Train Rides Through Hell

Many people go through rough patches in life, times when everything is working against them. At some point, they’ll do anything for a chance to start over.

That chance sometimes comes as a job to deliver a package for a mysterious stranger. The job comes with a train ticket, instructions to never open the package, and a weapon to use “just in case.”

There are a lot of people who won’t take a job like that. There are a few who will take it after thinking about it a while.

But probably no one would sign up at all if they knew the train trip would literally take them through hell.

(My plan for this is to create tie-ins for my “Netherworld Central Railway” story on Kindle Vella. I hope you’ll check it out if you haven’t already).

Recall of Cthulu

(This anthology would be based on H. P. Lovecraft stories/creatures that are in the public domain.)

The cults of the elder gods were used to the power and terror they wielded over an unbelieving world. They had immortality, the power to inflict madness, and the ability to command unspeakable terrors to do their bidding.

But for various reasons, the elder gods from the world. One by one, they are vanishing.

Follow this band of cultists / elder god conservationists as they attempt to keep terror alive.

Psychotic Sleuths

Some detectives have a strong desire to see justice done and the innocent protected. Others seek truth through the power of an unparalleled intellect.

But a few crimes are so horrific that sanity, reason, and even good will can be a hindrance.

For those, A third kind of sleuth is needed: one who sees the world through blood-tinted lenses and laughs when others run in terror, one whose personal madness provides the only reliable lens in studying crimes of supernatural horror.

The Sign of the Nine

Did magic end?

No, It changed. The most important symbol for witches and practitioners of the occult used to be a star with five points. Now the number of points is …

Nine.

The number of angels that could dance on a pin used to be seven, now it is …

Nine.

The Beatles used to have a song called “Eight Days a Week.” It was not enough to show they cared, so now it is …

Nine.

Few know that our universe, as well as the realms of heaven, hell, fairy, and chaos are nothing more than the dream of a powerful entity at the center of reality. Not long ago, that Dreamer nearly awakened. Its eyes opened only a crack, but when Lucifers nine daughters helped sing it back to sleep, they unwittingly changed the very fabric of reality. Is it stronger, weaker, or about to unravel?

“The Sign of the Nine,” contains the new adventures of the devil’s nine daughters, their new magic, and the new threats they face.

Dangerous Companions

Picture by Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay 

In all the universes we inhabit, humans have lived in a precarious balance with nature. Some animals serve us with docility, some hunt us as food, and some are simply dangerous companions–powerful creatures that we rely upon for survival but which may, ultimately, turn against us.

Curious Tomes is now searching for contributions to an anthology called “Dangerous Companions,” stories about a human and a supernatural creature that they rely upon each other for survival on some mission or quest. Each story should mention a zoologist named Jiv, though that character need not appear explicitly in the tale.

Jiv is a world-walker, a person capable of opening a portal with her mind and walking from one reality to the next. She will provide a thread of continuity for the collection.

Stories should be less than 10,000 words. Send queries to steven at stevenrbrandt dot com. Set the subject line to “QUERY:” plus the title of your story.