Liminal Spaces is a quiet horror anthology from Cemetery Gates Media featuring stories from well-known dark fiction writers such as: Joanna Koch, Jessica McHugh, Mark Allan Gunnells, Anthony J. Rapino, Gwendolyn Kiste, Michael Wehunt, Bob Ford, Kelli Owen, Richard Thomas, Todd Keisling, Chad Lutzke, Kristi DeMeester, Joshua Palmatier, and Norman Prentiss.

“The word ‘liminal’ comes from the Latin root limen. It means ‘threshold.’ A liminal space is a ‘crossing over’ space–a space where you have left something behind, yet you are not fully in something else. It’s a transition space.

“This is my favorite kind of horror and speculative fiction. Fiction which takes place in that ‘crossing over’ space. Stories about characters who have–wittingly or unwittingly–crossed a threshold. Those who have left something behind, yet are not quite somewhere or something else. They are in-between, and are neither one thing, nor another. Classic anthologies like Shadows, edited by Charles L. Grant epitomize these kinds of stories, as did Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, the work of Charles Beaumont and T. M Wright, Joyce Carol Oates, Shirley Jackson, and the ‘strange stories’ of Robert Aickman.”

-Kevin Lucia, Editor

Predatory eyes flicker in darkness, a legion of abominations seeking human destruction. Slashing claws and gnashing teeth, hungry for flesh, eager to kill.

Clutch onto hope and pray for dawn. Creatures rule the night.

In Darkness, Delight is an original anthology series revealing the many faces of modern horror— shocking and quiet, pulp and literary, cold-hearted and heart-felt, weird tales of spiraling madness alongside full-throttle thrillers. Open these pages and unleash all-new terrors that consume from without and within.

The creatures are here. It’s now time to find . . . In Darkness, Delight.

Featuring:

• Josh Malerman: One Thousand Words on a Tombstone – Bully Jack
  
• Jeff Strand: The Last Thing You Want to Be
  
• Ray Garton: A Survivor
  
• Richard Chizmar: Father
  
• Mary SanGiovanni: The Giant’s Table
  
• Tim Curran: White Rabbit
  
• Christopher Motz: Scales
  
• Kev Harrison: Snap
  
• Evans Light: Gertrude
• Mikal Trimm: Infestation
  
• Mark Cassell: River of Nine Tails
  
• Mason Morgan: The People in the Toilet
  
• Andrew Lennon: Silent Scream
  
• Chad Lutzke: He Wears the Lake
  
• Adam Light: Valley of the Dunes
  
• Eddie Generous: The Newell Post
  
• Frank Oreto: The Worms Turn
  
• Gregor Xane: The Ugly Tree
  
• Kristopher Rufty: Hinkles
  
• Glenn Rolfe: Human Touch
  
• Curtis M. Lawson: The Green Man of Freetown
  
  

  About Corpus Press:
  

  Corpus Press is a publisher of horror and weird fiction, specializing in modern pulp that emphasizes plot over gore. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the press has garnered praise from SCREAM Magazine, Cemetery Dance, Horror Novel Reviews, Hellnotes and others for its Bad Apples:Slices of Halloween Horror series, the anthology Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love, and for its short story collections and novellas.
  
  
  Horror anthologies and collections from Corpus Press:
  
  
  • Screamscapes: Tales of Terror
    
  • Toes Up: Horror to Die For
    
  • Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love
    

  Halloween horror books from Corpus Press:

  • Doorbells at Dusk: Halloween Stories
  • Bad Apples: Five Slices of Halloween Horror
    

*Winner of the 2019 This Is Horror Awards ‘Novella of the Year’*

A coming-of-age tale of revenge and survival that explores a friendship and the desperate measures taken to ensure they stay united, held together by the scars that bind them.

After being held against their will in a house used for trafficking, three girls plan their escape.

Alex: A hardened goth-punk who’s convinced she’s a vampire with a penchant for blood.
Stacia: A seventeen-year-old raised by an alcoholic mother, her fellow captives the only family she’s ever truly had.
Kammie: The youngest of the three—a mute who finds solace in a houseplant.

But does life outside the house offer the freedom they’d envisioned? Or is it too late, the scars too deep?

