New Short Fiction – “The Girl In 114”

Standard

Hot off the presses at Hiraeth Books, the newest issue of Dark As Life has my newest publication, “The Girl In 114.” Set in the Toronto neighbourhood of Parkdale, centered on the infamous West Lodge towers, the story concerns two generations’ obsession with the same ghost, and the myths and rumours that spring up among locals when the eerie and inexplicable occurs.

“It was just chance encounters at first, stoned kids wandering through the hallways between one place to chill or another. When you’re in an altered state, it’s much more comfortable to get off the elevator on the second floor and walk down to the exits. It avoids the problem where the elevator doors open in the lobby and there’s a mixture of people ranging from disapproving elders from more traditionalist cultures to the overbearing and imposing Spanish woman who runs the rental office. Kids looking to avoid that scene, then, almost always pass through the hallway outside 114. One night, closer to the witching hour than not, a trio came out of the elevator and were halfway down the shabby hall when they saw the little girl standing in the middle of the dirty carpet. She didn’t notice them, and they edged by her with wide eyes and disbelieving expressions on their faces. They could have lied to themselves later about the appearance just being some weird kid, but the side of the girl’s head was stoved in and her eyes flickered. Even then, when her corporeal hold on reality was strongest, her eyes phased in and out of being. The old chestnut about the eyes being the window to the soul never supposed those windows being shattered with a brick.” 

Trevor James Zaple, “The Girl In 114”

Grab a copy of Dark As Life 2 and get spooked tonight! Click on the image below to be taken to Hiraeth’s shop. Don’t forget to check out my most recent work with Crow & Cross Keys and Sinister Smile Press, or the full list of available work.

Cover image of Dark As Life 2, from Hiraeth Books

Lights On Distant Shorelines

Standard

Continue reading

Get Better Off Dead 9 Now!

Standard

Continue reading

Pre-order Better Off Dead 9!

Standard

Continue reading

Mal du pays – New Short Fiction

Standard

Continue reading

+Horror Library+ 7, Available Now!

Standard

The long-running and much-loved horror anthology +Horror Library+, published through Dark Moon Books, has released its latest iteration and your humble music nerd/fiction writer servant has a piece included in it! Check out the links below to get your own copy. If you’re into horror it’s a no-brainer.

Direct from Dark Moon Books

Via Amazon

Via Barnes & Noble

Rate/Review on Goodreads

Fourth Time, First Win: NaNoWriMo 2021

Image

Text Mining: Cujo

Standard

When it comes to my least favourite King novels, Cujo is third. Why? It’s disjointed, for one; a lot of the book is taken up by the foibles of the Sharp Cereal Professor and honestly I can’t bring myself to care enough about the dying art of marketing kid’s cereals in the early 1980s. Also, the Trentons are not sympathetic characters. Look, I’ve written elsewhere about how your characters don’t necessarily need to be likable. I’ve gone off at length about how needing your characters to be the reader’s best friend is just a trap that encourages an immature fanbase that will rise up and kidnap you when you decide to kill those characters off…

Wait, actually, I think that was Misery.

Continue reading

Text Mining: Roadwork

Standard

 

The third Bachman novel, Roadwork, is another portrait of a seethingly angry man acting out against his grievances with society. In Rage, the protagonist dealt with his anti-social angst by taking his classroom hostage and killing two teachers. In The Long Walk, the protagonist deals with it by joining a ghastly game show that runs people down to their deaths. Roadwork is a little less kinetic than either; the protagonist here, George Dawes, simply gives into inertia and refuses to progress along with everyone else. A highway extension is slated to destroy an old suburban neighbourhood and Dawes is in charge of finding both a new house to live and a new location for the industrial laundry he works for. In an act of rebellion against the inherent unfairness of the situation, he decides to do neither. He refuses to vacate his property, and ends up getting shot and killed in a stand-off with the police.

Continue reading

Text Mining: Firestarter

Standard

Firestarter: another classic King tale of a troubled young girl who develops strange psychic powers and uses them to literally burn people alive. Charlie and her dad are chased by a mysterious U.S. alphabet agency bent on weaponizing the intersection of science and paranormal research. Half the book is the chase; the other half is the catch, and that combination makes for some interesting results, as we’ll see.

Continue reading