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Crossing the line. In life, we draw many lines—between good and evil, guilt and innocence, real and unreal, life and death. And having drawn these lines, we cross them because humanity is curious, careless, devious, and, sometimes, downright wicked. So what happens if you cross the line? Does it change you and what is waiting on the other side? In Ink Stains, Volume 6, ten authors explore what it means to cross the line and the price we pay to do it. This is a collection of short stories that range from fantasy through science fiction to horror and from the fantastical to the grit of day to day life. Join writers Monica Carter, George Kelly, Alison Garsha, Ken Goldman, Elana Gomel, Christopher Locke, Morrison, Thomas Olbert, Evan Purcell, and Nicole Tanquary as they step over the line to find what waits on the other side.
Death. Murder. Betrayal. An inevitable undoing. The selfish and terrible actions of humans rarely go unpunished in a world where Fate is a cruel mistress and Karma can be more vengeful than a woman scorned. Hell is real, and it exists here on Earth as several characters in the stories contained within can attest as they face war, jealousy, domestic violence, and supernatural forces. Some face Hell on a literal level as others discover it is one of their own making. None were prepared for the reality of their consequences. Authors Michael Barron, Eric M. Battaglia, Eddie Cantrell, Michael R. Collins, Patrick Hackeling, Matthew Lett, J.A.W. McCarthy, Karen Metcalf, Ben Nein, Liam Quinn, RL Schumacher, Caleb Stephens, C.J. Thomson, Jackie Valacich, and J.S. Watts weave together dark tales that question how far one is willing to push to get what they desire and explore the consequences of those more interested in themselves than their fellow men and women.
Decay. The word inspires images of mold-encrusted carpets in abandoned hotels, forgotten toys in the rain, and rusting roller coasters. Those of us who call ourselves urban explorers are obsessed with it, perhaps because of its profound sense of sadness; if we are still and listen, we can hear the whispers of a brighter past. This pervasive ghost doesn’t only haunt the physical world; it invades our bodies, minds, relationships, and societies. It is inevitable; we are helpless to stop it. In these stories, one man is suddenly stalked by the same hooded figure that pursued his terminally ill father, while another stalks the world’s evil at great cost to himself. A woman who’s recently picked up smoking undergoes a monstrous transformation, another reels when she sees her boyfriend for what he truly is, and North Pole elves experience heartbreak for the first time. There are more; fifteen tales in all. These are the things we lose; we die a little each day. Some of us just more quickly than others.
The world is a beautiful and terrifying place, where the lands have secrets of their own. There’s a rustle in the trees in the French countryside. Is it the wind? Or the soldiers who should have died just once? The fields of India encircle the shaman as he performs rituals that can take away a life or bring it back. The woods next to a lake in New England hide a camp full of archetypes and a psycho who may or may not wear a mask. There’s something about a place in time folded into a tale that becomes a character of its own, something that tantalizes and mesmerizes. From the twisting, gravel roads of New Zealand to the dusty, hard-lived ranches of the American West, we travel the world to find the disturbed, the mysterious, and the heart-wrenching. Authors Luke Bandy, Nick Barton, S. B. Roark, Michael D. Burnside, Gwyneth Cooper, Dana Himrich, Brooke Reynolds and introduce us to their worlds and invite us in to see it as they do.
Relationships are complicated at best. Some are beautiful, some are beautiful disasters, and some are just deadly. This edition of Ink Stains explores some of the most fantastic, frightening, and fascinating dysfunctional relationships ever put down on ink, be it with a parent, a friend, a would-be lover, or Kurt Cobain. Authors Clay McLeod Chapman, Mario E. Martinez, Matt Meyer, Ted Myers, Adam Michael Nicks, Jay Outhier, Doug Russell, Ryanne Strong, Bobbi Thomas, Lynden Wade, Kathleen Wolak, and Todd Zack give us a look at interactions between people behind closed doors and in the dark corners of their minds where dangerous, delirious thoughts sometimes turn into actions.
In a dark future, the orbiting Mars Platforms are an independent space nation and open trading port where every vice known to man is legally practiced. Sabine DeGuerra is a professional concubine with a long list of wealthy clients. A master of dance, mathematics and martial arts as well as sex, Sabine makes a comfortable living, though haunted by the dark nightmares of her secret past and the dangers of her present. Sabine’s life changes dramatically when Mirabelle, a young orphan girl fleeing torture and death in a tyrannical Mars colony, seeks her help. Sabine risks her own life to get Mirabelle and herself off the platforms and out of Mars space. Surrounded by the cold, black vacuum of space, death lurks around every corner of the platforms at the hands of the Guard, the merciless security guild. Sabine has only her courage and cunning against overwhelming and deadly odds…
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Over its twenty-issue and seven-year lifespan, Something Wicked magazine published over 150 stories from new and established authors across the world. Volume Two marks the official transition of Something Wicked from magazine to annual anthology. The contributors are seasoned veterans and first-timers brought together in a single book containing tales of post-apocalyptic dystopias, alternate realities, far-future science fiction and good old-fashioned blood-chilling horror, edited and compiled by the doting godparents of South African genre fiction, Joe Vaz and Vianne Venter. Let your mind wander across distant galaxies, down darkened alleys, and across oceans of floating cities and let Something Wicked be your guide. Let the journey begin.