Crime Fiction by Michael Downing Night is the hardest part. The stretch that burns you out inside, drawing out the minutes until they snap like a whip against your skin. Cooper sucks on his Marlboro, feeling the burn, squinting his eyes shut, letting the smoke roll around his head until it stings. The darkness neverContinue reading “The Cheater”
Category Archives: Dark Literature
Charon 2.0
Crime Fiction by Matthew Snyderman It wasn’t until he’d decided to kill himself that Joel Barkley gained the relief meds and booze had failed to provide. Fading fast was the guilt for having laid off the employees at his floundering art gallery. Ditto the night sweats over his landlord’s increasingly loud threats to put hisContinue reading “Charon 2.0”
Possessed
Flash Fiction by Ferdi Wheeler Jack Weir is not in jail, or dead. He hides in the moonlight in my garden, of that I am sure. I can discern his figure where he stands pressed against the trunk of the pine tree. I am looking through a slit in the curtains in my sitting room.Continue reading “Possessed”
Happy Holidays
Poetry by J. Marquez Jr. The cassette labeled, “Mixed Oldies” plays Hey! Love by The Delfonics. The Kenwood Pullout generates 1.5K watts of sound in a game of Hot Potato. “And, Alpine Amp, now you’ve got it!” “No I don’t. The Alpine Equalizer has it!” “Hot potato! Hot potato! Kenwood Speakers. Ha! You lose!” TwoContinue reading “Happy Holidays”
Questions
Poetry by J. Marquez Jr. Darling… If I gave you a gun, would you shoot me?And if you shot me, where would you shoot me?Would you shoot my leg? Would you shoot my head?Would you want to see me injured or deadinstead? Darling… If I gave you an axe, would you kill me?Would you makeContinue reading “Questions”
First
Crime Fiction by Lissa Muir I’m walking in the ravine. It’s early Fall, a Thursday, and I am alone. Well, not alone, exactly. There have been fifty squirrels, mostly black, and one scrawny coyote, hungry and haunting at the top of the hill beside me. This is the twelfth walk I’ve done over the pastContinue reading “First”
Blackberry Engorgement
Crime Fiction by Carbon Bleauxmoosle You’re finally awake said the old man as he sat readying himself for a night of unconsecrated activity. The room was damp and cold; the dim light was just bright enough for Nelson to see the filth and the rats scurrying across the cracks in the stone floor. All ofContinue reading “Blackberry Engorgement”
Caged for Dinner
Horror Flash Fiction by Chris Bunton One bite and the memories came flooding back like it was yesterday. He remembered the first time they met. It was at the fountain in the park, and his dog “Bowzer” got leashes tangled with her little poodle “Trixy”. They laughed so hard trying to separate them and keepContinue reading “Caged for Dinner”
Spellbound
Speculative Fiction by Adrian Fahy Written in blood-red ink, the B- goaded me from the corner of the page. It wasn’t the result of an in-class test, but a mark of my dwindling future. B for barrister, a career too prestigious for underachievers. B was also for St. Bartholomew’s, the hellhole I called school. It’sContinue reading “Spellbound”
The Walls In Here
Dystopian Horror Fiction by Erik Johnson Kevin stepped off the elevator, unsure where he was. A sign on a chrome stand pointed “New Arrivals,” down the hall. Obsidian walls were bathed in recessed, gold overhead lighting, so pristine they resembled giant black mirrors. Strange that, unlike the metal sign standing solo, he did not seeContinue reading “The Walls In Here”