Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Although the WEP group--Write...Edit...Publish--has ceased regular operation, our wonderful leaders brought it back with an October prompt to write about what terrifies us. To see the contributions, check the list on the WEP page .  I've been needing some motivation to write flash fiction, so I'm happy to have this nudge, even if horror isn't my thing.     We are meant to provide a tag-line for the story, so here's mine:  On a gloomy wet day, a writer discovers what is truly terrifying in a world that can seem hostile all around. 835 words, full critique acceptable. True Terror What terrifies you? What makes you shake in your shoes and go watery at the knees? It may not be what you think. I’m afraid of heights. Well, not really heights. I like mountain tops. I just don’t like edges. The feeling that I could fall, and can imagine just what it feels like when I hit the bottom. That’s bad enough, but a person can manage it, mostly by staying away fr...

 We have an all-new story for you! As a way of warming up for work on the next novel, I hunted up some random story prompts, and found an opening paragraph in my files. That paragraph is pretty much all gone, but it gave me the following story. I would categorize this as comic horror.   A Dangerous Thirst Half mad with the shaking, whimpering, head-throbbing withdrawal, I charged across the room. I would have that drink. I must have that drink, and damn the cost. I could not give up the cup of coffee the bookshelf had taken prisoner. A direct charge at the line of leering, jeering knick-knacks did no good. They closed ranks around the steaming paper cup with its stylized and sanitized green mermaid, and I dared not reach between their ranks to claim my prize. After all, it seemed, my addiction hadn’t yet driven me to utter madness. I deeply regretted buying that bronze statuette of an ancient Greek warrior—he was small, but looked more than capable of using the sword to whack ...

  I won't lie--this one's a bit out of my usual, but C.D. and I shared space in the 2018 IWSG Anthology, Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime , and we writers have to stick together. Besides, this looks like a darned good read, when I'm up for horror with my humor (not quite there yet). Anyway, I invited the author over for a grilling, and had a good chat. I'll share, after some of the important stuff about the book.  Newfoundland, Canada, 1992.   Gale Harbour hasn’t seen any excitement since the military abandoned the base there thirty years ago, unless you count the Tuesday night 2-for-1 video rentals at Jerry's Video Shack. So when a dead body turns up floating in the town water supply, all evidence seems to point to a boring accident.   Niall, Pius and Harper are dealing with pre-teen awkwardness in the last days of summer before the start of high school. The same night the body is found, the three of them witness unusual lights in the sky over th...