Whispers volume 3 a th.., p.1
Whispers - Volume 3: A Third Collection, page 1
Whispers – Vol. 3
By
Stuart Keane
Copyright © Stuart Keane 2016
Cover art copyright © Mark Kelly 2016
Published: 14th November 2016
Publisher: Stuart Keane
The right of Stuart Keane to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Whispers – Volume 3: A Third Collection is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For more information about the author, please visit www.stuartkeane.com
For more information about the artist, please visit www.zgrimv.com
Also by
Stuart Keane
Available on Amazon Kindle and Print
Author
The Customer is Always…
Charlotte
All or Nothing
Whispers – Volume 1: A Collection
Cine
Grin
Whispers – Volume 2: A Second Collection
89
Awakening
8 Church Field
Amy
Collaborations
The House That Hell Built
(With Matt Shaw and Michael Bray)
Gemini
(With Matt Hickman)
Author/Editor
Carnage: Extreme Horror
(With Jack Rollins, Kyle M. Scott and Angel Gelique)
Editor
Undead Legacy
Kids – Volume One
A-Z Series
Contents
Lake Whisper
First published in Carnage: Extreme Horror – 14th December 2014
Publisher: Stuart Keane
Careful What You Wish For
First published in TOWY Anthology – January 25th 2016
Publisher: Valley of Saints
Rose Above
First published in What Goes Around – 10th June 2016
Publisher: Knightwatch Press
Bon Appetit
First published in Kill For A Copy – 20th July 2015
Publisher: Dark Chapter Press
On The First Day of Christmas
First published in The Dichotomy of Christmas – 9th December 2015
Publisher: Media Bitch Literary Agency
Inadmissable
Revised edition – available for the first time in Whispers 3.
Lepus
First published in Easter Eggs and Bunny Boilers – 27th March 2016
Publisher: Matt Shaw Publications
Apartment 3B
First published in Behind Closed Doors – 2nd November 2015
Publisher: Matt Shaw Publications
Find out more about the publishers on their websites.
www.mattshawpublications.co.uk
www.knightwatch.greatbritishhorror.com
www.darkchapterpress.com
A Third Collection? Surely Not…
I'm going to start this introduction with a simple foray into mathematics, well, to a degree. I've never been amazing at the old numbers game, it was always my Achilles heel, so I'll keep it simple. Plus, I don’t want to bore your socks off; after all, there's a book full of horrific delights waiting for you beyond this page.
My writing career started 933 days ago, back in April 2014. Producing a novella and two novels, the first year was a little slow, hindered by an essential day job and the financial strings that come attached. However, through luck and sheer determination, I was able to turn that career into a full-time occupation just over a year later, which occurred in June 2015.
On that basis, I have been writing full-time for 505 days. My writing career is nearing the three-year mark now, and I've learnt more than I ever imagined during that time – possibly more than one lesson for every day that I've dedicated to my craft – but there are lessons that stick out in the mind, ones that, if taken under the creative wing, will not only enable you to hone your craft to your liking, but also move it forward. I could probably write a whole book based on these lessons, but today I am talking about one thing; a specific tool that any aspiring writer with any common sense should never abandon.
The short story.
Whispers 3 marks my third outing into the short story collection, and certainly not my last. Whispers 4 is scheduled for 2017 – and will feature original stories for the first time in the series – and I've also started All Tied Up With String, a personalised series dedicated to the people who make my career possible: You.
But, and this may come as a surprise, I never envisioned I would ever write a short story. Back in 2014, it wasn't something I considered, but then again I was a little wet behind the ears at the time. I had my reasons for this, but I'm glad common sense and feedback from fellow authors prevailed. In hindsight, slotting the short story into my repertoire was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Aside from honing my craft, the short story enables me to keep my writing mind busy. Between novels, anthology submissions and invitations, and even a rare day off; all of these provide a blank canvas and possible time for a short story, something a passionate writer can create and bring to life in a matter of hours or days. All of the above contributed in some way to this particular volume of stories. Whether it’s a lunatic in a bunny costume, a serial killer who attends a strip club with an agenda, a chef with a taste for the exquisite, or a cheating husband who has trouble leaving his apartment, all of these stories were written when time allowed.
People always ask me if I sacrifice days off and family time, and I have been guilty of this on the odd occasion, but it's what the job requires. I don’t make a habit of it, but using your free time to produce a story that, in turn, puts a smile, a grimace, or tears on someone's face is a reward that many should experience. Writing isn't a nine-to-five job that you can forget when you walk through the door at the end of the day; its full-time. It immerses you, consumes you, and it can take over your life. You always have time to write; a stolen hour at midnight, an early rise at four in the morning, a sacrificed lunchbreak since you are your own boss. As a result of this, remember, there's always time for a short story, no matter the workload, which is why I'm particularly happy to bring you a third volume of shorts.
