Short Stories

Hear the Yellow Carousel’s ominous gears clatter on episode 233 of the Chilling Tales for Dark Nights podcast

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How did I miss it? The excellent podcast, Chilling Tales for Dark Nights, released the audio version of “The Yellow Carousel” in January last year (see “Episode 233: Slippery Slopes”). This weird Appalachian horror story, which was originally published by Cosmic Horror Monthly, then reprinted by YNST Magazine, is set in the Augustus Valley / High Point area, and remains one of my favorites. Nick Goroff narrates it excellently, and the fantastic vocal talents of Kyle Stroud and Rissa Montañez breathe new life into the characters Silas and Emma. The narration is enhanced by some superb, tastefully applied sound effects, my favorite being the howling coyotes. When I wrote this story, I was living in a very rural area, quite similar to Silas’s and Emma’s home, and on many nights I woke to coyotes’ frenzied yipping. Initially unnerving, once I got used to their unique vocalizations, they became quite beautiful and comforting to me. Not so comforting for Emma, unfortunately.

Chilling Tales for Dark Nights, Episode 233: Slippery Slopes, opens with Jackson Arthur’s story, “Black Ice,” which is also narrated by Nick Goroff, along with Danielle Hewitt (Danielle voiced two of my stories—“The Station Agent’s Wife, 1927” for Tales to Terrify, and “She Will Come to Brood” for Creepy). “The Yellow Carousel” follows at 33:40. Find it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Read along to the audio by pulling up the story on your phone or computer for free at YNST Magazine.

If you want more of my spookies flushed down your earpipes, I keep a Spotify playlist where I add any free audio narration of my stories whenever they are available there. Check it out and save it to your own Spotify profile for easy access!

Thanks again to the team at Chilling Tales for Dark Nights, and to you readers and listeners, for all the support. Be sure to leave a review thanking them for doing such a great job on “The Yellow Carousel”.

Dead Light Across the Lake – Assemble Artifacts #6 now on Audible

/ Timothy G. Huguenin / 1 Comment

On Audible now, in Assemble Artifacts #6:

Their marriage on the brink of collapse, David and Sara make one last effort to repair it with a weekend getaway at a cabin at Mount Storm Lake. Sounds like a good plan, right? But that light coming from the direction of the power plant across the lake makes them both uneasy. Oh—did I mention that this is where David’s father killed himself?

dead light across the lake - new short horror story in assemble artifacts #6 from assemble media

My new story, “Dead Light Across the Lake,” appears in Assemble Artifacts #6, now on Audible and available, of course, on Kindle too. Also including stories from other writers like Z. K. Abraham, Wendy N. Wagner, Cynthia Pelayo, and more!

The publisher has given me a free Audible copy to share with a reviewer. If there is anyone here who wants to listen to this for free in exchange for an honest review, please email me at [email protected], and I will get you hooked up with a code. First come, first served—but please commit to writing a review on Audible when you’re finished!

Dead Light Across the Lake – NEW FICTION in Assemble Artifacts Short Story Magazine #6

/ Timothy G. Huguenin / Leave a comment

Their marriage on the brink of collapse, David and Sara make one last effort to repair it with a weekend getaway at a cabin at Mount Storm Lake. Sounds like a good plan, right? But that light coming from the direction of the power plant across the lake makes them both uneasy. Oh—did I mention that this is where David’s father killed himself?

Read my new story, “Dead Light Across the Lake,” in Assemble Artifacts #6, available now for Kindle—audio is coming soon! Other stories by authors such as Z. K. Abraham, Cynthia Pelayo, and Wendy N. Wagner. Get it now.

“To Fear and To Rage” from DEATHREALM: SPIRITS praised by KIRKUS and THE HORROR REVIEW

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Reviews are coming in for Stephen Mark Rainey’s anthology, Deathrealm: Spirits, in which I’m honored to have my short story “To Fear and To Rage” appear among other stories by all-star writers much more worthy than myself.

And reviews are good! Kirkus Reviews had favorable words for it upon its release a few months ago, calling it “Spine-tingling and sometimes stomach-churning… unflinchingly tense… a solid compilation that will satisfy avid fans of a range of horror subgenres.”

