Category: Fiction

I asked fellow Midnight Garden anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

And now, Molly Ertel’s Antepenultimate:

You’ve seen those Kit-Cat Klocks, right? Maybe next door at Mrs. Oldy-but-Goody’s house where every square inch of space is taken up by mid-century kitsch. Or at one of those shops at the mall that caters to squishy-brained people with a warped fondness for the fifties. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, these so-called clocks are made of black plastic in the shape of a cat with a tail and eyes that tick to the left and tock to the right. That equals one second. They’re supposed to be cute, but if you were out on the street and saw some weirdo whose eyes darted left and right like that, you’d hug your man bag or fanny pack just a little tighter and duck into the closest store. Cute? Sinister is more like it.

How the story came about:
I received a Kit Cat Clock as a gift some years back. As much as I tried to love it for its retro vibe, I found the TICK-a-tock rhythm disturbing. It took me to a dark place, a place I used to work, and an adult correctional facility, commonly known as a prison. I worked as a Spanish language interpreter and translator, a position made possible by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, but was always bothered by the fact that executions were carried out – at a different facility – until state law outlawed the death penalty in recent years. In any case, my mind went from the arrhythmia of the Klock to the death penalty, and I don’t think I can travel back in my mind to the labyrinth that took me there. While my protagonist was not absolved for her crime in her last moment of life, I hope I am for having been part of that system.

Continue reading “Molly Ertel’s “Antepenultimate” in Midnight Garden“

I asked fellow Midnight Garden anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

And now, Denise Aparo’s Jack Moon and the Vanishing Book:

Jack Moon’s bookshop quivered as the chugging train keened whooee-uueet down the New England railway. Grinding gears screeched as the black wheels clattered against the iron tracks. The speeding train took a fast turn, losing a large piece of metal debris that flew onto Jack’s fragile roof and made a hole as it continued down the shop ceiling. For the train to travel this often was unusual, but now, with the recent destruction, Jack was fuming. It was the third time this week that Amtrak had traveled through Bristol on its North East Regional route, shaking everything in its wake. What had once been the local General Store by the tracks was now the damaged Blue Moon Book Shoppe. Moon’s bookshop quivered as the chugging train keened whooee-uueet down the New England railway. Grinding gears screeched as the black wheels clattered against the iron tracks. The speeding train took a fast turn, losing a large piece of metal debris that flew onto Jack’s fragile roof and made a hole as it continued down the shop ceiling. For the train to travel this often was unusual, but now, with the recent destruction, Jack was fuming. It was the third time this week that Amtrak had traveled through Bristol on its North East Regional route, shaking everything in its wake. What had once been the local General Store by the tracks was now the damaged Blue Moon Book Shoppe.

How the story came about:
The inspiration for my short story, “Jack Moon and the Vanishing Book,” comes from visiting old New England bookshops. I love collecting old books and memorabilia when visiting these quaint bookshops. The primary focus of my historic genre and time travel. I love to incorporate the paranormal into everything I write!
The concepts of time travel and mysterious old books intrigue me the most. The actual stories of mysterious books, like the legendary Anthropologia, also known as Ashmole 782, alleged to have been donated to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University in 1858, definitely spiked my interest for a mysterious book story. In addition, The Voynich Manuscript, Codex Gigas, The Book of Kells, The Gutenberg Bible, and The Ripley Scrolls are also intriguing books that have spiked my interest for writing a paranormal story.
My story begins with an unusual book hunter with a tragic past who finds a mysterious book that vanishes. Strangest things begin to happen once he discovers this ancient book.

Continue reading “Denise Aparo’s “Jack Moon and the Vanishing Book” in Midnight Garden“

I asked fellow Midnight Garden anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

Let’s start with a Hallowe’en-themed introduction to the anthology as a whole:

And now, MJ Mallon’s The Seagull Man:

The inhabitants of Cave Birdie called him the Seagull Man, because of his inclination to always wear grey and white clothes, with tiny, imperceptible black flecks, a form of camouflaging so he could blend into his cavernous stone rich environment. When he left his cave home, he went to the seashore. Tourists watched him, intrigued, as the seagulls flocked around, crowding in upon him, surrounding him as he fed them. Whereupon it was only possible to see and hear their beating outstretched wings. In this huddle of man and bird, he appeared to vanish until he jumped on his bike with the seagulls following close behind him.

How the story came about:
The inspiration for the story was a momentary sighting of a man by the seaside surrounded by seagulls. One moment he was there with his feathered friends flocking all around him and seconds later they followed him as he rode away on his bike! It was such a striking, surreal moment. Not one I would forget in a hurry. So… the idea developed from there for the dark fiction tale, The Seagull Man.
I love writing dark short fiction and am often inspired by visual cues, so imagine my delight to have won first prize with this story.
There were notable aspects: the man wore ‘seagull camouflaging colours,’ of white and grey. The number of adoring seagulls surrounding him, as if they were worshipping him, and the suddenness of his and their departure as if this strange relationship was something to hide away or keep secret. Those aspects gave me the idea of creepy rumours circulating about a seagull man and locating the story in an ominous cave. From there, the idea developed to include an intriguing and beautiful female character… read the story and the other brilliant tales in this wonderful dark fiction anthology to find out more!

Continue reading “MJ Mallon’s “The Seagull Man” in Midnight Garden“

I asked fellow Midnight Garden anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to Midnight Garden (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

Let’s start with a Hallowe’en-themed introduction to the anthology as a whole:

And now, Abe Margel’s My Balance:

There was an ambulance parked in Old Man Allard’s driveway. It was ten in the morning, raining, miserable. I had my own medical problems; still, I couldn’t help feeling anxious at the sight.

How the story came about:
How much do we really know about our neighbours?
This fictional story, My Balance, grew out of a conversation with a friend. Andre had been in an accident and told me how difficult it was for him to get around in the walking cast he was now required to use.
After months of rolling around in the back of my mind a plot emerged. I envisioned a man in a walking cast returning to his empty home from the hospital. On his street he is surprised to discover an ambulance is sitting by his neighbour’s house.
The story’s main character, George Fitzpatrick, is a divorced middle-aged man who’s balance is literally and emotionally off. His irascible neighbour, Francis Allard, is largely a mystery to George. Exactly how little George knew about Francis becomes clear as the narrative progresses to its troublesome end.

Continue reading “Abe Margel’s “My Balance” in Midnight Garden“