Piercing the Darkness: A Charity Horror Anthology for the Children's Literacy Initiative Read online

  Janet Joyce Holden was born in the North of England and lives in Southern California. She is the author of Carousel and its upcoming sequel, and writes short stories about otherworldly creatures and things that creep about in the dark. Her blog can be found at http://louis-eldest.livejournal.com

  Gerard Houarner works by day at a psychiatric institution and writes at night, mostly about the dark. Recent appearances include stories in the anthologies Into The Darkness, Eulogies II, Dueling Minds, Torn Realities, Dueling Minds. Crossroad Press has published ebook editions of The Beast That Was Max, The Bard of Sorcery (also available on Audible), and A Blood of Killers, with more reprints and new material coming.

  Jonathan Janz grew up between a dark forest and a graveyard, and in a way, that explains everything. Brian Keene named his debut novel The Sorrows “the best horror novel of 2012.” The Library Journal deemed his follow-up, House of Skin, “reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Peter Straub’s Ghost Story.” Samhain Horror published his novel of vampirism and human sacrifice, The Darkest Lullaby, in April and his serialized horror novel Savage Species this summer. Of Savage Species, Publishers Weekly said, "Fans of old-school splatterpunk horror—Janz cites Richard Laymon as an influence, and it shows—will find much to relish." His vampire western Dust Devils will be released in February, and his sequel to The Sorrows (Castle of Sorrows) will be published in July 2014. He has also written three novellas (The Clearing of Travis Coble, Old Order, and Witching Hour Theatre) and several short stories.

  His primary interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children, and though he realizes that every author’s wife and children are wonderful and amazing, in this case the cliché happens to be true. You can learn more about Jonathan at www.jonathanjanz.com. You can also find him on Facebook, via @jonathanjanz on Twitter, or on his Goodreads and Amazon author pages.

  Brian Keene is the author of over thirty books, including Darkness on the Edge of Town, Take the Long Way Home, Urban Gothic, Castaways, Dark Hollow, Dead Sea, and The Rising. He also writes comic books such as The Last Zombie. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French, and Taiwanese. Several of his novels and stories have been developed for film, including Ghoul, The Ties That Bind, and Fast Zombies Suck. In addition to writing, Keene also oversees Maelstrom, his own small press publishing imprint specializing in collectible limited editions, via Thunderstorm Books. Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Media Bistro, Fangoria Magazine, and Rue Morgue Magazine. Keene lives in Pennsylvania. You can communicate with him online at www.briankeene.com or on Twitter at @BrianKeene.

  Jack Ketchum’s short story The Box won a 1994 Bram Stoker Award from the HWA, his story Gone won again in 2000 — and in 2003 he won Stokers for both best collection for Peaceable Kingdom and best long fiction for Closing Time. He has written over twenty novels and novellas, the latest being The Woman and I’m Not Sam, both written with director Lucky McKee. Five of his books have been filmed to date—The Girl Next Door, The Lost, Red, Offspring and The Woman, the last of which won him and McKee the Best Screenplay Award at the Sitges Film Festival in Germany. His stories are collected in The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard, Broken on the Wheel of Sex, Sleep Disorder (with Edward Lee), Peaceable Kingdom and Closing Time and Other Stories. His novella The Crossings was cited by Stephen King in his speech at the 2003 National Book Awards. In 2011 he was elected Grand Master by the World Horror Convention. He has four cats.

  Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over thirty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in eighteen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Hotep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story “Incident On and Off a Mountain Road” was adapted to film for Showtime’s “Masters of Horror.” He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.

  Jonathan Maberry is a N.Y. Times bestselling author, four-time Bram Stoker Award winner, and freelancer for Marvel Comics, IDW and Dark Horse comics. His novels include Extinction Machine, Fire & Ash, Patient Zero and many others. His award-winning teen novel, Rot & Ruin, is now in development for film. He is the editor of V-Wars, an award-winning vampire anthology series that is also in development as a comic from IDW; and Out of Tune, a forthcoming dark fantasy anthology. Since 1978 he’s sold more than 1200 magazine feature articles, 3000 columns, plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, and poetry. He teaches Experimental Writing for Teens, is the founder of the Writers Coffeehouse, and co-founder of The Liars Club. Jonathan is a frequent keynote speaker and guest of honor at genre conventions and writers conferences, often speaking on the craft and business of writing, the publishing industry, social media and other topics. He’s a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Horror Writers Association, and the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. Jonathan lives in Del Mar, California with his wife, Sara Jo and fierce little dog named Rosie. Visit him at www.jonathanmaberry.com

