Category: Stories
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THE DERANGEMENT REMAINS by William J. Jackson
Had I known the content of the individual and possessed knowledge of the damnable settlement from which he hailed before our venture, I would have slain the man on the spot. You might find this statement unsettling, but please, bear with me. I am the last survivor of a peaceful endeavor, and what I pen…
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The Missing
Those that kill, believe dead men tell no tales. But the dead can speak. They find a way. With my help, I take that message to the living. The call came late on a dreary afternoon, the grey skies and drizzle of another English winter, given up on its seasons. Inside a squad car, reduced…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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
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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
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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
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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…
Threads that Bind 