I opened the messenger app. I hadn’t done much. It was my day off as I had submitted my assignment on the Duke of Wellington’s strategy at the Battle of Waterloo the day before. I was bored and in a bad mood. John had called...
The lights of the Seattle skyline suddenly ignite as the city comes alive with the sounds and sights of night. In a run-down bar a lone man sits beneath the hum of a florescent overhead light as he holds his whiskey in shaky hands. The...
Part I I set these words down in no expectation that they will avail me, nor even with the confidence that they may serve as a warning to any soul unfortunate enough to encounter them. There are accounts which men write to clarify memory, and others...
I own a pizza place. People hear that and picture something cozy. Brick oven. Family recipes. A guy in a clean apron tossing dough in the air while Sinatra plays in the background. What I actually own is a small-town grease trap with a sign out front. Bell’s...
Part I For twelve years, I have made my living translating darkness into geometry. That sounds grander than it is. Most days, it means staring at sonar returns until my eyes burn, then staring some more, coaxing meaning from noise while the rest of the world forgets...
When Irving Gibson first met me, he was on top of the world. His story was an interesting one, too. One of many I’ve found memorable, sure, but everyone is unique. Backgrounds, behaviors, choices and excuses—maybe I get overly invested in people, but I can’t...
Born from smokeless fire, they straddle the line between seen and unseen, good and evil. They move betwixt those spaces between life and death. They may choose to help or destroy on a whim. Beware in the shadow valley, the cursed Jinn. Chapter 1 “A Den...
I last saw my girlfriend around seventeen years ago. Although for me, it was last week. I know that doesn't make much sense. I'm not even sure why I'm writing this. It's not like anybody will believe it. And even if they did, the truth would...
Brad Carter only wanted one thing: to save his daughter. When he finds a strange, warm egg deep in the woods, it feels like fate—an impossible discovery at the exact moment he’s drowning beneath medical bills and running out of time. What hatches inside his...
In a faraway future, across limitless desert wastes, living in the ruins of the old world, lay the emaciated colonies of the new one. The feral lands of Zimitra. The land of forgotten knowledge. The land where the memories of the ancient world were lost to...
When art teacher Seth Kline moves into an old farmhouse with his five-year-old daughter, Lila, he hopes the light-filled windows will help them heal after his wife’s death. But as Lila begins to draw impossible patterns—colors that shouldn’t exist, shapes that shift when unseen—Seth realizes...
I shouldn't be posting this here. I shouldn't be saying anything about this case, or any of my cases. But I've been told the people in this area of the internet understand things...
I breathed a sigh of relief once the phone was back in its holster. I got the job. Not just any job, but one of the most sought after positions within an hours drive. I was the newest team member at Colwell Industries, a company...
When a grieving husband sets out to reunite with his wife for a simple weekend getaway, a violent storm forces him down a road he’ll never escape. Drawn to an antique shop called Precious Memories, he discovers that every relic inside holds more than dust...
God, it’s cold. Shivering, I push my hand out of my coat sleeve. Check my watch. Seven thirty. It won’t be long now. I scan the edge of the field, just to be sure, then reach for the thermos. I twist off the cap. Steam...
Part I The head in the wall was crusted and decayed, mummified in its plastic shroud, the withered face open-mouthed in a scream—or maybe the jaw had loosened as the muscles decayed. The plastic is what held in the smell, though I do vaguely remember sometimes...
Hannah and Becca, the quintessential young couple in love. Newlyweds, or relatively newly wed at any rate, the pair would sometimes baffle their peers in their curiously optimistic pursuit of the fading light that was the classic American dream. During their initial courtship, well on...
Past lush green forests and misty valley At the end of a long winter’s chill The Salesman conducts his grand finale In the town of Diona Hills. Four will be one, and one finds demise By him who is called oblivion. Come closer, and hear of our grand reprise In the place...
FOREWORD Recovered from the home of Thaddeus Collins – Keegan, Wisconsin My name is Lucy Collins. Thaddeus—“Thad” to most—was my grandfather. He vanished from his home in Keegan, Wisconsin, in early November of last year. There were no signs of forced entry, no struggle, no blood. The...
Part I Harold Latham had lived alone in the house on Maple Hollow Road for almost twelve years. Since Maggie passed, he’d settled into a rhythm that left little room for surprises. Morning coffee on the porch. A slow walk to the mailbox. A crossword at...
