Fictional Worlds

It doesn’t feel real. I don’t feel connected to any of this, out here alone amidst all this nothing. Shadow coloured stones crushed and scattered under sneakers. Our passage unheard, we had slipped silently across the rooftop expanse to its eastern …

Reading in Bed by Joan Aiken

He gave an exclamation of astonishment, for at the back of her mouth he could see something white sticking up. He cautiously pulled it further forward with his forceps and discovered that it was the end of a long piece of cotton wool. He pulled again, and about a foot of it came out of her mouth, but that seemed to be nowhere near the end. He glanced at the girl in astonishment, but as she appeared quite calm he went on pulling, and the stuff kept reeling out of her throat until there was a tangle of it all over the floor.

Here is the whisper in the night, the creak upstairs, that half-remembered ghost story that won’t let you sleep, the sound that raises gooseflesh, the wish you’d checked the lock on the door before…

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I placed the dishes in a haphazard pile in the sink and watched as the auto-sorter pulled them into the dishwasher one by one, stacking them into supersonic racks. My mind reeled from the phone call from school. “Meiling was acting up again. via Poc…

The sun beat down like a hammer. Stoneseeker scoured the base of the cliff, looking for rock samples to take back to the elders. It was his first solo exploration, and his brief was simple: find more flint. The chief had relieved him of hunting duti…

Subterranean Press is widely considered to be among the finest specialty publishers in the horror, suspense, fantasy and dark mystery genres.

I die a little | Nature via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2OJOiHE

By its nature, a self-help book is written by someone who thinks they know what to do and read by someone who doesn’t; there hasn’t been a better setup for the pompous to fleece the credulous since Rome stopped selling indulgences. via Pocket

Subterranean Press is widely considered to be among the finest specialty publishers in the horror, suspense, fantasy and dark mystery genres.

George R. R. Martin’s Wild Cards multi-author shared-world universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. Now, in addition to overseeing the ongoing publication of new Wild Cards book…

The door swings open, and a big, too-likable face gazes down at me. “No,” I snap. Sort of. That angry word, charging from glottis to tongue, shrinks at the lip from years of Catholic absolution. After all, it’s not his fault I’m here for my wife. vi…

I wake up sweating, check the alarm clock. Three fifty-nine? Too light. I fumble for my watch. Almost 10. I come back from Kyle and Lisa’s across the street. “They don’t have power either. And there’s no Sunday paper. Must be out across town.” via P…

The mountain dreams pain. Cold iron vibrates purple-blue deep in the stone while tongues made from rot and rust bite and gnaw and hunger ever deeper. The dam...

Czern clumsily held the sharpie marker and etched his name on the My Name Is nametag before pressing the adhesive to his dilapidated gray robe. The letters were crooked but he was satisfied with his handwriting. It had taken him nearly a month to le…

When David got to work that morning, he discovered a large shell on his desk holding down errant pieces of paper. He smiled. His coworkers were always razzing him about how messy his desk was and now, it seemed, someone had taken it upon themselves …

Ada had heard that tone before, the horror of a newly assigned doctor witnessing the Leak for the first time. She waited for the novice’s breath to settle. via Pocket

Solinsky sat upon the mountaintop and watched his hometown die. As the sun set at his back, the farthest outskirts of the city fell into shadow first. Solinsky had his telescope trained there, upon the edge of town. He gasped to see the first of the…

Before I met you, Luke, I’d known nothing but flight — staying just long enough until the bills began to pile up. Not that that changed. When I arrived in Memphis, I didn’t even have a stroller for James, just carried his car seat until my arms burn…

The howls of the gore-hounds filled the night air. Vanda stopped to catch her breath. Sounds echoed off the trees, throwing noises at her from odd angles. Her pursuers were close. When they caught her it would be the end. via Pocket

Something woke me. A sound. I rolled to my back. Sand and rock ground into my shoulders and my skin hurt everywhere and my lungs seemed too dry to work properly. But for a moment I forgot all that, because when I looked up, there was a silver bowl o…

Hishi’s claws ticked on the polished floor as she ran. The sound was barely audible, yet the teeming corridors emptied ahead of her. News had spread through the great city, out and down from the bloody throne room, that a new blend – an Excisor – ha…

Hold This Star for Me – Mark David Adam – Metaphorosis Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2BknsEd