INSIDIOUS ASSASSINS

by Jack Ketchum

  For Anibal Martinez

  THE WRITERS

  MEGHAN ARCURI ____________

  Meghan Arcuri writes fiction and poetry. Her short stories can be found in various anthologies, including Chiral Mad and Miseria’s Chorale. She lives with her family in New York’s Hudson Valley.

  Visit her at meghanarcuri.com or facebook.com/meg.arcuri.

  JOSEPH BADAL _______________

  Joe worked for 38 years in the financial services industry, retiring in 2007 after six years as a director and senior executive of a New York stock exchange-listed company. Before he began his finance career, Joe was a decorated military officer, having served in the U.S. Army for six years, including tours of duty in Vietnam and Greece. He also served in the New Mexico House of Representatives.

  Joe has had seven suspense novels published: The Pythagorean Solution, Evil Deeds, Terror Cell, The Nostradamus Secret Shell Game, The Lone Wolf Agenda (which was awarded First Prize in the fiction category in the NM/AZ Book Awards in 2013), and Ultimate Betrayal, which was released April 2014. His short story “Fire & Ice” was included in the Smart Rhino anthology Uncommon Assassins, and his short story “Ultimate Betrayal” was included in the Someone Wicked anthology. He is a member of International Thriller Writers and Southwest Writers Workshop, and was named one of the “50 Best Authors You Should Be Reading.” Joe has written dozens of published articles about various business topics and is a frequent speaker at writers and business conferences and at civic organization meetings. He has extensive experience as an interviewee on radio and television. Visit his website at www.josephbadalbooks.com.

  Joe’s story, “Fire & Ice,” was published in the Smart Rhino anthology Uncommon Assassins. His story, “Ultimate Betrayal,” appeared in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  DOUG BLAKESLEE ___________

  Doug Blakeslee lives in the Pacific Northwest and spends his time writing, cooking, gaming, and following the local WHL hockey team. His interest in books and reading started early thanks to his parents, though his serious attempts at writing only started a few years ago. He often blogs about writing and other related topics at The Simms Project at thesimmsproject.blogspot.com/. Published works can be found in the anthologies Uncommon Assassins and Zippered Flesh 2 from Smart Rhino and the upcoming anthologies: ATTACK! of the B-Movie Monsters, Someone Wicked, Astrologica: Stories of the Zodiac, and A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Court. His current project is an urban fantasy novella featuring a group of changelings in the modern world. He can be reached on Facebook or simms.doug@gmail.com.

  Three of Doug’s stories have been published in other Smart Rhino anthologies, including “Madame” in Uncommon Assassins, “Perfection” in Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad, and “The Flowering Princess of Dreams” in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  CARSON BUCKINGHAM _______

  Carson Buckingham knew from childhood that she wanted to be a writer, and began, at age six, by writing books of her own, hand-drawing covers, and selling them to any family member who would pay (usually a gum ball) for what she referred to as “classic literature.” When she ran out of relatives, she came to the conclusion that there was no real money to be made in self-publishing, so she studied writing and read voraciously for the next eighteen years, while simultaneously collecting enough rejection slips to re-paper her living room ... twice.

  When her landlord chucked her out for, in his words, “making the apartment into one hell of a downer,” she redoubled her efforts, and collected four times the rejection slips in half the time, single-handedly causing the first paper shortage in U.S. history. But she persevered, improved greatly over the years, and here we are.

  Carson Buckingham has been a professional proofreader, editor, newspaper reporter, copywriter, technical writer, and comedy writer, and now a multi-published fiction author. Besides writing, she loves to read and work in her vegetable garden. She lives in Arizona, with her wonderful husband, in a house full of books, plants, and pets. Check out her blog at carsonbuckingham.blogspot.com.

  Carson’s story, “Skin Deep,” was published in Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad. Her story, “The Plotnik Curse,” was included in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  AUSTIN S. CAMACHO _________

  Austin S. Camacho is the author of five novels in the Hannibal Jones Mystery Series, four in the Stark and O’Brien adventure series, and the new detective novel, Beyond Blue. His short stories have been featured in four anthologies from Wolfmont Press, including Dying in a Winter Wonderland (an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Top Ten Bestseller for 2008) and he is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey.

