Release date: April 15, 2020
Shallow Waters—where nothing stays buried.
With 23 Dark Fiction & Horror tales diving beneath the surface of life, death, and the mystery that lies beneath.
Shallow Waters is the official monthly flash fiction challenge hosted by the award-winning Crystal Lake Publishing. Every month a new challenge is posted online, with authors submitting via email. The best submissions are then posted on Crystal Lake’s Patreon page (an exclusive behind the scenes community of readers and authors), where patrons read daily entries and vote for the winner. What you’ll find in these Shallow Waters anthologies include the winners as well as the most popular of our finalists. Stay tuned for more volumes in this series, or find Crystal Lake Publishing on Patreon to enter or vote on future challenges (or gain access to our Still Water Bay series).
Volume five includes suspenseful stories of horror on the road, war, graveyards, Karma, and Halloween.
Includes:
Introduction by Joe Mynhardt
“Driving On” by Guy Medley (winner)
“Dichotomy” by Jason Parent
“Babysitting for Writers” by Kevin David Anderson (winner)
“The Good Samaritan” by L.F. Falconer
“Of Debris and Duty” by John Boden
“The Visitors” by Mark Allan Gunnells
“Twenty Reasons to Stay and One to Leave” by Richard Thomas
“The Knights of Cold Days” by Dave Jeffery
“Travel Bag” by Bryan Miller
“In the Desert, In the Night” by Pedro Iniguez
“Grievance” by Christine Lajewski
“Fuel for My Fire” by Linsey Knerl
“The Dead Lands” by Anthony D Redden
“Welcome to Gothmart” by David Bernard
“The Mascot” by Jennifer K Carstens (winner)
“Wasteland” by Sheldon Woodbury
“All’s Fair” by Michelle Mellon
“Stay Away” by Michael Patrick Hicks
“The Road Home” by Rand Eastwood
“Midnight Sun” by James Dorr
“The Wind Stakes Its Claim” by Kris Kinsella
“The Forest of Skin” by Esteban Vargas
“Second Chance” by Alex Ebenstein (winner)
In this volume…
- Traveling can be a mixed bag…especially when something in your travel bag starts moving.
- A woman journeys north for survival.
- Sometimes, working retail is not the worst part of your day.
- In the desert of New Mexico, ancient Navajo legends emerge, only to discover the cruelty of Man.
- An overachieving woman uses twisted methods to feed her need for turmoil.
- A trio of Halloween trick-or-treaters learn that sometimes things slip through.
- A cemetery caretaker with a secret gift, a dead body, and the hope of a second chance.
- Grief can change a person. Literally.
- Someone has a bone to pick with the Deacon.
- Sometimes what lies ahead is more frightening than what was left behind.
- Babysitting can be a tough gig, especially on Halloween
- A father and son venture out into the dead lands to search for the night creatures feasting on the corpses.
- In the distant future an ancient warrior and his ghost ship battle for the fate of the universe.
- A young girl looks forward to visiting her dead grandmother and watch the mysterious figure who dances beneath the trees.
- In the war of love, a seasoned soldier makes the most of his last battle.
- A weary lawman contemplates life and his crumbling role in it as he watches the world unspool.
- We know not what we fight, but it knows how to kill us.
- In war, how long can a young soldier’s undying love for his wife and daughter keep him alive?
- A businessman in the Old West has a chance encounter with a soldier whose war has yet to end.
- The flower of death spawns in Maku-unah’s maw and her seed thrives within the skin of the world.
Proudly brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.