The Best of Horror Library: Volumes 1-5
Page 1
THE BEST OF
VOLUMES 1-5
EDITED BY
R. J. CAVENDER
Other Cutting Block Books Titles
+Horror Library+ Volume 1
+Horror Library+ Volume 2
+Horror Library+ Volume 3
+Horror Library+ Volume 4
+Horror Library+ Volume 5
Butchershop Quartet I
Butchershop Quartet II
Tattered Souls
Tattered Souls 2
Coming Soon
Cutting Block: Single Slices
and...
Blue Eel, a novel by Lorne Dixon
Praise for
+Horror Library+: The Best of Volumes 1-5
“I started reading the Horror Library series when the first one came out years ago and haven’t missed one since. Each volume was a darkly wonderful blend of practiced pros and daringly original newcomers. When I heard they were going to try to put the best of the best together for this collection I was, frankly, a little skeptical. I didn’t think they could do it without putting out some 400,000 word monstrosity. But I’m happy to say they not only proved me wrong, they blew me away. Looking back over the last ten years, I challenge anyone to find a better collection of stories anywhere. The Horror Library series is as good as horror gets, and these truly are the best of the best.”
-Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Dead City and The Dead Won’t Die
“When I pick up any volume in the Horror Library series, I know I’m going to have a wonderful reading experience. I’ve loved every one, and highly anticipate each new release. Now this new book has compiled the best of the best, and no horror fan should miss it. Every story inside is an absolute winner!”
-John R. Little, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Miranda, The Memory Tree, and DarkNet
“One of the most perfect representations of how truly horrifying and intelligent genre fiction can be.”
-HorrorUnderground.org
+Horror Library+: The Best of Volumes 1-5
First eBook Edition, July 2015
All Rights Reserved.
Published in the United States by
Cutting Block Books
an imprint of Farolight Publishing, a division of
Farolight Entertainment, LLC, Winchester, VA.
www.cuttingblockbooks.com
Editor: R.J. Cavender
Layout and Design: Bailey Hunter
Cover Art: Freak Family, by William Smyers, based on a photograph by Parker Neely
Copyright © 2015 Farolight Publishing. All stories reprinted by permission of the individual authors. Foreword copyright © 2015 by Lisa Morton. Cover photomanipulation copyright © 2015 by William Smyers.
This book contains works of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN10: 0996115919 (eBook)
ISBN13: 978-0-9961159-1-9 (eBook)
“A Chainsaw Execution” by Stephen R. George. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 2, March 2007. Copyright © 2007 by Stephen R. George.
“After” by Kealan Patrick Burke. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 3, October 2008. Copyright © 2008 by Kealan Patrick Burke.
“Consumed” by Michael Louis Calvillo. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 3, October 2008. Copyright © 2008 by Michael Louis Calvillo.
“Apple” by Marc Paoletti. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 2, March 2007. Copyright © 2007 by Marc Paoletti.
“Ash Wednesday” by Lorne Dixon. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Lorne Dixon.
“Bound” by Alan Smale. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 2, March 2007. Copyright © 2007 by Alan Smale.
“Drawn” by Daniel L. Naden. Originally published in Dark Recesses Press #3, April 2006, and appeared in Horror Library Volume 2, March 2007. Copyright © 2006 by Daniel L. Naden.
“Exegesis of the Insecta Apocrypha” by Colleen Anderson. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Colleen Anderson.
“Follower” by Danny Rhodes. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Danny Rhodes.
“Footprints Fading in the Desert” by Eric J. Guignard. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Eric J. Guignard.
“Ghosts Under Glass” by Tracie McBride. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Tracie McBride.
“Guarded” by Michael A. Arnzen. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Michael A. Arnzen.
“I am Meat I am in Daycare” by Cameron Pierce. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 2, March 2007. Copyright © 2007 by Cameron Pierce.
“Into the After” by Kurt Dinan. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Kurt Dinan.
“Jerrod Steihl Goes Home” by Ian Withrow. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Ian Withrow.
“Next Stop, Babylon” by John Mantooth. Originally published on Apex Digest website (apexdigest.com), October 2005, and appeared in Horror Library Volume 2, March 2007. Copyright © 2005 by John Mantooth.
“Obsidian Sea” by Kurt Kirchmeier. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 3, October 2008. Copyright © 2008 by Kurt Kirchmeier.
“Open Mind Night at the Ritz” by Shane McKenzie. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Shane McKenzie.
“Santa Maria” by Jeff Cercone. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Jeff Cercone.
“Skin” by Kim Despins. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Kim Despins.
“Sporting the Waters of the Bermuda Triangle” by Greggard Penance. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Greggard Penance.
