by Shock Totem
Sometimes in my stories I like to lighten up, do a little dark humor instead of the really grim stuff. That doesn’t mean, however, that I can’t take a scalpel to people and things I don’t particularly like. In the case of “Lighten Up,” that meant Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-smoking law and holier-than-thou yuppie fucks. Both of which I cordially despise. The characters in the story are all composites of bar regulars I’ve known over the years, and the setting is the late lamented Aegean on Columbus and 70th Street in Manhattan. C.L.A.S.H.—Citizens Lobbying Against Smoking Harassment—was a real organization. I still have a card they handed out at a meeting at P.J. Carney’s Pub. You put it at your space at the bar. It says Gone For A Puff.
–Jack Ketchum
“Magnolia’s Prayer”
You hear the stories in the news from time to time, postmen hoarding mail. But why would a postman hoard mail? This was the Shock Totem flash fiction prompt that resulted in a weeklong struggle to put something together that I’d be happy enough with to finish and send. It seemed like it could be such a personal thing for someone to commit to; something dirty, and secret.
My father, a career detective, had said at one time, in the profound and justified cynicism of an experienced city cop, that if you were to peel back the roofs from the houses on any given street—on your street—that you’d discover surprising and horrible things.
Continuing with some childhood inspiration, I recalled my mother’s alarming tales of Sin Eaters, and “Magnolia’s Prayer” came together. When my own kids are playing outside, I wonder what’s going on in that house a few doors down, with the nice people who rarely talk to anyone. So should you.
–John Guzman
“The River”
“The River” is a Division Mythos story that falls between my novels Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children and The Dampness of Mourning. To me, it’s a story about purgatory, a wasted life, and regrets. The strange character in the end is also present in other works. Though not named here, he’s the King of the Dead, and all the rivers we ever know, all our joys and all our sorrows, end when we meet him alone in a cheap motel on the outskirts of Nowhere.
–Lee Thompson
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 #3 was his first book-design project.
For more info, visit www.silentqdesign.net.
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Digital Edition Copyright © 2013 by Shock Totem Publications, LLC.
