GRIMDARK
Grimdark—violent worlds with amoral or morally questionable protagonists. Grim and dark stories valourising the protagonist’s struggles as they choose between good and evil.
Tag Archive for: John Lane
Private Edad
by John Lane
Before the commencement of Operation Overlord, the newest soldier of First Infantry Division composed a letter, an effort to reassure his mother. She feared losing him to a bullet like her father during the Great War.
In writing, Private Joseph Edad promised to see her again.
Then, on D-Day, as he marched up Omaha Beach, several rounds of ammo from a German’s MG-42 drilled into his neck. The soldier was the first to fall.
For his last seconds of life, he never thought about his fellow soldiers silencing the German gunners.
He only hoped he didn’t make his mother angry.
John Lane
John Lane’s fiction has appeared in Black Hare Press, Ghost Orchid Press, Black Ink Fiction, Dark Dossier Magazine, Six Sentences, The Disappointed Housewife and other venues. In 2020, John’s story, “Dimension Traveler,” tied for Rejected Manuscripts’ third most voted entry out of 130 stories.
Army and National Guard veteran.
Last Words
by John Lane
With zombie apocalypse nonstop on mainstream news, Don, terminal manager for Moe’s Truck Stop, unplugged the television.
Greg Watson staggered inside, repeatedly mumbling, “I can’t do this anymore.”
Outside stood Greg’s reefer trailer—the constant shaking was a red flag. Inhuman moans reverberated throughout the parking lot.
When Don walked over, he noticed the trailer side’s convex impressions of human-sized hands.
He peeked through the small rectangular door. Four stiff and slow, pale figures in torn clothes kept walking into walls.
Back at Moe’s, Don handed the keys back to Greg. Don’s last words? “I can’t do this anymore, either.”
John Lane
John Lane’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Black Hare Press, Ghost Orchid Press, Rejected Manuscripts, Dark Dossier Magazine, Trembling with Fear, The Drabble and other venues.
John’s story, “Dimension Traveler,” tied for Rejected Manuscripts’ third most voted entry out of 130 stories in 2020.
Beware of the Talls
by John Lane
Born in a pan of green beef, seventy-five of us reached maturity in two to three days.
We laughed when Mom warned that “talls” wanted us dead. Our compound eyes and thin wings could evade them. Or so we thought.
The “talls” caught us while we rubbed our six legs on grooves of wood. They looked like their heads touched the white drywall sky.
Then… WHACK!
I watched the large flat plastic crush my brothers until mangled thoraxes littered the wood. Smell of pheromones lingered.
Only I survived.
I will never forget what the “talls” called their death weapon.
Flyswatter.
John Lane
John Lane’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Black Hare Press, Ghost Orchid Press, Rejected Manuscripts, Dark Dossier Magazine, Trembling with Fear, The Drabble and other venues.
John’s story, “Dimension Traveler,” tied for Rejected Manuscripts’ third most voted entry out of 130 stories in 2020.