Introduction
From the bottom of my damaged little heart, thank you for buying this book. Especially if your only familiarity with me is through the romance genre. For you, especially, I’m grateful because you’ve made the leap to expanding your mind, to opening your eyes to something new and different. I hope you’ll be rewarded in this cross-section of my short story horror writing with thrills, with scares, maybe a few laughs, but most of all, with the surprising similarity horror can have to romance. I’ll leave you to reflect on that as you start reading. Have an epiphany? Write to me at jimmyfels@g*******m and we can talk about it.
Trying something new and different can be scary. Maybe as scary as some of the stories you’ll find on these pages. So I’m grateful for those of you who were willing to take a chance on me and crack this book open.
From the bottom of my twisted little psyche, I also thank those of you who bought this book because you’re familiar with me as a horror writer. Hey, that’s where my roots are, going back over (gulp) a quarter of a century. I hope the stories in this book will delight you with their visions of the macabre, the paranormal, the gruesome, and oh yes, the unhinged. But I hope you too will open your mind and consider, as you read, how these stories represent not only my commitment to the dark side of the human heart, but also the side that represents light and love.
For both horror and romance readers, the yin and yang of light and darkness, I believe, exists in all these stories.
Happy reading. I wish you love…and nightmares.
Rick R. Reed