Roam the gritty streets of Boston with a private investigator in the neo-noirish “Ghost Fight.” Meet a werewolf trying to make ends meet after he loses his job and his wife walks out on him in “The Alphie Wolf.” “Filet of Soul” helps answer the age-old horror buff’s dilemma: What happens when a vampire meets a mermaid? Rednecks and shapeshifters collide in “Wolf & Swann,” and Bram Stoker’s Dracula gets a poetic new viewpoint in “The Brief Romance of Augustine.” Find out how to make your own real-life monster in “The Girl Who Was Spared No Expense!” Dry wit and wet gore combine in this campy collection of semi-serious tales.
Lighthearted Darkness is a collection of short stories and poems depicting classic monsters with contemporary twists. It's a title for lovers of humorous horror in the vein of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ghostbusters, Fright Night, Vamp, Sean Of The Dead, The Nice And Accurate Prophecies Of Agnes Nutter, Witch, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Practical Demonkeeping, Blood Sucking Fiends, Frankenweenie, Edward Scissorhands, and so many others. The horror is not so in your face gory, the humor comes naturally, the overall tone intentionally awkward and light. From a little noire in the depths of Beantown to a strange encounter during a hike in the woods, with a werewolf recently separated from his wife and his job, to a small island in the midst of a major storm and a murder spree, Lighthearted Darkness veers wildly within the parameters of humorous horror, inviting readers to thrill, chill and titillate themselves within its musty, cobweb strewn pages.
Excerpt
"I know ghost fighting when I see it."
"How would you know it if you saw it? Ghost fighting's been illegal for twenty years. They don't even make bad movies about it anymore."
Fun's name is pronounced with a long oo, but according to Lady Meng, he lived up to the American pronunciation quite admirably.
He could be abducted by the military or struck by a car and brought to a local pound...that was how his father had died. Stanly Krentz had been examined by a veterinarian and put to sleep. His pre-paid funeral plan hadn't covered pet cemeteries.
"I knew you were a perv back in school, but I had no idea you were this far gone."
"I was a perv?" Dan shot back. "Even your Reader's Digests were sticky!"
"My name is Claudia Moloney. My companion and I boarded last night for what was supposed to be a moonlight cruise and breakfast. Looks like someone was serving steak knives instead of candlelit dinners, though."
"You read a lot of detective fiction?" Sean wanted to know.
She shrugged and blew smoke from between her lips. "You seem kinda outta place here."
"We just met," he pointed out and moved past her toward the steps up. "How many times have you been told you shouldn't smoke?"
"I also take candy from strangers."
"I let you help me tote the bodies."
Arty smiled and chuckled contentedly, chewing a gherkin with his mouth open. "They were pretty awesome."
"No wonder you never married."
"I hear that all the time."
"If he's part of it, he could overpower you or something," Maria pointed out.
John McMahon was slightly over five feet tall, maybe a hundred and twenty pounds dripping wet. "Maybe if I take a severe blow to the head he could overpower me."
"Why didn't you shoot him?"
"No way to get a good shot."
"Any shot would be a good one in this situation, I think."
The sex was great, even if Kent did get a little too rough at times. He made love to her like an urgent animal, and she sometimes responded to his rough advances with a little biting and growling to heighten the fantasy. Tarzan was her nickname for him in bed. He just called her Let Me Handle It, Huh? and pumped her concerns and worries away.
"Do you need some mosquito spray?"
"No--the K-9 Advantix stuff you gave me seems to work fine."
She'd been pouring the Coke when she'd heard a cabinet close over, and turned to see him with a plastic container full of doggie treats in his hands. "I ordered pizza while you were in the shower. Don't spoil your dinner."
Did you ever wonder what happened after the Archangel Michael through the demons out of heaven? Let one of them guide you through the origin of evil in the world.
