Book Spotlight: The Joining: Scenes of Wedding Terror

Today's book spotlight is the anthology The Joining: Scenes of Wedding Terror edited by Jacob Steven Mohr.

The Joining: Scenes of Wedding Terror

Deadly Beloved, we are gathered here today for The Joining, a horror anthology like nothing you’ve ever read before.

 

Weddings are beautiful, terrible things. And in this chilling anthology from editor Jacob Steven Mohr (Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror), you’ll see the happiest day of your life from both sides of the aisle... and the grave.

 

Undead bridesmaids feed on more than layer cake. Engagement parties spiral into blood-soaked horror and madness. Guests at a wedding feast must play a sinister Skin Game—for their lives.

 

Seventeen stories from horror’s rising stars deliver tension, gore and twisted romance, making this anthology perfect for fans of wedding horror. From the crackle of white lace to the blinding flash of the camera, no ceremony is safe in The Joining... and no guest can be trusted. 

 

Curated with precision by Jacob Steven Mohr, The Joining confidently earns its seat at the feast of must-read horror anthologies.

 

Perfect Union by T.L. Bodine

Severed Blessings by J.A.W. McCarthy

Cut-a-Skin, Outside-In by Jes Malitoris

Of Vows Bone-Deep & Sacrosanct by Jonathan Louis Duckworth

Bride of the Black Isle by Jack Lothian

Another Dirt Wedding by Donn L. Hess

The False Bride by Rebecca Lyons

Speak Now Or— by Gordon B. White

—Forever Hold Your Peace by Steve Neal

Same Barn, Same Groom by Corey Farrenkopf

Ermintrude by Amelia Mangan

Polodski’s Bride by Simon Bestwick

Other People by Scott J. Moses

Starving Stones, Speaking Stones by Joe Koch

The Dead Do Not Want by J.R. Harlow

Samanthas by Jacob Steven Mohr

The Better Man by Michael Harris Cohen

Perfect for fans of wedding horror, supernatural thrillers, and dark suspense, The Joining delivers stories full of tension, gore, and twisted romance. From the crackle of white lace to the flash of the camera, no ceremony is safe—and no guest can be trusted.

Book Link: https://geni.us/TheJoining

About the Editor

Jacob Steven Mohr does not believe in human consciousness; his works emerge as though from the ether, fully formed and fully ominous. Selections of these can be observed in Cosmic Horror Monthly, Shortwave Magazine, Chthonic Matter Quarterly, Weird Horror Magazine, and The Best Horror of the Year Vol. 15. He exists in Columbus OH.

Instagram: @jacobstevenmohr

Book Spotlight: 24 Frames Per Second

Another book spotlight today for the latest Dark Tide anthology, 24 Frames Per Second (Dark Tide 21) with novellas by Tim Waggoner, Andrew Nadolny, and Gary A. Braunbeck.  Enjoy.

24 Frames Per Second (Dark Tide 21)

Step into the terrifying world of Hollywood horror, where the line between fiction and reality blurs, and the consequences of cinematic creation become all too real. In 24 Frames Per Second, three chilling novellas bring to life the darkest corners of the movie industry—where horror isn’t just confined to the screen.

“The Last Zombie Movie” by Tim Waggoner: A group of student filmmakers embark on a project to create a zombie holocaust script—but soon, their fictional nightmare begins to unfold in real life. As their imagined horrors come to life, they must face the terrifying reality of their own creation.

 “I Am the Rainbringer” by Andrew Nadolny: A woman is transformed into a serial killer by her father’s dying wish, and her husband turns her deadly past into a movie. But the ghosts of his parents—and her brutal history—soon rise to haunt them both, blurring the line between the living and the dead in a nightmare that can’t be escaped.

 “This Is Not My Movie” by Gary A. Braunbeck: After a movie theater is consumed by fire, the charred ruins become a nexus for ghosts and alternate realities. A haunting tale of how a beloved movie theater’s destruction births a dark, sentient force, trapping the souls of those killed in the blaze.

