Part 7 (1/2)

See, when I was a kid, we had a pair of ferrets. Cool but stinky rodents. The ferrets had been together since they were babies. We had them for years, and then one day one of them took ill and died. The remaining ferret would no longer sleep and kept us all awake at night, rattling the cage and making a racket. My Mom filled a soda bottle with warm water and wrapped it in a towel, then placed it in the cage as we went to bed. The ferret curled up against it almost immediately and went to sleep. She was lonely and missed the warmth of her sister.

And I've never forgotten how f.u.c.king tragic and sad that was.

-John Boden.

”One Good Turn”

I pretty much loathe serial-killer stories, and yet the only idea that jammed its talons into my brain for this theme was a serial-killer Santa tale, which made me roll my eyes something fierce.

But then I thought to myself, Wouldn't it be cool to put together a scenario where the serial killer chose the wrong house, a place where an immortal family of blood-drinking demons lived, and then got his just desserts?

So I took that idea, added a suitably ridiculous backstory, gore, and disturbing imagery, and this tale is what emerged on the other side.

-Robert J. Duperre.

”Christmas Wish”

Being the one member of Shock Totem who isn't a writer can sometimes make me the odd ”man” out. They're always writing something for this, a review for that, or working on an interview with so-and-so, and I'm quietly sitting there reading slush.

Last year, Ken said, ”Let's write Christmas stories!” So while everyone else was talking about it, discussing how they were going to make them available to readers, I decided that I would write a story too, if only just to amuse myself.

The rules were simple: Write a story about Christmas or the holiday season and, somehow, incorporate Shock Totem into it. Simple enough.

I banged away at the keyboard for a short time and came up with ”Christmas Wish”-which no one but Ken was ever supposed to read.

Sending it to him might have been my biggest mistake, since he then edited it and posted it online for the world to read. I guess I should be happy he at least edited it first.

It's been heavily updated for 2011, but the core of the story remains the same.

And for the record, you'll note that I was the only one to incorporate Shock Totem into a story. Just saying...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed ”Christmas Wish,” at least a little bit.

-Sarah Gomes.

”'Twas the Night”

I've always tried to write the kinds of stories I would like to read, and for my money, some of the most satisfying tales are those that pull the rug out from under you at the very end. I'm always impressed when the last sentence makes me want to turn back to the beginning to try to spot the clues along the way and see whether or not the author played fair with the twist at each step along the journey.

I tried to be fair here while doing everything I could to encourage the reader to think something else was going on. I think I was successful in that, but the true success of any story lies with the reader, not the author.

-Nick Contor.