“The Apocalypse Ain’t so Bad” by Jeff Strand. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Jeff Strand.
“The Exterminators” by Sara Joan Berniker. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 1, May 2006. Copyright © 2006 by Sara Joan Berniker.
“The Garbage Collectors” by Ron McGillvray. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 2, March 2007. Copyright © 2007 by Ron McGillvray.
“The Happiness Toy” by Ray Garton. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Ray Garton.
“The Healing Hands of Reverend Wainwright” by Geoffrey L. Mudge. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Geoffrey L. Mudge.
“The Immolation Scene” by John F.D. Taff. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by John F.D. Taff.
“The Living World” by C. Michael Cook. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 3, October 2008. Copyright © 2008 by C. Michael Cook.
“The Puppet Show” by Rick J. Brown. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 1, May 2006. Copyright © 2006 by Rick J. Brown.
“The Station” by Bentley Little. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 3, October 2008. Copyright © 2008 by
Bentley Little.
“The Steel Church” by Charles Colyott. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 4, October 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Charles Colyott.
“The Vulture’s Art” by Benjamin Kane Ethridge. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 5, October 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Benjamin Kane Ethridge.
“Trapped Light Medium” by Sunil Sadanand. Originally published in Horror Library Volume 1, May 2006. Copyright © 2006 by Sunil Sadanand.
This book is dedicated to the late Horror Writers Association president Rocky Wood.
A leader, a scholar, a mentor, and an inspiration to so many. Your memory and standards live on in the very best of our endeavors.
You will be missed, sir.
R.J. Cavender and the +Horror Library+ family
+HORROR LIBRARY+ : THE BEST OF VOLUMES 1-5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Note From the Publisher
Lisa Morton — Foreword
Rick J. Brown — The Puppet Show
Sara Joan Berniker — The Exterminators
Stephen R. George — A Chainsaw Execution
Cameron Pierce — I am Meat, I am in Daycare
Sunil Sadanand — Trapped Light Medium
Marc Paoletti — Apple
John Mantooth — Next Stop, Babylon
Ron McGillvray — The Garbage Collectors
Alan Smale — Bound
Daniel L. Naden — Drawn
Bentley Little — The Station
Kealan Patrick Burke — After
Michael Louis Calvillo — Consumed
Michael A. Arnzen — Guarded
Kurt Kirchmeier — Obsidian Sea
C. Michael Cook — The Living World
Charles Colyott — The Steel Church
Jeff Strand — The Apocalypse Ain’t So Bad
Kurt Dinan — Into The After
Lorne Dixon — Ash Wednesday
Tracie McBride — Ghosts Under Glass
Greggard Penance — Sporting the Waters of the Bermuda Triangle
Kim Despins — Skin
Jeff Cercone — Santa Maria
Geoffrey L. Mudge — The Healing Hands of Reverend Wainwright
Colleen Anderson — Exegesis of the Insecta Apocrypha
Ian Withrow — Jerrod Steihl Goes Home
John F.D. Taff — The Immolation Scene
Shane McKenzie — Open Mind Night at the Ritz
Eric J. Guignard — Footprints Fading in the Desert
Benjamin Kane Ethridge — The Vulture’s Art
Ray Garton — The Happiness Toy
Danny Rhodes — Follower
Contributors’ Notes
A Note from the Publisher
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
—Hamlet (1.5.167-8)
Our world is full of things that we don’t understand. As bards and prophets are fond of pointing out, many of us walk around in a metaphorical fog, neither noticing nor comprehending the wonder, for example, of a mountain vista, or warm sand under our toes, or a crackling fire on a chilly evening. Yet even when we notice them, all of these images can, and often do, obscure deeper realities. If we could clearly see what was shimmering just below the surface of our daily lives—for example, what lurks beneath a nearby underpass, or what’s behind the dullness in your classmate’s eyes, or why that TSA agent is looking at you funny— if we understood those sorts of things in their fullness, then we may very well fall prostrate on the floor in terror, waiting for Reality to turn Its terrible gaze away from us once more. Like Jack Torrance in The Shining, we might decide that we’d rather fall sleep at our typewriter, than awaken to the truths that would be revealed to us if, of course, we only knew where to look.
The book you’re holding is full of stories that try to give shape and expression, each in their own way, to the deeper mysteries of life. In these pages you’ll find starving people and hungry ghosts; silent invasions and mysterious travelers; burning lovers and patriotic cannibals. It’s a book where gas stations aren’t what they seem, and neither are door-to-door salespeople. It’s a book where the end of the world doesn’t have to be, well, the end of the world.
