James heard a knock at the apartment door, and in his mind’s eye, he saw another young man—not quite as skinny, not quite as pale—eager to come in, and sit with him, to palaver, deep into the darkness as the night expanded with sparkling stars.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my wife, Jessica, and my children (Rocco, Evangeline, Luca and Francesca): Thank you for giving me the time and support I needed to bring this dream into being.
To the authors and artists: Thank you for taking a chance on another one of my ideas. Your work breathed life into this book in ways I couldn’t have anticipated.
To the artists who helped inspire this anthology’s concept and execution (including, but not limited to, Guillermo del Toro, Pee-Wee Herman, Rod Serling, Tim Burton, David Lynch, David Bowie, Tom Waits and Jim Henson): Thank you for filling my brain up with your dreams, visions and nightmares. Thank you for showing me that strangeness often signals beauty and that stories don’t have to be just one thing—that darkness and light can coexist and enhance each other’s depth. Thank you for your fearless individuality and for setting an example for the rest of us to aspire toward. You’ve scarred me for life in the most wondrous and productive ways.
To Joe Mynhardt at Crystal Lake Publishing: Thank you for making this book’s production possible and for hustling hard on my behalf.
To the readers: Thank you, forever and always. Thank you.
THE END?
Not quite . . .
Have you read editor Doug Murano’s Gutted anthology:
Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories—an anthology of dark fiction that explores the beauty at the very heart of darkness. Featuring horror’s most celebrated voices: Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Ramsey Campbell, Paul Tremblay, John F.D. Taff, Lisa Mannetti, Damien Angelica Walters, Josh Malerman, Christopher Coake, Mercedes M. Yardley, Brian Kirk, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Amanda Gowin, Richard Thomas, Maria Alexander, and Kevin Lucia.
Or dive into more Tales from the Darkest Depths:
Whispered Echoes by Paul F. Olson—Journey through the Heart of Terror in this eerie short story collection. Listen. They are calling to you. Do you hear them? They are the whispered echoes of your darkest fears.
Twice Upon an Apocalypse—Lovecraftian Fairy Tales—From the darkest depths of Grimm and Anderson come the immortal mash-ups with the creations of HP Lovecraft. These aren’t your mother’s fairy tales.
The Third Twin—A Dark Psychological Thriller by Darren Speegle—Some things should never be bred . . . Amid tribulation, death, madness, and institutionalization, a father fights against a scientist’s bloody bid to breed a theoretical third twin.
Embers: A Collection of Dark Fiction by Kenneth Cain—These short speculative stories are the smoldering remains of a fire, the fiery bits meant to ignite the mind with slow-burning imagery and haunting details. These are the slow burning embers of Cain’s soul.
Aletheia: A Supernatural Thriller by J.S. Breukelaar—A tale of that most human of monsters—memory—Aletheia is part ghost story, part love story, a novel about the damage done, and the damage yet to come. About terror itself. Not only for what lies ahead, but also for what we think we have left behind.
Beatrice Beecham’s Cryptic Crypt by Dave Jeffery—The fate of the world rests in the hands of four dysfunctional teenagers and a bunch of oddball adults. What could possibly go wrong?
Visions of the Mutant Rain Forest—the solo and collaborative stories and poems of Robert Frazier and Bruce Boston’s exploration of the Mutant Rain Forest.
The Final Reconciliation by Todd Keisling—Thirty years ago, a progressive rock band called The Yellow Kings began recording what would become their first and final album. Titled “The Final Reconciliation,” the album was expected to usher in a new renaissance of heavy metal, but it was shelved following a tragic concert that left all but one dead. It’s the survivor shares the shocking truth.
Where the Dead Go to Die by Mark Allan Gunnells and Aaron Dries—Post-infection Chicago. Christmas. There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it’s time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. But it won’t be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood.
The Final Cut by Jasper Bark—Follow the misfortunes of two indie filmmakers in their quest to fund their breakthrough movie by borrowing money from one dangerous underground figure in order to buy a large quantity of cocaine from a different but equally dangerous underground figure. They will learn that while some stories capture the imagination, others will be the death of you.
