A Romance in Dunwich
by V.A. Vazquez
There weren’t many eligible bachelors in Dunwich, but even then, all the women stayed away from Wilbur Whateley. His beard was coarse and knotted, like the hide of a mountain goat, and he smelled like cracked eggs that’d gone off.
“Disgusting,” my sister would say, turning away to avoid his stare. He had to crouch down to shuffle through the bakery door, his woollen coat dragging on the cobblestones behind him.
I never turned away; I never refused to meet his eyes. Not the ones on his face and not the ones nestled in the crevices of his hips either.
V. A. Vazquez
V.A. Vazquez writes urban fantasy and dark romance. She currently lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with her husband and small doggo.
Website: www.vavazquez.com
Website: www.vavazquez.com
Elspeth
by Jacqueline Moran Meyer
Elspeth haunts me. At night, I hear her ankle chains scrape along the floorboards towards the bedroom I share with my new bride. She’s getting closer, with her bloated body now splattering water on the rug around our bed. Last night, I took to drink in the hope of not remembering her visit. This morning my new love lay dead beside me; wet footsteps led to her side of the bed. I may have married Elspeth for her money and not defended her when accused of sorcery, but never had I suspected her of truly being a witch—until now.
Jacqueline Moran Meyer
Jacqueline Moran Meyer is a writer, artist, and small business owner living in New York, where she received her master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. Jacqueline loves science fiction and horror genres. Reading Ray Bradbury was a mind-blowing experience for her in eighth grade. Alice Munro and Rod Serling were great influences. Jacqueline also enjoys the company of her husband Bruce and their three children: Julia, Emma, and Lauren. Jacqueline’s mantra is “The only time it’s too late to try something new is when you are dead.”
Website: jmoranmeyer.net
Instagram: @jmoranmeyerauthor
Whitechapel Rain
by Matthew Wilson
I have had dark moments since I escaped that hospital filled with fools who didn’t grasp my greatness, so I had to burn them.
I wished to run into the light, but Whitechapel only has darkness and more laughing women who do not appreciate me.
The doctors I burned? I have murdered for necessities—like clothes—borrowed a dead man’s name, but still my head is filled with horrid thoughts.
But I will prove those dead doctors wrong, I will try to be human, something free and undeserving of cages.
Gentleman Jack, even if I do have frequent dark moments.
Matthew Wilson
Matthew Wilson has been published over 200 times in such places as Horror Zine, Star*Line, Zimbell House Publishing, and many more. He is currently editing his first novel.
Midnight at the Gallows
by McKenzie Richardson
The corpse swings on its rope when my fingers wrap around its wrist. Tendons and muscles fray as I sever the flesh. Cracking bones, I saw through until the hand falls into my grasp.
Before dissolving into the darkness, reeking of congealing blood, I collect slabs of fat from the murderer’s torso for a candle, a hair from his head to serve as its wick. Placed in the Hand of Glory, it will grant me powers unimaginable with which to exact my revenge.
They thought to burn my kind. They are not the only ones who can play with fire.
McKenzie Richardson
McKenzie Richardson lives in Milwaukee, WI. Most recently, her work has been featured in anthologies by Black Hare Press, Eerie River Publishing, and Iron Faerie Publishing. She has also published a poetry collaboration with Casey Renee Kiser, 433 Lighted Way, and her middle-grade fantasy novel, Heartstrings, is available on Amazon.
Author’s Lament
by K.T. Tate
I just wanted a muse. Something unusual to fuel my writing. But that dusty tome with its ancient rites gave me more than that.
It was not a muse summoned there, but a thing. Indescribable, even to a seasoned author in its unique horror. Stars burned and died within its shifting form. Its eyeless gaze burned through me, tarnishing me from the inside as I wept. The safe illusion of reality shattered.
Now it fills my mind. Taking up space, forcing me to write its heresy. My words spreading its gospel of madness. Please, I can’t stop myself, I can’t…
K.T. Tate
K.T. Tate is an English author inspired to write speculative fiction. She draws on her love of horror to explore the themes of cosmic and occult horror, the supernatural, folktales, and witchcraft. Writing mainly drabbles and short stories, her works have been featured in a plethora of anthologies.
Website: www.eldritch-hollow.com
Joachim Heijndermans
Joachim Heijndermans writes, draws, and paints nearly every waking hour. Originally from the Netherlands, he’s been all over the world, boring people by spouting random trivia. His work has been featured in a number of anthologies and publications, such as Mad Scientist Journal, Asymmetry Fiction, Hinnom Magazine, Ahoy Comics’s Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror, Metaphorosis and The Gallery of Curiosities, and he’s currently in the midst of completing his first children’s book.
Madeline
by Joshua Gessner
I see a girl, hidden behind a curtain of trees, with poisoned lips and rotten teeth. Somewhere, in the pit of her, her heart is just as rotten. I believe if you slit her open, maggots and soot would be all you’d find. There is a shadow of her before she changed, signing her soul in the big black book. Yet that is all we know, the memory of her. For now, she is claimed by the unholy. She is his servant. A witch. I feel her name upon my own lips now. It stings, like a rose’s thorn. Madeline.
Joshua Gessner
Joshua Gessner is a full-time college student and lives with his family at his home in Manchester, New Hampshire. He is a lover of a variety of genres, both when reading and when writing. He is also a lover of all movies and hopes to someday be a full-time author.