Bad Stacks Story Collection Box Set (59 page)

The husband had harbored no secrets. A pathetic man who made another person pay for his shortcomings. He was a sick, stupid animal. Ricky would think no more of him, and tomorrow he would throw the newspapers away.

He washed his hands in the sink, put the knife away, and gave the kitchen a cursory examination. No sign of the watermelon remained, and his eyes were dry, and his hands no longer trembled.

Tomorrow, summer would be over. It was the end of something, and the beginning of something else. Maybelle was waiting, and he might get lucky. Ricky went to the stairs and took them one step at a time, up into darkness.

THE END

Return to
Curtains Table of Contents

Return to
Master Table of Contents

###

CURTAINS: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LIES

By Scott Nicholson

People who only know my paranormal stories may not know that I have written in almost every genre, including mystery, science fiction, fantasy, literary realism, and even romance, though my romance doesn’t always end happily ever after. I just love to read everything and expand my borders. Patricia Highsmith, Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew, Hardee Boys, Charlotte McLeod, Elmore Leonard, William Goldman, and James Lee Burke are in my library, and all your influences turn up in your work until you get “experienced.” Which means you get lazy and fall into a shallow groove and keep doing the same thing over and over again.

The Digital Era heralds Act II of my career, and my crime novels like
The Skull Ring
and
Disintegration
show a different side of me, plus I wrote a couple of screenplays that slide easily into the mystery box. With this new freedom comes an easy break from the commercial considerations that demand you build a simple, identifiable brand. Now I’m the Scott Nicholson brand, and I respect you enough to credit you with taste, looks, intelligence, and good breeding. In other words, you’re willing to broaden you horizons and not get locked into reading the same story over and over with different titles and author names.

But maybe I’m trying to slip a fast one by you, run a con and take your money because you like mysteries and I’m a horror writer at heart. So here’s a little examination of the facts.

Dog Person
– This was inspired by a true story. My friend Al Carson was talking about his dog’s expensive medical problems and how he decided to have Sally “put to sleep” instead of spending thousands of dollars. We discussed a fictional version of the tale and, in his version, there were two shots–first was the mercy killing of the dog, then the suicidal shot. I went with the version here, where the guy loves his dog so much that he just can’t face life without her. And, of course, the treacherous wife gets the fruit of her hateful labors. Originally published in
Cemetery Dance Magazine #56
in 2006 and selected by esteemed editor Ellen Datlow for inclusion in
The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror.

Dead Air
—I wrote this while attending Appalachian State University in 1996. I worked at the college radio station in virtually every capacity at one time or another: jock, general manager, promotions director, sportscaster and news announcer. The cool think was to have a little made-up “handle,” and I toyed with Ricky Nix for a while but in the end stuck with what I had. Maybe there’s a little lesson about media sensationalism in here. After 16 years of journalism, I can’t say I’ve always been proud of my other profession. Originally appeared in
Blue Murder Magazine
#3 in 1997, which was a progressive little PDF publication way ahead of its time.

How to Build Your Own Coffin
—I conducted one of those “vanity searches,” where you Google your name on the Internet under the guise of testing the effectiveness of promotional efforts while you’re really just seeing if anyone out there is talking about you. And I came to another Scott Nicholson’s Web page called “How to Build Your Own Coffin.” Seriously. Step by step instructions, with great attention to craft. How could I pass that one up? Originally appeared in the respected U.K. publication
Crimewave #8
in 2005.

The Name Game
—I was toying with the idea of fake identities and how lucky it would be if your fake identity turned up dead and it wasn’t you. Especially if someone wanted you dead. Of course, there’s also the problem of trying to rebuild a life from scratch. And it can get confusing after a while when you burn through a few false identities. Appeared in
The Death Panel
anthology in 2009.

Good Fences
—Like most good stories, this one grew from a real incident. A geezery neighbor up the road would come down and straighten our corner fence post whenever it leaned just a little, and I got so perturbed by the presumptuous habit that I started deliberately knocking the pole out of true, just to see how long it would take him to come creaking down with his hammer and nails. Something like that, you just have to use your imagination to take it to the next level. Published in the Cemetery Dance anthology
Shivers V
in 2008.

