Tomorrow is coming whether you’re ready or not.

In Darkness, Delight: Fear the Future delivers twenty-two strikingly original tales of terror from Bram Stoker Award®-winners, bestselling authors, genre stalwarts and rising stars.

Includes Emmy-winning, New York Times bestselling author and world-famous magician Penn Jillette’s delightfully wicked short story “The Pain Addict,” which was adapted for a hit sci-fi anthology television series and is available here exclusively for the first time in book format.

Be warned: these are not science fiction stories with a dash of dread. These are visions of the horrifying futures that await us all.

Featuring:

“Airborne,” by Lisa Morton

“Err,” by Michael Laimo

“Daddy's Girl,” by Ben Eads

“Husk,” by Marshall J Moore

“We Have Names, Too,” by Michelle Muenzler

“The Haunting of Asteroid H111,” by Van Aaron Hughes

“Shoulda Read the Fine Print,” Blanche by Ben Lawrence

“Transference,” by Jenn Hopkins

“Game Over,” by Andrew Lennon

“Schroedinger's Head,” by Joanna Koch

“Locusts,” by Dominick Cancilla

“The Pain Addict,” by Penn Jillette

“The Sluggie Rebellion,” by William Meikle

“Noise,” by Max Booth III

“Seeking Harmony with the Infinite,” by Evans Light

“Billy Campbell's Bones,” by Jason Washer

“Survival is an Act of Selfishness,” by Frank Oreto

“Boxed In,” by CS Mergo

“What It Takes,” by Phil Sloman

“Neuroworm,” by Tim Curran

“And the Winner is...,” by Sheldon Higdon

“If I Drive Before I Wake,” by Eric J Guignard

The Legend Continues…

Twenty-four heart-rending tales with elements of terror, mystery, and a nightmarish darkness that knows no end.

Welcome to my lake. Welcome to where dreams and hope are illusions…and pain is God.

• This anthology begins with Joe R. Lansdale’s The Folding Man, one of his darkest stories ever written.
• Kealan Patrick Burke’s Go Warily After Dark pulls us into a desolated world, and reminds us of the price of survival: a guilt that seeps into the marrow.
• Damien Angelica Walter’s Everything Hurts, Until it Doesn’t places us in the middle of a family whose secrets and traditions are thicker than blood.
• Jennifer Loring’s When the Dead Come Home explores a loss so dark, that even the stars are sucked into its melancholic vacuum.

In the spirit of popular Dark Fiction and Horror anthologies such as Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories and Behold: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders, and the best of Stephen King’s short fiction, comes Crystal Lake Publishing’s Tales from The Lake anthologies.

This fourth volume of Speculative Fiction contains the following short stories:

• Jennifer Loring – When the Dead Come Home
• Joe R. Lansdale – The Folding Man
• Kealan Patrick Burke – Go Warily After Dark
• T. E. Grau – To the Hills
• Damien Angelica Walters – Everything Hurts, Until it Doesn’t
• Sheldon Higdon – Drowning in Sorrow
• Max Booth III – Whenever You Exhale, I Inhale
• Bruce Golden – The Withering
• JG Faherty – Grave Secrets
• Hunter Liguore – End of the Hall
• David Dunwoody – Snowmen
• Timothy G. Arsenault – Pieces of Me
• Maria Alexander – Neighborhood Watchers
• Timothy Johnson – The Story of Jessie and Me
• Michael Bailey – I will be the Reflection Until the End
• E.E. King – The Honeymoon’s Over
• Darren Speegle – Song in a Sundress
• Cynthia Ward – Weighing In
• Michael Haynes – Reliving the Past
• Leigh M. Lane – The Long Haul
• Mark Cassell – Dust Devils
• Del Howison – Liminality
• Gene O’Neill – The Gardener
• Jeff Cercone – Condo by the Lake

With an introduction by editor Ben Eads. Cover art by Ben Baldwin. Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing – Tales from The Darkest Depths.

Additional book categories:

• Horror
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Mystery
• Short stories
• Anthologies
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Includes:

