Dead Leaves, Dark Corners - Nicki Huntsman Smith

There are no zombies here! But lurking within the pages of this creepy anthology is every other type of ghoulish creature a horror enthusiast could want. Do you love monsters? We have plenty. Are demons your thing? You have your choice of the amusing type or the kind that will make you go insane. Men in Black? Check. Cannibals? Yep. Serial killers? We got ‘em. There’s even a witch thrown in for good measure. The settings in this collection range from a decaying urban city to a sinister lighthouse island…from an isolated forest to a decrepit gas station in the Arizona desert…from a suburban kitchen to a Walmart parking lot. What good thing ever happened in a Walmart parking lot? MONSTERS: Will Sloan Darkblade save humankind from an insidious invasion? ROAD KILL: Two men meet in the desert, and they both have a story to tell. FERAL: A future dystopian society can’t contain their pest problem. BURDENS: The consequences of ugly words seen through the eyes of a child. DUDES: Whiskey shots and a harmless game. What could go wrong? TOIL AND TROUBLE: An homage to Mother Nature and Halloween. PREDATORS: A serial killer’s luck was bound to run out. A GOOD HOST: Teenage girls can exhibit horrible behavior…now we know why. POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE: An obsession with fried food may be harmful to one’s health. ANCESTRY: You might think twice before spitting into that DNA test tube. THE BUNKER: A modern retelling of an Edgar Allan Poe classic. WYVERN: Flying beasts make for a good story…if you survive to tell the tale. DECISIONS, DECISIONS: The ripples of insignificant decisions can transform into tsunamis. THE LIGHTHOUSE: A NOVELETTE: Would you spend sixty days alone on an uninhabited lighthouse island with no electricity, no comfortable accommodations, and no contact (at least of the human variety) with the outside world? Here’s one man’s story.