Bane turned slowly, and met the volcanic glare of two burning, bloodshot eyes, peering out at him from a dirt-streaked, nut-brown face, wreathed by greasy, tangled hair; the apparition thrust from the undergrowth less than a foot from Bane’s nose. I That intrepid team of inquirers into the improbable and the inexplicable, Atticus Bane and… Continue reading The Wildman of Dismal Hollow
The Wear-Wolf of Blood Manor
Field stones in the old walls winding about the property shattered with gun-shot explosions that would have startled coveys of partridge into the air, had those not been imprisoned within the frozen wickerwork of their sheltering underbrush, lucky to still be on the living side of hypothermia. I Frost Giants – immense, primordial, inhuman entities… Continue reading The Wear-Wolf of Blood Manor
The Zombie(less) Apocalypse
A thunderous crash, punctuated by a roar of frustration, rattled the water glass on Bane’s nightstand. It sounded as if the unhappy ursine was attempting to mimic human speech, and failing miserably. I On an unseasonably cool and pleasant night in early September; in the hinterlands of Loudoun County, Virginia; in a farmhouse called Runeharrow,… Continue reading The Zombie(less) Apocalypse
How Much For Just the Good News?
[This is another bit of the original backstory to Bane of the Dead that didn’t make it into the final cut, as it were. The story ultimately went in another direction, but didn’t wander far: you can still find some of the themes and tropes presented here in the finished MS.”] From: C. Ashton Lumley,… Continue reading How Much For Just the Good News?
Another Day, Another Gotterdammerung…
Odin squatted on one side of the ritual fire, and the spirit of the seeress, the volva, swirled and shifted on the other, a smokey sketch of a woman, hollow-eyed and hollow-voiced. She had been torn from her rest in the dim and misty reaches of Helheim by Grimnir’s runes, to answer his insatiable need… Continue reading Another Day, Another Gotterdammerung…
The Haunter of the Park
Sean Lana ran toward the sunset, sure that it would be his last. The strength in his long, lanky frame was ebbing fast, and the fiends drew closer with each stride, gibbering , moaning and snapping their splintered teeth. He’d thought he was doing all right, working his way ever so slowly through the outskirts… Continue reading The Haunter of the Park
Earthblood, Ironheart
Author’s Note: What follows is a series of treatments, vignettes and fragments, all based on the premise that the human race not only survives the Zombie Apocalypse, but becomes the baddest buncha mo-fos in the galaxy as a result – the old “what does not kill you, etc.” bit. While the “Earthblood” concept is intended… Continue reading Earthblood, Ironheart
Wake Up Call
A tale of eldritch horror and real estate…