot begin to convey the magnitude of revulsion I feel towards the little beasts to this day. I go to great lengths to avoid or shoo them when they are in the remote vicinity. I never discovered what Matthew Hodges witnessed or in what way he was referencing the crows.

I also found records of the mysterious weather, which followed in the winter of 1863 and 1864. Almost immediately after Hatty’s death the weather grew unnaturally cold. The winter was the worst on record, even to this day. There was not very much record of snow or precipitation, just continuous, ice-cold winds. Crops were sparse and there seemed to be a malaise hanging over everyone. There were also many reports of church attendance rising dramatically that year.

But my biggest and most enlightening discovery was the last will and testament of Clarence Akins. Clarence was one of the deputies who went to Hatty’s house the day that Rev. Bassett reported her being killed. Clarence wrote his testimonial at a young age, just shortly after the other gentlemen began to meet their untimely demises; but, Clarence didn’t die young nor in some bizarre manner. He even amended his last will and testament several times throughout his life. He expected to meet a similar end as the other men; yet, for some reason, he did not.

Clarence’s testimonial tells what really transpired the last few days of Hatty Loftin’s life. Clarence was obviously in fear of the wrath of Hatty Loftin and he explained it was her revenge that caused the other men’s horrid deaths. Why Clarence wasn’t made to feel her wrath is still something that I wonder about. Most likely it was because he was not one of the plotters in the event and thus, Hatty didn’t single him out. He was just doing what he thought was his duty, following the orders of his boss, Sheriff Hodges. Clarence was also quite young and innocent to what was actually going on in the whole event.

The day that Douglas Weaver returned to town to tell the sheriff and the other fathers of the missing children about the run in with Hatty they went immediately to her house. After interrogating the old woman yielded no answers the men proceeded to bring her in for questioning. When she refused to comply, the men tied her up, rocking chair and all, and removed her to the jailhouse. Once at the jailhouse the interrogation continued with still no results. The men grew furious, for they knew that the old woman was indeed a witch and also responsible for the disappearance of the children. So they decided to exact justice in their own way.

The first thing they did was figure out a way to gain evidence that she had slain the children, then they would prove that she was using her sorcerous powers of witchcraft. So they returned to her house to leave the evidence of blood there. Clarence stated that it was actually the blood of a stray dog they found wandering the countryside on the way to her house. The entire story of Hatty escaping the jailhouse through magic and then the Sheriff and the deputies finding her at her residence was all fabricated. The men concocted it to show that she was a witch.

Clarence’s account of the final night was the most horrifying part of the tale. It was after I read this that the unraveling of my sanity began. Almost immediately after this was when the weather took a turn. Unseasonably cold weather began to creep into our small city and the surrounding areas, but nowhere else has this cold snap been felt. I fear that it actually began several weeks prior when I opened that mausoleum but I hadn’t noticed until reading Clarence’s account:

...We met that evening at the jailhouse very late, about 12:30 or so. Sheriff Hodges and Dr. Millard were the ones who devised the whole story about Hatty escaping through the use of magic and then Sheriff Hodges, Darrel and myself would find her back at her house. Sheriff Hodges suggested that we say that she resisted further arrest and that we had no choice but to take her forcefully but her frail constitution gave out and she died while fighting us. Dr. Millard knew about an old graveyard deep in the woods up on the mountain that no one would ever find. He said that there was a mausoleum there where we could place her body. Originally the plan was to kill Hatty and place her body in that mausoleum but Douglas thought it would be more fitting to place her in there alive and let her die a slow, dark, and lonely death. We tied her up with her rocking chair and gagged her mouth then put her in Andrew’s milk wagon as it had a cover over the back. When we got to the graveyard and removed Hatty from the wagon Elias began to question Hatty about what she had done with the children. He told her that it was her last chance to come clean. Hatty just stared at him with those hazy old eyes not saying a word. Elias got so outraged that he began shaking the old woman and finally he slapped her a couple of times across the face. Then Andrew broke open the mausoleum and Sheriff Hodges and myself carried her in there and set her down. Then Dr. Millard got right in her face and said, “This is it you evil witch! It’s time to send you to Hell where you belong!” Then he spat right in her face. And then Hatty began to laugh. At first it was real low and deep and then it built in intensity until she was cackling with her head up like a wolf howling at the moon. We all froze and just stared at her. The sound sent a chill through me and my heart started pounding. I nearly fell on my face trying to get out of that mausoleum with that creature. Then, abruptly she stopped and leaned forward in her rocking chair and said, “When I get out of here, and I will, there will be a curse on these parts that’ll make the ten plagues of Egypt look like blessings! But they will pale in comparison to the curses that will befall you hypocritical, weak-souled, little fools! Do you hear me?! Your souls are doomed! Your souls are doomed!” And she just kept saying it over and over as Dr. Millard closed the door and Andrew locked it shut. We could still hear muffled screams from within the thick stone walls of that tiny mausoleum. It was Andrew who scratched out the name on the tomb and scratched – “Ignore the cries of Hatty Loftin, sentenced for witchery, may she rot in Hell”. Now that the other men have died in the most horrible manners I wish to tell the truth so that I might be spared a similar fate. I pray to the Lord God to remove my sins and show me his favor. Even though I have repented a thousand times for my terrible actions I still live in fear of that demonic witch and her curses she uttered that day. My dying prayer will be that if anyone ever finds that God forsaken mausoleum that they dare not open it because I fear that Hatty, by some satanic power, would still be waiting to come out…

