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Welcome to Dowse Fiction Hub
Here
you will find an array of short stories from the classic to the contemporary,
from writers who've shaped what the short story is today and those who
are just starting to make their mark.
As a short story
writer, I've learned that perhaps the best way to better your technique
as a short fiction writer is to read everything the genre has to offer--from
the old to the new, and everything in-between. Or perhaps you've come
here for the sheer enjoyment of reading good fiction. Either way, you
have come to the right place.
If anyone has a previously
published speculative fiction story or mystery story they would like to
see published at dowse fiction hub please
email me . Likewise if anyone has a classic story they would like
to see published here.
Bonnie Mercure
.
A Note about Copyright
Bonnie Mercure
, your Fiction Guide at the dowse Fiction
Hub, is a dark fantasy author.
Visit
her website
Classic Short Stories
'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allan Poe (Horror)
A beloved pet takes revenge.
'The Judge's House'
by Bram Stoker (Dark Suspense)
When a house is not what it appears to be.
'One of
the Twins' by Ambrose Bierce (Suspense)
What happens when you can't tell two brothers apart? An untimely death,
perhaps?
'The Trial
For Murder' by Charles Dickens (Suspense)
This literary master shows us a trial we won't soon forget.
'The
Legend Of Sleepy Hollow' by Irving Washington (Horror)
Who is not familiar with this legend? A story that has haunted children
for almost two hundred years.
'The Tree' by
H.P Lovecraft (Dark Fantasy)
Who else can turn an innocent olive tree into something sinister? No one
other than this master of dark fiction, H.P Lovecraft.
'The Lost Ghost'
by Mary Wilkins (Horror)
Two women spend an afternoon knitting. . .and re telling a ghastly tale.
'The Greatest
Good of the Greatest Number' by Gertrude Atherton (Horror)
One woman's addiction becomes one man's torment.
'The Celebrated Jumping
Frog of Calaveras County' by Mark Twain (Fiction)
A story that made America fall in love with Mark Twain.
'The Bell-Tower'
by Herman Melville (Fiction)
A haunting tale from a man ranked as one of the best American authors.
'The Lady or the
Tiger' by Frank Stockton (Fantasy)
A semi-barbaric king devises a very unusual method of administering justice.
'The Haunted Author'
by Marcus Clarke (Horror)
A writer's worse nightmare comes true.
'For the Blood is
the Life' by F. Marion Crawford (Horror)
When a mound of dirt really isn't a mound at all.
'The Shadow and
the Flash' by Jack London (Science Fiction))
A destructive rivalry between two brilliant scientists.
'The Three Strangers'
by Thomas Hardy (Fiction)
A story from Wessex Tales, where Hardy sought to record the legends,
superstitions, local customs, and lore of a Wessex that was rapidly passing
out of memory
'Rocking Horse Winner'
by DH Lawrence (Fiction)
What is better, to be born with luck or money? One boy raises this question
in this classic story.
'The Minister's Black Veil'
by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Parable)
What lies beneath the black veil? A story taken from Twice-Told Tales.
'The shadows of the
dead' by Louis Becke (Horror)
"IT is bad to speak of the ghosts of the dead when their shadows may
be near. . ."
'The Raven' by Edgar Allan
Poe (Poem)
The melancholy prose of the master of the macabre.
'Tobermory' by Saki
(Science Fiction/Humor)
What happens when you give animals the power of speech?
'An Occurrence at
Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce (Science Fiction)
"A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down
into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his
back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. .
."
'The
White People' by Arthur Machen (Dark Fantasy)
"One of the best
weird stories ever written
."
Contemporary short stories
'The
Shoal' by DF Lewis and Lawrence Dyer (speculative
fiction, perhaps)
"...She was
not just the business woman burnt out on too many cocktail parties in
the city now turned remaindered soft-sell coastal recluse yearning for
relief from the rat race at the expense of her standard of living."
'The Rock Hound' by E.L. Noel
(Dark Humor)
An old woman's obsession for rocks turns deadly.
'Let the Punishment
Fit the Crime' by Dr Bob Rich (Science Fiction)
An award winning story that shows what happens when nature seeks revenge.
'Whose Little Girl'
by Rita Y. Toews (Suspense)
"The crabs and gulls found her before the kids did so she wasn't a pretty
sight. She was lying face down on the shingle of the beach, the tide sucking
greedily at her thighs and legs, inviting her back in for another lethal
swim. . ."
'The Good Book' by Darrell
Bain (speculative fiction)
A book that has the power to save a man's life. . .or destroy it.
'Death Mask' by Paul
Brandis (Horror)
On a hike through a mountain path a man discovers horrors he will never
forget.
'In the Fullness of
Time' by Michael LaRocca (Science Fiction)
A man travels through time to try and save his brother's life .
'High Stakes' by Jeff Strand
(Dark Humor)
A gambler loses more than he bargained for.
'The Angel and the Ice
Goddess' by Carol Kilgore (Suspense)
"He went around to the alley, and by the back door found Don Vito Ciccone,
or what was left of him. Dead eyes stared at nothing and blood still seeped
from several of the bullet holes. . ."
'Dear Mum' by DF Lewis
(Dark Science Fiction)
A man lost in space writes a haunting letter.
'A Creative Edge' by Steve
Lazarowitz (Dark Science Fiction)
Sometimes, in order for a writer to succeed he needs a little edge. .
.but at what price?
'Elvis Has Left
the Bathroom' by Bonnie Mercure (Fantasy/Humor)
You will never look at convenience store bathrooms the same again.
'Residual Fumes' by Margaret L. Carter (Horror)
What happens when you can't get rid of a certain smell.
'Shadow Lady' by Paula
Blais Gorgas (Fantasy)
A woman sees the unexpected when she gazes into an antique mirror.
'Friendship' by S.Joan Popek (Horror)
A young woman makes the most unique friends. . .deadly spiders.
'Chicken' by Dr Bob Rich (Humor)
Perhaps people are more like chickens than they care to admit .
'Princess Penelope and the Cook' by S. Joan Popek (feghoot)
Feghoot? Find out what that is by reading this fun story then check out
S. Joan Popek's
article on feghoots .
'The Ground Under Man'
by Dan Pearlman (horror/sf)
When a loved one dies, what's wrong with having an old-fashioned burial?
Find out in this darkly imaginative tale.
'The Healing Factor' by Rickey R. Mallory (Speculative fiction)
Sometimes, to overcome an addiction you must find help from a most unusual
source.
'Jay, the Farmer's Daughter' by Celia Ann Leaman (Mystery)
A haunting tale of love and betrayal.
Special
Forces by E.C Apperson (SF)
"Sergeant John Raker stared in horror as the last of his men, Private
Rogers, fell into a forest of waist high grass without a sound..."
Those
Who Reach by Lazette Gifford (SF)
Leaving the world behind is hard to do, but sometimes it's the only
way....
'A
Grain of Truth' by E C Apperson
(Dark Fantasy)
"Says
he invented a time machine and has proof.” John laughed"
Related:
Dowse Science Fiction and Fantasy Hub
Writing & Publishing
Latest Book
Publishing News
Bonnie Mercure's
Guide to E-Book Publishers
Bonnie Mercure's Writers'
Markets
Crime Fiction article
 "An
isolated stone cottage with no mains water, invaded by mice, rats and
swarms of insects, a place where giant snowdrifts sever the electricity
supply and all connections with the outside world... This is what Lawrence
and Christine Dyer face when they start a new life up in the bleak, rocky
hills of the English Peak District..."
A place of dreams
and nightmares... or a dream come true?
click to find out more
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