Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    40 Frightful Flash Fictions
    40 Frightful Flash Fictions
    40 Frightful Flash Fictions
    Ebook77 pages47 minutes

    40 Frightful Flash Fictions

    By Allan M. Heller

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    From the perils of The First Crusade to the tempestuous skies over war-torn China in the 1940s, death, danger and destruction lurk everywhere ... and can strike before you know what hit you. Devastation is served with a smile in this creepy collection of flash tales! Do you trust your best friend? Your spouse? Your doctor? Maybe you shouldn’t.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNight to Dawn Magazine & Books LLC
    Release dateAug 16, 2015
    ISBN9781937769413
    40 Frightful Flash Fictions
    Author

    Allan M. Heller

    Allan is the author of five non-fiction books, numerous short stories and dozens of poems. In February of 2014, he was appointed poet laureate of Hatboro, Pennsylvania. He resides with his dear wife, Tatiana, and their wonderful cat, Rocky. Other Titles by Allan: Fabjob Guide to Become a Life Coach Fabjob, Ltd. (2003), Philadelphia Area Cemeteries, Monuments and Memorials of Washington, D.C. and Monuments and Memorials of Philadelphia (2004, 2005 and 2010, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd)., Graveyards of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (2014, Bygone Era Books).

    Related to 40 Frightful Flash Fictions

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Strange Encounters

      Dec 16, 2021

      Strange Encounters
      5 min read

    • Article

      Hankering After Ghosts

      Dec 1, 2022

      It’s been 10 years since the publication of my book A Natural History of Ghosts (see FT296:42-45). I probably should have written more in it about the writer Charles Dickens. The truth is I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Dickens. I rea

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Spectre Of The Past

      Jan 25, 2024

      The Spectre Of The Past
      6 min read

    • Article

      The 40 Greatest Books To Read Before You Die

      Apr 25, 2021

      Books, books, books. They will increase your lifespan, lower your stress and boost your intelligence. They will give you fuller, thicker hair. Whatever the breathless claims about reading, one thing is certain: losing yourself in a great novel is one

      14 min read

    • Article

      The 40 Best Books To Read In Lockdown

      May 29, 2021

      Books, books, books. They will increase your lifespan, lower your stress and boost your intelligence. They will give you fuller, thicker hair. Whatever the breathless claims about reading, one thing is certain: losing yourself in a great novel is one

      14 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Mar 23, 2023

      The unofficial Christmas truce of 1914 certainly did occur [Mythconceptions #263, FT426:19]. In her book 1914-1918: Voices and Images of the Great War, Lyn Macdonald, the noted historian of WW1, quotes Lieut Johannes Niemann of the 133rd Royal Saxon

      11 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Oct 7, 2021

      Nigel Watson reported on the suggestion that the ancient aliens thesis was inherently racist because it refused to acknowledge the ability of people of colour to construct impressive edifices [FT409:32]. Now, while I don’t deny that some aficionados

      9 min read

    • Article

      Who’s There?: Every Story Is a Ghost Story

      Aug 18, 2021

      Not all writing is cursed, but surely all of it is haunted. Literature is a catacomb of past readers, past writers, past books. Traces of those who are responsible for creation linger among the words on a page. The post Who’s There?: Every Story Is a

      16 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Galchen, Zambreno, Emezi, and More

      Jun 8, 2021

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Rivka Galchen, Kate Zambreno, Akwaeke Emezi, and more—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Galchen, Zambreno, Emezi, and More appeared first on The Million

      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Oct 30, 2023

      Many have tried to return to Hill House, the site of Shirley Jackson’s most chilling novel The Haunting of Hill House. In film and TV, directors and their set designers have attempted to conjure Hill House into existence, but the sentient house that

      3 min read

    • Article

      Why Do We Fear Wolves?

      Dec 12, 2017

      Why Do We Fear Wolves?
      9 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Dec 2, 2021

      Shelf Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      Remastering The Mythos: Questions For Ruthanna Emrys

      May 4, 2017

      When Ruthanna Emrys first read H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," her sympathies were squarely with the monsters — and that sympathy was the seed of her new book, Winter Tide.

