How could death not kill itself after that?
The Feast
By
Rebecca Brae
They call me Lady Raven—or Witch, depending on how superstitious they are. I’ve fed my lovelies for years. The tree in my backyard is a living fortress of Stygian beaks and wings. One sits on my chest, staring. All I can do is glare back.
I fell while hanging their feeder and landed badly. He caws an invitation to his family. I feel nothing as they tug at my exposed belly. How long until my husband comes home? Blood sprays. Oh gods, they’ve pulled something out; something I don’t want to see. How long will I have to watch?
The Dolls
By
Mark Lukens
“Mom, when are we leaving?”
“As soon as your father fixes the engine. Why don’t you play with your dolls?”
“I’m saving them for later. I had to hide them in a box.”
“From your sister?”
“Yes. She already broke all of her dolls. She pulled their arms and legs off. She smashed their heads flat and stomped on them.”
“She shouldn’t do that.”
“She’s always mean to her dolls.”
“It’s a waste. We’re not getting any more dolls on this trip.”
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“What do the dolls call themselves down there on their own planet?”
“They call themselves humans.”
Afterword
I always feel that every book takes you on a journey, with anthologies often taking you on several. The stories in this book are extremely short, but I think all of the authors involved packed a lot into them. I hope you enjoyed our anthology of drabbles and, if you are new to flash fiction, I hope we have made a convert of you. This is the first collection I’ve worked on where almost all of the authors messaged me to tell me how much fun they had writing their stories. I think it shines through in these drabbles.
Putting this book together allowed me to work with more authors than I would have ever had a chance to with a normal anthology. A lot of the authors in this book have appeared in my previous anthologies and the rest I worked with me for the first time. It was a pleasure working with each and every one of them. When I decide to do one of these books, I often try to talk myself out of it due to the amount of work involved, but it’s also a guilty pleasure, as I have authors that I have been reading for the last twenty years sending me stories to read. I’ve said a few times that I’m not going to do another anthology, but by now I’ve realised that I don’t think I can stop.
Normally at the end of a book like this, you would find a list of the contributing authors and links to their websites. Most of the authors in this book have a personal bio that is much longer than the drabble they have written. For that reason there is no ‘Author Bio’ section. I just don’t think it makes sense to have an author bio section that’s longer than the story content. Almost every author has a Facebook and Twitter account and many have websites that you can find easily if you search online. I encourage you to check them out, they have a wealth of great work among them.
Also available on Amazon from KJK Publishing
100 Word Horrors: An Anthology of Horror Drabbles Page 6