Twisted Horror

A plague of immortality. An encounter with an urban legend. A drive that never ends. In The Creeps, you'll experience these frights and more! Erik Handy, the author of The Mummy Kills The Brides and Macabre, brings you 37 stories that continue the genre-bending short fiction legacies of H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King.

Axel Wilson is extremely protective of his former street crew, a bunch of child thieves who are under the care of his mentor, Saul Hagin. But Saul is dead, and Saul’s mate Ira has dollar signs where his heart should be. Not knowing what else to do, Axel makes a call for help, not realizing that his problem is going to land smack dab in front of the Alphabits, and drop him right on top of his true mate’s lap.

What's that movement behind the curtain? Why are those seagulls coming so close? What’s that light in the sky? Is that mist on the water? How sharp is that knife? Do dragons dwell in deep space? These questions and more are answered in Dark Rooms, ten short stories of dark fiction, supernatural, suspense and psychological horror all bound together with a black sense of humour. Stories of sibling love... and hate, and the dangers of driving in the rain. Would you really want to be stranded on a deserted island? And some days, going to the circus isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Open ...

A YOUNG WOMAN'S FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL FROM THE WILD AND HER PAST. In a bold leap toward self-discovery and adventure, Megan Burgan embraces Tyler Russell’s invitation for a wilderness backpacking trip, igniting a spark of hope and possibility within her. However, what begins as an exhilarating journey through nature’s breathtaking landscapes quickly transforms into a harrowing struggle for survival. Alone and besieged by the haunting shadows of her past, Megan must summon every ounce of her strength, resilience, and ingenuity to fight for survival in an unforgiving and treacherous ...

- A henpecked husband makes a stand against his surly wife.- Is a mysterious stain on the ceiling of a prison cell a product of the inmate's imagination or something more sinister?- A woman trapped in a loveless marriage finds magic in a gift from a friend.- Something is alive in the outhouse…- A young boy longs to venture beyond the walls of his post-apocalyptic city, until he learns the terrifying truth about what’s out there.- A terminally ill teen’s forbidden love affair turns tragic.- A young witch and her talking dog are tasked with ridding their home of unwanted guests. Magic ...

The Soul Redemption is a brutal, heart-pounding psychological thriller that you won’t want to put down. At the story’s heart is a young man, Jacob, whose early life dealt him a huge blow. It all began with the sudden disappearance of his parents, followed by a series of misfortunes that sent him spiralling down into the abyss. Confined to the Winebeck Hospital for the insane, Jacob becomes a pawn in a sick game within those walls. He is subjected and witness to unspeakable horrors at the hands of twisted, depraved staff and fellow patients. And it takes an insurmountable will for him to...

While the vast majority perishes in quiet anonymity, a tour of any national monument quickly reveals countless names carved into stone. These names generally identify three classes of people; scribe, conquered and conqueror. Indeed, if anything, life is an endless series of contests, large and small, but these stone-graven records typically ignore the latter for the former. Too often, history overlooks the struggles of mundanity, which perhaps better define those who endure. Pause a reflective moment to ponder the future – anticipate all the boastful elite to be immortalized there. ...

Everyone loves a good joke, but nobody enjoys being subjected to the fun. Pranks are an especially childish form of delight, perhaps because they are the ultimate expression of prurient sadism, which we must disavow as civilized adults. We, the same civilized adults who teach our beloved youth the art of warfare while stockpiling an obscene surplus of thermonuclear weapons. Now that is funny! So, tease a guilty moment to titillate your secret sadist today. Giggling, it whispers. Of spoiled affluence and nothing better to do; of grotesque victimization that makes monsters from innocent ...

Several of the best human hypocrisies are immortalized in catechisms. We say “violence never solved anything” when history repeatedly teaches us otherwise, and once we prematurely labeled an entire, global war as “The War to End All Wars” long before we recorded its half-formed outcome. Dynasties fall. Empires rise. In marble, granite and concrete, we immortalize these events, large and small, and we celebrate the human beings named heroes there. Rightly so. Pause a moment before The Wall – let your finger trace names in stone. From pits of despair and summits of glory, they ...

Within realms of the unknown, superstition stalks. Primitives see god in a rainbow, but they also suspect a deadly serpent beneath every unturned stone. Ignorance and fear sometimes unite to inspire us or spare us, but more often this demonic duality serves to light the torches of enraged mobs. Indeed, history tells stories of witches burned alive amid great celebrations. We know these things happened. We also know witchcraft is a figment. Fearlessly now, step away from the staid, known world that shelters you. Venture into lands of conundrum and enigma to witness ciphered matters of mind. ...