The Agreement
—(From
J.A. Konrath
)
: I wrote this in college, and never tried to publish it because I considered it too violent. But after selling several stories to Ellery Queen, I still couldn’t crack its sister publication, Alfred Hitchcock. After a handful of rejections, I sent them this, and they bought it. I liked the last line so much I’ve reused it a few times in other stories.

Kill Your Darlings
—The title is from something Faulkner supposedly said, though I’ve seen it attributed to a couple of other writers. The idea is a writer must cut every precious phrase, no matter how elegant and beautiful, if that phrase does not further the story. I’ll admit, the writer-as-protagonist bit is a darling in itself. So shoot me. First published in
Blue Murder Magazine #5
in 1997.

Making Ends Meet
—
Simon Wood
is author of four novels, including
Asking for Trouble
and
The Fall Guy
. He’s also written more than 170 short stories. He’s an Anthony Award winner, pilot, adventurer, and licensed private investigator. A true talent, his stories explore the dark human heart and the fallibility in all of us. Visit him at
www.simonwood.net
.

Sewing Circle
– Inspired by a true incident in which I wrote what we in the journalism trade call a “fluff piece” about a local quilting group. The leader of the group, who wasn’t present and was barely mentioned in the article, harassed me endlessly about a minor error, to the point that I decided she was vengeful that I hadn’t made her the centerpiece of the article. Since the group met at a church, it was easy to spin the idea to its most absurd and extreme conclusion. Originally published in the 2008 collection
Scattered Ashes
.

Nothing Personal, But You Gotta Die
—I’ve tried a few “flip sides,” where I’ve spun stories off of event sin another story, and here Mikey has been given the job of tracking down Robert Wells, from “The Name Game,” only Mikey knows him by his real name of Vincent. There’s probably a sequel in here somewhere. This is its first appearance.

Watermelon
– I’m almost embarrassed to admit this is autobiographical, but if you’ve read the book, then you’ve caught me with my pants down, anyway. One night, while drunk, I yanked a watermelon from the fridge and beat the holy hell out of it, ramming my fist inside and yanking out the pink pulp. I wasn’t even that angry. But I imagined that was the sort of diffuse outlet that prevented some greater atrocity somewhere else. And as with the protagonist here, you suspect worse things down the road, life goes on, and hell lasts forever. Appeared in
Cemetery Dance #51
in 2005.

That’s it. That’s Curtains for you.

THE END

Return to
Curtains Table of Contents

Return to
Master Table of Contents

###

About Scott Nicholson:

I am strange, but I am very happy! I believe we build valuable ideas together, some of them inside a book, and sometimes outside a book. I am honored that you shared my ideas and brought them to life in your imagination. I invite you to write a brief review or tell your friends about these ideas we have shared.

I’m author of more than 30 books, including
The Red Church, Liquid Fear, Chronic Fear, The Harvest,
and
Speed Dating with the Dead
. I collaborated with bestselling author J.R. Rain on
Cursed, The Vampire Club, Bad Blood
, and
Ghost
College
. I’ve also written the children’s books
If I Were Your Monster, Too Many Witches
,
Ida Claire
, and
Duncan the Punkin
, and created the graphic novels
Dirt
and
Grave Conditions
. Connect with me on
Facebook
,
Goodreads
,
LibraryThing
,
Twitter
, my
blog
, or my
website
. I am really an organic gardener, but don’t tell anyone, because they think I am a writer.

Feel free to drop me a line anytime at
[email protected]
, or visit my
Author Central page
at Amazon to ask a question. Thanks to my cool writer friends for letting me use their stories. And thanks for sharing your valuable time with me.

Return to
Master Table of Contents

Try these other thrillers because they are good:

CREATIVE SPIRIT

By Scott Nicholson

After parapsychologist Anna Galloway is diagnosed with metastatic cancer, she has a recurring dream in which she sees her own ghost. The setting of her dream is the historic Korban Manor, which is now an artist’s retreat in the remote Appalachian Mountains. Drawn both by the ghost stories surrounding the manor and her own sense of destiny, Anna signs up for the retreat.

Sculptor Mason Jackson has come to Korban Manor to make a final, all-or-nothing attempt at success before giving up his dreams. When he becomes obsessed with carving Ephram Korban’s form out of wood, he questions his motivation but is swept up in a creative frenzy unlike any he has ever known.