Eric Garrison's Blog, page 2
October 29, 2014
Haunted Hydra Halloween sale: Reality Check for 99 cents now until November!
See ALL the 99 cent Hydra Publications books:
#CoffinHop Whiteboard Wednesday: Skye at the Danse Macabre!
Skye, aka Sofia, The Duchess of the Indianapolis Vampire Court, may only play at being a vampire, but she is still quite dangerous.
Whiteboard Wednesday and Coffin Hop–When worlds collide! I got to thinking about my books, and the only vampires in them are live action roleplayers, vampire wannabees. Skye was first introduced in Sinking Down as a minor character, then went on to be the star of the Tipsy Fairy Tales series (coming soon!). She walks in many worlds, but is most successful in the world of vampire LARPing as Sofia, the Duchess of the Indianapolis Vampire Court.
October 28, 2014
Flash Story: Keeping My Head
Image source https://rdsportsconnection.wordpress.com/category/jr/page/2/
Keeping My Head
by E. Chris Garrison
The baseball saved my life. But let me start at the beginning.
As Melinda, the crowd-warmer girl had a meltdown over the t-shirt bazooka, I almost missed the alien. I thought maybe he was the mascot for the other team. All I wanted was for Melinda to put on my head so I could go on the field and work the crowd. The panda suit was so plush had only satiny plush pillows for hands, and the rotund stuffed body suit did not allow me to bend.
The alien passed behind her and gave me a dirty look. I could tell it was an alien by the enormous head and glassy black eyes. I wondered if it was as hot inside the alien suit as it was inside of mine. Melinda handed the bazooka to another girl and made a big frustrated show of putting on my head for me.
Finally.
I flounced out onto the field, and the home team roared. The DC Pandas were the newest Triple-A baseball team, but they already had a fanatic following that rivaled the majors. At least in the Metro area. I’d been a hit since day one, and I loved the attention.
The alien was nowhere in sight, not near the opposing team’s dugout, not near the stands where the guest fans sat, not near home plate. I don’t know why I felt I should keep an eye out for him, as best I could through the eyeholes of my stuffy suit, but you gotta know the competition.
Crack! The first pitch happened behind my back, and I spun to see a long pop fly ball, caught by the shortstop. First pitch, first out. This game is going to be good!
I capered around, peering up into the sky as if still looking for the fly ball. The crowd roared with laughter. Melinda appeared, the other girl in tow, stuffing a rolled t-shirt into the bazooka. More cheers erupted from the audience. The thousand watt smile she gave them belied the words I’d heard her utter before we took the field. She raised her arm and pulled the trigger.
Foomp!
No t-shirt emerged from the cannon. She pulled the trigger again and it flew into the stands like a surface to air missile.
Right into the bulbous green head of the alien. A horrible gurgling cry erupted from the creature, and I could see its strange skull illuminate through its skin. I stood transfixed as it pulled out a metal object that could only be a gun.
Aimed at me.
I heard a cry from behind me and everything was dark as my panda head fell forward. I was sure I’d been hit by the alien’s ray gun. I fell to the ground, my head fell off, and I saw the baseball that’d saved my life. I smiled, breathed in the fresh air, which smelled of barbecue, looked up, and saw the charred remains of Melinda behind me.
I hope we never play that team again.
The above was written during a writing exercise (polished slightly for its public debut) given the following prompts / props: a baseball, a stuffed panda bear, and a human skull (rubber facsimile). This story was the result of that exercise, polished slightly for its public debut. Click here to read RJ Sullivan’s story from the same prompts. Special thanks to Nicole Cushing for assembling the props and running the exercise.
October 27, 2014
My #CoffinHop flash story challenge!
As part of the Coffin Hop, I have decided to write a 500 word flash story, similar to the Iron Writer Challenge, except with dares from some of my fellow Coffin Hoppers!
Here’s what they came up with:
D.D. Syrdal: Staircase
Armand Rosamilla: M&Ms.
Clarissa Johal: Bed sheets
Nina D’Arcangela: The image to the right.
Sweets and Strangers
By E. Chris Garrison
Sometimes the worst costumes are the best. The old Charlie Brown ghost costume is too cliché. But I had no other choice. It was Halloween night, and I had to have sweets. So, a couple of holes in a sheet later, I was on the street.
