horror fiction

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An Amusing Halloween Read

TheHalloweenTreeBradbury

One of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury, provides a wonderful fantasy Halloween romp in his 1972 book ‘The Halloween Tree’.

“It was a small town by a small river and a small lake in a small northern part of a Midwest state,” reads the opening line.

In the typically quirky, spooky fantasy style only Bradbury can conjure, we follow the mysterious Mr. Carapace Clavicle Moonshroud as he leads a group of eight Halloween-dressed boys on a trick-or-treating journey that turns into a mission across time and space to find the group’s missing friend, Pipkin. Along the way, they discover the role that fear of death, ghosts, and the supernatural have in shaping our world.

This adventure is just pure Ray Bradbury fictional fun.

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Goodbye My Love, Goodbye

‘Tis near the season for Halloween so why not post something a little chilling?

Working on the second book of short stories, I completed one about a young man, his high school sweetheart, and their less-than-desirable relationship. The story is actually humorous and ends well. However, in some dark corner of my mind, I wondered:  what if it hadn’t ended well? What if the man couldn’t handle the fact his one true love was unfaithful?  What might he do? That’s when this poem came to me.

FoggyCemeteryGoodbyMyLoveGoodbye

“Goodbye My Love, Goodbye” by Jack R. Cotner  Copyright 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Retreating inward from the pain,

I smell the sweetness of her hair

As we move along the path. I strain

Uphill, dragging muddied weight to where

Headstones squat like sacred peaks between

Mowed grass where walked mourning crones.

Stoic statues weathered, weeping, still serene,

Guarding lengthy rows of buried bones.

We halt. Crows pass, loud caws abating.

A portal beyond the pale awaits, silent.

The gaping hole lies open, waiting, waiting

For my dearest here quiet, broken, spent.

Farewell, sweet beauty, unfaithful miss.

I weep. Red lipstick on blue, icy lips

Beckons. Entranced, I take one final kiss

Before tossing splendor into the dark abyss.

Goodbye my love, goodbye