• The Infrastructure of the Gods by Brian Hodge
• The Writer’s Purgatory by Monique Snyman
• Why Rejection is Still Important by Kevin Lucia
• Real Writers Steal Time by Mercedes M. Yardley
• What Right Do I Have to Write by Jasper Bark
• Go Pace Yourself by Jack Ketchum
• A Little Infusion of Magic by Dave-Brendon de Burgh
• Confronting Your Fears in Fiction by Todd Keisling
• Once More with Feeling by Tim Waggoner
• Embracing Your Inner Shitness by James Everington
• The Forgotten Art of Short Story by Mark Allan Gunnells
• Adventures in Teaching Creative Writing by Lucy A. Snyder
• Submit (to psychology) for Acceptance by Daniel I. Russell
• Character Building by Theresa Derwin
• Heroes and Villains by Paul Kane
• Do Your Worst by Jonathan Winn
• Creating Effective Characters by Hal Bodner
• Fictional Emotions; Emotional Fictions by James Everington
• Home Sweet Home by Ben Eads
• You by Kealan Patrick Burke
• The art of becoming a book reviewer by Nerine Dorman
• Treating Fiction like a Relationship by Jonathan Janz
• How to Write Killer Poetry by Stephanie M. Wytovich
• Happy Little Trees by Michael Knost
• In Lieu of Patience Bring Diversity by Kenneth W. Cain
• Networking is Scary, but Essential by Doug Murano
• Are You In The Mood? by Sheldon Higdon
• What if Every Novel is a Horror Novel? by Steve Diamond
• Description by Patrick Freivald
• A First-time Novelist's Odyssey by William Gorman
• I Am Setting by J.S. Breukelaar
• Finding Your Voice by Lynda E. Rucker

Are you ready to unleash the author in you?

Proudly brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing – Tales from the Darkest Depths

Interview with the authors:

So what makes Writers on Writing so special?

Stephanie M. Wytovich: I think what makes Writers on Writing a standout craft book is that Crystal Lake Publishing pulled writers from different genres and different mediums to give readers a massive insight into the industry in regards to film, screenwriting, poetry, prose, etc. It’s a meaty collection of advice that speaks to everyone at any point in their career, and I think readers will be wildly excited about the essays inside.

Tell us more about your essay.

Jack Ketchum: Mine's about pacing, crucial to grabbing and holding the reader's attention, and music to the reader's ear. Both, I think, important things to consider.

Kenneth W. Cain: I speak of using diversity in your fiction, of pulling from the known world to create more realistic characters without relying on stereotypes and generalizations. It’s much a reflection of myself, of course, but I fully believe in letting characters breathe, allowing them to become what they will, good or bad, male or female, deviant or prude.

This is Writers on Writing – An Author’s Guide where your favorite authors share their ultimate secrets in becoming and being an author. 

Learn the craft of writing from those who know it best.

Line-up:

• How to Write Killer Poetry by Stephanie M. Wytovich
• Happy Little Trees by Michael Knost
• In Lieu of Patience Bring Diversity by Kenneth W. Cain
• Networking is Scary, but Essential by Doug Murano
• Are You In The Mood? by Sheldon Higdon
• What if Every Novel is a Horror Novel? by Steve Diamond
• Description by Patrick Freivald
• A First-Time Novelist’s Odyssey by William Gorman
• I Am Setting by J.S. Breukelaar
• Finding Your Voice by Lynda E. Rucker

The Writers on Writing series gives young authors the guidance they need, but has advice for all authors, from the interested newbie to the seasoned veteran. 

Are you ready to unleash the author in you?

Proudly brough to you by Crystal Lake Publishing - Tales from the Darkest Depths

Interview with the Authors:

So what makes Writers on Writing so special?

Kenneth W. Cain: What makes a compilation like this so great is getting advice from many different writers at all levels in their career. 

Tell us more about your essay in Writers on Writing.

Stephanie M. Wytovich: My essay “Blunt Force Trauma: How to Write Killer Poetry” talks about the catharsis of writing poetry, but does so in a step-by-step guide to plotting a good murder…and a great stanza or two. Readers will experience the emotional attachment that goes along with inserting mood and tone into their work, as well as watch the physical and mental binding that the poet/killer has with their poem/victim. Together we’ll plot and we’ll execute, and in the end, we’ll see what consequences we’ve reaped.

Why should authors read Writers on Writing?

Kenneth W. Cain: If you’re like me, you’re always looking for ways to produce a stronger story. It’s not a preference, but a need, as I constantly evolve and reshape my words in different and new ways, all the while trying to retain a particular voice within my work. It’s about growth, and there’s no better source for this development than utilizing the experiences of your peers and colleagues. So when an opportunity like this comes about, to read of the experiences of so many great authors, I’m quite anxious to digest every bit of what they have to offer. It’s a great opportunity to grow as a writer, an education which I feel has no boundaries or conclusion.

Do you have other non-fiction books authors should try out?

Stephanie M. Wytovich: I’m currently reading Horror 101: The Way Forward: Career advice by Seasoned Professionals and I read Many Genres, One Craft, while I was in graduate school and found it really helpful because it comes at writing from all genre perspectives rather than just horror, and as someone who firmly believes that it’s crucial to read and study outside of one’s genre, I think this is a great book to have at the writing desk.