by Weird Wilkins As a child, I always feared the picture my mother kept by her bedside. I never understood why she would frame an image of such a grotesque monster. It looked like a man deformed in ways I can barely fathom. Those bulging eyes, skin so pallid it was translucent, sunken cheeks and […]
by C.L. Sidell Uncle’s hosting this year’s family get-together. I steer along the winding road. Birdsong floats through the open windows, spring foliage perfumes my nose. Reaching Uncle’s cabin, I spy a tattered man running towards me from the woods. “Help!” He extends bloodied hands, right as a pinwheeling hatchet strikes him dead. Uncle strides […]
by Andrew Kurtz “Enos, I’m your brother!” Ted screamed as he was being lowered into the vat of scalding acid. “Satan demands the sacrifice of a blood relative in order for me to receive the dark power!” Enos shouted maniacally. “You were…” Ted didn’t finish as the acid engulfed him, disintegrating his flesh and bones. […]
by Michael Sonray-Kelly Fairy-mother’s sharp teeth mirror moonlight, promising terrible things for a price. Poor, ash-covered Ella, whose sisters’ cruel laughs echo still, offers Fairy-mother her pet mice, garden geese, a rotten pumpkin. Fairy-mother accepts, weaves song, fills the air with squeaks and screams. Mice bones outgrow their splitting skin, stab and snap to equine […]
by G.B. Dinesh They were talking about death at Nana’s eightieth birthday party. I sat on her lap. “She won’t die, she is a witch,” one of her friends said, cackling. I looked up; Nana gave me a tired smile. She was already dying, but the spark in her eyes made me think of a […]
by Crystal N. Ramos His father always wore a locket, an oddity the son couldn’t help but notice. When asked, his father tucked it inside his shirt and said, “It keeps the demon form locked away.” Curiosity inflamed; the son waited until his father was sleeping to open it. Fire burst out and consumed them. […]
by Pauline Yates I resisted the urge for years, hoping the curse had skipped a generation and I’d be spared the gruesome reality that I was indeed the spawn of my father. He disgusts me with his morbid eating habits while I’m spooning down ordinary cereal. But today is different. Today I yearn to dip […]
Reap is a unique anthology born from a captivating prompt: a zombie farmer cultivating a crop of human brains. This collection of thirty-two stories delves into the bizarre world of undead agriculture, blending horror, dark humour, and speculative fiction.
By Suzanne Link Patrice’s tiny hands smack the earth with finality. “How’s that, Mama?” “Perfect.” My heart bursts with motherly joy. Farming runs in our veins, and Patrice is a natural. “Time to feed ’em!” Patrice thrusts out her palm. I drag my blade across her thumb. She doesn’t even flinch as blood drips onto […]
by Yvonne Lang I cried when Grandmother strangled the baby. I sobbed when I had to cook and season its body. Grandmother insisted it was an essential part of my witch education. The baby potion would keep Grandmother from aging. My pleas for them to take my sister’s boy fell on deaf ears; my son […]