The last year has been my least productive in terms of short work due to a heavy schedule, but somehow I still managed to deliver nine short stories in that time, five of which feature in this collection. The other stories remain under contract at the time of print, and will emerge in future collections, but this alone proves that, despite being immensely busy over these past fifteen or so months, that there's always time to jot down and construct a short story. You just have to put your mind to it.
The short story. A valuable tool and lesson for any author.
So, for the aspiring authors, that's my take on it. For the readers, I hope this little insight has shown you what we do to bring you our work. I also hope you enjoy this collection of horrific tales. I had fun writing them, and delving into the dark depths of my mind to bring them to you. I just hope you find them as horrific as I did.
Enjoy!
- Stuart Keane
Lower Your Voice
An Intro
So here we are, already at Volume 3 of Stuart Keane's Whispers short story collections, and what a surprise that is. What? Is it a surprise he's still going? Absolutely not. Is it a surprise that we're at Volume 3 already, considering his overall fiction output? Absolutely.
Unless you know Stuart.
And in knowing Stuart, knowing his devotion to the art of fiction writing and his sheer love of the horror genre and all its nooks and crannies (let's be fair, he's worked in dozens of horror subgenres by now).
I had the honour recently, of being invited by Stuart to write an introduction to this volume. Introductions I find quite difficult to write, if I'm honest. I'm a fiction man. The danger is that some introductions can turn into a bit of a review of the book's contents. I don't want to fall into that. I think that the Introduction shouldn't be about the book necessarily, but should be of the book, a natural part of it, and so should probably reveal something, not about the stories, but about the man behind them.
Being that we're standing here together, on the outskirts of Whispers - Volume 3, I can, perhaps assume you're familiar with Stuart's work by now. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps you're new to him and not compelled by OCD the same way that I am, to have to read collections in order. Perhaps the cover for this one just jumped out at you. Either way, I'm not going to focus so much on what Stuart has written before, but I will tell you that I first encountered his work with The Customer Is Always… and was hooked, but Charlotte is by far one of my all-time favourite horror stories. What I really want to do is tell you about the writer himself.
I first encountered him on … I think it was Goodreads first, and then Facebook … although he might tell me it was the other way around. I had finally decided I needed to connect with other authors of dark fiction, had finally overcome the fear that everyone is out to steal each other's ideas. I posted something fresh out of the Horror Authors Lonely Hearts Playbook, and very soon I had two responses. One from Stuart and one from the wonderfully gruesome Kyle M. Scott.
At the time, Stuart had only one title to his name, I'm pretty sure of it, but loads of his short stories had been accepted for publication with small presses in the UK and U.S. What was clear very early on was that, in terms of social networking, Stuart was connected to a lot of people in the horror game. Many of them, like he and I, were indie authors, looking to carve out a name on Amazon, and another great many of them were involved in small presses of varying degrees of quality.
No matter the intentions of some of those he was connected with, Stuart happily signposted authors in our community to submission calls he thought looked good, or that he was involved in, connected them to people who seemed to want to treat authors well. And he, like all writers, sometimes had to learn the hard way, having his fingers burned once or twice, by people he tried to give a leg-up, and by those who claimed to be able to help him.
Some of our discussions back then in late 2014 were a mixture of delight at things moving forwards in our writing careers, and disappointment that sometimes our horror writing community is a bit of a minefield.
Then came a career change for Stuart. He commenced on every fiction writer's dream: he quit the day-job. And by God, if he hasn't worked 28-hour days, nine days a week since then, I don't know what he's done. If you get a message from Stuart at 1:30 a.m., it's not because he was pissing about on Facebook into the wee hours, no. It's because he was still writing, and something occurred to him as he had a break, or had reached the end of a writing session.
He truly is one for the Stephen King school of writers – write every day, even birthdays, even Christmas. But on top of that, he's still in the thick of social media, forging new relationships, encouraging those just starting out, celebrating the success of those more established writers blazing a trail for the rest of us.
What about the convention scene, where Matt Shaw took him under his wing in the early days and now, Stuart packs out, then sells out, his own tables at the shows. His set-up grows ever more elaborate with each new date, with custom models and masks of his characters, competitions, badges - you name it.
