Good morning and happy Macabre Monday to all. I have been a blogger about horror fiction for a number of years now. Recently, I have been reading and writing about the short fiction of Charles L Grant, a one well-known US writer, as well as an exemplary anthologist.
Here is a link to my latest piece, on his novella collection The Black Carousel.
Hey Jay, you might want to edit this to include the "👻" emoji so people know this is an essay you're sharing! Also, going to check out Charles L. Grant's works.
💀 I have a tradition where I only write dark speculative through October for the Halloween season, so I'll share "Pandora's Lament" from this past year.
"My legs held firm, weighted down by a fear I could not explain, that whatever we were experiencing, although real, did not fit into the laws of our universe. I wanted to cross over, to prove myself, to share in our discovery, but nothing could propel me forward. Instead, I took a step back, and when I did..."
💀 For this Macabre Monday, I was already planning on sharing this story actually so I'll put it here as well as in Notes!
Presenting to you, a story that I sort of just ignored after posting it: Canary. This story was part of the last wicked writing contest, and its a strange little surrealist story that was a bit nonsensical, a bit spooky, and a whole lot of jazzy.
🪦 Happy Macabre Monday! I’d like to share my speculative murder mystery novella (not strict horror but definitely branching into horror with themes and imagery) Down in the Holler, which is in its final weeks before wrapping up in early July!
Judith Temple is a full-time software engineer and a part-time psychic. When she is hired to investigate a cold case in rural Kentucky, she throws herself into the investigation with the full force of her analytical personality and her mysterious psychic abilities.
An endless war. Memory bones. And a job no one wants but is necessary.
(I know this description is terrible but I seem to have drawn a blank when it comes to explaining this story! 🫠) Story is free to read but comments are closed to paid subs. If this isn't allowed I can take this comment down.
💀 Happy Macabre Monday! I want to share a story I wrote last week called "Terrifying Tea Time"
"I didn’t like talking about the dreams, but I really didn’t like having them, so I’d been visiting experts like Klagg, the latest whoever, a “nightmare treater” with murky methods that might have worked. Groddeck, the night I saw him, had that sheen of affairs on the sip sip. “First of all, I only have the dreams when things are good in my life. When things are bad, I don’t have a single dream, good or… or...” Nowhere. Nowhere. “… tea-ful.”
🪦In a near-future city haunted by its own dark history, evil lurks beneath the surface. Enter Marredbury, a chilling serial anthology that weaves together a tapestry of haunting tales from the past and a contemporary digital nightmare.
This a combination serial and anthology project I'm doing. Marredbury is a horror themed town. The short stories all take place there. The stories are woven together in a near future New Marredbury, the serial part told in a digital found fiction format. It's been a fun project to work on! Would love to hear what you guys think of it
💀Here’s a short story that introduces one of my favorite characters.
“I was twelve years old when Mr. Lincoln became president, and papa told me that that the election of our sixteenth President was a good omen, for a man so aptly named could not fail to salve the troubles that ailed our Republic. In a way, I suppose, he was correct, for four decades after his passing, the old rail-splitter is rightly seated upon the pantheon of our greatest citizens. From time to time, people ask if I was named for him, and I have been known to affirm it as truth, though my own name was given when Abraham Lincoln was nothing more than a country lawyer. That papa would follow my mama and aunt to the grave, never seeing the end of the great and terrible war that followed Mr. Lincoln’s accession, he could not foresee – but I am getting ahead of myself.”
💀 Happy Macabre Monday! Sharing a story I wrote called “Beyond the Veil of Sight”, inspired by Lovecraft. First time sharing, any and all feedback extremely welcome!
“Shadows began to shift, subtly inviting him to dark reflections. Faint whispers of daemonic tongues, divulging secrets best left unspoken. The unholy forces he was now attuned to creating drafts where none should be. Yet he ignored these insipid warnings, pursuing his studies with a childlike ignorance.”
💀Ah, it’s great to be back in the Cemetery!😂🫣muahaha!
I’m sharing my horror short story Graces. Yeah, it’s kind of brutal, and maybe some of you have read it but…
/Layla gritted her teeth and let the shards cut into her skin. She didn’t even try to avoid it, the pain was liberating, each oozing drop of blood released her from the burden her life had become. /
💀 Happy Macabre Monday! I'm sharing a short nightmare vignette I wrote last month called Clockwork Dreams:
"And it seems to you that their eyes are gears, wheeling in their sockets, blankly gazing out. Men grind and creak as they lift boxes onto shelves – you can see, beneath tightening jackets, the ridges of teeth along their spines. Tongues click and clatter and whir, while figures pause and stand in the street to stare at you, their arms held up rigidly, and you stare back, all the while nursing a nagging in the back of your head that your left foot moves a trifle more stiffly than it did this morning...."
Good morning and happy Macabre Monday to all. I have been a blogger about horror fiction for a number of years now. Recently, I have been reading and writing about the short fiction of Charles L Grant, a one well-known US writer, as well as an exemplary anthologist.
Here is a link to my latest piece, on his novella collection The Black Carousel.
https://jayrothermel.substack.com/p/approaching-charles-l-grant-1942-1a7?r=1vg2di
Hey Jay, you might want to edit this to include the "👻" emoji so people know this is an essay you're sharing! Also, going to check out Charles L. Grant's works.
👻
💀 I have a tradition where I only write dark speculative through October for the Halloween season, so I'll share "Pandora's Lament" from this past year.
