Ashes (43 page)

Murdermouth
– I’d toyed around with carnivals and circuses before, especially with zombies, and I’ve penned a few first-person zombie tales. To me, suffering bottomless, vacuous hunger is more horrifying than actually being pursued by such creatures, and I still prefer the old-school zombies that plod along with total patience and determination instead of darting around like wolves, sometimes weilding firearms. In much of my work, I’m attempting to figure out the nature of love. As with the real thing, sometimes I just get a little squishy in the process. Published in the anthology
The Book Of All Flesh
in 2001.

Sung Li
– Every author needs to drag out at least one creepy-doll tale, and this is mine. The subtext of child abuse is a little too facile and gross, but the doll and the knife were drawn from my real life, and again we have a bit of ambiguity about the reality of the supernatural occurrences. I write without outlining, so I often don’t know the ending until I get there. And sometimes not even then. Originally published in At The Brink of Madness #3 in 1999.

In The Family
– This was written before the “Six Feet Under” television series, proof that undertaker families are kind of strangely appealing. However, they often have great senses of humor, as you can imagine. This story isn’t too funny, though, and has a bit of a Norman Bates flavor and I’m not sure the science is too valid. My plan is to be cremated myself, as I don’t really trust anyone playing with my internal organs, especially if they’re getting paid by the hour. First appearance in The Third Alternative #41 in 2005.

The Night Is An Ally
– I dug the old “Weird War” comics that usually had short scripts with a twist ending, and I’d also read a book called
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
. I was fascinated by the psychological process in which “ordinary men” evolved into cold-blooded killers, and I have no more answers today than I did then. And I believe it’s frigtheningly easy for such events to replicate themselves repeatedly in the human future. This appeared in the Mike Heffernan-helmed anthology
A Dark And Deadly Valley
in 2007.

Work in Progress
– I studied art in college and have this secret little fantasy of becoming a painter in my old age. Or maybe I just think it’s cool that Van Gogh whacked off his ear and mailed it to his sweetheart. Proof that guys will do anything for sex. But it could have been worse, if he had chosen a different organ...which is another story in itself, but I’m not writing it. Published in Crimewave #9 in 2006.

She Climbs A Winding Stair
– This story spun itself from an image of a ghost woman looking out on the sea, waiting and waiting for her seafaring love. I’d done some research on
Portsmouth
Island
off the
North Carolina
coast, which was abandoned with buildings intact and is now a part of the National Park system. Ghost towns aren’t necessarily limited to the Old West. Originally published in The Book of Dark Wisdom #9.

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.

The Meek
– This story had an odd evolution, as it was originally intended for an Australian anthology that ultimately collapsed. Publishing ventures seem to give rise to more disease, bankruptcy, depression, divorces, and computer problems than all other human endeavors combined, at least to judge from all the excuses offered up by people with bigger dreams than abilities. But that’s why I’m a writer, because I need only a piece of paper and pen, and these days a laptop. At any rate, here’s another “carnivorous ruminant” tale with religious overtones, later visited more in depth in my novel
The Farm
. Originally published in the limited-edition CD anthology Extremes II in 2001, a hybrid format that also contained three of my original rock songs that can be heard on my Web site.

The Weight of Silence
– While anticipating the birth of my daughter, I had a horrid run of “sinister pregnancy” stories, most of which were centered around conniving, cold-hearted mothers who didn’t really want to be mothers. And double crosses are among my favorite fictional tools, especially where romance is involved. Put it all together and you get a story that probably won’t be found on the table of a waiting room in the maternity ward. Originally published in the
Corpse Blossoms
anthology in 2005.

The Hounds of Love
– This is one of my favorite stories, and again I’m plumbing the well of love and attachment. Sometimes I wonder if love is simply possession, and if you love something, you have an obligation to it. I was afraid this one was a little too gruesome but I vowed not to back down a bit, even though it got rejected a few times. Most serial killers start out as animal torturers, so perhaps this strange critter’s love is enough to keep little Dexter on the straight and narrow. Published in
The Book of More Flesh
in 2002.