Then to top it off, he's an editor and director within the small publishing company I started back around the time I met him – I may as well stick a plug in for it here – Dark Chapter Press. I've always been impressed by Stuart's wealth of knowledge of dark fiction, his enthusiasm and drive for it and so, when I got him on board at Dark Chapter, it was no surprise to me that right off the bat he masterminded a themed anthology which is, still to this day, our top-selling title. And it charted very well on Amazon, too (I'm always loathe to use the term Amazon Best-Seller because you can filter Amazon down until it's practically this: Kindle Books > Horror > Horror Writers who live in my house = WOW! I'm number 1 bestseller in this category!)
Where he gets the energy and focus from, to achieve all that he does, is beyond me. I wish sometimes I could bottle it, and hell, I'd market that stuff to authors everywhere … maybe give up the day job myself.
In the end, I'm pleased to know Stuart. A real creative soul, a diligent editor, a hell of a writer and, best of all, my friend.
I hope you enjoy Whispers Volume 3, and many more volumes may we see.
Jack Rollins
Author of The Cabinet of Dr Blessing
November 2016
For the readers who like their stories short and sweet.
Lake Whisper
One summer, long ago…
The putrid, copper stench awoke Harold with a jolt.
Eyes frantic and blurry, he glanced around the dank, musty room. The smell of damp was pungent, almost overbearing. Harold felt his face crease in disgust. He blinked several times, forcing the unconsciousness from his vision. As his eyes cleared, he felt a surge of barbed terror rise within him.
A man, his back turned, stood a few feet away. The unmistakable grind of a blade sharpening on stone pierced the foreboding silence. The noise sounded once every five seconds, in a pattern, as if the man was timing each stroke. Every screech prickled the gooseflesh on Harold's clammy skin.
Where am I?
Harold moved his head, seeking answers to his left, and flinched in pain. His tongue probed the inside of his mouth and located a bloody hole. He slipped his dry tongue between the lips of the serrated gash with a squelch. He licked the outside of his filthy, sweaty cheek and gagged.
The noise alerted the man, who turned and smiled. In his right hand was a blood-soaked kitchen knife. His left cupped a piece of crimson streaked stone. He ambled forward.
"I see you're awake. Perfect timing." The man grinned, revealing several neglected, yellow teeth. He tightened and released his fingers on the knife handle, adjusting his grip.
Harold tried to move, but couldn’t. He glanced down, noticing the fastenings that tied his arms to the chair beneath him. Shackles restricted his legs. For the first time, he realised he was totally naked. The terror was at boiling point now. He looked up at his kidnapper and began to cry.
The man smiled. "I thought you were a goner. Proves I can be wrong sometimes."
Harold pissed himself, and hot urine splattered the floor beneath him. "Why are you doing this?" he muttered weakly.
The man leaned in and slit Harold's throat. The sweaty skin parted effortlessly, allowing torrents of blood to gush and sluice down the naked man's body. The hot blood splattered on the floor, mingling with the urine, filling the air with cacophonous splashing. The killer smiled and leaned in close. "Because I can."
*****
The Audi crawled to a halt on the cracked, faded asphalt.
The sounds of Lake Whisper, eloquent and peaceful, filled the silence around the vehicle. A blackbird swooped, inches from the warm hood of the German behemoth that now intruded on its home. The trees rustled patiently, their branches clawing at the sky. A rabbit, oblivious to its surroundings, ambled across the chalk-cobbled path that masqueraded as a road.
The passenger door opened and a man stepped out. His long, blond hair waved on the cool breeze, whipping him in the face. His lithe, fit body moved with ease and poise. With a strong left hand, he tucked the hair behind his ear and took in his surroundings. He whistled, observing the view.
An obese man, his face red from exertion, climbed from the vehicle with some difficulty. He wiped his sweaty brow with a blue, soggy handkerchief. His ragged breath rasped over his bulbous lips. He too looked around, taking in the environment, swiping his greasy hair to his shiny scalp.
The blond man grimaced. "Hey, Thomas? Is this the right place?"
The obese man turned to face his colleague. He shoved the handkerchief into his trouser pocket and nodded. "Yep, this is it, Richard. Lake Whisper."
Richard gazed at the murky sky and the isolated lake and laughed. "Looks like a fucking shithole to me. Seriously, you couldn’t find somewhere better? Somewhere with a pool and a bar and some ladies?" He patted down his blond hair.
"Lake Whisper is an amazing place. Just because it’s in the country doesn’t mean you should dismiss it. We only just got here, you can't know if it's bad or not." Thomas rubbed his chubby, upper lip with his finger. It came away slick with sweat. He huffed and stepped away from the idling Audi.
