“Speed Trap“ by Ancel K Houchen
“Growing up as a kid in New York, Manny Rivera survived everything the mean streets of Brooklyn could throw at him, but tonight it may just be a deserted stretch of I-95 that eats him alive.”
“The Burning Lands” by Ancel K Houchen
“Brownsville Brooklyn had been a troubled place ever since it was called “The Burning Lands” by the Native Americans who lived there. Brownsville’s attraction to all things dark dates back to the late 1500s when a small hunting party of Lenape men wandered into the area in search of food.
The winter of 1549 had been unusually harsh and wild game was scarce. The Lenape harvested and hunted their own lands bare leaving them with little choice but to take the risk of looking for food in “The Burning Lands”. It was a spirit haunted place where voices of the dead beckoned, animals watched with knowing eyes and ghostly blue flames danced as if they were alive. It was a place from which the careless never returned.”
“Plugged In” by Ancel K. Houchen
“At first glance David Bowers seems to be just another New York City commuter. He rides the morning bus wearing the typical commuter uniform of white shirt, blue tie and a slightly greasy bag of an Egg McMuffin and two hash browns. The one part of the uniform that David refuses to wear is the ear-buds. He would have no iPods, PSPs or MP3 player attached to his head. To him, the white tendrils hanging from peoples ears along with vapid look of serenity on their faces made it look like their brains were being devoured by some worm like parasite.
David wanted his mind clear so he could hear as well as see what was going on all around him. And there was quite a bit happening lately too. Terrible acts of violence and torture were making the news headlines for an unbroken string of days. The acts seemed random, on the surface, to everyone but David. He was beginning to see a pattern. He was starting to see a connection between the recent killings and the “white worms” sprouting from everyone’s ears.”
“The Climb” by Ancel K. Houchen
“Walter was the last rider in a 100 mile bicycle ride. He had trained for months and promised himself that he would finish his first century even if it killed him. When he finally reached the last few miles, he found himself looking up at the biggest hill he had ever seen. At that moment a fatal stroke would seem like an act of mercy, but little did he know that the hill, or an impending brain aneurysm, wasn’t his biggest problem. Something was watching him from the shadows of the forest. It watched him struggle up the hill, tasting his sweat on the wind, with a dozen greedy little eyes fixed on his flesh.”
“Late for Class” by Ancel K. Houchen
“Tyrell and Curtis were college roommates and shared a room on campus. Both of them were studying for their finals but one was about to flunk history because the other one has found a way to change it. And the unintentional consequences could prove to be fatal.
“The Conjurer” by Ancel K. Houchen
“A young woman’s faith is put to the test when a demon arrives with a claim to her soul.”
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