In 24 Frames Per Second, horror reaches beyond the screen and becomes part of the fabric of reality, where the true cost of creation is more horrifying than any fictional tale. Each novella is a unique exploration of terror, art, and the boundaries of reality, set against the backdrop of Hollywood’s darkest secrets.

Book Link: https://getbook.at/DarkTide21

About the Authors

Tim Waggoner

Tim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001, and since then, he's published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Grimm, and Transformers, among others, and he's written novelizations for films such as Ti West’s X-Trilogy, Halloween Kills, Terrifier 2 and 3, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a one-time winner of the Scribe Award, and he’s been a two-time finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

Website: www.timwaggoner.com

Andrew Nadolny

Andrew is a trans writer living in Ohio with his family and other assorted oddities. He looks forward to one day being devoured by his own mitochondrial DNA.

Bluesky: cyrelia-j.bsky.social

 

Gary A Braunbeck

Gary A. Braunbeck was born in Newark, Ohio (the city that serves as the model for the fictitious Cedar Hill in a majority of his novels and stories) where he graduated from Newark High School in 1978, briefly studied for the priesthood (until he didn’t), worked as a supervisor for developmentally disabled adults, then in the paste-up room at the Newark Advocate, as well as a bartender (numerous times), a janitor (again, numerous times), a dog groomer, a short-order cook, and a salaried actor for one season of summer stock, (he would go on to work as a professional actor for several years –including as an extra in the Robert Redford film Brubaker, and the mini-series Centennial.

He made his first professional fiction sale to Twilight Zone’s NIGHTCRY (selling three additional stories to the magazine after that), and went on to place work in other pro magazines such as Cemetery Dance, The Horror Show, The Blood Review, 2 A.M., and such anthologies as The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Borderlands, Masques, and Scare Care. His fiction has been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German, Czech, and Polish. Nearly 250 of his short stories have appeared in various publications. His work has won the Bram Stoker Award 7 times, an International Horror Guild Award, and has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, The World Fantasy Award, and Le Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/gary.braunbeck/

Book Spotlight: Dark Tide 20: Urban Legends

Another book spotlight today with the new Dark Tide anthology from Crystal Lake Publishing. Releasing today is Urban Legends (Dark Tide 20) with novellas by Nick Roberts, Leigh Kenny and Dan Franklin.

Urban Legends (Dark Tide 20)

Enter the world of terrifying urban legends where the lines between myth and reality blur into a nightmare of unexplainable horrors. In this spine-chilling volume, the ordinary becomes extraordinary, and familiar fears are taken to unimaginable heights.

Features a foreword by Adam Cesare, the author of Clown in a Cornfield (now a feature film).

“Nesting” by Dan Franklin: 

Amanda can’t shake the idea that her newborn baby isn’t hers…and maybe isn’t a baby at all. 

Not even one full day postpartum, and Amanda can’t shake the certainty that the baby isn’t hers. The charts say he is, the nurses and doctor all agree, but in her heart she can’t help but know better. His hair is wrong. He doesn’t quite smell right…and he has a tooth.

“Knock on Wood” by Leigh Kenny:

 

If he knocks, it’s too late. He’s already inside.

The house on Hawthorne Avenue has an unfortunate past. The adults think it’s just bad luck. The kids believe it’s something worse. Sometimes truth is scarier than legend.

“Poltergeist Password” by Nick Roberts: 

“Have you heard of Poltergeist Password?”

A reporter presents the unedited transcript of the final episode of the Broadcasts from the Grave podcast in which three hosts test an urban legend known as “Poltergeist Password.” Whether it’s real or an elaborate hoax, three people remain missing. You be the judge.

Dark Tide 20 takes you on a terrifying journey through some of the most unsettling myths and folklore, where terror lurks in the shadows and urban legends come alive in the most horrific ways. Prepare for twists, fear, and truths you may not want to know.