  Ronald Malfi is the award-winning author of horror novels, mysteries, and thrillers. In 2009, his crime drama, Shamrock Alley, won a Silver IPPY Award and was optioned for film. In 2011, his ghost story/mystery novel, Floating Staircase, was nominated by the Horror Writers Association for best novel; the book also won the 2012 IPPY National Gold Medal of Honor. Most recognized for his haunting, literary style and memorable characters, Malfi’s dark fiction has gained acceptance among readers of all genres. He currently lives along the Chesapeake Bay, with his wife and daughter, where he is at work on his next book. He can be reached online through his website, ronmalfi.com, or on Facebook and Twitter.

  Elizabeth Massie is a Bram Stoker Award- and Scribe Award-winning author of horror novels, short horror fiction, media tie-ins, mainstream fiction, historical novels, and nonfiction. Most recent works include short stories in the anthologies Vampires Don’t Sparkle, Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women, and Shadow Masters, her zombie novel Desper Hollow (Apex Books) and historical horror novel, Hell Gate (DarkFuse), and a new middle grade horror series, Ameri-Scares, which has launched with the first two novels - Virginia: Valley of Secrets, and New York: Rips and Wrinkles (Crossroad Press). Massie the creator of the Skeeryvilletown slew of cartoon zombies, monsters, and other bizarre misfits. In her “spare” time she manages Hand to Hand Vision, a Facebook-based fundraising project she founded to help others during these tough economic times. Massie lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and shares life and abode with the talented illustrator/artist Cortney Skinner. She can be reached through her website: www.elizabethmassie.com or through Facebook.

  C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances were in the Vile Things anthology, Fiction365.com, Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways. His novels are Revelations (available in hardcover, trade paperback and ebook formats from Necro Publications), The
Third Floor, and The Ghosts of Mertland County.

  James A. Moore is the author of over twenty novels, including the critically acclaimed Fireworks, Under the Overtree, Blood Red, Deeper, the Serenity Falls trilogy (featuring his recurring anti-hero, Jonathan Crowley), and his recent novels Blind Shadows and Seven Forges. He has twice been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and spent three years as an officer in the Horror Writers Association, first as Secretary and later as Vice President. He cut his teeth in the industry writing for Marvel Comics and authoring many role-playing supplements for White Wolf Games, including Berlin by Night and Land of 1,000,000 Dreams, and the novels Vampire: House of Secrets and Werewolf: Hellstorm. He currently lives in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. To find out more, visit him at genrefied.blogspot.com or at twitter.com/jamesamoore.

  Gene O’Neill lives in the Napa Valley with his wife, Kay. Gene has two degrees, neither having anything to do with writing (or much of anything else). Since 1979, Gene has seen over 120 of his stories published, most notably: two in The Twilight Zone Magazine, six in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, two in Pulpsmith, four in Science Fiction Age, three in Cemetery Dance, and many in specialized publications like Dragon and Starshore, with numerous anthology placements, including Borderlands 5 and Dead End:City Limits. Stories have been reprinted in France, Spain, and Russia. His short story collection Taste of Tenderloin won the Bram Stoker Award in 2010 year for collection, and also garnered a 2009 starred review in Publishers Weekly. His most recent story collections are Dance of the Blue Lady & Other Stories, and In Dark Corners. His novels include The Burden of Indigo, Collected Tales of the Baja Express, Shadow of the Dark Angel, Deathflash, Lost Tribe, and Not Fade Away.

  Monica J. O’Rourke has published more than one hundred short stories in magazines such as Postscripts, Nasty Piece of Work, Fangoria, Flesh & Blood, Nemonymous, and Brutarian and anthologies such as Horror for Good (for charity), The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra, and The Best of Horrorfind. She is the author of Poisoning Eros I and II, written with Wrath James White, Suffer the Flesh, and the new collection, In the End, Only Darkness. Her latest novel, What Happens in the Darkness, is available from Sinister Grin Press. She works as a freelance editor, proofreader, and book coach. Find her on www.facebook.com/MonicaJORourke.

