Tag Archive for: Shawn M. Klimek

Merry Crashed-Mass

/by

by Shawn M. Klimek

 

Day 11: So cold.

The smoking, skeletal remains of the crashed sleigh are poor shelter. Yet, to be more easily spotted by a search plane, I have resisted wandering. I am now convinced of sabotage. I wrack my brain for suspects, but fumes from the plastic toys burned for heat have dimmed my faculties. The toy radio I rescued taunts me in silence for my policy against including batteries.

Thank Loki, two of the reindeer survived the initial crash. Their venison has kept me alive. My Donner party joke did not go over well.

His sad eyes haunt my dreams.

 

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek is the author of more than 230 published poems and short stories, a third of which are featured in BHP anthologies. He is also the author of the illustrated, dark fantasy tale told in melodic poems, “Hungry Thing”. Follow his writing journey on Twitter, Facebook or jotinthedark.blogspot.com

 

Eldritch & Ether

/by

Beautiful, heartfelt poetry from international poets

Read more

Satan’s Butterfly

/by
by Shawn M. Klimek

 

Spanning the stems of a prickly cactus, a spiderweb glittered in the morning dew like a sequined doily. When a yellow hornet—actually, a demon—descended nearby, the web’s owner warily revealed itself.

“What now?” demanded the spider (also a demon).

“Just watch.”

Pimples like blackberry drupelets erupted all over the hornet’s body. These bulged into pustules, before mushrooming into tarry lobes, like a smoker’s lungs. These swelled and mutated until the mass resembled a bloated, decomposing manatee drowned in crude oil.

“Strange,” gurgled the transfigured hornet.

“Don’t tell me! Satan said you’d become a butterfly—and you believed him?”

 

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek is the author of the illustrated, poetic fantasy Hungry Thing, with more than 150 works online, and in such anthologies as BHP’s Deep Space, Eerie Christmas, Bad Romance, Jibbernocky, Passenger 13, and the Dark Drabbles series. He lives in Illinois with his wife and their Maltese.
Twitter: @shawnmklimek

Kill the Messenger

/by
by Shawn M. Klimek

 

Kendra hurried back to the shelter to share the bad news. Dr. Armstrong’s serum had backfired. Despite early hopeful signs, all those treated had eventually regressed. Worse, the contagion seemed to have evolved a new vector. Armstrong had seemed about to explain when he tried to bite her instead. Was it airborne now? She didn’t dare wait to find out.

She banged on the shelter door. “It’s Kendra! Quick! Let me in!”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes!”

“Wounded?”

“No!”

As the door latch clicked, she suddenly couldn’t remember why she had come. But then the smell of flesh called her inside.

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek is an award-winning writer and poet based in Illinois, credited with more than 150 published works of speculative fiction, horror, and humor. Find a complete index of these (plus bonus reads) on his writing blog, http://jotinthedark.blogspot.com, or follow his ongoing writing and publishing adventures on Facebook @shawnmklimekauthor.

YEAR ONE

/by
Read more

YEAR TWO

/by
Read more

YEAR THREE

/by
Read more

YEAR FOUR

/by
Read more

A Savage Christmas

/by
by Shawn M. Klimek

 

After two years imbedded with savage, aborigines, the missionary couple radioed that they had finally mastered the tribe’s primitive language.  It being December, the responding resupply package had included, besides the usual toiletries and fresh batteries, greeting cards signed by the church elders, a giftwrapped, gingerbread stable containing a chocolate nativity scene, and a letter from the bishop urging them to introduce Jesus without further delay.

“The chocolate Holy Family might help,” he suggested.

Radio silence foreshadowed tragedy: the missionaries’ bodies were never found.

The tribe’s oral history, however, cite this as the year white people introduced them to cannibalism.

 

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek is the middle child of seven creative siblings, a globetrotting, U.S. military spouse, internationally best-selling writer, award-winning poet, and butler to a Maltese.  More than one hundred of his stories or poems have been published since 2018, including in BHP’s Deep Space, Eerie Christmas, and the first six books in the Dark Drabbles series. Find an index of his publications (plus bonus reads) at A Jot In The Dark

Nevermore

/by
by Shawn M. Klimek

 

“It’s a parasitic twin,” Patty said. “It’s ugly, I know. Are you disgusted?”

“It’s…”

“You hate it, don’t you!” she bawled.

“No, I’m just surprised.”

“I just wanted there to be no secrets before our wedding,” she said, wiping a tear. “Do you still love me?”

I smiled and squeezed her hand. “What do you think, Nevermore.”

“Oh, John.” She kissed me passionately, then suddenly pulled away to study my face.

“Wait. Do you mean you’ve never loved me more? Or that you will love me nevermore?”

“Oh, neither,” I said, lifting my shirt and pointing, “I was asking Nevermore.”

 

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek is the middle child of seven creative siblings, a globetrotting, U.S. military spouse, award-winning author and poet, and butler to a Maltese.  More than one hundred of his works have been published since 2018, including stories in BHP anthologies, Deep Space, Eerie Christmas, and a full five stories in each of the first six books in the internationally best-selling, Dark Drabbles series.

Find his books on Amazon: Shawn Klimek; a complete index of his publications (plus bonus reads) at A Jot In The Dark; and follow his ongoing writing adventures at https://facebook.com/shawnmklimekauthor/.