Book Link: http://getbook.at/DarkTide20

About the Authors

Nick Roberts is a native West Virginian and a doctoral graduate of Marshall University. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Horror Authors Guild. His works include Anathema, The Exorcist's House, It Haunts the Mind & Other Stories, Mean Spirited, and others. He currently resides in South Carolina with his family and is an advocate for people in recovery from substance use disorder. Website: www.nickrobertsauthor.com.

Leigh Kenny was born and raised in the garden county of Wicklow, Ireland. She lives by the Irish Sea with the love of her life, two wonderful boys, a black Labrador, and a three-legged cat that hates people. She describes herself as being both feral and aggressively friendly and apologises in advance for swearing in front of your children. You can find out more about Leigh’s work and any upcoming releases at www.leighkennywrites.com.

Dan Franklin wrote his first attempt at a horror novel when he was seven. It was terrible. He has, since, improved. The Amazon best selling author of These Things Linger, Down Into the Sea, and The Eater of Gods, Dan Franklin lives in Maryland with his extremely understanding wife, his cosmically radiant children, and a socially crippling obsession with things that creep. Website: Danfranklinauthor.com.

Book Spotlight: Dark Tide 13: The Devil's Backbone

 Another book spotlight today for the newest Dark Tide anthology, The Devil's Backbone from Crystal Lake Entertainment. Enjoy.

Dark Tide 13: The Devil's Backbone

Join three of horror’s finest storytellers on a journey through the dark heart of Appalachia… 

AFOOT IN THE NETHERWILD by Ronald Kelly: When the children of Bowden Ayres mysteriously disappear in the woods near their homestead, he enlists the aid of Uriah Coldcreek, a seventh son and purveyor of mountain magic. Together, they travel into the deepest depths of the Devil’s Backbone, intent on locating a place known as the Netherwild… the realm of the Coveter, an otherworldly being who steals away the mountains’ youth for its own selfish needs.

SPIRIT COVEN by Laurel Hightower: For generations, Jude and her coven of witches have co-existed peacefully with the citizens of Arnett, providing them with remedies and top shelf bourbon, especially valued during the draconian days of Prohibition. But when too many townsfolk go missing and dead, trust is broken and the witches find themselves on shaky ground, facing threats from frightened families, from the mountain they protect, and the very magic they steward.

THE GATHERER by Red Lagoe: Gray Hollow lies at the foot of evil—a dark part of the forest home to The Devil’s Bathtub. Martin is skeptical of the local folklore warning of the dangers of dipping even a toe into its waters. However, after his brother leaves for Vietnam, more people fall victim to the water's summoning darkness, and Martin struggles to make sense of it all, determined to hold onto life's fraying reality.

Get it Today!

Dark Tide 13: The Devil's Backbone

Book Spotlight: Dead Letters

Today I have a spotlight on the anthology, Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror, edited by Jacob Steven Mohr and published by Crystal Lake Entertainment.

Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror

EVIL LURKS BETWEEN THESE PAGES
 
A video game walkthrough harbors a sinister secret. A grieving sister’s letters cross the barrier between alive and dead (and alive again). A chain of frightening emails is the only evidence a young woman ever existed. And a series of journals follow a dwindling wagon train marching straight into Hell—or someplace worse.
 
Haunted podcast transcripts. Blood soaked police reports. Bewildering court findings.
 
Brace yourself for Dead Letters, an anthology that resurrects the chilling power of epistolary fiction—where ordinary documents become hidden records of our darkest fantasies and bleakest nightmares.
 
Across 21 all-original tales from talents like Gemma Files, Ai Jiang, Gordon B. White, J.A.W. McCarthy, and Red Lagoe, and curated with precision by Jacob Steven Mohr, Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror serves up a prolonged sojourn into the macabre—and promises to haunt your sleepless nights. 

Check it Out: https://getbook.at/DeadLetters

Book Spotlight: Dark Tide 11: Sherlock Holmes and the Arcana of Madness

 Another book spotlight for you today with the latest release from Crystal Lake Entertainment from their Dark Tide anthology series. Check out Dark Tide 11: Sherlock Holmes and the Arcana of Madness.

Dark Tide 11: Sherlock Holmes and the Arcana of Madness

Discover the untold mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes and the Arcana of Madness, a trilogy that unveils three captivating cases intertwined with the mystical allure of tarot cards, designed by the renowned, yet infamous artist, Richard Dadd. 

A collection of manuscripts, meticulously penned by John H. Watson M.D., is unearthed in 2019 amidst the restoration of Broadmoor Hospital, found inexplicably in the grave of Richard Dadd. The manuscripts' concealed journey and their remaining unpublished raise a myriad of questions, enveloping them in a veil of mystery. 

This trilogy, comprising of: “A Promise of Blades” by John Linwood Grant “The Adventure of the Tarot Card Prophecies” by Angela Yuriko Smith and “The Riddle of the Red Tower” by Naching T. Kassa …invites readers into the enigmatic world of prophecy, art, and the supernatural, with each tale bound by the common thread of Dadd’s mystical tarot cards. Join Holmes and Watson as they traverse through the realms of the arcane, encounter enigmatic entities, and battle the forces of darkness, in their quest to unravel the secrets of the Arcana and to shed light on the shadows of madness. 

Whether a seasoned aficionado of detective tales, a seeker of arcane-infused mysteries, or a newcomer to the legendary detective duo’s adventures, Sherlock Holmes and the Arcana of Madness promises a journey through suspense, intrigue, and intellectual exploration.

 

Book Spotlight: Dark Tide 10: The Dead Shall Rise

 Another book spotlight for the Dark Tide anthology series, this time for Dark Tide 10: The Dead Shall Rise. Enjoy.

Dark Tide 10: The Dead Shall Rise

Prepare Because Death is Coming by Jay Wilburn: "Take this and bear the warning." When a messenger arrives at Dry Stretch, warning that a horde of zombies is heading their way forty years after the fall, Bay scoffs at the news. But a 'full body' meeting is called. Ethic is sent north to scout, but in Dry Stretch, no one is preparing. No one is repairing the walls. A William Faulkneresque story of the dead set in a dystopic dust-bowl town.

Zombie Diner by Armand Rosamilia: A family finds themselves on the wrong side of the zombie apocalypse while on vacation in Florida…

Dance with the Dead by Erin Louis: Tiffney is expecting just another night at the strip club. But when a customer goes berserk in the VIP room, things take an unexpectedly bloody turn. Stuck with a cocaine raddled manager and a shady club owner. Tiffney faces the unimaginable and is forced to turn her coworkers into allies to fight the evil that has taken over the club. Together they have to fight to stay alive.

Book Link: getbook.at/DarkTide10

Author Bios:

Jay Wilburn was an author of horror and speculative fiction that lived in coastal South Carolina near Myrtle Beach. He taught public school for sixteen years before becoming a full-time writer. His signature series is the Dead Song Legend Dodecology and for younger readers, The Lake Scatter Wood Tales.

Armand Rosamilia is a New Jersey boy currently living in sunny Florida, where he writes when he's not sleeping. He's happily married to a woman who helps his career and is supportive, which is all he ever wanted in life...
He's written over 200 stories that are currently available, including crime thrillers, supernatural thrillers, horror, zombies, contemporary fiction, nonfiction and more. His goal is to write a good story and not worry about genre labels.
He also loves to talk in third person... because he's really that cool. Maybe.
You can find him at https://armandrosamilia.com for all of his information as well as random things he enjoys.

Erin Louis is a former adult entertainer, with a love of books, writing and humor. Her job gave her a unique perspective on life. She spent twenty years as an exotic dancer on and off and started writing nonfiction as a way to shed light on a misunderstood industry and profession.
Her passion for writing began with nonfiction, but she has always loved horror fiction. Stephen King, Lois Duncan, and Clive Barker got her through some tough years growing up. She found an escape through those books along with countless others. Her own fiction reflects those influences as well as her love for all things dark and maybe just a bit scary.