  Gord Rollo was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, but now lives in Ontario, Canada. His short stories and novella-length work have appeared in many professional publications throughout the genre and his novels include: The Jigsaw Man, Crimson, Strange Magic, Valley Of The Scarecrow, Only The Thunder Knows, and The Translators. His work has been translated into several languages and several of his titles are currently being adapted for audiobooks and film. Besides novels, Gord edited the acclaimed evolutionary horror anthology, Unnatural Selection: A Collection of Darwinian Nightmares and co-edited Dreaming of Angels, a horror/fantasy anthology created to increase awareness of Down’s Syndrome. He can be reached through his website at www.gordrollo.com or via his publisher at www.enemyone.com.

  Mary SanGiovanni is the author of a number of books, including the Hollower Trilogy, Thrall, Chaos, and the novellas For Emmy and Possessing Amy. Her short fiction has appeared in periodicals, anthologies, and chapbooks for over a decade. She has a Masters degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, Pittsburgh. She is currently a member of The Authors Guild, The International Thriller Writers, and Penn Writers, and was previously an Active member in the Horror Writers Association. She lives in New Jersey with her son and her cat.

  Lucy A. Snyder is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress, Switchblade Goddess, and the collections Sparks and Shadows, Chimeric Machines, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. Her writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Hellbound Hearts, Doctor Who Short Trips: Destination Prague, Chiaroscuro, GUD, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. You can learn more about her at www.lucysnyder.com.

  Jeff Strand is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of such novels as Pressure, Dweller, and Wolf Hunt. If he was ever killed and then brought back to life, he likes to think that he wouldn't get all vengeful and stuff, but he honestly can't say how he'd react until it happens. Visit his Gleefully Macabre website at www.jeffstrand.com.

  T.T. Zuma is the author of various genre stories in numerous anthologies and is one of the editors of the Eulogies II anthology. He also reviews horror novels for Horror World and Cemetery Dance Magazine. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife Paula.

  Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author Tim Waggoner’s novels include Like Death and The Harmony Society, and his latest short story collection is Bone Whispers. In total, he’s published over thirty novels and one hundred stories, and his articles on writing have appeared in Writer’s Digest and Writers’ Journal, among other publications. He teaches creative writing at Sinclair Community College and in Seton Hill University’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program. Visit him on the web at www.timwaggoner.com.

  F. Paul Wilson is the award-winning, N.Y. Times bestselling author of forty-plus books and many short stories spanning medical thrillers, sf, horror, adventure, and virtually everything in between. More than 9 million copies of his books are in print in the US and his work has been translated into 24 languages. He also has written for the stage, screen, and interactive media. His latest thriller, Dark City, stars the notorious urban mercenary, Repairman Jack, and is the second of The Early Years Trilogy, following Cold City. He currently resides at the Jersey Shore and can be found on the Web at www.repairmanjack.com.

  Simon Wood is a California transplant from England. He's a former competitive race car driver, a licensed pilot and an occasional P.I. He shares his world with his American wife, Julie. Their lives are dominated by a longhaired dachshund, four cats, four chickens & ten thousand bees. He's the Anthony Award winning author of Working Stiffs, Accidents Waiting to Happen, Paying the Piper, Terminated, Asking For Trouble and We All Fall Down. His latest thrillers are Hot Seat and No Show. He also writes horror under the pen name of Simon Janus. Curious people can learn more at www.simonwood.net.

  Table of Contents

  ABOUT CHILDREN’S LITERACY INITIATIVE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  INDRODUCTION

  KING OF SHADOWS

  QUIET BULLETS

  HAVEN

  BRAVE GIRL

  *DEALING WITH MAMA LILA

  *HUSBAND OF KELLIE

  OBEDIENT FLIES

  *EXIT STRATEGY

  *ABATTOIR BLUES

  *CANNONBALL LYCANTHROPE

  THROWING MONSTERS

  *THE FIERCE STABBING AND SUBSEQUENT POST-DEATH VENGEANCE OF SCOOTER BROWN

  *THE HOUSE IN CYRUS HOLLER: A WILL CASTLETON ADVENTURE

  COOKED

  MIZ RUTHIE PAYS HER RESPECTS

  LETTING GO

  THE VIKING PLAYS PATTY CAKE

  SHADOW CHASER

  THE FOLLY

  SPIDER GOES TO MARKET

  *PEST CONTROL

  *I’M SO SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS

  TIMOTHY MEEK

  TRAPS

  *SEARCHING

  FIRE

  DANCE OF THE BLUE LADY

  DINOSAUR DAY

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS