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Novel Excerpt: Testament Part 1 of 4

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  From the time I was a teenager, I was fascinated with the history of witchcraft in England and its emergence in the early colonies of the future United States. Like many people, my interest in this topic began with learning about the Salem Witch Trials in the early 1690s. Around the same time, I took an interest in learning about the practice of witchcraft itself. I taught myself about traditional witchcraft, Gardnerian wicca, and Italian hereditary witchcraft. I was especially fascinated with the lore of Aradia, known to Italians as the Queen of the Witches. I read books from such well-known authors as Raymond Buckland, Raven Silverwolf, Raven Grimassi, Charles Leland, and many others. Eventually, I began to wonder if other British colonies in North America suffered a similar witchcraft hysteria. I found that New York, previously known as New Amsterdam, also had a brief witch problem. Similar to Salem, this witch hysteria was motivated by politics and land grabs. There’s very litt
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Short Story Excerpt: For Everything, A Season

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  Do we have free will or is everything predetermined by Fate? Maybe it’s just the big life events that Fate controls while leaving us free to make minor choices that won’t really affect the direction of our lives. This is the theme I wanted to address in For Everything, A Season . This urban short story starts by introducing Elmira Trumble, a single mother who works full time and struggles to give her twin daughters the best possible lives. Confronted by a mysterious stranger, Elmira soon learns that her efforts may all be for nothing. Fate seems to have different plans for her small family. Can Elmira and her daughters fight Fate? Even if they can, should they? Or would it be better for all of them to simply give in and let Fate have its way? Find out which path Elmira takes with her daughters in For Everything, A Season .        “Pick someone. You point them out and I’ll take their life.”      She sank back down on the hardened bench, not quite sure what to believe. “Loo
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Short Story Excerpt: Into the Realm of the Lunatic

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  I’ve always been fascinated by the mind’s ability to conceal things we have done from our own conscious selves. That must be especially frightening for a psychologist or therapist to experience in their own minds. They must have to live with that thought each time they have a session with a patient suffering from a personality disorder. But for the grace of God, there go I - John   Bradford, 1533 Into the Realm of the Lunatic takes that idea a step further by forcing Dr. Shauna Adams to confront her personal demons as she treats a patient with real malevolent tendencies. There’s a link between Shauna and her patient and it’s one she can uncover only by entering Into the Realm of the Lunatic .        Blackness, everywhere she sent her gaze. The stale air and absence of noise suggested she stood indoors, although she could see nothing. It seemed like it had been far too long to be lost within this dark void. It caused her to wonder if the subconscious mind existed within a mom
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Short Story Excerpt: Borrowed Time

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  I wrote this story based on a couple I knew in real life many years ago. They were the perfect personification of the “Ken and Barbie power couple” of the 90s. Whatever image comes to mind when you hear that phrase is exactly who they were. When I knew them, there came a time when they were on the outs, constantly fighting even in my presence. When I was alone with “Ken,” he would confide in me that he was absolutely certain “Barbie” was cheating on him. Even though he was sure of her infidelity, he couldn’t provide any justification. Just like the protagonist in Borrowed Time , “Ken” said it was just a feeling, or a sense that something was off. I don’t know if Ken & Barbie ever split up. Who knows? They may have gotten married eventually. I like to think that’s what happened. As for Borrowed Time , I can’t guarantee such a happy ending.        Brent had never had much faith in the supernatural. He’d scoffed at self-proclaimed psychics more times than he cared to count
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Short Story Excerpt: Night Terrors

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  This was another story that I had written years ago and lost when an earlier computer crashed. I’ve rewritten the story and I’m still amazed by how much of it I remembered. The plot and characters all seemed to flow from my fingertips just as though they would have if I’d had the first copy as a reference. Night Terrors is more of an urban horror, dealing with the consequences of moving people in and out of tract housing as though there’s never anything left behind. Lydia and her neighbors quickly discover that some things do get left behind. When that happens in Night Terrors , Lydia quickly finds that it’s the new occupant who is left to deal with the ethereal fallout. Get a glimpse of that which gets left behind in Night Terrors here:         Her first glance told her that everything seemed normal. Jacob was sleeping soundly and everything else in the room appeared still and silent. Releasing a sigh of relief and silently chiding herself for letting her emotions get so w
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Short Story Excerpt: Princesses

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  Does anyone remember MSN Groups? The good old days of the internet! One of the groups I belonged to back in the day offered a little bit of everything. I remember there were threads for PSP tutorials, kink talk, horror movie discussions, and paranormal topics. One year, there was a contest for the best Halloween short story. That’s how this horror story was born. I didn’t even give it much planning or outlining. I just sat down with pen in hand (I used to write everything out and type it up later in Word until I realized how much unnecessary work was involved in that process.) So, I wrote Princesses out in an afternoon. I won the contest. Since that first draft, I have revised and added to the story until it became the polished story that I included in Whispers From Hell: An Anthology of Horror and the Supernatural . Here’s a taste of Princesses :        I find myself reminiscing about our first meeting and their consecutive visits. I imagine it’s similar to a maiden rel
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Short Story Excerpt: A Requiem for the Damned

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  There was a place where my family used to go camping. A few yards from the place where we would always set up camp, there was a path that descended down to a large creek. The path was shrouded in trees and it really felt like you were descending down into a hidden realm. This path and the daydreams I had of this path served as the basis for A Requiem for the Damned . From those minimal beginnings, I became fascinated by the idea of discovering a secret village far removed from the rest of civilization. I imagine that such a place would be part paradisaical  but with evil horrors unlike anything we see in the modern world. As for Princesa Moreno, I can’t say what inspired her creation. I do like to see women cast as villains in horror. There are so few examples of female villains specifically in the horror genre and that was starting to change until recently. Today, casting a woman as an unredeemable villain is a no-no, but I have a habit of defying the rules. Here’s a closer lo
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