A collection of short dark speculative fiction stories.

  1. The Tin Can Man
  2. Random Soul Audit
  3. Mitzi
  4. The Bunyip Hole
  5. Last Miracle
  6. Rule of Tribute
  7. Crawler
  8. The Trees
  9. You'll Be Sorry
  10. Dusk in the Sunset Country
  11. The Way of the Triangle
  12. Remembering Kira
Published:
Genres:
Tags:
Excerpt:

I write weird stuff. What does that mean exactly?

Would you be surprised if I told you that I don't know?

Much of what I write has elements of horror, dark fiction, or what could be described as pessimistic science fiction. I don't set out to include these elements, they just sneak their way in. The story just comes out. Quite often it takes me to places that cause me to ask. "Where did that come from?"

All too often, I find those questions being asked when the story has taken a decidedly dark turn. Sometimes, if I’m being totally honest, I frighten myself – not in the traditional Stephen King sense, but more from the point of view of “is there something wrong with me?”

READ MORE

Surely, someone who has all their cups in the cupboard doesn’t envisage a world where people are tortured for past sins of past lives, as they are in my story, Random Soul Audit. And no one in their right mind would create the Mad Max-style holy man that is Radford in Last Miracle.

Both of those stories are seriously weird and disturbingly dark. I like them a lot.

Does that make me unstable? Will it mean that you are unstable if you enjoy those stories?

I think not. I’m just a normal person who is trying to make sense of an increasingly crazy world. I suspect that you are no different.

I don’t enjoy gratuitous violence and I’m willing to bet that you don’t either. But the simple fact is that abuse of power, violence and cruelty are all part of the world that we live in. Without acknowledging the bad, we are never going to appreciate the many good things that we all experience, and dare I say, take for granted.

Exploring dark weird stuff is for the most part pure escapism. But I’d argue that reading or writing dark weird stuff allows us to peer into the depths from a safe vantage point from where we can gain a better appreciation of all that is good in our world.

So, please enjoy these stories for what they are. They are simple dark weird stories without hidden socio-political messages, I hope that they alternately delight, disgust, inspire, tease, and frighten you. They come from the heart.

COLLAPSE

Thank you for reading. I'd appreciate it if you If you enjoyed this please share, like or comment as appropriate

You can grab a free sample of my story writing by subscribing to my story lover's list .

Check it out here 

A collection of short speculative fiction stories released in eBook format.
Dark Byways of Possibility explores dark byways of the imagination,  placing people in situations where the normal rules have been suspended. in Rosa's Place,  the main character is led down a path where he must choose between his dull existence and the promise of fulfilment in exchange for his life. Statue entices a sinner of "quality and quantity" to believe in the possibility of the divine. Firebugs explores the aftermath of flawed scientific experiments fuelled by big money. Mixed Marriage mixes those age-old themes of cruelty, difference and revenge. Faces is a weird tale of psychic filters and other possibilities. Clone takes us to a world where Clones are second-rate citizens who have more humanity than their purported superiors.

Dark, gripping and at times terrifying Dark Byways of Possibility is a must for any lover of horror or dark speculative fiction.

Published:
Genres:
Tags:
Excerpt:

Thank you for reading. I'd appreciate it if you If you enjoyed this please share, like or comment as appropriate

You can grab a free sample of my story writing by subscribing to my story lover's list .

Check it out here 

Dark Weird Stuff

ByMark

Dec 21, 2022
Book Cover: Dark Weird Stuff
Editions:Paperback: $ 27.00
ISBN: 978-1-4709-9422-8

A collection of dark speculative short stories that explore the perennial question, what if? Stories range from Horror Fantasy to Dark Sci-Fi, Dark Fantasy, and Post Apocalyptic worlds.

Read about an old man who hunts demons using his unique gift, a future world where souls have been identified by the state and audited for past misdeeds, a disastrous upload of consciousness into cyberspace, the mythical bunyip rebooted, post-apocalyptic futures where hope has been lost, tales of possession, time leeches, and other weird dark stuff.

Published:
Genres:
Tags:
Excerpt:

Excerpt From Random Soul Audit

 

Dark Weird Stuff by Mark Hodgetts

Thank you for reading. I'd appreciate it if you If you enjoyed this please share, like or comment as appropriate

You can grab a free sample of my story writing by subscribing to my story lover's list .

Check it out here 

By Mark