DAY 17 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 17 of 27: Josh Rountree

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”

17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”

EXCERPT:

Ypres is a hell. Is it not bad enough that the very land seems hungry to swallow us all? Must we be hunted by the black soul of our enemies made flesh? I killed him again last night, a closer encounter than ever before. I dread night patrols more and more, the way the land pitches and rolls, even when the guns have grown cold and the shells stopped falling. The world is white ice and barbed wire, and a man can lose himself in bottomless craters and abandoned foxholes.

No matter how many of your brothers walk at your side, we are each alone in that terrible place. Perhaps it is the quiet that unnerves me most. War should never be quiet. I think it is the purity of the silence that draws Snowfather out again and again... The creature is chaos, and he cannot countenance even a moment’s peace… 

— Snowfather by Josh Rountree

ABOUT: Josh Rountree

Josh Rountree’s short fiction has been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including Realms of Fantasy, After Death . . ., and Electric Velocipede. His first collection of stories, Can’t Buy Me Faded Love, is available from Wheatland Press. Josh lives in Georgetown, TX with his wife and two sons.

DAY 16 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 16 of 27: C. Michael Cook

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”

EXCERPT:

Ed hurried downstairs. He grabbed the rifle and flashlight and went outside.

The night air felt like ice water against his skin. He headed toward the woods, stopping every few yards to listen, adjusting his course each time the bird cried out. He marveled at the darkened houses around him, at the way others could sleep through this, their husbands and wives beside them, their children safe in the next room.

He crossed the street and stopped at the tree line. It was colder here. Darker, too. It smelled of moist earth and life waiting to emerge.

He waited for the night crier’s call…

— The Night Crier by C. Michael Cook

ABOUT: C. Michael Cook

C. Michael Cook is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer whose work has appeared in The Baybury Review, Unspeakable Horror, and two previous volumes of The Horror Library. He lives, writes, and rides bicycles in Chicago, where he’s currently at work on his first novel. He can be found at cmichaelcook.com and cmichaelcook.blogspot.com.

DAY 15 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 15 of 27: Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”

EXCERPT:

The truck is old, its cab rounded in a way vehicles just aren’t constructed anymore. Its paint might once have been white, but so much of it has fallen off, all she can see is the rust underneath. A long truck bed stretches out from behind the cab. The sides are wood. It looks like it’s been put together from whatever parts could be found at the scrap yard. It can’t be roadworthy, it can’t be legal.

Nonetheless it’s lumbering down her street, slowing as it passes her house. She darts away from the window, pressing herself against the wall beside it. If she looks sideways she can still track its passage through the sheer curtains.

The old vehicle slows more. Its brakes shriek with the effort. Whatever’s in the bed of the truck bounces beneath an old piece of canvas…

— The Night Truck by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

ABOUT: Stephanie Bedwell-Grime

Stephanie Bedwell-Grime credits her love of horror to growing up in a house beside a graveyard. Although she never did meet a ghost there, it did get her thinking about things that go bump in the night. To date she has had more than thirty novels and novellas published. She has also been a five-time finalist for the Aurora, Canada’s national award for speculative fiction. Stephanie welcomes visitors to her website at www.feralmartian.com.

DAY 14 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 14 of 27: Dean H. Wild

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”

EXCERPT:

“The line goes quiet, but they’re not done. Not until they knock.”

“Who exactly do you think is going to knock?” When he pulled his car in, the parking lot adjacent to their tiny building was empty except for Betsy’s beat-up Dodge which she called her Snow Buster. The lots belonging to the antique shop to the north and the volunteer fire department to the south were unmarked planes of fresh snow. No tire tracks, no footprints. “There isn’t anybody—”

Two taps rattled the small window behind his desk…

— The Gaff by Dean H. Wild

ABOUT: Dean H. Wild

Dean H. Wild has lived in east central Wisconsin, primarily in small towns surrounding the city of Fond du Lac, all his life. He wrote his first short horror story at the tender age of seven and continued to write dark fiction into adulthood while he pursued careers in retail, the newspaper industry, and real estate. His short stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies including Bell, Book & Beyond, A Feast of Frights, Night Lights, and Night Terrors III. He and his wife, Julie, currently reside in the village of Brownsville. Visit Dean at: http://www.deanwild.com

DAY 13 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 13 of 27: Sean Eads

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”

EXCERPT:

He starts reading the email.

I had a great time with you last night.

So far so good. But wait: there’s more . . . Except there isn’t.