Carson Buckingham, writing for The Horror Review and its associated websites, says, “There is something for everyone here; so whether you enjoy splatter, suspense, or paranormal, you can’t go wrong with Stephen Mark Rainey’s Deathrealm: Spirits. This would be a wonderful Christmas gift for any horror aficionados on your list.”

Both reviewers call out “To Fear and To Rage” specifically. Kirkus says, “[Deathrealm: Spirits] hits its stride in its third offering, Timothy G. Huguenin’s ‘To Fear and To Rage,’ about a father and son whose remote mountain town is slowly overrun by unsettling faceless, eyeless creatures.” Carson is even more positive, listing my story as one of her favorites and claiming, “I had to remind myself to breathe reading this one.”

Christmas is almost here, everybody. So if you’re still trying to find that last-minute gift, follow the advice of these reviewers and grab yourself a copy today. Anybody out there who are already fans, don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Thanks for reading!

🌻 So turns the Yellow Carousel 🌻

/ Timothy G. Huguenin / Leave a comment

It was a warm September evening in High Point, West Virginia, when Silas first saw the Yellow Carousel.

Early September is upon us—summer’s last gasp, anticipation of autumn, maturing sunflowers… And, for a certain retired surface miner and his wife, the Yellow Carousel’s arrival.

Though squash vine borers have decimated my wife’s acorn squashes, zucchinis, and delicatas this year (still holding out hope for a couple of pumpkins that look okay), it’s been a good year for the rest of the garden, including our sunflowers.

Sunflowers are my favorite flowers. I’m big on Russian Mammoths, but we tried some new ones this year to add more color and variety in size. Can’t help smiling whenever I see them. How can those big, bright petals bring a person anything but joy?

Say a giant sunflower-shaped carousel sprouts suddenly in your back yard. Weird, sure. But would you really think it such a bad thing? You can forgive a lonely old guy like Silas if he’s not overly wary when it happens to him. But beauty is often as dangerous as it is alluring.

If you haven’t yet read my story “The Yellow Carousel” (Cosmic Horror Monthly #35, May 2023 – read online for free), September is the perfect time. Take it out on the back porch after work, while the evenings still have a touch of late summer heat. If you have a sunflower garden like me, plop your chair right there among their heavy heads nodding in the breeze. Maybe make yourself a cup of tea to sip as you read, to fight off that chill when the sun goes down behind the pines.

And if something strange appears in your lawn, or in the playground across the street, or your neighbor’s backyard…

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Silas and Emma have settled into a quiet retirement in High Point, West Virginia. There’s nothing so peaceful as a September sunset painting the pines that edge their field. From this magic twilight emerges the Yellow Carousel, as if planted and grown just for Silas. Why shouldn’t he climb its sunflower petals and mount its undulating deer?

🌻 🦌 Read it now for free 🦌 🌻

cosmic horror #cosmichorror #sunflowers #sunflower #weirdhorror weird horror #appalachianfiction west virginia rural horror #ruralhorror #cosmichorrormonthly

Cover Reveal for DEATHREALM: SPIRITS, edited by Stephen Mark Rainey, coming this October from Shortwave Publishing

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Shortwave Publishing has released the cover for their upcoming antholgy, Deathrealm: Spirits, edited by Stephen Mark Rainey. Loving that artwork by J. Edward Neill! Preorder the paperback or ebook today at shortwavepublishing.com/catalog/deathrealm-spirits/ so you don’t miss my story “To Fear and To Rage”.

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Reading List: The Inconsolables by Michael Wehunt

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Ever since I devoured his debut, Greener Pastures, Michael’s fiction has been a huge influence and a North Star for my own work. There are very few authors I would say this about: when I hear Wehunt has a new book coming out, it’s an automatic buy. I don’t even have to read the synopsis. Not even in Stephen King do I have that much trust.

Wehunt fans (Wehunters?) like myself have been anxious for a new story collection from him for years (which is saying something for me, as generally speaking I don’t read many short story collections). Greener Pastures was published in 2016—not a full decade, but it’s felt like it. But at long last, it’s here, and it was worth the wait. Released this June by Bad Hand Books, The Inconsolables does not disappoint.

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