Crimson Snow A Dystopian Thriller Short Story

Do you like thrilling short stories that will keep you in suspense? From the horrifying supernatural to the murderously domestic to the chilling dystopian, the Aftertaste collection has you covered! “Smart, original, and brilliantly creepy.” ~Bestselling Author Kristen Mae IN MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH, THERE ARE NO SECOND CHANCES. Along the fault, a spa day becomes a claustrophobic nightmare for five sisters. The perfect afternoon turns bloody for one suburban neighborhood. A husband’s journey through a frozen hellscape tests every inch of his resolve. One man’s life changes course after discovering an animal in the swamp—one different from all others. And each diabolical tale is as twisted and hypnotic as you’ve come to expect from Meghan O’Flynn. This “gripping and thought-provoking collection” (Bestselling Author Wendy Heard) includes: “Salt in an Open Wound” “Perfect” “Banjo” “Crimson Snow” *** KEYWORDS: suspense short stories, mystery short stories, horror short stories, dystopian thriller short story, female protagonist, amateur sleuths, whodunnit mystery, whodunit thriller, psychological suspense, suspense fiction, suspense short, nail biting fiction short, nail biter mystery, vigilante justice, edge of your seat suspense, dark, revenge, vengeance, murder, noir, noir thriller, crime, gritty, psychological thrillers, gritty mysteries, mystery books, psychological thrillers, psychological suspense, psychological thriller books, whodunit, whodunnit, nail-biter, suspense fiction, family drama short story, thrilling short stories, edge of your seat, scary short, dystopian, post apocalyptic short, end of the world shorts, dark short story

Woods play an important and recurring role in horror, fantasy, the gothic, and the weird. They are places in which strange things happen, where you often can't see where you are or what is around you. Supernatural creatures thrive in the thickets. Trees reach into underworlds of earth, myth, and magic. Forests are full of ghosts. In this new collection, immerse yourself in the whispering voices between the branches in Wistman's Wood on Dartmoor, witness an inexplicable death in Yorkshire's Strid Wood and prepare yourself for an encounter with malignant pagan powers in the dark of the New Forest. This edition also includes notes on the real locations and folklore which inspired these deliciously sinister stories.

Six chilling stories offer compelling journeys into the land of the undead: "Herbert West—Reanimator," "In the Vault," "The Thing on the Doorstep," "Pickman's Model," "Cool Air," and "The Outsider."

Dark, gut-wrenching, and unputdownable, Savage is a knock-the-wind-out-of-you detective thriller that will keep you reading to the final, unforgettable page. Though Savage is the eleventh installment in the Ash Park series, all books in the Ash Park world can be read as standalones. If you liked Sharp Objects or The Wire, you’ll love Savage. “Riveting, sharp, and mercilessly suspenseful, Savage is a masterfully constructed thriller from one of the best authors in the genre.” ~Bestselling Author Emerald O’Brien Petrosky’s back, and so is his most vicious rival: the man who killed his partner. Things are looking up for Detective Edward Petrosky. His grandkids are back in town, the girls next door are remarkably well-adjusted, and he’s solving homicides as quickly as ever. It doesn’t matter that he’s sneaking shots before morning briefings; whiskey or no, he’s still getting the job done. But his tenuous grasp on professionalism falters when he’s called to the scene of a kidnapping—the waitress from the diner he frequents has gone missing, the only server who knows he takes his coffee with a little liquor. And she’s due with her first baby any day. It isn’t long before they find her newborn child abandoned in a nearby cellar—does that mean the woman is already dead? And the infant isn’t even the most distressing piece of evidence. Petrosky cannot overlook the similarities to a past case he wishes he could forget, a brutal pattern of abductions that ended with a killer torturing young women to death in his basement. That same savage killed his partner, a man Petrosky had regarded as his son. But it’s not possible—years ago, Petrosky himself watched that maniac’s head explode in a shower of red mist. Could it be a copycat? The series of dead men found shrink-wrapped in their cars seems to suggest a serial killer patterned after the murder of his partner. But Petrosky can’t shake the feeling that there is more to the connection than they can see. Perhaps their current suspect knew the original killer—even psychos sometimes had accomplices. Or fall guys. When one of his neighbors is kidnapped, a girl he sees as family, Petrosky’s suspicions are confirmed. Clues left at the scene lead them to the weapon used to slit his partner’s throat, one piece of the puzzle they’d never been able to locate. This isn’t just evidence. It’s a warning. It may be impossible, but it’s true: the man who killed his partner has returned, and he’s taking the people Petrosky loves one by one. Will Petrosky be able to locate a killer more cunning than any he’s ever encountered? Or will his fragile grasp on sanity finally snap? *** KEYWORDS: Vigilante justice, edge of your seat suspense, dark crime, serial killer, kidnapping, revenge, vengeance, hardboiled, mystery suspense thriller series, hard-boiled mysteries, female protagonist, pulp, murder, female lawyer protagonist, noir, noir thriller, crime noir, hard-boiled mystery, police procedural, mystery series, crime, noir, gritty detective novels, psychological thrillers, serial killers, crime thrillers, crime fiction, hard boiled detective, dark and suspenseful, hardboiled detective fiction, hard boiled noir, hard boiled crime, gritty mysteries, mystery series books, psychological thrillers, psychological suspense, psychological thriller books, noir, pulp, nail biter mysteries, wise cracking detective, detective partners, crime fiction, urban murder mystery, serial killer thriller, female protagonist, whodunit, whodunnit, nail-biter, intense mystery, suspense fiction, family drama, detective fiction partners

