Tag / anthology

by Warren Benedetto

“From Below” published in Best of Metastellar Year Four

My short eco-horror story, From Below, has been published in The Best of Metastellar Year Four anthology.

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: cannibalism (implied), gore, suicide

“We will be safe there?” the boy asks.

The roar of the powerful outboard motor echoes through the flood-ravaged streets of Old Manhattan as I pilot the boat down the center of what used to be 5th Avenue. Water laps at the facades of the submerged structures, spraying a fine mist into the cold night air.

I glance down at the child. He’s young, no older than ten, with straight black hair and dark brown skin. The way his bangs flop over his forehead reminds me of myself as a child.

“Of course,” I lie. “You’ll love it.”

by Warren Benedetto

“To Die Unseen” published in the Three x The Fun anthology

My weird cosmic horror story, To Die Unseen, has been published in the Three x The Fun anthology by Rebellion Lit. It’s the story of a man adrift at sea and the giant eye staring at him from below.

Every few years, you’ll hear a miraculous story about survival at sea, about some wayward fisherman found adrift in on a piece of wreckage thousands of miles from the nearest shore. You’ll hear about his rescue by a passing cargo ship that just happened to spot him on its radar, about how he survived on a diet of raw fish, fresh piss, and the occasional seagull he managed to strangle with his bare hands. You’ll see the shaky post-rescue smartphone video of him with a blanket draped over his shoulders as he sips hot tea from a dented metal cup. You’ll marvel at the man’s strength of character. His will to survive. His unshakable faith in God.

This is not one of those stories.

by Warren Benedetto

“The Salt Circle” published in Howl: A Shapeshifting Anthology

My weird fiction story The Salt Circle has been published in Howl: A Shapeshifting Anthology by Graveside Press.

It’s not your typical werewolf story. In fact, it’s not a werewolf story at all. Instead of turning into a wolf when the moon is full, the main character turns into a slug when he has an early morning meeting.

Were-slug?

Yes. Were-slug.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” Linda said, wiping at her nose with a soggy, crumpled tissue. “I’m worried about you.”

I extended my eye stalks toward her, giving her what I hoped was a look of indignation. I couldn’t believe she was trying to spin it like it was my fault. “If you didn’t want me to get hurt, maybe you shouldn’t have been so quick to deploy the chemical weapons.”

She waved her tissue with a dismissive gesture. “It’s just a little salt.”

by Warren Benedetto

“A Piece of the Sky” published in the Wreckollections anthology

My sci-fi horror story A Piece of the Sky has been published in Wreckollections: Restrained Cries of the Past by Wicked Shadow Press. It is told through the testimony of the surviving member of a two-person asteroid mining crew that picked up an unfortunate souvenir during their expedition.

Content warning: gore

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.

by Warren Benedetto

“Dragonsbreath” published in Spectacular Spectacular

My urban fantasy story Dragonsbreath has been published in Spectacular, Spectacular!: An Anthology of Circensian Horror by The Dionysian Public Library. It’s the story of a teen forced to wear a fireproof mask to protect himself and others from a power he can’t control.

Content warning: mild gore

The woman’s head lurched forward as her SUV slowed to a jarring stop, its bumper only inches from the police car parked sideways across her lane. Half a dozen emergency vehicles crowded the street ahead of her. There were police cars. Fire trucks. An ambulance.

The woman watched with mounting horror as a pair of paramedics lifted a gurney out of the ambulance and began wheeling it up the driveway of a nearby house.

Her house.

by Warren Benedetto

“Baby Food” published in Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium

My creature horror story Baby Food has been published in Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium by Treeshaker Books. It’s about a man who convinces his wife to overcome her fear of bears to go camping with him, only to discover that what awaits them in the woods is much, much worse.

Content warning: gore, suicide (implied)

It was my idea, the camping trip. I had so many great memories of camping over the years: with my family, with the Boy Scouts, with my college buddies. We’d find some remote spot in the woods, then spend a week just doing … nothing. I wanted Liz to experience that, to get her to unplug from everything for once. Her phone. Her email. Her social media accounts. To just stop and live.

by Warren Benedetto

“Blame” published in the Soul anthology

My technohorror story Blame has been published in Soul: A Paranormal Anthology by Graveside Press.

Blame is about an audio engineer at a software company investigating strange sounds heard during customer voice chats. It’s a “found footage” story told through emails, Slack conversations, Reddit threads, phone transcripts, and more unusual artifacts like git commits, JIRA tickets, door entry logs … even a Walmart receipt.

Content warning: misogyny, sexual assault (mentioned), suicide (mentioned)
by Warren Benedetto

“A Perfect Fit” published in the Mono No Aware anthology

My psychological horror story A Perfect Fit has been published in Mono No Aware: Stories on the Fleeting Nature of Beauty by Culture Cult Press. It’s about a middle-aged woman who will do anything to maintain her youthful appearance.

I stepped back to admire Poppy’s frame, noting the slight swelling of her hips and the fine vertical lines above her upper lip. The ghost of a gray hair peeked out from the bangs she had added to hide her creased forehead.

“Poppy! Look at you!” I gushed. “How are you so perfect?”

by Warren Benedetto

“No Bones, Just Skin” published in Children of the Dead: Lost Lullabies

My cryptid horror story No Bones, Just Skin has been published in the Children of the Dead: Lost Lullabies anthology by Wicked Shadow Press. It’s about a brother and sister who have a terrifying encounter with an abúhukü, a rainforest demon known for dissolving the bones of its prey and leaving the empty skin behind.

Content warning: mild gore

“What happened to him?” Manuel asked. The filthy soccer ball he had been dribbling along the jungle floor rolled to a stop in a mud puddle on the side of the trail, suddenly forgotten.

Manuel’s older sister, Liliana, stood next to him, looking up at the body hanging high in the tree overhead. The carcass was little more than a shriveled husk of a man, a wrinkled bag of skin draped boneless and formless across the jungle’s dense lattice of vines and branches. It was almost as if the man had been turned into a garment, as if someone had slit him down the back, extracted his skeleton, then tossed him carelessly into the tree like an old bathrobe.