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Posts by Warren Benedetto

Warren Benedetto writes dark fiction about horrible people, horrible places, and horrible things. He is an award-winning author and a full member of the SFWA. His stories have appeared in publications such as Dark Matter Magazine, The Dread Machine, and Haven Spec; on podcasts such as The NoSleep Podcast, Tales to Terrify, and The Creepy Podcast; and in anthologies from Apex Magazine, Scare Street, Eerie River Publishing, and more. His hobbies include sleeping, hitting snooze, sleeping some more, and naps. For more information, visit www.warrenbenedetto.com and follow @warrenbenedetto on Twitter.

“A Sinking Feeling” published in the Emergence anthology

My underwater horror story A Sinking Feeling has been published in the Emergence anthology by The Writer’s Cache. It’s the story of two survivors trapped in an air pocket in a sunken ship at the bottom of the ocean. And they’re not alone.

I didn’t know how long we had been underwater at that point—we had no way to measure time—but for however long it was, we hadn’t heard any noises outside of our own movement and the occasional groan of the ship’s structure as it settled into the ocean floor. But this noise was different.

Something was moving. And it was close.

“Feed the Worm” published in the Beautiful Darkness anthology

My horror story Feed the Worm has been published in the Beautiful Darkness anthology from Dragon Soul Press. If you like stories about carnivorous cosmic murder worms, this is the one for you!

The girl was on her knees, crouched low behind the rear bumper. Exhaust swirled around her, lit up a hellish red by the glow of the taillights. Her hair hung over her face in damp ropes. Breath steamed from her nose in short, rapid bursts. She looked up at Ben. Her eyes were wide with terror. “Hide,” she whispered.

You can also listen to the audio production of Feed the Worm on the Night’s End Podcast.

“Die On Your Feet” accepted by Havok

My horror story Die On Your Feet has been accepted by Havok for their Thriller Thursday series. The story is an allegory about what happens to people who deny the reality of their situation, despite all the evidence telling them they are wrong.

“It ain’t real,” Grady insisted. “Think! Have you ever actually seen one of the things up there?”

“No, but I’ve seen what it does to people.”

Listen to “A Thing of Beauty” on The Storyteller Series podcast

The audio production of my body horror story A Thing of Beauty is now available for free on The Storyteller Series podcast. As a fleshcrafter, Anastasia Dao has the unique ability to remake a person’s outside to match the beauty within. But when one of her girls is viciously murdered, she realizes that revenge can be a beautiful thing.

The body hanging from the ceiling began to writhe, straining against the inside of the translucent, teardrop-shaped sac in which it was encased. The sac stretched and distended, pressing outwards in all directions as the figure inside struggled to break free. 

“Butterscotch” published in HAUS: Anthology of Haunted House Stories

My short ghost story Butterscotch has been published in HAUS: Anthology of Haunted House Stories by Culture Cult Press. Renting an apartment above a funeral parlor might freak some people out, but not Ellen. Not at first, anyway.

For a moment, I imagined my grandmother laying there on one of the tables, her body cold and stiff, her eyelids stitched shut, her tissue-thin skin pulled taut over her jutting cheekbones. Nicholas had done that, I realized, right in the room where I was standing. 

“A Piece of the Sky” published by The Dread Machine

My sci-fi horror story A Piece of the Sky has been published by The Dread Machine. It’s told through the testimony of the surviving member of a two-person asteroid mining crew that picked up an unfortunate souvenir during their expedition.

With all due respect, sir, you don’t know what you’re talking about. There was no way Bakely could’ve known what the thing was when he picked it up. It looked like a rock. Hell, it was a rock, just a hunk of the asteroid’s crust that he grabbed as a souvenir for his kid. There’s no way he could’ve known it was a nest.

Three drabbles accepted by the Dark Stars anthology

Three of my sci-fi horror drabbles have been accepted into the Dark Stars anthology by Shacklebound Books.

  • A young woman asks her AI assistant to help her pick out a wedding dress in The Fitting Room.
  • A pair of astronauts wonder what to do when there’s An Angel in the Airlock.
  • When a traveler to Jupiter awakes from cryosleep too early, he realizes he should have read The Fine Print.