Thirteen girls were ready at winter’s end. All in our thirteenth year, we waited to find out which one of us was to be awarded the red cloak. Time stood still while we stood in a ring around the moon dial. The grandmothers sang and changed our positions at every thirteenth measure until the moon rose and cast the shadow of the dial, like a long pointing finger upon the chosen one.

Madame Silvanus had offered our threadbare village a great deal of money for one of us. The chosen girl was to live in splendor at her great mansion in the forest, wear gowns of colored silks and sparkling jewels, and attend Madame’s magnificent midnight feasts. Madame did not reveal why she wanted one of us, only that she did not care about our common origins. Rather, she was looking for a girl with mysterious qualities that only the moon would know.

So there we were on that thirteenth day, at the mercy of the moon.

A world where damnation plays by day and tortured, captive souls dream by night. Read Grant Holden Wagner’s The Cosmic Damnation. By: Grant Holden Wagner Grant Holden Wagner is currently studying philosophy at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Click here for a PDF of The Cosmic Damnation.   The Cosmic Damnation By: Grant Holden [...]

Guilt, madness, and loneliness sometimes have a way of reaching down and touching our past. Mr. Tim Tobin tells us exactly how that can happen in Chuckles. Do read and enjoy. By: Tim Tobin Mr. Tobin holds a degree in mathematics from LaSalle University. He retired five years ago from L-3 Communications after more than [...]

T.C. Clark has been published in the Pill Hill anthologies, Solstice Publishing, and the Western Fictioneer’s anthology The Traditional West. Do enjoy his most recent work, a 33-lined poem titled The Hand From Above. Nathan J.D.L. Rowark has been published in Horrorzine.com, Forward Press, Bloodmoonrisings.com, Staticmovement.com, Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine, Taintedtea.com, among others. Please do [...]

No one knows how it started and no one knows why exactly a hospital in Southern Illinois was shut down and its patients not allowed to leave. In a desperate attempt to save his nephew, Ben Scofield breaks into the hospital only to be confronted by unsettling blackness. By: Nick Medina Nick Medina is a [...]

In Allen Kopp’s new short story, Late of Cherry Street, we learn that sometimes one just needs to learn where they are going. Do read. By: Allen Kopp Allen Kopp lives in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. His fiction has appeared in Short Story America, A Twist of Noir, Midwest Literary Magazine, Abandoned Towers Magazine, Danse [...]

In Martin Shelby’s short story, “Missy,” the wintery dark months can sometimes bring out darker things. For some, there is protection, at a price. Do read. By: Martin Shelby Born in Missouri, Martin developed a love for dark fantasy and horror as soon as he could read. He enjoys billiards, RPGs, like World of Darkness, [...]

Death Muses on His Joys, is a monologue by Mr. Death himself. While the second poem, Beasts, is a tongue-in-cheek piece. Do read and enjoy. By: Milan Smith Milan Smith’s poetry has been published in various magazines such as Clockwise Cat, Every Day Poets, and Dreams and Nightmares. After getting his bachelor’s degree from the [...]

We all have our obligations in life. Sometimes our obligations can lead to distractions and sometimes these distractions can be tragic. In Greg Mollin’s haunting short story “Where the fault lies,” he takes us through the mind and panicked state of a moment gone terribly wrong. By: Greg Mollin Greg Mollin is a fiction writer [...]

Many of us have experienced quirky day’s at work where everything just seems to go wrong. Yet, in David Massengill’s The Chocolate Shop a normal day at work becomes disturbingly tragic due to a disgruntled guest. By: David Massengill David Massengill’s short stories and works of flash fiction have appeared in Eclectica Magazine, Word Riot, [...]

We all run into people each day. Their faces remain with us sometimes for a few seconds, and sometimes longer. Yet, sometimes these run ins with strangers mean something more. By: Deborah Reed To date, Deborah Reed has had over thirty short stories, magazine articles or essays published, two of which are Pushcart Prize nominees. [...]

Anndell Quintero was born in Panama City, Panama and grew up in Miami, Florida and later moved to Chicago. Each of these cities serves as the vibrant, pulsing, backdrop of her work which is the product of a leap into an alternative space. Heather McShane recently finished writing a mixed-genre book called Pretend Wishes. She [...]

Myra Schroeder desperately wanted, needed, and dangerously obsessed over having a baby. By: P Maxwell Born and raised in West Virginia, P Maxwell is a transplant now taking root and thriving in the Windy City.  She has a Bachelor’s in English under her belt and will soon have her MFA from the School of the [...]

Burial Day Books is honored to feature Australian writer Deva Shore this month! In Holding Her Within, Deva Shore brings us into a fairy tale setting with two lovers in the wood for a magical day of joy. Yet, like in many fairy tales sometimes something, or someone, is lost, and sometimes, just sometimes strange [...]

Solidad’s flower shop is her new passion but she failed to realize the power of the Cempoalxochitl Marigold on the Day of The Dead. By: Solidad Flor We don’t know much about Solidad Flor, what we do know is that she has frequent night tremors, often takes her first dates through a cemetery stroll, and [...]

Burial Day Books is a boutique publisher of supernatural horror fiction.