Happy Halloween! Halloween is a time to run your imagination wild.. Seek out the hidden, explore the unfathomed, and tingle your senses with the mysterious world around us.. I have brought you a collection of KAW theme stories that may leave you awake all night.. These stories my dear reader, are to give you an insight into the fiendish EB monsters of KaW.. From Calydor to Z'uthmerak.. These gems of stories will tell you the chilling tales of their journeys!.. *Note: In this age of Interweb and neatly summarized information, I urge you to grab the actual book of these stories and short stories and read them without looking up on what they are about, and enjoy the authors' writing and storytelling.. And let your imagination go wild.. Razorback by Peter Brennen Set against the unforgiving Australian outback, this cautionary tale of environmental disaster pits a city man in search of his environmentalist wife who disappeared while attempting to document the slaughter of Kangaroos and an aging hunter with a score to settle.. against the slaughter industry ...and a menacing man eater that has gone mad. This gothic tale with narrative into the life of the beast and the beasts among men should give you a different perspective next time you solo Warbeasts.. The Beast by Peter Benchley "You go out and you try and kill it. But just so you understand exactly what it is you're dealing with: besides its eight huge tentacles, this thing has two whips. Each one is probably as long as this room and three or four feet thick. Those whips are covered with suction cups as big as this notepad. In the center of each cup is a claw as big as my fist and razor sharp. It grabs and impales his pray with those whips and drags it towards its beak, shredding the flesh as it goes, and these things can shred a one hundred pound tuna in five seconds. Its beak is like an eagle's, only it's about fifty times bigger and can bite through steel. Now, you make a mistake trying to kill this thing, and it gets you first, you pray to God those whips kill you before you get to that beak." Momotaro - Japanese Folktale by Hasegawa Takejiro The story of a boy and his friends of a dog, a monkey and a pheasant who went to the island of ogres to defeat the monsters is told with equal parts horror and wonder.. Golem by Edward Lee Animated clay.. Forged by the evil hearts of men to do their vengeful bidding.. This is a tale of ancient rites and mysticism, malevolently brought forth into the modern world.. Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne An Eden of toxic plants and flowers.. A maiden of intoxicating charm and beauty.. And man's fatal flaw to cure everything that is perceived as ill A fitting story for Hawthorn the Wretched.. The city of Brass - Arabian Nights This often overlooked gem of a short story in the Arabian Nights tells of horror and wonders buried amidst the ancient desert sands.. ..And a grand battle fought of Beasts and Jinn by King Solomon.. The Dragon by Ray Bradbury This short tale of two knights seeking to destroy a dragon may seem gimmicky... But there is a darker parable of humanity's misguided chivalry against the vast unknowns lurking beneath it's surface.. Grabow, Collicker and I by Algis Budrys from the short story collection Confederacy of the Dead "..assume you died.. And I offer you a second chance..".. As Vivid, chilling and intense as a rousing round of indi wars.. This story and others in this collection will put you in the unfamiliar realms of the battlefield.. I hope you enjoy them if you haven't read them.. Please share gems of horror/mystery stories for all of us to enjoy this Halloween! May the beasts run free tonight..
Once upon a time the devs gave out silver bars...we waited to sell them...they never came dun dun dun!!!
The true horror story of this month is how bland the Goosebumps movie was. Would not recommend it if you've read the books or watched the show.
A good intense short story is A Walk in the Dark by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. You can read it for free online at Baen Books website. “A Walk in the Dark” is definitely not a parody, and starts out apparently in Clarke’s best hard science vein, but gradually takes a sinister turn. A distinguished science fiction editor once wrote that the first story she read by Clarke, when she was very young, was this one, and it frightened her so much that it was years before she could bring herself to read anything else with his name on it. Of course, the typical reader isn’t going to grow up to be an editor, and can probably handle this story. Right after they make sure all the lights are on and check the batteries in their flashlight . . ."
