“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” – C.S. Lewis
“
Poor Me and Ted” by
Kate Jonez.
“Poor Me, and Ted” first appeared in
ATTIC TOYS an anthology published by
Evil Jester Press and edited by
Jeremy C. Shipp. “Every day we go about our lives navigating through crowds on busy city streets, riding buses or trains filled with strangers. Most of the time, individuals barely register in the sea of humanity. We don’t know, or perhaps even care, what lurks in the mind of nondescript passers-by. We should care.”
KATE JONEZ is a student of all things scary and when she isn’t writing she loves to collect objects for her cabinet of curiosities, research obscure and strange historical figures and photograph weirdness in Southern California where she lives with a very nice man and a little dog who is also very nice but could behave a little bit better. She writes dark fantasy fiction.
Ceremony of Flies published by
DarkFuse is available in
limited edition hardcover and ebook. Her
Bram Stoker Award nominated novel
Candy House is available at Amazon in
print and
ebook. She is also chief editor at
Omnium Gatherum, a small press dedicated to publishing unique dark fantasy, weird fiction or literary dark fiction in
print & ebook. Three
Omnium Gatherum books have been nominated for
Shirley Jackson Awards.
Your reader –
Tatiana Gomberg – is a New York City based actress and audiobook narrator. She has performed Off and Off-Off Broadway as well as regionally and internationally. Her work in
The Night of Nosferatu garnered her an
NYIT award nomination for
Best Featured Actress and her portrayal of a drone pilot in
Hummingbirds earned her a
Best Actress Nomination through the
Planet Connections Awards. She also played leads in two seasons of classics at
Theatre 1010 and toured the United States with
TheatreworksUSA. You can hear her narration work on
audible.com, tv, radio, and numerous podcasts. She blogs at
TatianaGomberg.com.
“Glory, Glory, Glory. That’s about the stupidest name you can give a person like me. But my mom had high hopes like lots of hard-working folks do. They use fancy names like they’re magic spells. As if naming a kid could somehow make it better than it really is. I don’t go in for that kind of crap. I named my kid John. Simple. John.‘I know that mess is up here somewhere, Ted. I know it is.'”
“
The Beachcomber “ by
L.R. Bonehill.
“The Beachcomber” was originally published in May 2013 by Dark Fuse at
Horror D’oeuvres. “It is one of those rare stories that came to me more or less fully formed after spotting a strange, slightly disturbing figure ambling across a rain-soaked beach in Wales. There was no way I wanted to talk to this odd man, but, from a safe distance, I wanted to know what clacked and rattled inside his bag. He’s still out there somewhere, I’m sure. So, like all Pseudopod stories, this one is most definitely true.”
L.R. BONEHILL is a writer from the dark heart of England. His work has appeared in various haunts including
Hint Fiction,
Fifty-Two Stitches,
This is Horror, and
Cast Macabre. He is lucky enough to have been published alongside some of his literary heroes including
Joe R. Lansdale,
Gary Braunbeck, and
Peter Straub. This never ceases to make him smile. He blogs at
Bonehill’s Boneyard. His latest tale of woe can be found in an upcoming
DARKFUSE anthology.
Your reader –
John Michnya – is an actor, illustrator, and screen printer living in Pittsburgh PA.
“All that came back from the cold sea was Little Rosie-Cheeks. Washed ashore one late afternoon as rain whipped down from a slate-grey sky and a rough wind snapped across the beach. Face down in a rock pool, stranded in shallow water and silt. Red cheeks washed pale, white dress smeared with grime the colour of tobacco. A deep gouge cut across her forehead, the seams flecked with grit.
David held the doll now as he walked along the quiet beach. Held it by the hand as if it were a child at his side. It bumped and knocked against his leg as a litter of shells crunched underfoot. Water leaked through a split in the bottom of one shoe. He could taste salt in the breeze, the tang of brine on his tongue.”
“
Sanctuary” by
Steve Calvert“Sanctuary” makes its first appearance on Pseudopod. “‘Sanctuary’ began as a story about fear, and how it can sometimes feed on itself and grow stronger. Later I realized it was also a story about prisons and how—sometimes—the worst prisons are the ones we build in our minds.”
STEVE CALVERT (usually) lives in the UK. He usually writes horror fiction, but occasionally writes in other genres. His fiction has been published in
Arkham Tales,
Hub, and
Necrotic Tissue. You can learn more about Steve at his
website and further slices of his fiction can be read in his horror anthology
Written in Blood, which is available in the
Amazon Kindle store.
Your reader –
Roberto Suarez – is a proud supporter and periodic narrator for all Escape Artists productions. He co-hosts of “
A Pod of Casts”, the Game of Thrones Podcast! His blog can be found
here.
“Raoul had been sleeping. He did not know what had awakened him. Perhaps his body had grown tired of sleep. Raoul slept a lot–too much–
but his hiding place was small and dark, so there was nothing else for him to do.”
Interstitial music is “Fearless Bleeder” by
Chimpy, available from
Music Alley.
Listen to this week's Pseudopod.