Close To The Bone

14/03/2025

Alan Caldwell's 'The Only Verse' is only 24 days from release. 'My Daddy's Waltz' is a nod to Theodore Roethke. Get it on pre-order here : https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0DZNG2SD5

14/03/2025

“Thank you,” I had to say, uncertain of this feeling I was carrying inside of me as my mother ushered me into my car. And her eyes stared at me through the window again just as they had the first day while my mother backed out the car. She was still in the window as the pale-yellow house faded into the distance, and she could still be standing there with that same spiteful look in her eyes for all I know.

'Colic : Part 3', by Marlene Brasco is the latest short story, available to read here at Close To The Bone.

https://wp.me/p1Zyqm-qeI

[Read Part 1 here : [Read Part 2 here : By this time, I was hungry, hot, and exhausted. Every second in the house left me more depleted. After foraging in the pantry and finding some crackers to st…

11/03/2025

Alan Caldwell's 'The Only Verse' is due out on the 7th April 2025. Get your pre-order copy now at : https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0DZNG2SD5

Here's an excerpt from his poem 'Pretty Back Then'.

11/03/2025

Nathaniel Blackhelm's 'Lothario' is due for release soon. An excerpt from 'Tunnel Vission'. Get a pre-order now : https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0DSV4KSRP

11/03/2025

A shiver ran through me. Memories I had buried deep began to claw their way to the surface—flashes of darkness, of a terror so profound I could barely breathe. The moment my heart had stopped. The void. The silence. The overwhelming dread of the unknown.
“I...” My voice wavered. “I remember.”

'The First Passing', by D. J. Bates is the latest short story, available to read here at Close To The Bone.

https://wp.me/p1Zyqm-qiH

I stood triumphantly, my head held high and my chest swelling with pride. My first successful passing; I had nailed it. It went exactly as the manuals said; scythe sharp as bone and robes dark as t…