Here’s an Excerpt from My Seasonally-Appropriate Short Story…

Here’s an excerpt from my seasonally-appropriate short story, Beyond the Boneyard Gate. It is featured in the October issue of The Paperbook Collective.

“I open them on the inhale. Smoke laps against my prickly face. A bright orange dot glows from the statue like a pulsating beacon, growing and then receding with each pull of breath. His  breath. Moonlight glances off of a face whose features are re-forming before me, as stone becomes flesh and sinew. I pant, voiceless, and do not scream again.”

Counting Down to Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe, Day 5: The Premature Burial

The Premature Burial by Harry Clarke, 1919

The Premature Burial by Harry Clarke, 1919.

“THERE are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing, but which are too entirely horrible for the purposes of legitimate fiction.”-The Premature Burial, Edgar Allan Poe

Counting Down to Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe, Day 6: Ligeia

Ligeia by Harry Clarke, 1919

Ligeia by Harry Clarke, 1919.

“I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia.”-Ligeia, Edgar Allan Poe

Counting Down to Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe, Day 7: The Black Cat

The Black Cat by Aubrey Beardsley, 1894-1895

The Black Cat by Aubrey Beardsley, 1894-1895.

“For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief.”-The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe

Counting Down to Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe, Day 8: The Cask of Amontillado

The Cask of Amontillado by Harry Clarke, 1919

The Cask of Amontillado by Harry Clarke, 1919.

“The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.”-The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe

Counting Down to Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe, Day 9: The Raven

Gustav Doré's Cover Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, 1884

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Cover illustration by Gustav Doré, 1884.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary”-The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe

Counting Down to Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe, Day 10: The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher by Aubrey Beardsley, 1894-1895

The Fall of the House of Usher illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, 1894-1895.

“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singular dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.”-The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe

Counting Down to Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe, Day 11: The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart by Harry Clarke, circa 1919

The Tell-Tale Heart by Harry Clarke. From Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe, 1919.

“True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”-The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe