Bent serves up horror `a la carte so you can pick and choose your dark pleasure. Fond of blood? “The Book Collector” serves up a diabolic twist on his favorite genre to slake your thirst. Into dark humor? Try “The Eighth Sin” for a glimpse inside the devilish politics of a demon family. Love horrific relationships? “Well-Preserved” exposed the oddities of a certain kind of love—and answers the eternal question of where mortician families originate. In other stories, time travelers, Greek heroines, and curmudgeonly sociopaths give you that spicy shiver of impending doom that's a must-have when reading psychological horror. In fact, if you’re feeling peckish, you can have science fiction horror as an aperitif, a main course of serial killers with a side of insanity, followed by dessert with the Devil. It’s your choice.
No matter what your taste, Bent offers a smörgåsbord of sixteen spine-tingling treats to feast upon. There's even convenient portion sizes, from flash fiction up to nearly-novella sized stories, so you can find a bookish morsel to fit any time of day. Bon appetit!
He’d chosen a dress the color of candlelight, giving her the aspect of a princess bride awaiting a kiss from her handsome prince to wake her from slumber. He held the babe in one arm as he gazed at its mother, bouncing him to keep him quiet. The child had had his first feeding of elixir, which had calmed the throaty cries of his birth.
Roger smoothed a tendril of hair from her shoulder, a shadow of longing on his lantern-jawed face. He closed his eyes, bowing his head in mourning for the wife he would never have and the mother his son would never know. This was the way of his family, but knowing it didn’t make life any easier.
Excerpt from "Well-Preserved"from Bent: A Collection of Twisted Short Stories.