Book Spotlight: Dark Tide 9: An Unholy Triquetra

Today I have a spotlight on a new release from Crystal Lake Publishing, Dark Tide 9: An Unholy Triquetra. Enjoy.

Dark Tide 9: An Unholy Triquetra

 

Three unique voices in today's horror bring you new takes on an old power that threatens to reshape our world. Celtic legends are reborn within these pages, with fresh stories guaranteed to spark nightmares in the vein of Grimm's pre-Disneyfied fairy tales.

A Knot Within A Knot by Jason Parent: A man survives a plane crash only to find himself in darker circumstances, with a winter storm on the horizon and an orphaned child in tow. An elderly woman faces off against a god of night and his steed from the confines of her airplane seat, while another hides from night and storm in the hope of a new dawn. Unbeknownst to them, their fates are linked and dependent upon the next two tales.

Bound in the Valley of Balor by Curtis M. Lawson: After surviving a plane crash, a corrupt federal agent and a mob informant find themselves stranded in a remote valley. Blood spilled during a conflict between the two awakens an ancient evil bound beneath the valley. Can either of them escape from The Valley of Balor?

Summons by William Meikle: Would you fall slave to the rhythm?
He came to Scotland after the death of his wife in search of peace. But the old house is restless. Something is waking, something noisy, something that will not be denied.
His search for meaning in the face of ever increasing activity in the house leads him down strange occult pathways, into deep history and a story that is racing to a finish.
The rhythm calls to him. Will he fall slave to it? Or is there a path to be the drum master before it subsumes him utterly?

Link: https://getbook.at/DarkTide9

Author Bios:

 

Jason Parent is an author of horror, thrillers, mysteries, science fiction and dark humor, though his many novels, novellas, and short stories tend to blur the boundaries between genres. From his EPIC and eFestival Independent Book Award finalist first novel, What Hides Within, to his widely applauded police procedural/supernatural thriller, Seeing Evil, to his fast and furious sci-fi horror, The Apocalypse Strain, Jason’s work has won him praise from both critics and fans of diverse genres alike. He currently lives in Massachusetts, surrounded by chewed furniture thanks to his corgi and mini Aussie pups.

Curtis M. Lawson is a weird fiction author, editor, comic creator, poet, podcaster, and table top game developer. His work ranges from technicolor pulp adventures to bleak cosmic horror.
Curtis resides on the outskirts of Providence Rhode Island. He is the host of the Wyrd Transmissions podcast and runs Gallows Whisper, an imprint of Weird House Press.

William Meikle is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with over thirty novels published in the genre press and more than 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. He has books available from a variety of publishers including Dark Regions Press and Severed Press and his work has appeared in a large number of professional anthologies and magazines. He lives in Newfoundland with whales, bald eagles and icebergs for company. When he's not writing he drinks beer, plays guitar, and dreams of fortune and glory.

An Interview with the Authors

Book Spotlight: Dark Divinations

Today I have for you a real treat with a spotlight for the new supernatural anthology, Dark Divinations recently released by HorrorAddicts.net Press. Enjoy.

Dark Divinations (edited by Naching T. Kassa)

It’s the height of Queen Victoria’s rule. Fog swirls in the gas-lit streets, while in the parlor, hands are linked. Pale and expectant faces gaze upon a woman, her eyes closed and shoulders slumped. The medium speaks, her tone hollow and inhuman. The séance has begun.

Can the reading of tea leaves influence the future? Can dreams keep a soldier from death in the Crimea? Can a pocket watch foretell a deadly family curse? From entrail reading and fortune-telling machines to prophetic spiders and voodoo spells, sometimes the future is better left unknown.

Choose your fate.