  Austin is deeply involved with the writing community. He is a past president of the Maryland Writers Association, past Vice President of the Virginia Writers Club, and is an active member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime.

  Check out Austin’s website at www.ascamacho.com and his blog at ascamacho.blogspot.com.

  ERNESTUS JIMINY CHALD ____

  Ernestus Jiminy Chald was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, but has spent the bulk of his existence in Chicago, Illinois. His published works include The Rubbish Bin (a polymorphic novel in the form of an actual trash can filled with crumpled pages of narrative prose, handwritten correspondences, and various forms of “garbage”) and Black Carnations (a collection of elegiac poetry). He is also the author of The Philosophy of Disenchantment; or The Ephemeral (mis)Adventures of Arthur Snowpenhauer (a comic book). Chald is the founder of Peisithanatos Press, an underground publishing enterprise.

  His story, “The Tail of Fate,” was published in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  DB COREY ___________________

  DB Corey lives in Baltimore with his wife Maggie, an offish Chocolate Lab, and a Catahoula-Leopard Hound. After a stint in college, he joined the USNR flying aircrew aboard a Navy P-3 Orion chasing down Russian subs. During his time there, he began a career in I.T. He began writing in his mid-50s. His debut novel—Chain of Evidence—was released on August 1, 2013. He’s currently working on a second crime thriller with a target release date in 2015.

  Check out his website at www.dbcorey.com and his blog at bit.ly/DBCorey_BeyondtheNovel.

  PATRICK DERRICKSON _______

  Patrick Derrickson has been a fan of speculative fiction from the age of nine when he first read The Stand by Stephen King. Since then, he has been the majestic hero of kingdoms, galaxies, and unspoken horrors. A member of the Written Remains Writers Guild and the Written Remains Mixed Genre Critique Group, he has finally found the outlet for the bizarre thoughts that chase each other inside his head. Patrick is a soccer referee, follows technology obsessively, and listens to too many podcasts. He lives in Delaware.

  Patrick’s story, “The Next King,” was published in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  JAMES S. DORR _______________

  James Dorr has two collections from Dark Regions Press, Strange Mistresses: Tales of Wonder and Romance and Darker Loves: Tales of Mystery and Regret, while his all-poetry Vamps (A Retrospective) came out last August (2011) from Sam’s Dot Publishing. An active member of SFWA and HWA with nearly four hundred appearances in venues from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine to Xenophilia, Dorr invites readers to visit his site at http://jamesdorrwriter.wordpress.com for the latest information. His story, “The Wellmaster’s Daughter,” was published in the Uncommon Assassins anthology.

  JACK KETCHUM ______________

  No stranger to controversy, Jack Ketchum’s first novel, Off Season, published in 1980, was a turning point in the field of horror fiction. Stephen King said of him, “Jack Ketchum is an archetype, no writer who has read him can help being influenced by him and no general reader that runs across his work can easily forget him, he has a dark streak of A
merican genius.”

  Jack has received four Bram Stoker awards and three nominations. Many of his novels have been adapted for film, including The Lost, The Girl Next Door, Red, Offspring, and The Woman.

  Visit Jack’s website at www.thejackketchum.com for more about his latest releases, movie adaptations of his work, and other information.

  JOE R. LANSDALE ____________

  Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over 40 novels and 400 short stories, essays, articles, reviews, and introductions. He has written screenplays, comic books, stage plays, and poetry. Lansdale has received many awards for his work, including The Edgar Award, nine Bram Stokers, and many others. He is a member of The Texas Literary Hall of Fame, Texas Institute of Literature, Writer in Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University. He is the founder of Shen Chuan Martial Science.

  DENNIS LAWSON ____________

  Dennis Lawson received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts as the 2014 Emerging Artist in Fiction. His crime fiction has recently appeared in the Fox Chase Review and the Rehoboth Beach Reads anthology series. Dennis is the Executive Director of the Newark Arts Alliance, a nonprofit art center and gallery located in Newark, Delaware.

  ADRIAN LUDENS _____________

  Adrian Ludens is a dark fiction author and radio announcer living in Rapid City, South Dakota. His short stories have appeared in Blood Lite 3: Aftertaste, Woman’s World, Darker Edge of Desire, Shadows Over Main Street, and Surreal Worlds. His collection, Bedtime Stories for Carrion Beetles, is available in multiple formats from Amazon and Smashwords. Also available is Gruesome Faces, Ghastly Places, a multi-author collaborative collection also featuring South Dakota horror authors Doug Murano and C.W. LaSart. For news and updates,visit adrianludens.com.

