Horrorscopes: Twelve Tales of the Macabre

Afterword

I want to take a moment to shed some light on each story; the reasons for writing them or the process of writing them. Not because it is integral in understanding or enjoying them, but merely because they are the product of a mental pregnancy, and I birthed each one laboriously and am now proud to share every detail I may, and with anyone who will listen.

I've always been a sucker for a twist ending. I attribute this mostly to my love of old shows like The Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside, and Night Gallery. Often when writing short horror fiction, I conceptualize stories in reverse; that is, I think of a good twist ending scenario and I build backward to toward the start before I begin to write. It is a common element in my short works, and often my readers reflect this by telling me that it reminded them of one of these great shows. When writing “The Needing” I wanted to capture this, perhaps more than ever before in one of my works. And I hope you, reader, can appreciate my homage to the inspiring pulp horror of the 1950s through '70s, when television was as far from reality as possible.

I wrote “The Needing” in the middle of the night; the same night I had the idea. This was rather uncomfortable for me because I needed to be up early in the morning. But since I had the idea at around 9pm and couldn't fall asleep by midnight, I dragged myself out of bed and wrote it at a speed which is likely unprecedented in my experience. Upon completing it, I was so excited by how well it turned out that I didn't get any sleep anyways.

For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by the Tarot, astrology, and other forms of divination. It's one of society's great gray areas; virtually every culture has methods and experts... as well as skeptics and all-out disbelievers. While I concede that in “Four Knaves” I didn't accurately depict the Tarot in Madam Voltaire's reading, I claim artistic license, and I think this story is better for it. As to the inspiration behind it, I've long held the belief that prophecies are self-fulfilling and I wanted to show one of the many ways that such things could happen.

I wrote “Four Knaves” at a time where my computer had crashed and needed repair. It was the first time in a few years that I had tried to write anything longhand. I tried to wait until my laptop was fixed, but resisting the urge to write is like trying to hold back a violent sneeze. I ended up taking a notebook and a selection of pens to the restaurant where I do most of my writing. I scribbled from about 6am to noon, hand cramped up, head aching with frustration and tension from the loss of rapid thought articulation. For all my suffering, I think “Four Knaves” has paid me back. Not only was it a hit among readers, but it also earned me a feature by the Wattpad Talent Hunters on their blog.

It's no great secret where my inspiration for “I've Always Kept Pets” came from—I have always kept pets. Much like the protagonist, I have dogs, cats, and birds hounding me all the time. And their individual eccentricities exist in real life very much the same as on the page. When I look at their peculiar mannerisms, I'm not all that spooked by them. But when I first digested their behavior as a whole, I realized that I don't keep them... they keep me. Fortunately, my pets are simply adoring and are devoid of any malice... at the moment.

I wrote Pets quite spur of the moment, actually—with no planning and almost no indication that I was going to write it. I remember that I was sitting at my computer, listening to the television from the other room and watching my dogs and cats go through their usual rituals. The next thing I knew, I had opened up a text document and typed the words “I've always kept pets.” From there, the story just came out and when it was finished, it needed no revision. It exists now exactly the same as it had when I typed it. “I've Always Kept Pets” is one of my favorite short stories and it's a fan-favorite as well. When I first released it, I received anywhere from fifty to eighty emails a day for about a month with people praising this short story. Apparently, everyone keeps pets... and their pets keep them, too.