Trusted by 500+ fans to find the fun in the funereal, the absurd in the macabre, and delight in the darkness. Join fiction author Morgan Delaney three times a week for genre-bending stories of cozy horror, dark fantasy and a brain with mind of its own...
Don't Walk THIS Way...
 Sometimes you don’t know what to say. Walking with Nadine to work yesterday, a young man, maybe 27, hurried past us as we crossed the bridge over the river. It was raining, but he wore only a knitted cardigan and jeans with the bottoms turned up in a manner I personally haven’t seen since 1993. I’d never make fun of someone for what they were wearing. But I would make fun of someone for walking like they think they’re important. His legs were moving fast, but the steps were short. He kept his knees turned out to the side so no one could sneak up on him from behind, and his arms swinging to distribute the smell of too much aftershave fairly. Well. Myself and Nadine shared amused glances. I can’t tell you what Nadine was thinking, but I was busy working on several absolute zingers for when he bosswalked out of earshot. And then… And then he bent over in front of us. In the rain. And picked up a lump of bread, about the size of an eyeball, which some previous pedestrian had dropped on the street. We followed. We watched. We bated our breaths. Arriving at the end of the bridge, he deposited the bit of bread on a wall and passed out of view and into legend. My zingers turned to ash. He had left me with nothing to say. I only had questions. If you have any idea what the hell we witnessed, please let me know. All I can think, is that perhaps – it’s a long shot – but perhaps Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter had aligned, and he was performing the Ritual of the Bread to ward off death and disaster. Like on the 29th of March, 1345, when a similar planetary alignment caused the Black Death. And if you enjoy it, please perform the Ritual of Sharing It With a Friend to prevent more monkey business. Chat soon, Morgan P.S. More Morgan? Get 2 of my books free here: morgandelaney.info/newsletter |
Dark, Strange and Fantastic Fiction
Trusted by 500+ fans to find the fun in the funereal, the absurd in the macabre, and delight in the darkness. Join fiction author Morgan Delaney three times a week for genre-bending stories of cozy horror, dark fantasy and a brain with mind of its own...
Raise your glasses to the masses! This week I smashed past a massive 100,000 words of the latest Alumière adventure, The Cat Wore Black! 100,000 words is about the length of To Kill a Mockingbird. And I’m only about 80-ish% through the book. Don’t worry, though. I’m a messy writer, and this is the first draft. Once I pull out the Red Pen and start deleting, that word count will come right back down again. I reckon the finished Cat will clock in at a respectable 75,000-80,000 like the others....
You think you’ve seen it all… I’m friends with the stray dogs in our local park. The people working in the park feed the dogs, and I supply the tickles (and additional treats). Then the bloody birds ruined it. What should have been a win-win situation has turned into a catastrophe. The dogs get food – and tickles. The blackbirds get whatever’s left. But the birds wanted more. So they started pecking at the oldest dog, who only has three legs, to hurry him on before he’s finished. They sneak...
We want to try every restaurant in Tbilisi before we leave this summer. I can’t recommend last night’s restaurant. The food tasted fine, but the decor included a film projector projecting some old Georgian film. I know it’s Georgian because 90% of the action was people eating and drinking. The walls were stuffed with pictures, paintings, and various vintage bits and bobs, so they projected the film across the top of one wall and part of the ceiling. To be specific, the actors – mostly sitting...