My coming-of-age horror story Many Deaths Before Dying has been published in Issue 10 of Underland Arcana. When a giant, silvery puddle appears in the field where they play, four boys encounter an inexplicable horror that will change them forever.
“We need to get help,” I said quietly. But I didn’t move. I felt rooted in place, as if my feet had bonded to the Earth’s crust. I was frozen solid, utterly paralyzed with fear. Shah hadn’t just fallen into the puddle. He had been pulled.
The audio production of my slasher story No Signal has been released by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. It’s a twist on the common trope of someone in the woods trying to call for help, only to realize that, “There’s no signal out here!”
Content warning: goreThe story starts around 26:30.
My sci-fi horror story One Last Step has been published in Lockdown Horror #5 by Black Hare Press. It’s a story about a little girl stalked by an unseen shadow-thing across a post-apocalyptic landscape.
“Will it hurt?” I watched my father roll the sewing needle between his fingers, its tip glowing orange-red in the heat of the flame. My eyes welled with tears.
“Just a little,” he replied.
The flickering candlelight sent eerie shapes dancing around the cluttered attic where we were hiding for the night. Outside, the screeching calls of the shadow-things rose and fell like whale songs made from rusted metal. They sounded close.
My short humor piece An Open Letter To Those Who Declined My Facebook Event Invite has been published by The Weekly Humorist. It’s a heartfelt letter to those who felt they had something better to do than attend my Game of Thrones Footie Pajama Bar Crawl. You know who you are.
Of course, some of you had legitimate reasons why you couldn’t attend. Frank couldn’t come because he wanted to spend some time with his kids. He’s a family man, which is hardly a crime. Well, in this case, it was, hence the Amber Alert. But his heart was in the right place.
The audio production of my eco-horror story From Below is now available on the Chilling Tales For Dark Nights podcast, Horror Hill.
In the flooded remains of Old Manhattan, the wealthy stay dry and well-fed in their penthouses, while everyone else is left to fend for themselves against the unseen horrors lurking just below the surface.
Content warning (spoilers): cannibalism (implied), gore, suicideIt’s the second story in the episode, starting between 45:00 and 50:00, depending on where you listen.
My dark fantasy story It’s What’s Inside That Counts is now free to read on the Fantasy Magazine website. It’s about a young girl who dissects a pig in science class, only to discover something unexpected inside.
Content warning: terminal illness of a childI didn’t know how I’d react to the dissection. I couldn’t imagine poking around in a dead pig’s guts. I wondered how they would feel. Would they be squishy and warm, like spaghetti? Or cold and jiggly, like Jello? My stomach turned at the thought.
I was definitely gonna barf.
My historical horror story Everything As It Was has been published in Volume 2 of Illustrated Worlds Magazine. Set in the dust-plagued landscape of 1930s Oklahoma, it’s a story about lost hope, lost faith, and lost children come home.
“I prayed that you’d come home, and the crops would come back, and everything would go back to how it used to be. And now, glory be, here you are.”
My twisted fairytale Matches has been published in Issue Two of The Stygian Lepus. It’s a dark(er) retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s story, The Little Match Girl.
As a frigid wind gusted down the narrow lane, the girl side-stepped into an alley to avoid the chill. She sat down cross-legged on the cobblestone, drawing her feet into her folded knees to try and restore some feeling to her toes. She was freezing, but she dared not go home. Her father would be there, waiting, expectant. How many matches had she sold? How many pennies had she earned? None? The girl winced involuntarily at the crack of her father’s belt. She knew what was in store for her if she returned empty-handed.
My cyberpunk story A Free Man has been published by MetaStellar. In a world where you can purchase a synthetic replica of a person from a vending machine, the best person to frame for a crime you committed may be yourself.
The days of identity theft being just a stolen credit card or Social Security number were long gone—criminals could steal a person’s actual identity with something as simple as a 3D holoscan of their likeness. Except for a small microdot array at the base of its neck, a synthetic was indistinguishable from an actual human.
My dark fantasy story It’s What’s Inside That Counts has been published in Issue #91 of Fantasy Magazine. It’s about a young girl who dissects a pig in science class, only to discover something unexpected inside.
Content warning: terminal illness of a childI didn’t know how I’d react to the dissection. I couldn’t imagine poking around in a dead pig’s guts. I wondered how they would feel. Would they be squishy and warm, like spaghetti? Or cold and jiggly, like Jello? My stomach turned at the thought.
I was definitely gonna barf.
Warren Benedetto 