And so now you see that it was I who unleashed this terrible, vile pestilence upon the land and the people of this area. I have spent all of my resources on researching spells and incantations to undo this descending curse but the days continue to grow colder and bleaker. Every night I perform every ancient Wicca rite and ritual that I have uncovered but there is no change. The temperament of the people has become gloomy and foreboding, and laughter is heard no more. It is as if every one is aware of their impending doom but it is taboo to speak of it. I realize now that my last hope of undoing the curse is to find that accursed cemetery. Maybe if I perform the Rite of the Golden Seal of Dagon there this blight will be reversed. That is why I am spending my days scouring the woods of Shades Mountain in an effort to find the mausoleum that has haunted my sleep like a shadowy predator. I think that the dissonant place does not lie in the world that we know to be reality, however. I fear that it resides in a place where mortals have been forbidden to tread. I just hope that if I do find it I will possess the resolve to approach the tomb once again as I did that cataclysmic day.

And just what was in that mausoleum you ask? Well Clarence Akins was partly prophetic in his prediction. After the crows fled and I regained my nerves, I approached the tomb cautiously. Too intrigued to turn away, I got close enough to read the inscription that Andrew Wesley etched there over a hundred years ago. Upon reading the epitaph I next inspected the great door. It was an ornately chiseled granite door upon great iron hinges. The door was weathered and the hinges were encrusted with rust. Moss and weeds grew over most of the lower portion of the door. There was a long metal rod securing the door with a very aged and deteriorated pad lock through it. I gingerly touched the pad lock but it was rusted into its current position as if it were always a part of the large bolt. So then I tried to tug on it and, to my surprise; it crumbled in my hand. Having come this far I was now too curious to behold the inside of that ancient door. I was beyond any rational thought that would have advised me to leave the place forever. I was oblivious to my own fears.

The bolt was too rusted to slide free from its locked position so I attempted to force it by pulling on the door handle itself. After several attempts with increasing force the bolt finally ripped from the stone with a dull, metallic clang. I was pulling so hard that when the bolt broke I stumbled backwards trying to regain my balance only to tumble to the ground on my back. Lying there in the damp, dank leaves I watched the door swing open under its massive weight. And there inside the shadowy recesses of the mausoleum I beheld the rocking chair of Hatty Loftin rocking madly back and forth, creaking and moaning, with the withered, mummified corpse of Hatty Loftin flopping its head back and forth like a rag doll – its gaped mouth, empty socketed skull a parody of the description left by Clarence. And all around, filling the air was the thunderous cackling of the most malevolent, demonic laughter.

Posted on Wednesday 16 of May, 2007 [21:15:39 UTC]

Horror writing entails the conveyance of fear. Thankfully, the emotion of fear can come from so many sources that the possibilities are literally infinite. I love to see movies or read stories that take a very mundane thing and transform it into a source of fear. One example that comes to mind is the Blair Witch Project. For me, there is now a certain sense of fear aroused by someone standing in a corner. Another example that comes to mind is The Beckoning Fair One by Oliver Onions. That story transformed the sound of a woman brushing her hair into a source of fear. There are numerous examples and I try to find ways to transform innocuous objects or actions into sources of fear in my own writing.

One problem involved in writing horror and attempting to create an atmosphere of fear (an atmosfear, if you will), is how to approach the subject of plausibility. Many times the sources of fear are creatures or events that are make-believe or supernatural and this presents a problem of whether or not you need to try and generate a plausible explanation for how these things exist. Many people actually do believe in ghosts and/or demons and a story that has these elements may be frightening to those people who believe while being just a form of entertainment to those who don’t. I like the type of horror that is constructed in such a way where these elements are presented without too much explanation for their plausibility and leave the reader to infer a good deal. I think my favorite method for doing this is horror that leaves the question of whether it was real or an aberration in a character’s mind that caused the supernatural event. Was it real or just the faulty perception of the character? I like to write stories that leave the reader puzzling over this question. I think it allows for good character development to have the character stewing over this as well. Am I going crazy or is this freaky shit really happening? I think this leads to a very interesting source of turmoil in the character because I don’t want to be a nutter; but it is more horrifying if I’m not crazy and this is real!

Posted on Tuesday 08 of May, 2007 [22:06:38 UTC]