Halloween edition; published stories from the dark side
Author Brooke Reynolds is a veterinarian who will scare you with her writing. When she isn’t caring for animals, she enjoys reading and writing fiction, particularly horror. Her stories have appeared at such online and print markets as Massacre Magazine, Fantasia Divinity, The Literary Hatchet, Ghost Parachute, Coffin Bell, and Ink Stains Anthology, and she has won several contests with her descriptive jaunts into the dark side.
Charlotte Readers Podcast is sponsored by Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
Author Brooke Reynolds is a veterinarian who will scare you with her writing. When she isn’t caring for animals, she enjoys reading and writing fiction, particularly horror. Her stories have appeared at such online and print markets as Massacre Magazine, Fantasia Divinity, The Literary Hatchet, Ghost Parachute, Coffin Bell, and Ink Stains Anthology, and she has won several contests with her descriptive jaunts into the dark side.
In this episode, Brooke reads three scary stories for our Halloween edition of Charlotte Readers Podcast. After you hear these stories, your visits to the movies, restaurants and the dentist will never feel the same again.
The readings – in order:
Night at the Shockplex
In this tale of terror, the movie theater is not what it seems to be, as the narrator becomes the patient and escape is much less possible than death.
“The note inside the plain white envelope with a single movie ticket enclosed reads, ‘Welcome to your personal multimedia virtual reality show of terrors. Seems a little over the top.”
[The rest of the story is on the show]
Jerry Fed the Tigers
In this short story, a mother learns a lesson the hard way about her son’s premeditated reaction to her constant criticism of him and the reader learns about the odd dishes served up to patrons and tigers by a deranged chef.
“Jerry pushed the stainless-steel dinner cart toward the tiger’s enclosure. The front left wheel jiggled back and forth, causing the covered plates to rattle and vibrate, stirring the tigers from their slumber. Three Bengals, sisters, paced back and forth, rubbing their stripes across the metal bars. The smell of rendered fat drippings poured over freshly cooked meat wafted toward them causing ropey strands of drool to hang from the corners of their mouths.”
[The rest of the story is on the show]
Extraction
In this short story, a trip to the dentist to fix a broken tooth becomes a nightmare that’s not a dream.
“The dentist leaned over Chase and began jabbing at his gums. As he leaned closer, Chase caught a whiff of a strange odor, presumably coming from the dentist’s mouth, strong enough to pierce through the surgical mask. A scent of rotten meat inside of a clogged garbage disposal. Chase flinched.”
[The rest of the story is on the show]