This contemporary Suspense Thriller / Horror novella with an all-female cast is the perfect read for fans of Robert R. McCammon, Stephen King, and Jack Ketchum.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.


Interview with the author:

What makes this Suspense Thriller so special?

Taking into consideration the predicament of the three girls in the book, rather than reading as a typical thriller where most of the time is spent in a cat & mouse chase or building to the climax of escape, the book focuses on the psychological aftermath of the trauma and explores the bittersweet feeling of being free and whether the joy of freedom can be truly celebrated alone. Also, there aren't enough female-centric coming-of-age stories out there.

Tell us more about your lead character.

Stacia is a 17-year-old, everyday, teenage girl who was raised in a very dysfunctional home where the front door is left revolving by myriad of temporary father figures brought home by her alcoholic mother. She's never truly felt what it means to be loved, until she meets the other girls in the house on Seaside Lane.

Why should readers give your work a try?

Because I try my hardest to write stories using concepts that I feel haven't been done before. Originality is my primary concern, followed by a huge dose of empathy for characters the reader will care for deeply, darkness, and often times hope, but never in an unrealistic manner.

Shallow Waters—where nothing stays buried.

With twenty-two dark tales diving beneath the surface of loss, love, and life.

Shallow Waters is the official monthly flash fiction challenge hosted by the award-winning Crystal Lake Publishing. Every month a new challenge is posted online, with authors submitting via email. The best submissions are then posted on Crystal Lake’s Patreon page, where patrons read daily entries and vote for the winner. What you’ll find in these Shallow Waters anthologies include the most popular of our finalists.

Stay tuned for more volumes in this series, or find Crystal Lake Publishing on Patreon to enter or vote on future challenges.

Volume one includes horror, thrillers, suspense, and stories of love lost, death, 2nd chances, the monsters within, and the beauty beneath it all.

Introduction by Joe Mynhardt
“Closure on a Bed of Nails” by Chad Lutzke
“Fast Car” by Tracy Fahey
“Tears of Buddy” by Patrick R. McDonough
“Puzzle Pieces” by Armand Rosamilia
“Pretty Like Butterflies” by Tim Waggoner
“S1:E7” by Robert Ford
“Pain is Your Teacher” by Michael Harris Cohen
“Memory Lane” by Red Lagoe
“The Silence of the Sirens” by Loren Rhoads
“It’s Me Not You” by Jonathan Winn
“Sisters of Loss” by Mark Allan Gunnells
“Talisman” by Jezzy Wolfe
“The Melting of Your Gods” by Mercedes M. Yardley
“Charms” by Dino Parenti
“Not Your Average Monster” by Kenneth W. Cain
“Where the Children Run in Darkness” by Guy Medley
“Tunnels” by Tom Over (winner)
“The Truth about Dani” by Joe Mercer
“Baby Savannah” by M.J. Sydney
“Rats Scratched in the Linen Cupboard” by Dani Brown
“Raining” by John Boden
“The Death Experience” by L.A. Story

In this volume…

• Taunted by a cactus, a man copes with grief after the loss of his wife.
• Alondra DeCourval visits Franz Kafka’s grave to think about death.
• A lovestruck woman strives to connect with a man she’s convinced is The One.
• The perfect funeral for a child—all according to a Mother’s well-crafted plan. The exception is one small, unexpected development no one could have ever prepared for.
• A short meditation on the haunting nature of love and loss, and the aftermath of both.
• Victor’s sanity has been threaded together by the memory of his daughter’s voice, until now, when her laughter falls silent.
• An adrenaline junkie believes he can take on the ultimate challenge—coming back from the dead.
• Sisters share everything. The good...and the bad.
• Sometimes being a hoarder is dangerous...
• In our ever-changing world, what we view as a monster is constantly evolving…but at what cost?
• Buddy's heart aches for his family’s arrival.
• Bright colors may be beautiful, but sometimes they can be dangerous.
• Sometimes the darkness we harbor within is best left behind closed doors.
• Rats scratch in the children's ward.
• A surprise wedding present from daughter to father, built over a lifetime, reveals his true nature to all his guests.