a ghost story set during the Christmas holiday. From horror author, Nickolaus A. Pacione comes an entirely different type of short story.
Author's Notes, Introduction for Accidental Ghosts:
The story that I've penned is in a different type of style than what I've been known to pull off and this will be posted as an offsite link below. I've noticed everyone an their mother's been writing the seasonal story for as long as time had known, and Charles Dickens did this style to the greatest of form. Coming from the background writing like H.P. Lovecraft, Peter Benchley, or Edgar Allan Poe that would of been hard to do with what I did over the years so with this I want to give a different style when it comes to writing. I didn't really have a home for this one but decided to try this one out on a place called deviantart.com, since I've been with them for as long as I've been with AuthorsDen -- I wanted to make this story special. I wasn't trying to even be scary when I wrote this one so if you are looking for that kind of story from me, read Ferryman's Wheelchair, or House of Spiders. I wanted to do something that I can let my sister read when she turns eleven or twelve years of age. I am proud of this story in one way or another because this was another way for me to branch out in styles, from writing horror and True Crime. I will always write horror, just that I wanted to try something different under the advice of literary fiction author. The suggestion he made was to try expanding out from my usual genre, and this short story as well as Lake Fossil were the results. This one will have the gothic charm that the others will have, but just something about this one for me will be quite special and I can look back years from now and say, "yes I am proud of this one." This indeed was something I was trying to do differently but if some might not like this, oh well -- this was something I am writing for the Class of 1994 anthology and it will be one of the ones that stands out for me as one that I used a lot of humor for no matter how macabre it might be. The inspiration for this story came from one of my readers, Joline Lieck, the authoress of the book Shadows on the Wall. This story is a ghost story but one that I saw the inspiration from a tragedy that happened around this time in 2002. I needed to try something different after writing Leviathan's Ghost; because if I wrote another story like that one, I would be committing creative suicide. So you [the reader] might be get a bit spooked by this story as well as the others -- the scares in this one aren't intentional. Though I wanted to do something that was one I knew if I did, I would be able to expand into something much more than my home genre. This short story I passed around via newsgroup after newsgroup so I thought it was time that I would introduce it to all of AuthorsDen because the den been great to me, so with this -- I wish everyone a happy holidays. The story is going to be available as an offsite link, much as some of the other work will be for the time being. I will post new stories here from time to time just that I wanted to do this as author's note.
Excellent story! leaves many unanswered questions remaining in the minds. I liked the part about that it may be reminders from Heaven in there. Neat story scarey and sad too. You really bring alot of things to think about forth in this story such as the unrest of those left behind to carry on. Many thoughts to ponder
Excellent story!
Thank You
Love Tracey xo
A ghastly story indeed. I know you said in your intro that you didn't mean for this to be a typical horror genre story but I still think it had the makings of one. As you told me of "In Death's Face," I'd like to see this one made longer, maybe made into a novel-length story, perhaps even a movie, stage play, or screenplay. As I know you've seen from reading my work, I'm really into endings with a twist. So if you want to consider expanding this one, I have an idea for a twist for this one, which I will e-mail to you privately so as not to give it away here, or to not put you on the spot in case you don't want to go with it.
Glad to see you're in the holiday 'spirit', so to speak. I've oft considered the long stretches of interstate I cruised while living in West Texas to be perfect for 'wandering souls' to spend their time.
Enjoyed it, and I think the graphic above really 'sets it off'...
Well done, Nickolaus! I had never given haunted interstates or highways a thought before now, but I can see its possibilities.
The whole idea of running into a phantom at night on the road creeps me out.
I really liked your characters. The fact that Jason and his wife were so open to idea of the supernatural while your main character and his wife were more conservative in their ideas at first, yet they were best friends, is remarkable.
I also enjoyed how you explained how some religions prevent many people from believing there are ghosts, however, these faiths don't explain how these spectors happen to be standing right in front of you (which seems to have been your main characters dilema).
Awesome idea!
Just read Accidental Ghost, cool story & neat site! Different from your usual but an engaging & interesting write, loved the graphic. Your writing is evolving and experimentation with different genres will help round out your literary horizons. I try to write at least one story in each genre to test the waters.I've found by doing this it helps me focus on a storyline as oppose to a specific genre. The bottom line regardless of genre is a story well told, stores with a beginning, middle & end, that leaves your readers with a sense of resolution! Write on my friend!
Reviewed by Judy Lloyd
11/29/2004
Glad to see that you are posting them on the den. Good stories are always a joy to read.
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