Magazine
Issue #12
Colson has “10 MILLION$” tattooed in gothic script across his forehead, but of course he’s not worth a fraction of that, not when he’s slugging gallons of cloudy rotgut that’s like drain cleaner on his insides. Every time I see him, Colson taps the scars over his liver and says, “It keeps coming back, man.…
Many of us are familiar with the Walt Disney animated feature “The Little Mermaid.” Of course, some of us may have read variations of the children’s tale, but not all of us have read Hans Christian Andersen’s story or are familiar with its story’s origins. There are multiple versions of this tale. Andersen was influenced…
How do you do it? How the hell do you manage to fit inside such a small box without breaking your back?I’ve been asked that question so many times.You see, it’s a matter of training every day since I was a kid, combined with a peculiar physical predisposition. Apparently people like me have ligaments that…
The Last Box
Death machines have always varied in design and construction—from the barbaric cruel rituals of being burned at the steak, or hanged, drawn and quartered to modern, efficient devices such as the guillotine and the gas chamber. Women convicted of violent crimes frequently succumbed to rigors of death by fire or a modern-day gas chamber execution.…
Hvalur
Starlene JusticeCold. So cold. Morning on the snow-covered Icelandic beach, dark as twilight. And, lately, that eye gazing at me through the gray waves. I have seen it three times now in the week I have been here on a winter “getaway” with my husband. If not for that eye, I would leave my boots by…
The Exorcist’s Guidebook
K. J. ChienI. DON’T WORRYNot yet. Especially since you just had your sixteenth birthday, and with it, gained your learner’s permit and sprouted a row of coarse wiry hair on your upper lip. Don’t worry, even when the book spines along your father’s shelves—mathematics titles and dissertation—flash scarlet red. Or when the family photos are replaced with…
Christmas Eve In An Old House: The History of Christmas Ghost Stories
Lisa Morton(Portions of this work were previously presented live at the Seasons Screamings 2021 convention.)“The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to…The Velveteen Goblin
Amanda Cecelia LangThe parcel arrives on Christmas morning in the frozen hours before dawn. A mysterious giftbox left upon the manor’s front porch, wrapped in handsome brown paper and made lovely with pinecones and mistletoe. Nana bustles the package inside the hearth-warm foyer, and within this stirring rock-a-bye motion, the velveteen monster’s mismatched button eyes first widen…Blood Debt
E. C. Dorgan(Originally published in The Dread Machine.)The doctors call it bad blood, but you know you’ve stumbled on something bigger. And so you find yourself in front of a steakhouse, lips parched, juices releasing, anticipating aged steak, the best Malbec, a full stomach, and a reckoning.The steakhouse is in a strip-mall. You have to cross the…
Body & Blood
Colson has “10 MILLION$” tattooed in gothic script across his forehead, but of course he’s not worth a fraction of that, not when he’s slugging gallons of cloudy rotgut that’s like drain cleaner on his insides. Every time I see him, Colson taps the scars over his liver and says, “It keeps coming back, man.…The Last Box
How do you do it? How the hell do you manage to fit inside such a small box without breaking your back?I’ve been asked that question so many times.You see, it’s a matter of training every day since I was a kid, combined with a peculiar physical predisposition. Apparently people like me have ligaments that…
Death Machines: Grim Harbingers of Doom
Death machines have always varied in design and construction—from the barbaric cruel rituals of being burned at the steak, or hanged, drawn and quartered to modern, efficient devices such as the guillotine and the gas chamber. Women convicted of violent crimes frequently succumbed to rigors of death by fire or a modern-day gas chamber execution.…
A Cut Rock Does Not Bleed, It Shines
(Originally published in Another Name for Darkness.)I uncover the first gem by peeling my right palm open, tripping over one of my mother’s decorative stepping stones.The ground rushes to meet me with more enthusiasm than my parents ever have and I put my hands out to catch my fall.At first, there’s no pain and, despite…The Exorcist’s Guidebook
I. DON’T WORRYNot yet. Especially since you just had your sixteenth birthday, and with it, gained your learner’s permit and sprouted a row of coarse wiry hair on your upper lip. Don’t worry, even when the book spines along your father’s shelves—mathematics titles and dissertation—flash scarlet red. Or when the family photos are replaced with…Christmas Eve In An Old House: The History of Christmas Ghost Stories
(Portions of this work were previously presented live at the Seasons Screamings 2021 convention.)“The story had held us, round the fire, sufficiently breathless, but except the obvious remark that it was gruesome, as, on Christmas Eve in an old house, a strange tale should essentially be, I remember no comment uttered till somebody happened to…The Velveteen Goblin
The parcel arrives on Christmas morning in the frozen hours before dawn. A mysterious giftbox left upon the manor’s front porch, wrapped in handsome brown paper and made lovely with pinecones and mistletoe. Nana bustles the package inside the hearth-warm foyer, and within this stirring rock-a-bye motion, the velveteen monster’s mismatched button eyes first widen…Blood Debt
(Originally published in The Dread Machine.)The doctors call it bad blood, but you know you’ve stumbled on something bigger. And so you find yourself in front of a steakhouse, lips parched, juices releasing, anticipating aged steak, the best Malbec, a full stomach, and a reckoning.The steakhouse is in a strip-mall. You have to cross the…