You’ll Never Walk Alone
– This is the third of my stories to appear in James Lowder’s Flesh zombie series, in the 2004
Book of Final Flesh
, and I co-opted religion yet again, as well as that old inspirational show tune “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” I also went back to the mountains with this one, for though most of my novels are set in the
Appalachians
, my stories travel all over the place and often with strange company. Some things are far scarier than walking alone, I can assure you.

Penance
– This set-up was inspired by the Black Plague-era habit of nailing people inside their own houses to prevent them from infecting others. Of course, such an apocalyptic situation practically begs a religious overtone, and I’m always happy to oblige. I hope I don’t come off as preachy, because I certainly don’t have any answers, and I try to offer uplifting moments in the horror, like those golden shafts of sunlight that sometimes break through a gathering storm. I’m generally an optimist, though I don’t blame people who don’t believe it. Appeared in Black October #3 in 2002.

Scarecrow Boy
– This story went through numerous rewrites and I loved the “country” flavor of it, though it took a while to develop a satisfactory narrative arc. One editor said it was too much like the old horror-movie trick of “Don’t open the gate, you
know
better than to open the gate,” and then the character conveniently opens the gate. But sometimes we don’t listen to reason, or we get absent minded, or maybe we just grab at whatever means necessary in order to gain eternal life. Published in Chiaroscuro at Chizine.com, in 2001.

Last Writes
– This is one of only two co-writing projects I’ve ever been involved in, and the first in which the collaborator was dead. Sometimes I think if I actually had to collaborate, the other guy would be dead before we made it through the third chapter. But luckily Edgar Alan Poe is timelessly cool and, best of all, doesn’t need a cut of the royalties. I liked the idea of having Poe as a character in his own story, since the original fragment that inspired the project was written in first person. From
Poe’s Lighthouse
in 2006.

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.

The Rocking Chair
– Another of my “haunted pregnancy” tales, this one allowed me to explore bizarre family relationships and double crosses as well. I’m not completely sure I nailed my intentions with this one, because I wanted a clear ambiguity about the chair, not a typical “Surprise–it’s a haunted rocker!” surprise ending as expected. Shock endings rarely work on modern audiences, and if that’s all you got, then the story is weak anyway. So I’m sticking with the interpretation that Grandma did in the baby because she suspected it wasn’t blood kin.

The Endless Bivouac
– I’d researched the horrors of the
Andersonville
prison camp in which Union soldiers died by the tens of thousands, and this is actually a mirror version of a story I’d written a decade ago. This time around, I explored the horror from the guard’s point of view rather than the spirit of the prisoner he’d killed. At the end we find the enemies have set aside their weapons. The war is over. Or is it?

Silver Run
—
Mark Twain
is one of my favorite writers, and his blend of cynicism, observation of
human nature
, and yarn-spinning skill are tough to mimic, but I gave it a try here, albeit with more of a mountaineer flair. The story was written for
Legends of the Mountain State
, based on folklore of
West Virginia
and published in 2007. I was in
Charleston
for the
West Virginia Book Festival
when I read an article about haunted train tunnels, and the rest is history. The view on women depicted herein is wholly fictional and not inspired by the author's relations, or lack thereof, with the fairer gender.

Thanks for scattering my ashes in the wind, and for helping my whispers linger. In many ways, my spirit is a phoenix risen from these ashes and I look forward to sharing many more adventures and tales with you. God willing and the Tao being receptive, I will. I am. We are. It is.

Scott Nicholson

August 2008

Biography:
Scott Nicholson has written seven novels, including
The
Red
Church
, Drummer Boy, They Hunger
, and
Disintegration
. Other electronic works include
Burial to Follow
and
Ashes.
Nicholson lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of
North Carolina
, where he writes for a newspaper, plays guitar, raises an organic garden, and works as a freelance fiction editor. His Web site
www.hauntedcomputer.com
offers writing tips, free fiction, and survival tips. Blogs are at
hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com
and
Write Good or Die
. He loves to hear from readers at
[email protected]
. If you enjoyed this book, please tell your friends, write a review, and give another Nicholson title a try.

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