Choose your Dark Divination.

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An excerpt from Dark Divinations

The Moat House Cob

Alan Fisher

Tower of London, 1887


I had earned the position of Her Majesty’s Keeper of Wise Animals after a priest witnessed my unfortunate encounter with a foul-mouthed and heretical black goose along the Thames. He reported me to the Lawless Assizes which gave me a simple choice: burn at the stake for witchcraft or turn my talents to the service of the Queen. I, not unwisely, chose the latter. My crimes against the proper way of things would be held in abeyance until I died a natural death or the Assizes decided to end me in flames. The goose—not given such a chance—was burned, squawking out dire curses on all and sundry.
The wise animals were kept in a smallish room at the top of a corner battlement at the Tower of London, except for the Prophetory Raven, who had the run of the entire Tower, like the rest of his wing-clipped fellows. It was escorted to the room each morning by the Yeoman Warder Ravenmaster, where it would spend the day uselessly pecking grubs off a map of the Empire so I could note which grub it went after first. For the past five years, it had favored the flavor of the grubs inhabiting the vastness of the open Pacific, where little of note had happened, or would happen.
Useless, the Prophetory Raven. Useless, the Revelation Mice of Cambridge. Useless, the mad parrot that had once been owned by John Dee and only squawked Enochian riddles, a language I had sadly not been taught at Balliol. Useless, Her Majesty’s Keeper of Wise Animals, but still I walked up the dank stairs every day. Every day I recorded anything the wise animals might reveal and every day I fed them and slopped their shite out into the courtyard and every evening I fled back to my room at the base of the tower.
All in all, still better than being burned alive.
The wise animals were so considered because they had foretold the future, at least once. In most cases, only once. But they were collected, some of them having lived long beyond their years. Dee’s Parrot was in its third century, if indeed it was the same bird that had warned Queen Elizabeth of the coming Armada. The Prophetory Raven was at least two decades beyond the ordinary life of its fellows and was famed in a very small circle for screaming ceaselessly on two seperate days that madmen tried to shoot our Queen Victoria. It was otherwise silent. The six Revelation Mice, who got into ink whilst scurrying about the University Library of Cambridge and left in their tiny footprints an obituary for Prince Albert two weeks before his death, had never written anything again. I should know. I had to apply ink to the feet of the little bastards every evening before setting them loose on a large sheet of white paper. Every morning, I threw out the ink-smeared paper that had no more wisdom on it than the droppings they left.
But then there was the spider. The Moat House Cob was big as my splayed out hand and dark as pitch, except for orange lines crossing its back. Or abdomen, as a spider-fancier once told me it was called. Seemed as if every day the lines were different. It had been found with a witch around 1750. According to the tale, it crawled from her clothes as the flames took her and nearly escaped. An alert executioner trapped it in a goblet. Left in a box for examination, it wove the name of its captor’s son into its web overnight. That day, the boy died of a spider’s bite. The story got to the Lawless Assizes quickly enough and the Moat House Cob was one of the first wise animals brought to the Tower, preceded only by Dee’s Parrot and a stoat that could predict storms at sea but passed away in 1709.
The Moat House Cob was not useless. It was placed in a wide flat glass box, with a map of the world pasted against the back of it. It was my charge—as much as humoring the parrot and inking the feet of the mice—to record where it wove a web. It always wove one, every night, somewhere on the map. I took note of the location in the Ledger of Wise Animals, a series of tomes which went back to Dee’s Parrot first asking for a biscuit in Enochian. The majority of the time, the web’s location meant nothing. After making my notes, I would open the top of the cage—after I made sure the Cob was near the bottom and far from me, which it always was—and wipe away the web.

To read more of this story, and the other great tales, go to Amazon.com or order the special edition, signed copy with hand-painted tarot cards at HorrorAddicts.net

Horror Bites: Next Great Horror Writer

Today I'm featuring a new anthology published by HorrorAddicts.net, the latest in their Horror Bites, series. Enjoy. 