I said, “boo!” to some kids. They laughed and rolled their eyes behind vacuum-formed masks of superheroes and princesses and showed heavy bags of candy. I had no bag, so I shrugged. They laughed again and invited me along.
I nodded and followed.
Each of them stood a head taller than me, so they had me walk in the middle. One girl asked where my parents were. I shrugged and went “boo” at her again. She sighed in exasperation behind her smiling Elsa mask.
We reached the end of a lane and the kids all closed ranks, almost touching. A wrought iron lantern marked the end of a stone staircase that wound up a hillside. At the top perched an old A-frame house covered in vines. The faulty mantle of the lantern sputtered a warning.
“We can’t go up there,” said Elsa, pleading with the biggest boy. “That place is haunted.”
“It’s Halloween,” he said behind his Captain America mask. “When else would you go? The lights are on, there’s a jack-o-lantern on the porch. Let’s go!”
No one else argued. We climbed the long uneven steps, even Elsa.
At the top, there was a bowl of M&Ms for the taking. A sign read, “More treats inside!”
Behind the screen door, we saw a candle-lit hallway. Cap announced that whoever was brave enough to go in got half his candy.
A coyote howled somewhere. We all jumped. A witch cackled.
“Just a soundtrack,” sighed Cap. “Come on, who’s up for it?”
I moved toward the door.
Elsa reached out a hand to stop me. “You’re too little.”
Cap laughed. “Aw come on, sis, let him try.”
“Why don’t you go instead?” she said.
Cap opened the screen door, and before anyone could stop me, I slipped down the hall.
I heard the screen door bang shut behind me, followed by the kids’ arguing.
The hall took a quick turn and opened into a kitchen, decorated in paper pumpkins, black cats, and Frankenstein’s monsters.
“You’re a brave little thing, aren’t ya?” said a scroungy, sickly sweet smelling man in a Grim Reaper outfit. His scythe looked real. “Have an apple?”
I’d heard about razors in apples. I shook my head.
“Some hot cider?”
I smelled something stronger than apples and spice in that steamy mug. I shook my head.
He leaned in, the tip of his scythe scratched my head as his face came up to mine. “Let’s see you under that sheet. Maybe you’ve got something sweet for me.”
I shrugged off the sheet. He screamed. Just for a moment.
After that, my suckered tentacles wrapped around his throat too tight for air to go in or out.
I got my sweets after all.
October 24, 2014
Coming right at you… it’s #COFFINHOP 2014!!!
Bonus “art” for the Coffin Hop! Click on the demented undead trucker to visit a wide array of fabulous horror authors and bloggers!
And while you’re at it, please check out my Road Ghosts Trilogy, published by Seventh Star Press!
October 22, 2014
Whiteboard Wednesday — Gonzo is Elvis!
For this near-Halloween Whiteboard Wednesday, Gonzo does a jig in a Memphis pub, wearing a half-assed Elvis costume he threw together for the occasion. Taken from Four ’til Late, the first book in the Road Ghosts Trilogy. Thank you. Thank you very much. Aw man.
October 17, 2014
Coming soon… Coffin Hop 2014!!!
Coming soon… Coffin Hop 2014!!!
October 15, 2014
“Moby Me” Whiteboard Wednesday
Today’s Whiteboard Wednesday depicts “Moby Me”, a science fiction flash story I wrote for the Iron Writer Challenge. You can read the 500 word story by clicking on the image or on the title above.
October 8, 2014
Iron Writer Tournament “Family Reunion” Whiteboard Wednesday!
What is THIS Whiteboard Wednesday about? Well, go read my story, “Family Reunion” on the Iron Writer site. If you see this on October 8, 2014, GO NOW and vote for me, if you like my story best! (Please!)
October 2, 2014
I am in the Iron Writer 2014 Autumn Equinox Open – J K Rowling Bracket!
As it turns out, my story, “Knight at the Drive-thru” won Challenge 75 – Grudge Match #7, so I was entered in the 2014 Autumn Equinox Open – J K Rowling Bracket! Please go read the stories and vote for mine, if you like it best!
Elements:
Something found on a deceased body that would be an embarrassment to the family
Told from the point of view of an interview of someone not yet born
Authors:
E. Chris Garrison, Colin Foote Burch, A. Francis Raymond