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for 40 Frightful Flash Fictions

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      40 Frightful Flash Fictions - Allan M. Heller

      40 Frightful Flash Fictions

      Allan M. Heller

      Night to Dawn Magazine & Books LLC

      P. O. Box 643

      Abington, PA 19001

      www.bloodredshadow.com

      ISBN: 978-1-937769-41-3

      Copyright by Allan M. Heller

      First Edition 2015

      Smashwords Edition

      Photographer/Illustrator: Stan Horwitz

      Calligraphy & design: Teresa Tunaley

      Tree photograph by Debra Regis

      Editor: Barbara Custer

      Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental, and is not to be construed as truth or fact.

      All rights reserved:

      It is illegal for you to copy or distribute copies of this or any copyright written work in print or electronic form without expressed written consent from the publisher. Please do not purchase unauthorized copies. For information, contact Barbara Custer, c/o Night to Dawn Magazine & Books LLC, P. O. Box 643, Abington, PA 19001

      To my loving (and lovely) wife, Tatiana, who patiently reads all of my writing (and gives sound editorial advice)!

      I wish to thank Barbara (of the Balloons) Custer, for her friendship and encouragement, the members of the Hatboro Writers' Group, Ruth Z. Deming and the members of the Coffee House Writers, my in-laws, Martin and Elena Greendlinger; my mother and stepfather, Cynthia and David Jones; my brother and sister-in-law, Laurence and Stacey Heller, and my late father, Stuart H. Heller, whom I miss sorely every day.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      The Tenant from 417

      The Horse Trader

      The Last Templar

      Reflections

      Wedded Bliss

      Fortune Cookie Messages

      Which is Witch?

      Safety First

      The Mortician’s Assistant

      As Clear as Daylight

      Red Sky at Morning

      As One That on a Lonesome Road

      Fly by Night

      The Holdup

      The Recliner That Ate Mrs. Mulligan

      Dr. Drill

      The Protégé

      Texting One, Two, Three

      A Keen Acquisition

      Joyride

      Flash in the Field

      Automatic Writing

      Writers, Retreat!

      Ghost of a Chance

      Dark Desires

      Where There’s One

      Pal’s Tickets

      Hide and Seek

      The Assignment

      Zero at Six O’clock

      Folly Fulfilled

      Tiger, Tiger

      The Possession

      The Caller

      The Reunion

      Right of Way

      During the Heat Wave

      Keeping Your Head above Water

      Just Because You’re Paranoid

      The Bunk Bed Incident

      About the Contributors

      Introduction

      Proclaiming that flash fiction is the future may be a premature, if alliterative claim. At the same time, denying the huge impact that this diminutive discipline has is inaccurate. Readers will not sit down with Tom Jones or Moby Dick, and why should they with a myriad other distractions vying for their attention? But fear not! Reading is not defunct, just becoming more compact, generally between 50 to as much as 1,000 words.

      Horror, or dark fantasy, is also an attractive venue. People like to be scared, armed with the knowledge that they can always retreat back into the real world, close their eyes, or click their ruby slippers together.

      I have sought to combine the public’s preference for pithiness with their fancying fear, in this modest 40-tale collection titled, you can guess, 40 Frightful Flash Fictions. Some stories are supernatural yarns; others cull trepidation from mundane situations. They range in length from the 105-word The Possession to the 695-word Keeping Your Head above Water.

      Flash fiction may be a trend, but looks to be a long-lived one. So enter the dark chambers of the imagination, and hang on to every concentrated phrase. You won’t want to miss anything.

      A.M.H., July13, 2015.

      Hatboro, Pennsylvania

      The Tenant from 417

      Elmore the janitor found him lying face down in the laundry room, wearing a blue bathrobe and one slipper, the second of which had most likely come off when he slid from the chair by the window and onto the floor. The last person to see Stillman Meckler alive had been Bruce, the hunchbacked octogenarian from apartment 208 who wandered the building after dark like some bored apparition. That was around three o’clock in the morning. Four hours later came the grim discovery.

      A heart attack, I guess, Elmore suggested.

      But the tenant from 417, who lived on the same floor as the deceased had, didn’t buy it. Why had Stillman locked himself in the laundry room? He

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1