  LISA MANNETTI _____________

  Lisa Mannetti’s debut novel, The Gentling Box, garnered a Bram Stoker Award and she was nominated in 2010 both for her novella, “Dissolution,” and a short story, “1925: A Fall River Halloween.” She has also authored The New Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn (now a Smart Rhino publication); Deathwatch, a compilation of novellas—including “Dissolution”; a macabre gag book, 51 Fiendish Ways to Leave Your Lover (2010); two nonfiction books; and numerous articles and short stories in newspapers, magazines, and anthologies.

  Her story “Everybody Wins,” which was included in the Uncommon Assassins anthology, was made into a short film by director Paul Leyden, starring Malin Akerman and released under the title Bye-Bye Sally; the film has been posted on YouTube.

  Two of Lisa’s other stories have also be included in other Smart Rhino anthologies: “Paraphilia” in Zippered Flesh: Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad and “The Hunger Artist,” which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, in Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad.

  Lisa lives in New York. Visit her author Web site at www.lisamannetti.com, as well as her virtual haunted house at www.thechanceryhouse.com.

  SHAUN MEEKS _______________

  Shaun Meeks lives in Toronto, Ontario with his partner, Mina LaFleur. Shaun’s work has appeared in Haunted Path, Dark Eclipse, Zombies Gone Wild, and A Feast of Frights from the Horror Zine, as well as his own collection, At the Gates of Madness. He will also be featured in the anthologies A Six Pack of Stories, The Horror Zine 4, and Fresh Grounds Volume 3, and will be releasing a new collection with his brother called Brother’s Ilk in late 2012 and his new novel, Shutdown, in early 2013. To find out more, visit him at www.shaunmeeks.com.

  Shaun’s story “Taut” appeared in Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad, and his story “Despair” was included in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  CHRISTINE MORGAN ________

  Christine Morgan divides her writing time among many genres, from horror to historical, from superheroes to smut, anything in between and combinations thereof. She’s a wife, a mom, a future crazy-cat-lady and a longtime gamer, who enjoys British television, cheesy action/disaster movies, cooking and crafts. Her stories have appeared in maby publications, including The Book of All Flesh, The Book of Final Flesh, The Best of All Flesh, History is Dead, The World is Dead, Strange Stories of Sand and Sea, Fear of the Unknown, Hell Hath No Fury, Dreaded Pall, Path of the Bold, Cthulhu Sex Magazine and its best-of volume Horror Between the Sheets, Closet Desire IV, and Leather, Lace and Lust. She’s also a contributor to The Horror Fiction Review, a former member of the HWA, a regular at local conventions, and an ambitious self-publisher (six fantasy novels, four horror novels, six children’s fantasy books, and two role-playing supplements). Her work has appeared in Pyramid Magazine, GURPS Villains, been nominated for Origins Awards, and given Honorable Mention in two volumes of Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her romantic suspense novel, The Widows Walk, was recently released from Lachesis Publishing; her horror novel, The Horned Ones, is due out from Belfire in 2012; and her thriller Murder Girls was just accepted by Skullvines. She’s currently delving into steampunk, making progress on an urban paranormal series, and greatly enjoying her bloodthirsty Viking stories.

  Christine’s work has been published in a number of Smart Rhino anthos, including “Thyf’s Tale” in Uncommon Assassins, “The Sun-Snake” in Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad, and “Sven Bloodhair” in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  BILLIE SUE MOSIMAN ________

  Billie Sue Mosiman’s Night Cruise was nominated for the Edgar Award and her novel, Widow, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Novel. She’s the author of fourteen novels and has published more than 160 short stories in various magazines and anthologies. A suspense thriller novelist, she often writes horror short stories. Her latest works include Frankenstein: Return From the Wastelands, continuing the saga of Robert Morton from Mary Shelley’s classic, and Prison Planet, a near-future dystopian novella. She’s been a columnist, reviewer, and writing instructor. She lives in Texas where the sun is too hot for humankind. All of her available works are at Amazon.com. Check out her blog, “The Life of a Peculiar Writer,” at www.peculiarwriter.blogspot.com.