Rascals, rapscallions, villains and varlets; all terms of a bygone era intended to describe the guy in the black hat, that perverse character of low virtue and strayed morality who forever ties the distressed damsel to cold, steel rails. Gasp! Within fictional fantasies, they are always guys and damsels, and they must wear black. In reality, we still mostly read about bad ‘guys’, but the women tend to fight back now, often with devastating effect. Tonight, the devil laces thigh-high boots over fence-net stockings before taking a turn through town. Be warned and beware. Of evil delight ...

Tabloids invite us to gorge ourselves on tales of epic personal failures, and so many of us eagerly oblige. Guilty pleasures, we savor these stories most satisfactorily with a garnish of sex scandal, a dash of fiscal malfeasance and a generous dollop of social corruption. Next, we expect a weeping dessert of shame and regret to follow. Afterward, everything ends in a dumpster or the backseat of an aging sedan before we stagger home again, sated, smug and full of improving condemnations. Cup your ears and shade your eyes now. Peer into the gloom of your neighbor’s windows to eavesdrop. ...

Champions come in all shapes and forms. The same is true of cowards. Most of us line up somewhere between these two extremes of potential, but none of us eagerly anticipate having to prove ourselves in a crossfire. In fact, most notable acts of heroism are not the results of well-considered, carefully laid plans. Rather, these are often spontaneous yet deliberate demonstrations of selflessness occasionally on display when normal human beings must confront life-threatening risk. Take a deep, calming breath now before you dare gaze into the face of death. Trembling, heed its heckling catcalls...

Disinfectants, detergents, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and homicides – everything a human being needs to clear his or her lot and start fresh in life, clean and pure, and it all waits at the press of a finger. Some of us love a good disaster, but we watch from a safe distance and it always happens to someone else… somewhere else… never here. Never us. Distended bellies and skeletal children are always the misfortune of others. Stop and wonder why. Your preferred answer no doubt leaps easily to mind, but the truth is probably quite different, because pestilence comes in all ...

A silly titmouse once sang sweetly to describe love as “a many-splendored thing”. Perhaps this is so. For some. For others, love’s terrible spectacle shines in its many violent twists and unexpected turns. Each feckless angle of its affection or disaffection invariably leaves a disfiguring blemish that renders exquisite facets of character from alternating impacts of tragedy, disaster, triumph and ecstasy. Too briefly, desire’s artistry sparkles the amazed eye with a fateful brilliance before fiery passion fades to leave its victims cold and trembling in its wake. Steal a secret ...

Within each human being lingers a mischievous child, but each of us also cages an unformed primitive. We keep our individual id-monster within the tempered bars of civility, yet it remains our secret delight of a darkened, unobserved evening and we make it our fondest fetish at every available opportunity. No matter how mightily we struggle, history scrawls with endless tales of failed self-control, so each scandal both titillates and disgusts depending upon personal sensibilities. Indulge your inner-beast. How it roars! Of broken souls crushed between despair and revenge; of normalcy ...

While we collectively fear wild animals and muggers, most contemporary plagues come in the guise of unavoidable corporate logos and unforgettable commercial jingles. This new and most modern form of disease presents symptoms that include unhealthy obsessions, unwise compulsions and preprogrammed responses, all accompanied by an irrepressible tune that inevitably drives a rational mind to the very brink of lunacy. Visualize anything except the latest fad slogan while engrossing yourself in a moment of hysteric interest, and then pause to think. Of dreamscape dominions wrought from the felt ...

Boogeymen, banshees, werewolves and vampires; all figments of horror drawn upon parchments of fable, each the scrawl of individual phobias revisited by trembling quills dipped into inkwells of collective nightmare. Despite vaguely amusing caricatures, these monstrous legends probably developed from grisly human origins. Indeed, we confront our violent primitives in every new atrocity, and each murder teaches a simple lesson that humankind consistently resists. Consequently, we forever lack viable means for exorcising so-called ‘inner demons’. Even now, your secret devil whispers into ...

Peddlers and snake oil, pimps and pornography, lunatics and paranoia… each pair travels the same darkened alleyways to service identical shadow-bound gates. We receive them by the backdoor, thank you, and always well into the evening. These are private matters undertaken and clearly marked by clandestine hush and furtive sidelong glance. Sometimes concealed in the open but more often hidden in a fog of disinformation, our every secret contains a kernel of truth wrapped within a burlap of proficient lies. Patience and due diligence may unwrap the enigma to decipher a hidden message, but ...

What happened to James Lockedon? When a man is reported missing, Detective Jain can’t understand why he has to deal with it. Missing people are mundane jobs for uniform officers. However, he quickly realises that he’s in over his head and the investigation takes a dark turn. Going back to crimes from decades before to help him solve this new mystery, Jain wonders how far a man can go in order to stay hidden. A debut novel, mixing genres into an unconventional mystery novel. Independent review quotes (Goodreads): "The best book I've read this year" "What a fantastic read" "I took for ...