This is an interdisciplinary examination of depictions of girlhoods through a comparative study of foundational fairy tales revised and reimagined in popular narrative, film, and television adaptations. The success of franchises such as The Hunger Games, Twilight and Divergence have re-presented the young heroine as an empowered female, and often a warrior hero in her own right. Through a selection of popular culture touchstones this empowerment is questioned as a manipulation of feminist ideals of equality and a continuation of the traditional vision of female awakening centering on issues of personal choice, agency, physical violence, purity, and beauty. By investigating re-occurring storytelling frameworks and archetypes, Untaming Girlhoods examines different portrayals of girlhoods in the 20th- and 21st-century Anglo-American cultural imaginary that configure modern girlhoods, beyond the fairy-tale princess or the damsel in distress, into refigurations that venture away from the well-trodden path for a new breakaway path to authentic selfhood. This will be a useful and enlightening text for students and researchers in Girlhood Studies, Gender Studies, Film Studies, Popular Culture and Media Studies.

I, Letticia ChiChi Maggiordino, will put to GOOD use the power of the Evil Eye... ChiChi Maggiordino will do anything to get God's attention. She will hold her breath, stand on tiptoe for an hour, walk a mile backward, climb all stairs on her knees... anything. When her grandmother teaches her how to use the Evil Eye, telling her it's how Jesus Christ made his miracles and how the Italians got rid of Mussolini, ChiChi realizes it's what her prayers have been missing. Now she can get started on the business of making her mother happier by helping her find love, and healing her brother's weak lungs. But ChiChi's family lives in Minneapolis, and it's the 1950s. For an Italian immigrant family, sometimes it seems like nothing can make life easier. ChiChi's mother still pines for her husband, a long-dead American soldier; ChiChi's brother is disdainful of her sacrifices and penance-he doesn't understand what his older sister already knows, that sometimes God needs to be bribed. When her grandmother passes away, ChiChi steps up her search for meaning and happiness, but it seems to be fruitless. And she struggles, the way so many women do, because her love for her family is suffocating, even while it fulfills her. It's not until she meets two Italian dwarves, and they teach her of the ancient clown tradition, the commedia dell'arte, that she comes to understand that in order to make everyone else happy, she herself must be happy. But first she must find her own way in the world... and learn to accept that not even the power of the Evil Eye can keep people from changing. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Sanger Rainsford is a big-game hunter, who finds himself washed up on an island owned by the eccentric General Zaroff. Zaroff, a big-game hunter himself, has heard of Rainsford’s abilities with a gun and organises a hunt. However, they’re not after animals – they’re after people. When he protests, Rainsford the hunter becomes Rainsford the hunted. Sharing similarities with "The Hunger Games", starring Jennifer Lawrence, this is the story that created the template for pitting man against man. Born in New York, Richard Connell (1893 – 1949) went on to become an acclaimed author, screenwriter, and journalist. He is best remembered for the gripping novel "The Most Dangerous Game" and for receiving an Oscar nomination for the screenplay "Meet John Doe".