  Her story, “Second Amendment Solution,” was published in Uncommon Assassins. Billie’s story, “The Flenser,” appears in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  JM REINBOLD ________________

  JM Reinbold is the Director of the Written Remains Writers Guild in Wilmington, Delaware. She is the author of the novella “Transfusions,” published in the anthology Stories from the Inkslingers (Gryphonwood Press, 2008). “Transfusions” was nominated for a Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award. Her poetry has appeared in Red Fez Magazine, Strange Love (2010) and A Beat Style Haiku (2012). In 2011, she received an honorable mention from the Delaware Division of the Arts Individual Artist Fellowships for her novel Prince of the Piedmont. She has been selected twice (2008, 2012) by the Delaware Division of the Arts as a fiction fellow for the Cape Henlopen Poets & Writers Retreat. In 2009, her novel-in-progress, Summer’s End, was a finalist in the Magic Carpet Ride Magical Realism Mentorship competition. She is currently working on a mystery/crime novel, a number of short stories, and haiku. You can visit her online at www.jmreinbold.com.

  Her story “The Future of Flesh,” was published in Zippered Flesh 2: More Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad. JM's story, “Missing,” was included in Someone Wicked: A Written Remains Anthology.

  DOUG RINALDI ______________

  Doug was born and raised in the bowels of Connecticut. Spending his younger years exploring the woods near home, Doug envisioned otherworldly scenarios that ignited his imagination. Art was life. Throughout adolescence, he created, inventing horrifying tales about devious lunch ladies and world-eating monsters. In 1995, he received his art degree in Computer Animation and Special Effects for stage and screen. However, writing dark fiction was his true calling. At the turn of the millennium, he joyously bid Connecticut a final farewell and relocated to Boston, Massachusetts where he’s
been continuing to hone his writing and artistic skills ever since.

  MARTIN ROSE _______________

  Martin Rose writes a range of fiction from the fantastic to the macabre. His latest horror novel, Bring Me Flesh, I’ll Bring Hell, is available from Talos, with short fiction appearing in Handsome Devil and Urban Green Man anthologies, and slated to appear in anthologies like Death’s Realm from Grey Matter Press, and Shrieks and Shivers from the Horror Zine. More details are available at www.martinrose.org.

  J. GREGORY SMITH ___________

  Greg Smith is the bestselling author of the thriller A Noble Cause and the Paul Chang Mystery series, including Final Price, Legacy of the Dragon, and Send in the Clowns. His latest novel is The Flamekeepers, a doomsday cult thriller. Prior to writing fiction full time, Greg worked in public relations in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Wilmington, Delaware. He has an MBA from the College of William & Mary and a BA in English from Skidmore College. His debut novel, Final Price, was first released as a self-published work, and then signed to publisher AmazonEncore, and was rereleased November 2010. Since then Greg has been working with Thomas & Mercer. He has just completed a new thriller outside of the Chang series called Darwin’s Pause. Greg currently lives in Wilmington, Delaware with his wife, son, and dog. You can reach him at gregsmithbooks@yahoo.com.

  Greg’s story, “Something Borrowed,” was published in Zippered Flesh, Tales of Body Enhancements Gone Bad. His story, “The Pepper Tyrant,” appears in Uncommon Assassins.

  L.L. SOARES __________________

  L.L. Soares is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novel Life Rage, which was published by Nightscape Books in the fall of 2012. His other books include the short story collection In Sickness (with Laura Cooney), published by Skullvines Press in 2010, and the novels Rock ‘N’ Roll (from Gallows Press, early 2013) and the upcoming novel Hard, coming from Novello-Blue in the fall of 2013. His fiction appeared in such magazines as Cemetery Dance, Horror Garage, Bare Bone, Shroud, and Gothic.Net, as well as the anthologies The Best of Horrorfind 2, Right House on the Left, Traps, and the one you’re holding in your hands. He also co-writes the Bram Stoker-nominated horror movie review column Cinema Knife Fight, which now has a whole site built around it at cinemaknifefight.com. No matter how many times he forces radioactive arachnids to bite him, he just can’t seem to get the amazing abilities of a spider. To keep up on his endeavors, go to www.llsoares.com.