Clyde furrows his brows. What else? He taps the side of his monitor, as if coaxing the screen to cough out more text. Can emails contain cliffhangers? She had a great time and; she had a great time but; she had a great time until.

Again he blames Roger. If not for the goddamn joke, this email would have Clyde on Cloud Nine. Instead he wrestles with paranoia. Isn’t there implied finality in the email’s terseness? Like: I had a great time with you last night. But now it’s time to move on.

Yeah. Move on to Roger.

Well, that’s it: Roger has to die.”

— Predestination’s a Bitch by Sean Eads

ABOUT: Sean Eads

Sean Eads is a writer and librarian living in Denver, CO. His second novel, The Survivors, was a finalist for the 2013 Lambda Literary Award. His third novel, Lord Byron’s Prophecy, was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Colorado Book Award, and was named a Best Book of 2015 by Kirkus Reviews. His first novel, Trigger Point, is being re-released in 2017 through Hex Publishing. A short story collection, 17 Stitches, is forthcoming from Lethe Press. Sean is originally from Kentucky. Visit Sean at: http://www.seaneads.net

DAY 12 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 12 of 27: the amazing, the prodigious Jeffrey Ford!

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”

EXCERPT:

…in that instant it became clear that not only was it a truck but it was a black truck.

He must have been doing 90. I pushed down on the gas, to my mind, recklessly, but as wild as I thought I drove, I didn’t stand a chance of outpacing him. I looked at the speedometer and I was only doing 55. “Jesus,” I said, threw the butt out the window and closed it. I inched up to 60 mph but felt as if the car was getting out of control. Then the truck was right behind me, flashing its lights and beeping.

I pulled over at almost exactly the spot I’d pulled over on the way to town. My heart was pounding, and as I hit the brakes to coast to the side, the car wriggled erratically. A dark blur blew past, and I saw the guy in the driver’s seat. He stared over at me with a dull expression while chewing on a black cheroot of a cigar. One detail I caught as he whipped out of sight was that under his orange cap in the back, the hair had been shaved from his scalp behind his ear and there was a big white Frankenstein scar like his head had been stitched back on. It matched up somehow in my mind with the decal on his back window—a spear point with a sword in it and lightning bolts shooting across like scars.

For the next few weeks, every time I left the house, I’d warily check my rearview mirror, and not once was it in vain. That guy had to be spying on me. I asked the farmers on either side of my place if they knew who it was, describing the truck to them. Both of them more or less said the same thing, “Oh, yeah, that black truck, I’ve seen it before.”

— Five Pointed Spell by Jeffrey Ford

ABOUT: Jeffrey Ford

Jeffrey Ford is the author of the novels The Physiognomy, Memoranda, The Beyond, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, The Girl in the Glass, The Cosmology of the Wider World, and The Shadow Year. His short story collections are The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, The Empire of Ice Cream, The Drowned Life, Crackpot Palace, and A Natural History of Hell. Ford’s short fiction has appeared in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies. Both books and stories have been translated into nearly twenty languages worldwide. Ford is the recipient of The World Fantasy Award, Nebula, Edgar Allan Poe Award, The Shirley Jackson Award, The Hayakawa Award, and Gran Prix de l’Imaginaire. He lives in Ohio in a hundred and twenty year old farm house surrounded by corn and soybean fields and teaches part-time at Ohio Wesleyan University. More about Jeffrey Ford at: http://www.well-builtcity.com

DAY 11 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 11 of 27: Kathryn E. McGee

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”

11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”

EXCERPT:

Gray could still hear his grandfather Walter’s voice; he stared at the photos, found the ones Walter was in. Even as a child, Gray had assumed the Creek Keepers were old dudes who sat around talking about fishing and swilling coffee, but he also remembered Walter taking his membership seriously, being very invested in the happenings of the town. He’d say things like, “The old buildings downtown, they’re special. Can’t you see that, son?” He’d pause dramatically, lower his voice to a whisper. “They keep the bad stuff deep in the earth from getting loose, rising up through the water. They help us to maintain equilibrium. They maintain our stability.”

— The Creek Keepers’ Lodge by Kathryn E. McGee

ABOUT: Kathryn E. McGee

Kathryn E. McGee has an MFA in creative writing from UC Riverside Palm Desert. Her short fiction has appeared in the Cemetery Riots and Winter Horror Days anthologies. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association. In her work as an architectural historian, she writes histories of old buildings and consults on development projects involving historic properties.