HorrorAddicts.net continues our Horror Bites series with a bundle of new fiction by our Next Great Horror Writer Contestants.

Featuring work by:

Jonathan Fortin

Naching T. Kassa

Daphne Strasert

Jess Landry

Harry Husbands

Sumiko Saulson

Adele Marie Park

Feind Gottes

JC Martínez

Cat Voleur

Abi Kirk-Thomas

Timothy G. Huguenin

Riley Pierce

Quentin Norris

With an introduction by Emerian Rich.

HorrorAddicts.net is proud to present our top 14 contestants in the Next Great Horror Writer Contest. The included stories, scripts, and poems are the result of the hard work and dedication these fine writers put forth to win a book contract. Some learned they loved writing and want to pursue it as a career for the rest of their lives. Some discovered they should change careers either to a different genre of writing or to a new career entirely. Whatever lessons came along the way, they each learned something about themselves and grew as writers. We hope you enjoy the writing as much as we did.

Just 99 cents at Amazon.com

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A sneak peek inside…

CONSUMPTION

by Jonathan Fortin

Submitted for the 6-minute Audiodrama Challenge, Episode #147

SFX: OFFICE BACKGROUND NOISE—PHONES RINGING, PAPERS SHUFFLING, ETC.

AMY: This is Amy, how can I help you? No, sir, this isn't the phone number you want for that. You want—I'm sorry, sir, I know it's very frustrating. I want to help you, but the phone number you want is—Okay, fine, hang up.

DORI: Another irate customer?

AMY: Yeah, nothing but angry people all day. Is it always like this, Dori?

DORI: Not always. Don't worry. You'll get used to it. You'll be part of the team sooner than you think!

SFX: PHONE RINGS.

AMY: Orntech, this is Amy, how can I help you?

SFX: STATIC HUMMING FROM THE PHONE, FOLLOWED BY A STRANGE GROWLING NOISE.

AMY: Hello? Anyone there?

VOICE ON PHONE: We can smell you.

AMY: What?

SFX: CLICK. LINE GOES DEAD.

DORI: Are you all right?

AMY: (NERVOUS) Fine...I'm fine.

SFX: OFFICE NOISE FADES OUT TO SILENCE. FADE IN FOOTSTEPS IN AN EMPTY STREET.

AMY: (MUTTERING TO HERSELF) No need to get worked up, Amy. It was just a weird phone call. Aaaand now, of course, I'm in a deserted street, but no need to get worked up about that either. You always walk home this way. You've never been mugged before and you probably won't be now.

SFX: CELL PHONE VIBRATES.

AMY: Yeah, not going to answer that.

SFX: PHONE VIBRATES.

AMY: I really hope this isn't an important call from work though…

SFX: PHONE VIBRATES.

AMY: Ugh, fine! Hello?

SFX: STATIC HUM. THEN A CREEPY CLICKING, THROBBING, WRIGGLING NOISE IS HEARD, FOLLOWED BY THE SAME DISTORTED GROWL AS BEFORE.

VOICE ON PHONE: We can hear you.

AMY: (NERVOUS) Who is this?

SFX: LINE GOES DEAD. RUNNING FOOTSTEPS ECHO ON ASPHALT.

AMY: (PANTS AS SHE RUNS)

SFX: DOOR SLAMS.

AMY: (BREATHES HEAVILY IN RELIEF, HAVING JUST GOTTEN HOME)

BLAKE: Honey, are you all right?

AMY: I don't want to talk about it…To read more, click here.

Author: Jonathan Fortin was named the Next Great Horror Writer by HorrorAddicts.net, and is a graduate of the Clarion Writing Program. His novel, Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus, is a forthcoming release from Crystal Lake Publishing. You can follow him online at jonathanfortin.com and on twitter @Jonathan_Fortin.

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HorrorAddicts.net

for Horror Addicts, by Horror Addicts

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www.horroraddicts.net