Blackwater Val by William Gorman—a Supernatural Suspense Thriller/Horror/Coming of age novel: A widower, traveling with his dead wife’s ashes and his six-year-old psychic daughter Katie in tow, returns to his haunted birthplace to execute his dead wife’s final wish. But something isn’t quite right in the Val.
Tribulations by Richard Thomas—In the third short story collection by Richard Thomas, Tribulations, these stories cover a wide range of dark fiction—from fantasy, science fiction and horror, to magical realism, neo-noir, and transgressive fiction. The common thread that weaves these tragic tales together is suffering and sorrow, and the ways we emerge from such heartbreak stronger, more appreciative of what we have left—a spark of hope enough to guide us though the valley of death.
Wind Chill by Patrick Rutigliano—What if you were held captive by your own family? Emma Rawlins has spent the last year a prisoner. The months following her mother’s death dragged her father into a paranoid spiral of conspiracy theories and doomsday premonitions. But there is a force far colder than the freezing drifts. Ancient, ravenous, it knows no mercy. And it’s already had a taste . . .
Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast by Jonathan Winn—where the secretly guilty go to die. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every deadly mistake, every drop of spilled blood is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue.
Flowers in a Dumpster by Mark Allan Gunnells—The world is full of beauty and mystery. In these 17 tales, Gunnells will take you on a journey through landscapes of light and darkness, rapture and agony, hope and fear. Let Gunnells guide you through these landscapes where magnificence and decay co-exist side by side. Come pick a bouquet from these Flowers in a Dumpster.
The Dark at the End of the Tunnel by Taylor Grant—Offered for the first time in a collected format, this selection features ten gripping and darkly imaginative stories by Taylor Grant, a Bram Stoker Award® nominated author and rising star in the suspense and horror genres. Grant exposes the terrors that hide beneath the surface of our ordinary world, behind people’s masks of normalcy, and lurking in the shadows at the farthest reaches of the universe.
Little Dead Red by Mercedes M. Yardley—The Wolf is roaming the city, and he must be stopped. In this modern day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf takes to the city streets to capture his prey, but the hunter is close behind him. With Grim Marie on the prowl, the hunter becomes the hunted.
Through a Mirror, Darkly by Kevin Lucia—Are there truths within the books we read? What if the book delves into the lives of the very town you live in? People you know? Or thought you knew. These are the questions a bookstore owner face when a mysterious book shows up.
If you’ve ever thought of becoming an author, we’d also like to recommend these non-fiction titles:
Horror 101: The Way Forward—A comprehensive overview of the Horror fiction genre and career opportunities available to established and aspiring authors, including Jack Ketchum, Graham Masterton, Edward Lee, Lisa Morton, Ellen Datlow, Ramsey Campbell, and many more.
Horror 201: The Silver Scream Vol.1 and Vol.2—A must read for anyone interested in the horror film industry. Includes interviews and essays by Wes Craven, John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Mick Garris, and dozens more. Now available in a special paperback edition.
Modern Mythma
kers: 35 interviews with Horror and Science Fiction Writers and Filmmakers by Michael McCarty—Ever wanted to hang out with legends like Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, and Dean Koontz? Modern Mythmakers is your chance to hear fun anecdotes and career advice from authors and filmmakers like Forrest J. Ackerman, Ray Bradbury, Ramsey Campbell, John Carpenter, Dan Curtis, Elvira, Neil Gaiman, Mick Garris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jack Ketchum, Dean Koontz, Graham Masterton, Richard Matheson, John Russo, William F. Nolan, John Saul, Peter Straub, and many more.
Writers On Writing: An Author’s Guide—Your favorite authors share their secrets in the ultimate guide to becoming and being an author. Writers On Writing is an eBook series with original ‘On Writing’ essays by writing professionals.
Or check out other Crystal Lake Publishing books for more Tales from the Darkest Depths.