DAY 10 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 10 of 27: David Tallerman

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”

EXCERPT:

            During the week, we build bombs.
            The bombs look like mushrooms—like a field of fungi stretching to every horizon. In the low light, the factory floor is without walls, without ceiling. There's only us and the bombs--and there are so many more of them than us.
            Is that how it feels for you? Out there, where you are, have the munitions already outnumbered those they're supposed to kill? While I work, I think of you. We build bombs to kill young men. We build bombs to make widows of girls like us. We build bombs to make money, to buy food, to stay alive, to build more bombs.
            Some of the women talk and joke. Some of them even sing. I wonder how they can…

— Casualty of Peace by David Tallerman

ABOUT: David Tallerman

      David Tallerman is the author of the recently released YA fantasy, The Black River Chronicles: Level One, the Tales of Easie Damasco series, and the Tor.com novella, Patchwerk. His comics work includes the absurdist steampunk graphic novel, Endangered Weapon B: Mechanimal Science, and the Rosarium miniseries, C21st Gods.
     David's short stories have appeared or are due in around eighty markets, including Clarkesworld, Nightmare, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. A number of his best dark fantasy and horror stories were included in his debut collection, The Sign in the Moonlight and Other Stories.
     He can be found online at davidtallerman.co.uk.

DAY 9 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 9 of 27: Carole Johnstone

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”

EXCERPT:

            Even though I’m still descending through the French couloirs, the snowpack is harder, the incline less steep. I’m surprisingly warm, but I know much of that is a cocktail of O and illusion—I last felt my feet at Camp IV. I don’t feel bad, I don’t feel good. I don’t feel much of anything at all. Not even afraid.

            There’s a subtle but sudden shift in the air around me, like a hush, a breath too close to my ear; my heart stutters a little to feel it through my hood and balaclava. And then Jakub Hornik appears from the gloom behind and above—maybe ten feet east, no more —face-first and flat on his belly, anchored to nothing. He doesn’t flail or shout as he slides down the snowfield; he makes no sound at all save the fast friction of his suit against ice…

— Better You Believe by Carole Johnstone

ABOUT: Carole Johnstone

British Fantasy Award-winning Carole Johnstone is a Scottish writer, currently living on the island of Cyprus. Her short fiction has been published widely, and has been reprinted in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year and Salt Publishing’s Best British Fantasy series.

Her debut short story collection, The Bright Day is Done, is available from Gray Friar Press, and her novella, Cold Turkey, is part of TTA Press’ novella series. Both works were shortlisted for a 2015 British Fantasy Award.

She is presently at work on a novel, but just can’t seem to kick the short story habit.

More information on the author can be found at carolejohnstone.com.

DAY 8 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 8 of 27: Darren O. Godfrey

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”

EXCERPT:

            I hit the gas; the Nova’s rear tires threw gravel, and I was back on the northbound 30, accelerating, and moaning somewhere down deep in my throat because the dream was not over, the nightmare was not over, and I was not going home... 

            “He killed me—” the girl began, her voice high and shrill, “He came back and he killed me!”

— D.U.I. by Darren O. Godfrey

ABOUT: Darren O. Godfrey

Darren O. Godfrey grew up in Idaho, saw much of the country, then ended up back in Idaho. His fiction has appeared in Gorezone Magazine (the late, great sister publication to Fangoria) and Black October Magazine, The Art Times, as well as The Museum of Horrors, Borderlands 2, Borderlands 5, Borderlands 6, and Quietly Now: An Anthology in Tribute to Charles L. Grant, among others. His story, “Recess,” was selected for All-American Horror of the 21st Century, the First Decade, edited by Mort Castle.

DAY 7 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 7 of 27: Bentley Little

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”

EXCERPT:

The plumber didn’t wait for an answer but hung up. Andy was left listening to a dial tone, and he walked back out of the bedroom. The hallway was virtually dry, lines of paper towels soaking up whatever water remained, and fortunately there didn’t appear to be any long-term water damage. When he’d called yesterday, the plumber had come by about an hour later, and he expected it to take about that long for the man to show up today. But it was literally moments after Andy hung up the phone that the doorbell rang...

— The Plumber by Bentley Little

ABOUT: Bentley Little

Bentley Little is a horror writer who is intensely disliked by everyone who has ever met him. He would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Pulitzer Prize committee for that thing he did. Also to the state of Nebraska, for that other thing.