NOTE: This is the prologue of The God Machine, submitted by the original author and hosted with permission from his publisher. I have to admit to not having read the book – I haven’t read much that isn’t pasta submissions lately! – but I really enjoyed this prologue and felt […]
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I hate it here. It seems redundant to say so, I realize this. Everyone hates it here… well actually I don’t know. Maybe except Len, but he’s a freak so whatever. Shit… where are we? I keep forgetting. France? We’re still here? Shit, have we made no fuckin’ ground since
Before the emergence of televisions, radios were widely used as a mean to broadcast news and announcements. In WWII, The rebel radio stations used Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which has a repeating motive of “V” in Morse Codes, to indicate a victory. It didn’t take long for the government to find
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This is the sixth and final part of the By the Fire’s Light series. Names we give have power As we discovered too late For we have named the nameless one And thus have sealed our fate. Our time has come full circle, And now we have the end Of
Nowadays, if you are fanatical Christian, you are mostly likely looked down upon by society. People are absolutely disgusted by your ways and your desire to spread your religion to others. As a teenager, you could get out-casted by the other kids because they wish to believe that being anything
It seemed especially hot there in the middle of a mass of vehicles of all shapes and sizes, from all around the country. It was a miniature city of heat and exhaust fumes within the city itself. Not the most wonderful place in the world, but then, the morning commute
“Look at it go, sweetie!” the loving father joyfully called out to his little girl, pointing upward toward the kite flying high above the secluded beach. “Here baby, you try.” The little girl stood there shy, timid and melancholy as she stared skyward at the pale, flapping kite. This particular
We had found the dresser at a yard sale, beaten and broken, but it was an artifact of the 1920s and my husband insisted we bring it home and fix it up. I thought nothing of this aside from the fact to be noted that the dresser was not for
The Ridges – previously known as the Athens Lunatic Asylum – is famous among Ohio University students. The other week, I ran into a friend who recently graduated from OU, and when the conversation turned to spooky things (summer is a classic time to tell ghost stories, after all) he
The Stain of Margaret Schilling Read More »
This is the final entry in Stephan D. Harris’ Harlequin series. “Sometimes I wonder; what exactly is a monster? Is it really something to be feared, or is it something to be respected? Is that frightening, hideous thing that stalks your nightmares trying to tell you something, something important? Maybe
Dirty Paper Machines Read More »
This is part five in the By the Fire’s Light series. Mira Grolinsky sat at her desk in the hotel room sorting through stacks of paper. A biographer by trade, she was used to gathering large amounts of information and then synthesizing it into one coherent package. What she was
It was nearing midnight, and the air was rapidly cooling. It was silent but for the few cars passing by, and the wind rustling trees. I looked around outside once more before shutting the front door and bolting it. I turned off the hall light and made my way upstairs.
I guess you could say I’m writing this as a cautionary tale to those who plan on studying abroad in future. I don’t mean to discourage you from going in the first place, it’s more like I just want you to be aware of this so that something like this doesn’t happen to you too.
When I was a kid, my family and I lived in a modest house in West Virginia. As I said, it was quite small and there was a large forest behind my house. I was pretty curious, as any small child is and so I’d always find myself asking to
We all have our own little fears: spiders, dark corridors, porcelain dolls. Some people have some very strange and obscure fears like things not being organized. Some people are afraid of not being perfect or being alone. But we have to be choosy about the things we decide to fear.
What Are You Really Afraid Of? Read More »
Another chirp drifted into the room from outside. The window was open again. It hadn’t been ten minutes since Jacob had slammed it closed. He stared at it, into the front yard beyond where the grass had become an ugly orange-brown, and thought of how exposed he was. Anything could
“Do you hear it? The Creep upon my cellar stairs? I lie awake tonight with fright in my heart and a creep upon my cellar stairs,” the young girl muttered into the belly of her teddy bear. A fearful groan erupted as she heard it once again, “Do you hear
This is the fourth entry in the By the Fire’s Light series. “So,” Jared said, a sneer on his face. “I suppose you’ve come to find out why I did it.” Connor looked into Jared’s face, at the sneer, the hate. He looked into Jared’s eyes, and saw, just for
The Curling Flames Read More »
Soft sunlight glints off rides and merry go rounds, merry jingles floating through the air. The bustle of the carnival goes on around you as you stroll along, enjoying the day. It’s breezy, yet the breeze is warm and butter-soft, gently wrapping your soft silk dress around your legs as
When I was younger I used to work as a night auditor for a very popular hotel chain in New Orleans. This particular hotel was once an old warehouse in the Central Business District. It had a long history that dated back to the Underground Railroad where tunnels built throughout
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The tipper tapper of a finger echoes through the small dark room. Sometimes even whispers bounce off the walls from other rooms, whispers that do not make sense to me. I would hear things like, “Stop it, he’ll see us” and “Quickly, don’t trust him” or just the moans of
Introduction I had always questioned whether or not I truly believed in the paranormal, and sometimes I wished that I would have stayed strictly to my stubborn attitude. However, that was not the case a month ago. The event that I want to inform people about has shook my grounded
Remember a few months ago when I asked for your favorite creepy video games? I’d mentioned that I planned to do similar posts for books, movies, and maybe even television shows and music – and since July means that a lot of you have the free time of summer break
July 2013 Discussion Post: What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie? Read More »
Lately I have been questioning the reality of things around me. I can sure identify where it started, and where it came from, but I just can’t get it out. An idea cannot be killed; you may try to not think about it or distract yourself, but it is there,