OR CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Doug Murano lives somewhere between Mount Rushmore and the mighty Missouri River. He is the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated co-editor of the best-selling, critically acclaimed horror anthologies, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories and Shadows Over Main Street.
He is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association, and was the organization’s promotions and social media coordinator from 2013-15. He is a co-recipient of the HWA’s Richard Laymon President’s Award for Service. Follow @muranofiction on Twitter.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Josh Malerman
Josh Malerman is the author of Bird Box, Black Mad Wheel, Goblin, and Unbury Carol. He’s also one of the singer/songwriters for the band The High Strung. He lives in Ferndale, Michigan with his best friend/soul mate Allison Laakko.
Lisa Morton
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, award-winning prose writer, and Halloween expert. Her work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening,” and Famous Monsters called her “one of the best writers in dark fiction today.”
A rare Southern California native, Lisa’s career as a professional writer began in 1988 with the horror-fantasy feature film “Meet the Hollowheads” (aka “Life On the Edge”), on which she also served as associate producer. For the Disney Channel’s 1992 “Adventures in Dinosaur City,” she served as screenwriter, associate producer, songwriter, and miniatures coordinator. Other screenplay credits include the feature films “Tornado Warning,” “Blood Angels,” “Blue Demon,” and “The Glass Trap”; in addition, she wrote numerous episodes of the children’s television series “Sky Dancers,” “Dragon Flyz,” “Vanpires,” and “Toontown Kids.” For stage she has written and co-produced the acclaimed horror one-acts “Spirits of the Season,” “Sane Reaction,” and “The Territorial Imperative,” and has adapted and directed Philip K. Dick’s “Radio Free Albemuth” and Theodore Sturgeon’s “The Graveyard Reader.” Her full-length science fiction comedy “Trashers” was an L.A. Weekly “Recommended” pick.
She has written more than 100 short stories, including the Bram Stoker Award-winning “Tested” (from Cemetery Dance magazine). In early 2010 her first novel The Castle of Los Angeles was published to critical acclaim, and was awarded the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. Her novellas include The Lucid Dreaming, The Samhanach, Hell Manor, Smog, Summer’s End, and By Insanity of Reason (co-authored with John R. Little). She also wrote the novels Malediction (nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel), Netherworld, and Zombie Apocalypse: Washington Deceased. Her works have been translated into eight languages.
As a Halloween expert, Lisa wrote the definitive reference book The Halloween Encyclopedia (now in a second edition), and the multiple award-winning Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween. She has spoken about the holiday in The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe, on the BBC and The History Channel, on the supplements for the Blu Ray release of the feature film Trick ‘R Treat, and at the Utah Humanities Book Festival. She supplied a section on Halloween candy for The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, wrote the Halloween chapter for The Art of Horror, and served as consultant on U.S. Postal’s first official Halloween stamps.
Her other non-fiction books include The Cinema of Tsui Hark (the first comprehensive study of the influential Hong Kong filmmaker), the award-winning Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (co-authored with Rocky Wood, illustrated by Greg Chapman), and Ghosts: A Haunted History.
She currently serves as president of the Horror Writers Association, and is also an Active member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime.
Lisa lives in North Hills, California, and can be found online at http://www.lisamorton.com.
Brian Kirk
Brian Kirk is an author of dark thrillers and psychological suspense. His debut novel, We Are Monsters, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, and optioned for film development by Executive Producer Jason Shuman. His short fiction has been published in many notable magazines and anthologies, most recently Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories alongside multiple New York Times bestselling authors.
Feel free to connect with him at www.briankirkfiction.com or on Twitter @Brian_Kirk. Don’t worry, he only kills his characters.
Hal Bodner
Hal Bodner is a multiple Bram Stoker Award nominee, known for his best-selling gay vampire novel, Bite Club and the lupine sequel, The Trouble With Hairy. He tells people he was born in East Philadelphia because so few people know where Cherry Hill, New Jersey is located. The first person ever saw was the doctor who delivered him, C. Everett Koop, the future US Surgeon General. Thus, from birth Hal was ironically destined to become a heavy smoker—a habit he greatly misses.