These stories all appeared at one time or another in the Bram Stoker Award® nominated Horror Library anthology series. Our esteemed editor, R.J. Cavender, has selected them as being representative of the very best stories published by that series. Similarly, the cover image on this book follows in the long tradition of Horror Library covers, featuring a striking image that nearly jumps off the page at innocent passersby. This one is called “Freak Family,” by William Smyers, and is based on a stock photograph by Parker Neely. We welcome William and Parker to our own “freak family” of Horror Library contributing artists and authors.
As you settle in to read these stories, remember: not all that is fiction is fictional, and not all that is true is transparent. And a good thing, too. As Shirley Jackson once observed, no one can stay sane for long in conditions of absolute reality. I’m honored to have been able to bring together an all-star team of writers, and to present to you this “best of” anthology as a sure antidote against those real-life terrors that prowl the earth during the day, seeking the ruin of souls. Like Jackson’s larks and katydids, we will dream the horrors away, at least for tonight.
—Patrick Beltran
Winchester, VA
Foreword
by Lisa Morton
The Horror Library series is important.
Let me clarify that: These books are not going to offer a cure for cancer or feed thousands of starving children. It’s unlikely that any of the volumes will ever win a National Book Award (although they have been nominated multiple times for the Bram Stoker Award), or become bestsellers anywhere outside of a very specific list on Amazon. But here’s what they’ve done and will continue to do: They provide readers with superb, carefully crafted horror stories that prove the horror genre is alive and well, and they offer an alternative marketplace for writers who live in the great gray zone outside of New York publishing circles.
Probably no other genre has had such a troubled history as horror (and there are many who will tell us that it’s not really a genre; I respectfully disagree, but that’s a topic for another day). The same genre that gave the world Frankenstein, Dracula, “The Black Cat” and “The Call of Cthulhu,” The Haunting of Hill House, and The Shining, is now frequently dismissed as “torture porn.” The same bibliophile who just finished House of Leaves or The Lovely Bones will deny having any interest in “blood and guts stories.”
And this is a step up from about twenty years ago, when every Internet horror forum (remember forums? They were how we fans communicated in the days before Facebook and Twitter) was full of posts that asked, “IS HORROR DEAD?” The horror boom of the ‘80s had become the droughts of the ‘90s and ‘00s. The Big Five publishers virtually stopped producing new horror novels; where there’d once been dozens of small horror magazines, only a handful were still around; chain bookstores did away with horror sections, and the few anthologies that came out each year were almost all entirely populated by well-established old pros who’d been invited to contribute by the books’ editors. The e-book indie scene was still in the future, as was the social media that would assist writers in building their fan-bases.
It was a tough time to be a newer horror writer. Trust me, I know—I was there.
I was luckier than a lot of my peers, because I made my first few sales to major anthologies; my background as a screenwriter gave me a nice “in” with editors who happened also to be movie buffs. However, as one of those newer prose writers, I was anxious to make sales and started looking around for more markets.
I joined the Horror Writers Association (HWA), and made some new sales through markets listed in the organization’s newsletter and forum. And I discovered that horror had a vital, even thriving small press.
I started both reading more o
f those small press books and writing for them, and realized that these books were often very different from what the majors were putting out. The mass market paperbacks with the colorful, frequently amusingly-cheesy covers that passed for Big Five horror anthologies usually held stories that seemed to place plots and clever twists over unusual ideas and rich language. Fortunately the small press didn’t play by the majors’ rules; the best of them—like the Horror Library series—elevated originality and craftsmanship over formula and stereotype. Best of all, the small press anthologies weren’t closed; they were open to submissions from those of us who hadn’t yet graced the New York Times bestseller lists. Competition was understandably tough, but you knew that if you got in, you’d work with a great editor (like R.J. Cavender and Boyd Harris) who’d make your story gleam, and you’d be in the company of horror’s best up-and-comers. It was both a training ground and a way to build that fan-base, and even kept some of us in meals. These books gave careers to newcomers, opened readers’ eyes to the wider possibilities of horror, and kept the art of horror fiction alive.
And that’s why they were—and are—important.
Long live Horror Library!
Lisa Morton is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, Halloween expert, and president of the Horror Writers Association.
The Puppet Show
by Rick J. Brown
Mark Petrov’s face was chiseled like death itself, a blessing of sorts, since it would ensure his survival.
At the bus stop, Leyna squeezed his hand. Her fragility never escaped him, so that he couldn’t let go of her—not here, not anywhere. He wished he could wear her like a backpack, never losing sight of her. In this polluted air, she could disappear no less than twenty feet from him, forever lost behind a curtain of smoke the color of rust and bruises, where a Refurbished might stalk and capture her. How could he cope with that loss? In this world gone surreal and alien, she grounded him in a reality he priced to no end.