Tasty... FRESH FEAR!

The wait is over! FRESH FEAR is out! And my gritty tale of cannibal love, murder and theft, STRANGE TASTES is one of the first stories in line, right below that of a certain Mr. Ramsey Campbell.

Hell, you can even read a good, fat chunk of Strange Tastes with Amazon's 'Look Inside' feature. It starts, "She's so bloody articulate. I want to slice out that petty tongue and lay it on my leather strap. I will - later..."

Book Description:

"...a collection of horror from some of the genre's best writers of dark fiction. This collection has no central theme other than the stories' ability to scare the hell out of the reader! 

Tales steeped in psychological horror sit alongside visions of strange worlds and inner landscapes drenched in blood. 'Quiet horror' sits comfortably next to more visceral portrayals of the monsters that lurk deep within the human heart. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famously once said, "where there is no imagination there is no horror" - the horror expressed by the authors in Fresh Fear show that imagination is indeed tantamount to excellent story-telling. Prepare yourself for 28 tales of terror-inducing fiction that will have you checking the locks on every door and window of your abode!"

This is the Kindle version, for the moment. Fresh Fear will also be out in paperback very soon for those of you that prefer to stroke than click.

• Buy Fresh Fear on Amazon.co.uk
• Buy Fresh Fear on Amazon.com

Read and enjoy. And if you do enjoy, please add your review. Thank you.

Authors

Fresh Fear is published by James Ward Kirk Publishing, and edited by William Cook. The fantastic line-up of writers includes:

• Scathe meic Beorh 
• Ramsey Campbell 
• Lily Childs   
• Lincoln Crisler   
• Jack Dann   
• Robert Dunbar   
• Thomas A. Erb   
• Brandon Ford   
• Carole Gill   
• Lindsey Beth Goddard   
• J. F. Gonzalez   
• Dane Hatchell   
• E. A. Irwin   
• Charlee Jacob   
• K. Trap Jones   
• Tim Jones   
• Vada Katherine   
• Roy C. Booth and Axel Kohagen   
• Shane McKenzie   
• Shaun Meeks   
• Adam Millard   
• Christine Morgan   
• Billie Sue Mosiman   
• D.F. Noble   
• Chantal Noordeloos   
• W. H. Pugmire   
• William Todd Rose   
• Anna Taborska

___________________________________________

PRETTY PINHOLES - Cabaret of Dread stories revealed

Every Saturday I’m revealing the tale behind the tale of Cabaret of Dread Vol.1’s main stories, together with a short excerpt of each to whet your appetite.

PRETTY PINHOLES

I loved writing this horrible story. What an evil serial killer I've created - whoops. We could say all murderers are wicked monsters but sometimes they are the quiet gentle giant that lives next door - and more often than not they are someone we trust. That's the scariest horror of all.

Pretty Pinholes was first published on Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers in January 2010

So – what’s Pretty Pinholes about? 

An obsessive. A character that detaches themselves from reality to perform their unique art upon the body of their victims. The number of pins used is precise, as is the depth to which they are inserted. But who is this killer with such an exquisite taste in design?

Inspiration

The inspiration for Pretty Pinholes was short and not particularly sweet. I went to London for a conference; my colleague met up with a friend afterwards so I had to do the return journey alone. My train got stuck on the track on the way home and I spent twenty minutes staring out the window at an office block that had a single light on, and I could just make out two people. I blinked - and there was only one.

Excerpt

The factory floor was cold beneath her naked back. Hard on the shoulder blades, crusty against her splayed buttocks.

Naomi Allen, her arms and legs strung out to her sides, strapped down to stubby poles she could not see, lay shuddering. The only light - a breath of radiance shooting through a distant keyhole - spangled across the thousand pin heads that pierced her trembling flesh. A bed of nails, she was. Only more so.

 He watched her. Studied her. Inclining his head in the vast dark room he caught the outline of the starshine he had made of her. His snort of amusement had her jumping in her shackles, which made him laugh some more. He wondered who she really was, what she did for a living – whether she was married, had kids. He didn’t think so. He didn’t care. Despite the time he had spent on her, she wasn’t a project. Naomi Allen was just a whim.

He let her murmur and mumble a while longer. She was hungry – no matter. She was thirsty – he had splattered drops of water over her face these last couple of days, making her beg for it, licking as far as her tongue could reach around her lips, her chin, below her cheeks.

Outside the winter traffic thronged. Lorries air-braking, buses carrying mindless workers and wasters, cars distributing selfish lone drivers about the capital. Naomi heard none of it. Plugs of cotton wool, poked roughly into her ears, creaked painfully with every move she attempted to make.

She peed. Then she cried, the thick fabric binding her eyes darkened with the tears that fell more profusely than the pathetic spray of urine warming her thighs.

Crouching, near-naked himself except for the daggers, he took to his feet. Nothing could threaten the verve that prickled his skin, full as it was with exaltation.

*

“I love you.” It was a lie.

Naomi screamed at the muffled voice. So close. In her face.

“You’re twisted, you sick bastard. Let me go.”

“You twist, Naomi.”

His voice came from behind her head, then his hands joined his words and began to stroke her hair. He pulled at it, gently at first, then with harder, sharper tugs until clumps came away from her scalp. Naomi shook her head frantically as he tore at her, her sobbing drowned out as he sang, a high-pitched wailing, echoing her cries.

“Twist. Twist. Twist.”

He smiled affectionately at the girl in his hands. She shuddered as he slowed his caress, released his touch, and sat back, totally still. One minute. Five minutes, completely enjoying the fear mounting in her body.

“Where are you, you piece of shit?”

Without warning, he fell forward across her face and drove his tongue into her open, complaining mouth, forcing it deeper into her throat, sucking at her own tongue until she choked, and gagged, and it was time for more pins.

*************

Like the excerpt? The full tale is waiting for you in Cabaret of Dread!  By visiting the book's 'Look Inside' feature on Amazon you can also read the opening tale DRESSING-UP BOX, a few pages of SMILING CYRUS and a handful of mini-tales.

Of course, the best way to read this - and the many other stories in Vol.1 of Cabaret of Dread, is to download it. If you do, I am ever thankful... 

Buy/Download Cabaret of Dread from
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com