"My legs held firm, weighted down by a fear I could not explain, that whatever we were experiencing, although real, did not fit into the laws of our universe. I wanted to cross over, to prove myself, to share in our discovery, but nothing could propel me forward. Instead, I took a step back, and when I did..."
https://futurethief.substack.com/p/pandoras-lament
💀 For this Macabre Monday, I was already planning on sharing this story actually so I'll put it here as well as in Notes!
Presenting to you, a story that I sort of just ignored after posting it: Canary. This story was part of the last wicked writing contest, and its a strange little surrealist story that was a bit nonsensical, a bit spooky, and a whole lot of jazzy.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-143024914?r=1v5vok&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Enjoy if you have a look!
🪦 Happy Macabre Monday! I’d like to share my speculative murder mystery novella (not strict horror but definitely branching into horror with themes and imagery) Down in the Holler, which is in its final weeks before wrapping up in early July!
Judith Temple is a full-time software engineer and a part-time psychic. When she is hired to investigate a cold case in rural Kentucky, she throws herself into the investigation with the full force of her analytical personality and her mysterious psychic abilities.
https://open.substack.com/pub/bridgetriley/p/down-in-the-holler-table-of-contents?r=9e3cr&utm_medium=ios
Happy Macabre Monday!
Sharing my new short story, 'Skin & Bones' which sees a (hopefully) fresh, darkly humorous take on the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse.
"There's money in the dead...."
https://open.substack.com/pub/toastedfiction/p/skin-and-bones?r=1gq5r9&utm_medium=ios
🪦 Bone War [A Short Story / 2,917 words]
An endless war. Memory bones. And a job no one wants but is necessary.
(I know this description is terrible but I seem to have drawn a blank when it comes to explaining this story! 🫠) Story is free to read but comments are closed to paid subs. If this isn't allowed I can take this comment down.
https://ericadrayton.substack.com/p/bone-war
💀 Happy Macabre Monday! I want to share a story I wrote last week called "Terrifying Tea Time"
"I didn’t like talking about the dreams, but I really didn’t like having them, so I’d been visiting experts like Klagg, the latest whoever, a “nightmare treater” with murky methods that might have worked. Groddeck, the night I saw him, had that sheen of affairs on the sip sip. “First of all, I only have the dreams when things are good in my life. When things are bad, I don’t have a single dream, good or… or...” Nowhere. Nowhere. “… tea-ful.”
https://darkquarters.substack.com/p/terrifying-tea-time
Happy Macabre Monday!
🪦In a near-future city haunted by its own dark history, evil lurks beneath the surface. Enter Marredbury, a chilling serial anthology that weaves together a tapestry of haunting tales from the past and a contemporary digital nightmare.
This a combination serial and anthology project I'm doing. Marredbury is a horror themed town. The short stories all take place there. The stories are woven together in a near future New Marredbury, the serial part told in a digital found fiction format. It's been a fun project to work on! Would love to hear what you guys think of it
https://reinacruzwrites.substack.com/p/marredbury
💀Here’s a short story that introduces one of my favorite characters.
“I was twelve years old when Mr. Lincoln became president, and papa told me that that the election of our sixteenth President was a good omen, for a man so aptly named could not fail to salve the troubles that ailed our Republic. In a way, I suppose, he was correct, for four decades after his passing, the old rail-splitter is rightly seated upon the pantheon of our greatest citizens. From time to time, people ask if I was named for him, and I have been known to affirm it as truth, though my own name was given when Abraham Lincoln was nothing more than a country lawyer. That papa would follow my mama and aunt to the grave, never seeing the end of the great and terrible war that followed Mr. Lincoln’s accession, he could not foresee – but I am getting ahead of myself.”
https://travisblake.substack.com/p/oh-whistle-my-child-and-ill-come
💀 Happy Macabre Monday! Sharing a story I wrote called “Beyond the Veil of Sight”, inspired by Lovecraft. First time sharing, any and all feedback extremely welcome!
“Shadows began to shift, subtly inviting him to dark reflections. Faint whispers of daemonic tongues, divulging secrets best left unspoken. The unholy forces he was now attuned to creating drafts where none should be. Yet he ignored these insipid warnings, pursuing his studies with a childlike ignorance.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/reezinl/p/beyond-the-veil-of-sight?r=3ywgm0&utm_medium=ios
💀Ah, it’s great to be back in the Cemetery!😂🫣muahaha!
I’m sharing my horror short story Graces. Yeah, it’s kind of brutal, and maybe some of you have read it but…
/Layla gritted her teeth and let the shards cut into her skin. She didn’t even try to avoid it, the pain was liberating, each oozing drop of blood released her from the burden her life had become. /
https://open.substack.com/pub/kathrineelaine/p/graces?r=2rhgsy&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
💀 Happy Macabre Monday! I'm sharing a short nightmare vignette I wrote last month called Clockwork Dreams:
"And it seems to you that their eyes are gears, wheeling in their sockets, blankly gazing out. Men grind and creak as they lift boxes onto shelves – you can see, beneath tightening jackets, the ridges of teeth along their spines. Tongues click and clatter and whir, while figures pause and stand in the street to stare at you, their arms held up rigidly, and you stare back, all the while nursing a nagging in the back of your head that your left foot moves a trifle more stiffly than it did this morning...."
https://irisshaw.substack.com/p/clockwork-dreams