Horror has always been a genre that has captivated and terrified readers. Some of the most enduring names in horror literature are Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. These two authors laid the groundwork for the horror genre. Their works introduced themes such as the supernatural, the macabre, and the psychological terror that continue to be prevalent in modern horror. How has horror writing evolved since Lovecraft and Poe? For one, there are now more opportunities for female authors to publish their horror stories. whereas previously it was a male-dominated genre. One of the most famous fem ..read more

SKINMATES by Phillip E. Dixon The obsidian scalpel slides beneath my skin and lifts, serving a slice of subcutaneous pie. A faint sucking sound accompanies the quickening pain, sharp and juicy, filling me with the promise of deeper delights. Claret brims in the fresh void above my breast, cascading the slope, tickling from nipple to thigh. The Molting Man holds up a perfect square of my milky skin to his equally pale lips and blows softly. I can’t help but moan when the tiny vellus hairs spring erect, every follicle electric, begging for attention. He teases the skin off the scalpel onto a sl ..read more

THE MONITOR COUNTY SAMARITAN by Matthew Roy He drums a tattoo on the dashboard. He drives. +++ “Unit Five, possible hit and run near mile marker 184. Victim is male, aged 20s, unconscious, unresponsive. Time is 08:32.” He looks up. He is passing mile marker 53. He is too far away, and he returns his eyes to the road as he keeps driving. +++ “Unit Eleven, two car collision at Anderson Turnoff. Female victim trapped in car. Time is 18:44.” By the time he gets there, paramedics are already loading the woman into an ambulance. He lingers, standing at the back of the crowd for a while. He climbs b ..read more

THE MOUTH by Kathryn Keane I had been digging in vain for berries and roots for hours when I saw the chicken. Plump and ruffled up like a duchess, it waddled through the bushes and was gone. I straightened up and hurried after it without pausing to even remove the clods of dirt from my hand. I could wash them later. My stomach being filled, however, was much more questionable. I went after it, pushing the bushes aside so I could follow the chicken directly. Parasite-ridden, warbling, wobbling spheres of meat on legs that they were, chickens were usually simple enough to spot. Thankfully the b ..read more

MY TRICHOBEZOAR by Liz Rosen I could tell her how the Sultans displayed them in gold boxes adorned with filigree and flowers like asphodel and hellebore. Or that the nobility of Europe so coveted them for their healing properties that they paid the Arabic traders who passed through court small fortunes to acquire them. But that would require her to see more than the hairy scrotum-like thing that the surgeon has thoughtfully deposited into a jar for me. He wants to gross me out, to show me the real-life implications of my compulsion. The disgust in my mother’s face as she catches a glimpse of ..read more

TOMMY IN THE DARK by A. Faz Daniel stared at the pecan tree in his backyard, a dark shadow against the night sky that towered over him and completely obscured the full moon behind it. The sky itself was clear, and every star stood out as if trying to outshine the other. Daniel crossed his arms over his chest, took a deep breath and leaned back. SPLASH! Cool, refreshing water enveloped him as he sank into the deep end of the pool. He resurfaced a moment later with a deep, relieved sigh. The pool-light embedded in the side of the basin reflected off the dolphin-blue tile, giving the water an ot ..read more

BLOOD IN THE WATER by Alexis Hansen Kitty bounces a ball against the walls of his cage, matching each toss to the ocean waves lapping against the beach outside our compound. The rhythmic thud grates against my ears, doing nothing but remind me of the concrete and steel that serve as my prison. I want to snap the ball out of the air, tear it apart. Maybe take his arm along with it. I don’t know how much of that desire is me and how much is borne of my aberrant canine instincts. “Cut it out,” I barely manage to bite back a bark. “No,” Kitty drawls with a lazy blink that belies the twitch of his ..read more

ACHE FOR A HEART by Joe Coates “There’s not much of a story to this,” the Reaper sitting in the driver’s seat of the van said, “but there might be a lesson in it. There was an industrial investigation that I worked where a guy got his arm caught in a lathe—a steel lathe.” “Lathe?” “Well, that’s what they claimed.” “Right.” “And we got there, and what it had done was it’d ripped the meat from the inside of his elbow to his wrist. Had torn that whole chunk of meat out. Right off the bone. Like a massive steak. And that was just sitting on the ground. Blood all through the filings and shavings a ..read more

BLUE DOGS by Kurt Newton The sky was the color of dirty sheets. The air carried the bite of cold metal. The abandoned industrial complex was as advertised: overgrown and isolated. The perfect hideout. Perfect, except for the fact that Petrov had a bullet lodged in his shoulder, and Zeddy was in the passenger seat of the Mercedes, dead, having taken two to the chest. Dammit, Zeddy! thought Petrov. Why did you have to go running your mouth? Petrov pulled into one of the crumbling warehouse buildings and killed the engine. There was graffiti on the walls, beer cans and old mattresses on the floo ..read more

A BARE MINIMUM OF EFFORT by Brandon Applegate John snakes his arm under the covers reaching for Cassie. She isn’t there. Gone to check on the baby. John grimaces. He never hears the baby crying. He’s always been a sound sleeper, and Cassie never wakes him. She gets up and does the job, doesn’t ask for help. And what would he do anyway? The baby wants Cassie, not him—so goes the logic. But logic hasn’t stopped the bags from forming under her eyes, or returned the light to her smile. John has made no special effort, either. He lets her take the bullet. How long has she been gone tonight? An hou ..read more