Shock Totem 4: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted
Page 13
Luckily, Ken grabbed it pretty quickly. I actually wasn't sure if it was going to be accepted. This is not a standard tale, as you might already have read. This is a story predicated upon an MP3 playlist. Each song begins a new section and the song's music, theme and tempo have a lot to do with that particular section. These songs were chosen very specifically. To get the biggest benefit from reading the story, I encourage you to make your own playlist to mirror the protagonist’s MP3 playlist and keep up.
These are the songs in order:
“Muskrat Love,” by Captain and Tennille
“Dirty Deeds,” by AC/DC
“I Feel the Earth Move,” by Carole King
“Separate Ways,” by Journey
“Girls on Film,” by Duran Duran
“Man of Constant Sorrow,” sung by Dan Tyminski
“Fight the Power,” by Public Enemy
“Stan,” by Eminem
“War Pigs,” by Black Sabbath
“Get the Party Started,” by Pink
So sit back, crank up the music, and read my story. It will be a multimedia experience that you will not soon forget.
—Weston Ochse
“Lobo”
What would you do if you had to murder someone? You’re a good person. You pay your taxes, you always use your blinker when changing lanes, and even flushing a spider down the toilet makes you feel a little guilty. Imagine, then, that breaking the sixth commandment was suddenly a standard part of your job description. You have to do it, or else you and everyone in your family will be killed instead. What would you do? In what frame of mind would you have to put yourself to follow through with such an unspeakable act?
“Lobo” is my humble attempt at exploring this predicament. The capacity for evil lies in us all. Does the fact that he kills people for a living somehow make him more evil than you or me? He at least recognizes that what he’s doing is morally reprehensible, even if he tries not to think about it during the act itself. What about you? When you do something wrong, do you even stop to think about it? Or are you like me, going about your life in willful, blissful ignorance of your own malice?
But hey, we’re supposed to be the good guys. Right?
—Justin Paul Walters
“Dead Baby Day”
I thought it would be a bit of a challenge to write a horror story with no violence, no sexual content and no profanity that could still effectively unsettle a reader. Adding an over-the-top title to the thing just seemed like a nice way to mislead the reader (although I’m sure some will be disappointed that it’s not an all-out bloodbath in nine-hundred words). Of course, it goes back to that old favorite routine of middle-schoolers: the dead baby joke. While I’m the older sibling in my family, I can’t say that I ever did anything quite this cruel to my little sister.
—Michael Penkas
“Fade to Black”
Lately I’ve been writing stories based on settings instead of characters or the idea. This story was inspired by a gorgeous and crumbling cemetery near my house. The place is more than two hundred years old and is absolutely stuffed with headstones, monuments and crypts. A perfect setting for a ghost story, but it couldn’t be traditional. Instead of terrorizing people, I wanted the ghosts to be frightened. But what could terrify a ghost? Something that hunts them. And something more natural and relentless like Death itself.
At the same time, I know nothing about the running of an actual cemetery, so I had to make up a job for Sasha that would allow her to interact with the ghosts. The Fade, the Wraith, and the after-death services all meshed together into one story. Almost too perfectly. Almost as if it were meant to be that way all along.
—Jaelithe Ingold
“The Many Ghosts of Annie Orens”
(Warning: Contains spoilers.)
Something I wanted to explore with this story is the various possible meanings of ghost and haunted. I liked the notion of a haunted person versus a haunted place, someone who carries their ghosts with them no matter where they go. I also wanted to play with the trope of a typical ghost hunter. Even though she doesn't want to admit it, deep down Annie is still a lonely little girl. I see her as someone who was initially full of hope when she first learned she was the only one who could hear the ghost in her closet. Then she realized all the ghost wanted was to be set free and leave her behind. She's haunted by her memories, and those are the true ghosts in her world. It led her to completely shut herself away from humanity, to walk among people without letting them see her—a metaphorical ghost.
Finally, I liked Annie becoming a different kind of ghost as she follows Ellie into the world of the dead. On one level, she's giving up her humanity, but on another, she's just now becoming human by finally letting herself be vulnerable to another person.
—A.C Wise
ALSO FROM SHOCK TOTEM PUBLICATIONS
Shock Totem 1
Shock Totem 2
Shock Totem 3
Shock Totem 4
Shock Totem 4.5
THE SHOCK TOTEM CONNECTION
Publications featuring Shock Totem staff
K. Allen Wood
The Zombie Feed
52 Stitches: Horror Stories, Vol. 2
Epitaphs: The Journal of New England Horror Writers
Mercedes M. Yardley
52 Stitches: Horror Stories, Vol. 1
52 Stitches: Horror Stories, Vol. 2
The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales
Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer
Werewolves and Shapeshifters: Encounters with the Beasts Within
Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes: Zany Zombie Poetry for the Undead Head
Demons: Encounters with the Devil and His Minions, Fallen Angels, and the Possessed
John Boden
52 Stitches: Horror Stories, Vol. 2
Nick Contor
52 Stitches: Horror Stories, Vol. 2
Robert J. Duperre
Silas
The Fall: The Rift Book I
Dead of Winter: The Rift Book II
The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales
ARTIST BIO
Silent Q Design was founded in Montreal in 2006 by Mikio Murakami. Melding together the use of both realistic templates and surreal imagery, Mikio's artistry proves, at first glance, that a passion for art still is alive, and that no musician, magazine, or venue should suffer from the same bland designs that have been re-hashed over and over.
Mikio’s work has been commissioned both locally and internationally, by bands such as Redemption, Synastry, Starkweather, and Epocholypse. Shock Totem was his first book-design project.
For more info, visit www.silentqdesign.net.
SHOCK TOTEM SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
What We Want: We consider original, unpublished stories within the confines of dark fantasy and horror—mystery, suspense, supernatural, morbid humor, fantasy, etc. Stories must have a clear horror element.
We're interested in journalism, well-researched and emotionally compelling nonfiction about real horrors—disease, poverty, addiction, etc.
We're interested in dark poetry on a limited basis.
What We Do Not Want: We're not interested in hard science fiction, epic fantasy (swords and sorcery), splatterporn (blood and guts and little more), or clichéd plots. Clichéd themes are okay. No fan fiction.
What We Will Consider: Reprints not published within the last 12 months. Author must retain all applicable rights.
Average Response Time: 2 months.
Payment Rates: We pay 5 cents per word for original, unpublished fiction. We pay 2 cents per word for reprints. There is a $250 cap on all accepted pieces.
Rights: We claim First North American Serial Rights and First Electronic World Rights (not to include Internet use) for a period of one year. After which all rights revert to the author.
For more detailed information, please visit us at www.shocktotem.com
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ations, LLC.