Dark Comedy Short Stories

A palm reader notifies Lord Arthur that murder is in his future. But not his murder - he’s the murderer. This really throws a wrench into his wedding plans, for Lord Arthur is soon to be married to the most beautiful lady in London. In fact he loves her so much, he decides to postpone the wedding until his business is done. Now, for a tasteful homicide....

As children we can’t help but dream of all of the amazing things that we will accomplish. Then life happens. We get a job, we get a house, and we get into debt. We settle. We trade away our youth for security in old age. We spend countless hours performing mundane tasks that leave us depleted and empty. Our souls crave meaning, but we are too afraid to make any change.

The Dreaded Summons and Other Misplaced Bills investigates seven unfortunate accounts piled together to make you laugh. The collection opens with Tina Teatree, who has a compulsion for weeding that soon digs up the root of her problem. The title story is "The Dreaded Summons", about an introvert and his friendship with a lost manatee. Other stories reveal the Breakfast Hunter, J.J. Whitweather, Shirley Short, and Fig B. Willingsbee.

Oliver Smith, known as Food to his friends, so called on account of the fact he can’t afford to feed himself, is a vagrant. After being turfed out from the family home by his wife, Food moves into a lads’ flat in the big city. However, things are not so easy for Food as he struggles with advancing his nonexistent career, housemates who refuse to give him a break, as well as the government, who Food is convinced are stalking him. These are the least of Food’s problems, however, given that due to his impoverished nature, he struggles on a daily basis to even feed himself.

Don't believe everything the characters tell you. Recommended for fans of John Crowley, Paul Park, and Michael Swanwick.

The humour and pathos of strokes and dementia.

Twisty scares with heart. Ghosts, sea monsters, and a rest home for troublesome witches all feature in this collection of paranormal stories set in Wellington, New Zealand. By turns spooky and laugh-out-loud funny, these tales stew with malevolence and mischief. Climb aboard the ghost bus for a wild ride of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and humor, and hop off a little more in love with Aotearoa's capital city.

A record of a Zombie’s rant about the trials and tribulations of his life as a dis-respected member of the undead. A Chat Before Dinner is a 2,600 word darkly-humorous short story.

Luigi Pirandello scrive ancora una volta un piccolo grande capolavoro presentandoci una storia intrisa di humor nero. Tanti i temi al centro di questa novella, narrata con sapiente maestria da Gaetano Marino: la morte, il cimitero, il matrimonio, il sesso... tante sfaccettature di una realtà sempre e comunque inafferrabile.

Un giovane cocchiere romano di una ditta di pompe funebri è costantemente distratto, tanto che arriva a consegnare una salma in una casa sbagliata. Totalmente indifferente verso il suo lavoro, non perde occasione per mostrarsi irrispettoso del lutto altrui, sempre alla ricerca di una nuova distrazione per evitare di affrontare quella vita che non riesce ad amare.

"La nemica inerme", "La virtù calunniata" e "Il marito di Laura. Intrighi e vicissitudini che si svolgono in luoghi di villeggiatura.

Meet a cat called Cecilia, a disgruntled android named Doris, and a weasel called Popgoes and discover that with enough tea and dark chocolate you can achieve anything.

Is it possessed? Is it some kind of experiment? It doesn't matter. All that matters is that it is out to get you. The DilDozer, or DD for short, calls on all of those in its path in the hopes that one day it can unleash its 20 full inches of destructive force upon the world. Keep listening, if you dare, to the tale of the DilDozer. Deadly. Dangerous. Ribbed for her terror.

This is the story of a dying little boy fighting to escape a very special hell!

Whatever happened to that bumbling skeleton army from our favorite movie about a time-traveling S-Mart employee? Finally, the whole story.

My short stories are all exactly 50 words long (not including the title). Some of the one-word prompts used to create my stories include wildfires, holiday lights, a horseshoe, time traveler, street food, and Donald Trump. My magnetic poetry is oddly philosophical and meant to confound and amuse. May you thoroughly enjoy my book! Have a nice day!

This original short story asks the question, "If eternal life came at the expense of love, would you choose death?"

Third story in a collection of interlinked tales of crime and retribution laced with dark humour, set around the festive season. Being a top-flight chef can be stressful. Thankfully, a professional kitchen throws up some unique opportunities for body disposal….

Continua la serie di novelle tratte da Il Casigamatti con "Il perdono" e Fugge l'ora".

Sixth story in a collection of interlinked tales of crime and retribution laced with dark humour, set around the festive season. The maternity ward: the last place you’d associate with criminal activity. Which makes it as good a place as any to carry it out.