He moved to West Hollywood in the 1980s and has rarely left the city limits since. In fact, he is so WeHo-centric that he cannot find his way around Beverly Hills—the next town over. In a burst of over-optimism, he bought a six-bedroom mansion in Highland Park, a supposedly up-and-coming area of East Los Angeles. After three years of watching the street gangs doing drug deals in his back yard, he fled back to WeHo.
During his sojourn in East L.A., he was protected from the harm because of his habit of chasing his escaped pet peacock down Figueroa Boulevard at night, dressed in his fluffy bathrobe and fuzzy Cthulhu slippers while yelling “Apollo! Apollo! Come back!” None of the gang members would shoot him; they were laughing too hard.
His various professions have included stints as an entertainment lawyer, a scheduler for a 976 sex telephone line, a theater reviewer and the personal assistant to a television star. For several years, he owned Heavy Petting, a pet boutique where movie stars bought gold-plated water dishes and designer wardrobes for their Chihuahuas.
In the erotic paranormal romance genre—which he refers to as “supernatural smut”—he is best known for having written In Flesh and Stone and For Love of the Dead. His comic gay super hero trilogy will hopefully debut shortly with Fabulous in Tights to be followed by A Study in Spandex. With Browne & Brownie: The Case of the Purloined Prince, the first novel in a trilogy featuring a gay detective and his side-kick, the “madam” of an escort agency, Hal is busily turning classic noir fiction upside down and tinting it with a health splash of lavender.
Hal married a man roughly half his age who had no idea that Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland were related. In consequence, he has discovered that the use of hair dye is rarely an adequate substitute for Viagra.
Clive Barker
A visionary, fantasist, poet and painter, Clive Barker has expanded the reaches of human imagination as a novelist, director, screenwriter and dramatist. An inveterate seeker who traverses between myriad styles with ease, Barker has left his indelible artistic mark on a range of projects that reflect his creative grasp of contemporary media—from familiar literary terrain to the progressive vision of his Seraphim production company. His 1998 “Gods and Monsters,” which he executiv
e produced, garnered three Academy Award nominations and an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. The following year, Barker joined the ranks of such illustrious authors as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Annie Dillard and Aldous Huxley when his collection of literary works was inducted into the Perennial line at HarperCollins, who then published The Essential Clive Barker, a 700-page anthology with an introduction by Armistead Maupin.
Barker began his odyssey in the London theatre, scripting original plays for his group The Dog Company, including “The History of the Devil,” “Frankenstein in Love” and “Crazyface.” Soon, Barker began publishing his The Books of Blood short fiction collections; but it was his debut novel, The Damnation Game that widened his already growing international audience.
Barker shifted gears in 1987 when he directed “Hellraiser,” based on his novella The Hellbound Heart, which became a veritable cult classic spawning a slew of sequels, several lines of comic books, and an array of merchandising. In 1990, he adapted and directed “Nightbreed” from his short story “Cabal.” Two years later, Barker executive produced the housing-project story “Candyman,” as well as the 1995 sequel, “Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh.” Also that year, he directed Scott Bakula and Famke Janssen in the noir-esque detective tale, “Lord of Illusions.”
Barker’s literary works include such best-selling fantasies as Weaveworld, Imajica, and Everville, the children’s novel The Thief of Always, Sacrament, Galilee and Coldheart Canyon. The first of his quintet of children’s books, Abarat, was published in October 2002 to resounding critical acclaim, followed by Abarat II: Days of Magic, Nights of War and Arabat III: Absolute Midnight; Barker is currently completing the fourth in the series. As an artist, Barker frequently turns to the canvas to fuel his imagination with hugely successful exhibitions across America. His neo-expressionist paintings have been showcased in two large format books, Clive Barker, Illustrator, volumes I & II.
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