Threads that Bind

A Tasty Sampler

Recently, I’ve been collaborating with Lee Clark Zumpe to assemble a collection of vampire flash fiction. This is a follow-up to a collection we first released in 2008. The original collection was titled Blood Sampler: Subtle Sips and Spicy Shots and features 35 tales. Most of these tales are 150 words or less and first…

David Lee Summers

April 3, 2025

characters, horror books, Personal Experience, Poetry, Reviews, Stories, vampires

Blood Sampler, Bussard Ramjet, Christopher Lee, Dracula, flash fiction, Lee Clark Zumpe, Nosferatu, Peter Cushing, Poetry, skinwalker, The Hungur Chronicles, Twist ending
Heaven From Hell

The furnace of the sun was relentless. Heat rose and shimmered from black tarmac, forming strange wavering mirages, as if the ghosts of millennia were awakening. Sara shuffled along, wiping sweat from her eyes, conserving energy as best she could. Shade, sought and offered on the street by thin and sparse trees, gave some form…

Peter

March 31, 2025

Stories

short story
Testament – Part 2

Before you start reading this post, I suggest you read “Testament” by Jack Tyler at this link [https://threadsthatbind.net/2025/01/30/testament/] first. Jack posted this story here on the blog and I loved it. However, the story ends on a huge cliffhanger—and immediately a continuation/conclusion came to my mind. I asked Jack if he would mind me writing…

merchakandrea

March 27, 2025

ghosts, Stories

ghosts, horror, short story
A Deadly Reunion

Light poured from the open doorway, red neon trickling over wet pavement like blood from an open wound. An arterial thumping pounded inside my head in time to the beat of music that seeped from the party inside. I swallowed. This really wasn’t how I’d envisaged meeting her. But it had to be done. Twenty-five…

Peter

March 24, 2025

short story, Stories, Uncategorized

short story
PICKLEBALL ZOMBIES

Our Thursday blog posts have of late been largely educational in nature, which is a Good Thing. But although I always appreciate them for their relevance, timeliness, and thoughtfulness, I decided to instead opt for a little comic relief this time around. After a hiatus, I got back into playing tennis last year while our…

Garrett Dennis

March 20, 2025

Philosophy of Writing, Stories, The Craft, writer’s block

monsters, short story, writing fiction
The Keeper

They would come for him as soon as he closed his eyes. They always did. So the answer was as simple as it was impossible: don’t close your eyes. And don’t ever sleep. George gazed at the horizon, at the exact point where the sky fell into the arms of the sea, and he could…

Peter

March 17, 2025

ghosts, horror books, horror of the mind, short story, Stories
Why Writing About What Interests You Is The Way To Go

It’s easy for writers to look at what’s selling and what’s winning awards and decide to try and do something similar. The hard part is when you sit down to start writing that story and find that the words won’t come. It all comes down to what you’re interested in. If you have no interest…

Richie Billing

March 17, 2025

Philosophy of Writing, The Craft
Getting Lucky

Play the hand you’re dealt, the saying went, but George Vale never put much stock in that. Fate had dealt him an awful hand, and he didn’t have a play to make, never had. Scrawny, with bland, unattractive features, he’d been ignored by his father, bullied at school, and pushed aside by the go-getters in…

Jack Tyler

March 13, 2025

Stories
Daddy’s Little Bird

The exterior security gate slid shut behind me with its usual finality. I paused between the fences, noticing a hawk circling overhead, its presence serving as an unwanted and grim reminder. Deep within the high-security establishment, locked away, I imagined her head slightly tilted, watching, much like that predatory bird above me. The memory still…

Peter

March 10, 2025

Stories

horror, murder, psychological, psychological horror, short story, writing fiction
Creating A Horror Book Cover Using Canva (A Free Graphic Design Application)

A great book cover is crucial for catching a reader’s eye, especially in the horror genre, where mood and atmosphere play a significant role. Many indie authors may not have the budget to hire a professional designer, but with tools like Canva, creating a compelling and eerie horror book cover is easier than ever. What…

bryceraffle

March 6, 2025

The Art of Horror, The Craft