Literary Horror

Poison-tongued film critic Reginald Wright is known for his creative insults and intolerance for the garbage culture, insufferable rudeness, and thoughtless racism of predictably common people. Now, against his better judgment, and with a marriage in crisis, he’s attempting a getaway in the Poconos that quickly fulfills his every low expectation. In fact, it’s becoming a nightmare. And that’s just what Reginald needs to wake up.

Sanity means seeing what is real…what is there. But that's not always as easy as it sounds. Sometimes it takes a completely unexpected, violent, preternatural reversal to make us see beyond the fog. And that's exactly what you'll find in these four original, intriguing stories.

Forensic evidence that Alex didn't really understand suggested that their tormenter kept them alive and tortured them for three to five days, before finally slitting their throats and depositing the bodies somewhere remotely. Modern forensics had been available when he retired a decade and a half past, but he'd never really integrated it into his investigations. Why the hell would he need to? Outside of an occasional robbery gone wrong...there really wasn't serious crime to address until recently.

Two soldiers wander through a mist, into enemy hands, soon after, taken to an abandoned cabin, to be tortured for information about the whereabouts of a Union gold payroll shipment. The Confederate deserters seem to forget their history with the place and discover that old crimes live on with those that no longer do. The dead sometimes ache for revenge, and might just tear a man into shredded meat or worse.

What would cause a wife to slice her own throat in front of her husband, over and over again? Is she haunted, deranged, heartbroken, or even possessed? Jake Rawling is forced to relive the moment again and again, to find out why it keeps happening and why he keeps waking up only moments before the incident.

"You Can't Hide from Your Past": Rachel can't understand the strange sounds and goings-on in her house or why her son all of a sudden has an imaginary friend - until he mentions the name Paul and what this friend wants. Rachel's deadly secret that she's kept buried for many years has now worked its way to the surface, only to take everything from her. Bodies will drop like flies if she doesn't come to terms with her past and give in to the horrible demands of the dead.

Rachel can't understand the strange sounds and goings-on in her house or why her son, all of a sudden, has an imaginary friend, until he mentions the name Paul and what this friend wants. Rachel's deadly secret that she's kept buried for many years has now worked its way to the surface, only to take everything from her. Bodies will drop like flies if she doesn't come to terms with her past and give into the horrible demands of the dead.

Nunzio Calabrisi is investigating the disappearance of his great-uncle 71 years later. He goes to the one man who was with his uncle when he went missing, while they were on leave during World War II. All that the man can give him is a ring and the skeletal remains of the finger that the ring was on at the time. Nothing makes any sense, and no concrete evidence seems possible to be found. The town where it all occurred seems to be one shrouded in great mystery and intrigue.

Targar Negary entombs his only surviving child in a sarcophagus, possibly, thinking her to be a victim of the Black Plague that is sweeping Europe. Poor Talis must endure agonizing and seemingly endless hours of torture within her tomb, wondering who emplaced her there and why, if it was her father, seeking some sort of punishment. With Talis' air running out, she does not believe that she can survive this entombment and find out the reason for it.

Kevin Kendrick must come to terms with his grandfather not being who he's always been thought to be and that he killed Kevin's real grandfather decades ago. As times wears on, Kevin feels his mind slipping away, with each tick of the clock stealing something from him. Can he learn to forgive and put everything in the past, where it's always been, or can he, a mild-mannered man, bring justice full circle?

There is something about the house next door, nearly torn asunder by flames, but inside, a baby's cry seems impossible. It seems only to come from a faded photograph of a doll. When it is taken from its home, it seems to change, on its own, and with it, change the lives of those around it for the worse.

Why not get two delightfully-frightening horror stories for the price of one? When Marion cut open the tree, all he found of his best friend was a finger, never again, in more than 70 years, any trace of him. Now, that finger is all that he can give to the only other person to ever search for Nunzio Calabrisi.

"The Masquerade of Death": Targar Negary entombs his only surviving child in a sarcophagus, possibly thinking her to be a victim of the Black Plague that is sweeping Europe. Poor Talis must endure agonizing and seemingly-endless hours of torture within her tomb, wondering who emplaced her there and why, if it was her father, seeking some sort of punishment. With Talis' air running out, she does not believe that she can survive this entombment and find out the reason for it.