Piers Anthony - What Fears Become: An Anthology from The Horror Zine

WHAT FEARS BECOME

An Anthology from The Horror Zine

Edited by Jeani Rector

WHAT FEARS BECOME

Copyright 2011 by various authors and Jeani Rector, The Horror Zine. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the authors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. And any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead (or in any other form), business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

http://www.thehorrorzine.com

FIRST EDITION ebook

Imajin Books - http://www.imajinbooks.com

August 2011

ISBN: 978-1-926997-18-6

Cover designed by Sapphire Designs

http://www.designs.sapphiredreams.org

Praise for WHAT FEARS BECOME

"You won't be able to put WHAT FEARS BECOME down, not even for a secondDarkly humorousEach spine-tingling chiller takes the reader into the depths of eerie imaginationsThanks to Rector, get used to names such as Philip Roberts, Larry Green, and Cheryl Kaye Tardif because you're going to be hearing from them in the future!"Jorge Solis, Fangoria

"There's nothing like a good scary story, except a lot of them, collected in an anthology from some of our top horror/suspense writers. So read one and be scared, or read a few and be good and scared, or read the whole book and lock all the doors and stay up all night listening to the house creakThey're terrific."William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Back Bay

" What Fears Become is a bold, brilliant collection of some of the most innovative and eloquent voices in modern horror. A musthant read for any avid horror fan."Gabrielle Faust, author of Eternal Vigilance

"What an inspired mix of energetic and captivating horror. Here is work from acclaimed writers and a host of talented newcomers. This anthology is like a fearful breath from an ancient crypt; enter if you dare!"Trevor Denyer, Midnight Street Magazine

"Dip in and you're hooked. WHAT FEARS BECOME is a high-bar mix of new and established talent."Stephen Gallagher, author of Kingdom of Bones

"From the producers of The Horror Zine , this anthology of frightful fiction pulls in an impressive cast including some of the old masters of the genre, several bright luminaries and a handful of newcomers, promising that the top quality of the fiction, poetry and art is the only thing that matters."Djibril al-Ayad, editor of The Future Fire

"This anthology showcases unusual and deeply disturbing horror fiction by numerous distinguished authors. Ramsey Campbell's story, in particular, will surely strike terror into the hearts of all aspiring writers."Margaret L. Carter, author of Different Blood: The Vampire as Alien

"The stories in "What Fears Become" epitomize what Stephen King has called "the bad death." Whether they're jealous mirrors, irradiated vampires, clueless ghosts, or carnivorous homes, this anthology's shadows render the world a deadly place that gets most of its stories' protagonists in the end. Unless the protagonist is a monsteror already dead. That happens, too."Paula R. Stiles, editor of Innsmouth Free Press

"The well crafted stories, and list of writers new and well known make WHAT FEARS BECOME a must read for horror lovers."Selina Rosen, author of The Host trilogy

For the loyal readers of The Horror Zine

Acknowledgments

As editor of The Horror Zine , I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the talented writers, poets, and artists that make us what we are. There would be no The Horror Zine without all of you. I want to especially thank the best-selling professional writers who so generously and graciously lent us their works for this book.

I also want to thank all the hardworking and underpaid (think working for free!) editors of print and online magazines who strive diligently to give the writers, poets, and artists a venuein which to display their talents.

I particularly want to thank Trevor Denyer of Midnight Street Magazine for introducingme to Ramsey Campbell a couple of years ago, which basically started this whole adventure. I want to extend my thanks to Geoff Nelder for introducing me to Conrad Williams. I would like to thank Mattfrom the online forum Shocklines and also Ed from Cafe Doom for their unselfish devotion to giving people like me a venue to share my news and also to promote my endeavors.

I want to thank Trudy Hunter, Julia Cross, Sue Quiberg, Cheryl Babcock, and Kathleen Matranga for their continuing support. I would like to thank Heather Rector and Eric Rector for their refreshing uniqueness that never fails to inspire me.

And finally, I would also like to thank Cheryl Tardif, Lisa Hazard, Jennifer Johnson, Dean H. Wild and Toni Lopopolo for making this book possible.

Table of Contents

Fiction

Poetry

The Artists

Editor's Corner

A SMALL MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Foreword by Simon Clark

I want to talk to you about a mystery. An interesting and important mystery. One that is, well, a matter of life and death.

And what has this extraordinary volume, What Fears Become, got to do with that extraordinary mystery?

Because the book you hold in your hands is part of a unique gift that we enjoy as a species. That gift is 'story.' As far as we know, we are the only creatures to tell, invent, and enjoy stories. And stories are important. We owe our existence to them. They sustain. Interpret. Educate. Encourage. Give hope. They allow us to see through the eyes of our fellow humans. They nourish empathy. Stories develop the strength and breadth of our amazing imaginations. They give us the power, from time to time, to cheat death. They are vitally important to the human race. Stories mean life.

Many anthropologists will cite singing and dancing as being the glue that cemented early tribal society together. I believe our 'species survival and growth package' includes other vitally important elements, such as a talent for the visual arts, a compulsion for physical and mental games, and storiesour universal passion for the made-up tale. Fiction pumps through our veins.

Where's the origin of this apparent inborn need to tell and to hear stories? The mystery lies in the origins of this need . We can't say precisely where the first fable was spun. Or when. Perhaps a gene mutated in one of our ancestors two hundred thousand years ago. For some mysterious reason our great (many times great!) grandmother or grandfather found themselves saying words that broadly mean "Once upon a time." And then relating events that never actually happened, yet which contain iridescent truths that illuminate human life.

Soon I'm going to talk about What Fears Become. First, I should say something about my dramatic statement that stories are so important we owe our existence to them. After all, I can't glibly toss out the opinion "that stories are a matter of life and death" in your general direction, then saunter away, can I? So, Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I present my case. The facts are, at the time of this writing, scientifically accurate. Of course, I'm a writer of fiction (every cell of my body positively throbs with that 'story' gene: yours, too!), so I paint my facts onto the canvas of imagination.

Here we go. We're traveling back twenty thousand years. Back to a world of woolly mammoth and saber-toothed cats. Silently, we follow a lone figure limping through the forest. This is the last of the Neanderthals. The anatomy of the figure is typical of the Neanderthal species. A very stocky build. Sturdy legs. The jaw juts out fiercely. Large eyes peer from beneath prominent brow ridges. The arms are muscular, biceps are bulging. She is so powerful that she can easily snap the neck of a wild pig.