The Essence of Fear: A Collection of Stories and Poetry E-Book

Erin Bernstein

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

I thoroughly enjoyed the images and colorful descriptions in Lori's works and the magical realism present within Tim's works. - Erin Bernstein

Spooky! Scary! Terrifying! Lori Truzy is splendid. Erin Bernstein is interesting and satisfying in her fiction.  - Tim Truzy

Leseprobe

Tim Truzy, Lori Truzy

The Essence of Fear: A Collection of Stories and Poetry

We dedicate this book to: Christopher Moore, T.S. Eliot, Stephen King, Troy Denning, R. L. Stine, Isaac Asimov, Edgar Poe, Stan Lee, Terry Brooks, Salman Rushdie, any author attributed to Quirk Book, Alexander McCall-Smith, Dan Johnson, George Lucas, and Gutenberg, because, well...duh.BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Spooktacular

Introduction: Fear in Stories by Tim Truzy

We recognize fear as an unpleasant, disturbing, or uncomfortable feeling. This feeling occurs when facing a person or situation which presents a threat or danger. Every human being has this emotion at some time in their life. It could be triggered by the simplest of things: visiting relatives, taking a test, or going to the doctor. It has ranges, peaks and valleys. It can be sweeping, like a hurricane’s wind, or narrow in breadth, like a hiking trail.

I remember with satisfaction going camping as a child. We would build fires and tell spooky stories with the setting sun. After eating a packed dinner, we would climb into our sleeping bags with caution and a bit of dread. Yet, most of all, we would be smiling from the tales, looking forward to the morning hike.

Now, I can’t help think about the warmth of those camping expeditions and the fire of the oral tradition in mankind. Telling stories filled with adventure, caution, and terror has always been part of our burning heritage. Demons, devils, and dragons flashed before our eyes, and we as a species veered away from the heat from the tales’ advice as we grew. Today, the element of fear in stories is delivered in television shows, screened dramas, and digital debuts on the internet.

But books have always been my favorite choice for getting an energizing spark of fear.My coauthors and I recognize that fear is probably as essential to the human experience as any other emotion. It can ignite powerful motivation for change and ultimate development: psychologically, mentally, spiritually, socially, and physically. We also understand fear as an instrument of torment, terror, and trauma. Just as easily as a factor for making substantial changes in one’s development, fear can crumple us inward, like an imploding building. This is not the response we seek. We wish to tantalize the mind while fueling the brain with our kindling in these pages.

Nonetheless, primitive portions of the brain have been trained and genetically prepared to react to signs of danger in our environment or the potentiality of such threats. The important component of this fear is the question of whether we will survive our encounter. Thusly, we respond with the well-known choices of fight or flight.

However, whether we flee or combat the challenge, we prefer fear dosed with the strong reality that we will come out alive. Or rather, fear with low risks. We like being scared. We enjoy being frightened from a safe distance. We want any horrors before our eyes to be viewed or listened to with us in control of the radio, TV, internet, or book.

Maybe that’s why the influence of fairytales has held such a prolonged sway on children and adults. These are usually terrifying stories with a moral and a positive ending attached. Modern horror stories borrow some of the characteristics of these tales, but the final parts of the stories can be unpredictable. We enjoy being scared, but not too close to the threshold of death, not thrown like coals into the fire.

I suspect this is why some of our most memorable events involve being scared without sizzling consequences. Who can forget the most frightening ride at a fair as a child? Or, staged haunted houses during Halloween with their menageries of ghouls, goblins, witches and the like? We enjoy frightening movies and read terrifying books and think highly of many of the writers of literature which causes fear to step nearby, whisper in our ear, stare us in the eyes. Adrenaline feeds that fear, but we have the power to press the off button and shut fear down by closing the book, ending the ride, walking out of the creepy haunted house.

Authors such as Stephen King, R. L. Stein, and others, have been successful in bringing us a bit closer to facing our mortality and morality from the comforts of our favorite place to read. In this short story and poetry collection, my coauthors and I follow in these writers’ path. All of these works of poetry and short stories are meant to reach out to you and trigger a response from your nervous system without you having to move from your favored reading spot.

My coauthors (Erin Bernstein and Lori Truzy) and I begin with poetry on the subject of fear and how it impacts us as a species in chapter two. Throughout this collection, photographs by Lori Truzy will leave the mind wondering about what lies inside of us as human beings. Following poetry, tales are placed on these pages to spark your imagination about what happens when the campfire dies.

Perhaps, we will tingle your spinal cord. Maybe we will cause a little fright for your evening or morning. Take us with you when you sit alone or by the warmth of a blaze; cuddle this collection to keep the chill inside. May the experience be rewarding.

In any case, all of these works are fiction and any resemblance to people or places real or imagined is completely coincidental. Enjoy “The Essence of Fear: A Collection of Poetry and Short Stories.”

Poetry of Fright

A Monologue of MadnessBy Lori Truzy

Sometimes I feel I am wearing the paper thin skin of humanity like the ill-fitting clothesof a long-dead relative.

The spiders in my head are spinning websconnecting things nevermeant to be connected. The infernal spans stretch acrossmy conscious mind and into the infiniteoften pulling into the light shrouded preythat I dare not unwrap lestit devour my soul.

The constant crawling keeps meawake at night,a scratchy sort of mental rustling that sharpens to a whine as another piece of web draws tightPsychic shivers torture me with the rhythmic brushof bristled feet on silk.

Is it a wonder thatI am not afraid of the dark?No darkened house orhalf-open closet door could hold anything darkerthan the space inside my head.No earthbound ghoul or ghost could touch the living hellthat dwells in thedeepest part of me.

Whose voice is thiscrying to be heardin the wilderness of my mind?Calling, calling, louder and louderuntil I feel like screamingIT’S NOT ME!

While others grow out of teenage death-games, I have grown into themHeld static in time by forces I don’t understand.Heavily pregnant withthe instrument of my own destruction, I am loath to hurl myself into the tempestyet, afraid to hesitatelestsomething catch me unawares from behind.

When Night Odor AwakensBy Tim Truzy

Encapsulated in stews of soil,Prayers chained my movement to naught,Wooden box imprisoning my ambitions.

I couldn’t sleep while night beckoned,I couldn’t sleep while dark reckonedWith the living in their soups of sorrow.

The scent of herbs above in my dominion,Smoke to heal and grow intoxication,Hallucinations they will plant to internalize.

They sat on my tombstone,Dragging poisons into lungs—Thrusting dreams best reserved for the sleeping.

I pushed open my lid and pulled. . . Down, forward, through to me!

Disturb the slumber of the dreaming?Observe the night of the quiet?Find better spots for fantasy of THC.

The night is fragranced with dew and honey,Futile flights of sex for money,Robust the smell of peace from struggles so yummy!

Death has its own flavor in air,Blood and animals with diligence care,Don’t wake me with your perverted stinking affairs!

Soul-EaterBy Erin Bernstein