Also Sandkings by George R.R. Martin. You know... the only story he's ever written that won both a Hugo and Nebula and quite frankly the only one deserving of it. You can download this for free off WordPress. "When Simon Kress returned to his home planet of Baldur from an offworld business trip, he was amused to find that his tank of Earth piranhas had cannibalized themselves into extinction, and of the two exotic animals that roamed his estate, only one remained. Now, in search of some new pets to satisfy his cruel pursuit of amusement, Simon finds a new shop in the city where he is intrigued by a new lifeform he has never heard of before ... a collection of multi-colored sandkings. The curator explains that the insect-like animals, no larger than Simon's fingernails, are not insects, but animals with a highly-evolved hive intelligence capable of staging wars between the different colors, and even religion--in the form of worship of their owner. The curator's warning to Simon about the regularity of their feeding, unfortunately, was not taken seriously.... "
These are actually some gems here. For people who enjoy reading and even for people who only like short reads. These short stories are some epic things. A ton of people ignore the short story scene because they don't know about it. This thread is just trying to introduce people to some of the best writing out there. The awesome stuff that used to be in magazines randomly that got people into the genres themselves.
Just reread Sandkings again. Definitely George RR Martins BEST work. Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire doesn't even comes close and Sandkings is only 42 pages long in the book I have it in.
MORE SUGGESTIONS! Medusa by Theodore Sturgeon "The ships crew were all insane except for one man, who wasn't so sure of himself. That might give them the edge when they entered the region of space from which SHIPS DID NOT RETURN!" The Rhine's World Incident by Neal Asher "The Military team had accomplished their deadly mission and were trying to get off the planet alive. But something was hunting them down one by one, something not human..." Talent by Robert Bloch (better known for writing Psycho) No synopsis here, just know this is one of the best horror writers are his playful darkest.
The Valley of the Worm by Robert E. Howard (some might know him as the guy who created CONAN the BARBARIAN) The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft We are doing a short story thread of horror writers then Lovecraft deserves his place here being one of the legends of it all.
The Veldt is one of my favorite Ray Bradbury short stories. It has everything. Everything. The Infamous Bengal Ming by Rajesh Parameswaran A love story. A tiger falls in love with his keeper. He expresses his love the only was he knows. Then he escapes and forces his love upon the world. The Other Place by Mary Gaitskill A father sees his own fantasies about murdering women in his son...
Totem by David Morrell You may know David Morrell from that one book about a Vietnam Vet who had just been pushed too far from a local sheriff.. (for the movie generation, that's First Blood btw).. But he wrote this taught thriller horror story set in a small Wyoming town where this time, the protagonist is the Sheriff.. ...and something vicious is coming down from the hills.. The Banshee Witch: From The Last Apprentice - A Coven of Witches by Joseph Delaney This is classified as youth fiction so if you are a youth, you might enjoy it straight up.. For the ahem older adults, this collection is joyous cos we can remind ourselves into the younger days where the magic and mysteries were fresher.. And a reminder of a younger sense of wonder and horror is just as endearing as the stories themselves.. The tale tells of a youth apprenticing with a witch hunter and taking on a strange case.. Cos you know.. banshees are not witches.. Journey Into Fear and Other Great Stories of Horror on the Railways: A collection edited by Richard Peyton Haunted train stations? Check.. Haunted railways? Check.. Mysterious passengers on the train? Check.. Trains that take you to mysterious places? Check.. Oh... And if you dig a little deeper into your imagination, and dive into little gems like Rudyard Kiplings's .007 or William Nolan's "Lonely Train a' comin".. You will find yourself a lot more intimate with the locomotive itself too.. I also leave you this round.. With a link to 10 pretty decent 10 short Gothic horror stories.. What are the essences of Gothic horror?.. Gloomy Atmospheres, Impending Dread, Doomed Romances, Longings of humanity that it just can't reach..and the prices we pay for it.. Are all showcased here.. ... And before you look for RP in the game, read up on The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins (Story #3)... Yea.. She's comin' 10 Free Gothic Horror Stories The link may not look good on the phones.. Google "Flavorwire Gothic stories"