Bringing you stories, book and game reviews, writing tips, and updates from author S.G. Baker.
I heard their cries about me from the town square as I threw my belongings together in a sack. "She laughs too loud." "Reads so much." "She's way too smart." "Must be demonic possession." Soon it would be the torches and the pitchforks. Once they worked themselves into a frenzy, there'd be no stopping them. … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 16: Demonic
I laid down among the ashes of my house while they still smoldered. Flakes of gray coated my scorched fingers where I had grabbed the too-hot doorknob while flames licked the walls around me. Everything gone. Burned straight to the ground. When they contained the fire, someone in the crowd said, "It's over." But they … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 15: Ashes
From my angle, arms wrapped around several tree trunks as if holding on for dear life. Just arms, it seemed. Their bodies hidden or gone. I stood in the middle of a forest wrapped in arms, hyperventilating. Because I could feel a pull, a tug, a call to join. And when I walked around to … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Tree Huggers
"You know why they always have a fence around the graveyard?" my grandpa asked me. A brittle October afternoon flashed past outside the truck windows. "Why?" I asked. "Because people are just dying to get in!" Neither of us laughed. As we passed the cemetery, we surveyed all the corpses pressed against the wrought-iron fence, … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 14: Grave
You looked so confused when you possessed your portrait. A portrait you never commissioned yourself. I had spent most of my life painting your likeness. Getting closer and closer to a perfect reproduction. When at last my painting looked just like your face, your soul had no choice but to return to me. At the … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 13: Portrait
At the door leading to the basement, my fingers locked around the door frame, keeping him from dragging me down into the dark. "Stop it!" I yelled at him. "I didn't do anything!" "You're dangerous." A hysterical laugh bubbled up in his voice. "I should have seen it before!" He had me by my legs, … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 12: Hysteria
I had felt the touch of the wraith for some time when I went to visit a psychic. "When do I die?" I asked her. The woman - I had forgotten her name already - gave me a funny look. "Just, y'know, do your little crystal ball thing and tell me." I waved my fingers … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 11: Wraith
Introduction The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi follows the characters of Angel Velasquez, a "water knife" or enforcer of the will of a big water rights company; Lucy Monroe, a journalist living in Phoenix, AZ; and Maria, a teenage refugee from Texas. Struggling to alternately survive the dwindling water crisis, uncover the murders and espionage … Continue reading Book Review: The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
I snatched your body from the jaws of death when I exhumed you from the dirt. Your soul, though, I'm not so sure of. You returned to consciousness screaming. "Let me go baaaaaack!" Maybe I shouldn't have resurrected you in the graveyard. "Shhh!" Scrabbling across your own grave dirt, you crawled toward your open coffin, … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 10: Resurrectionist
One year after my brother died, I found his last discovered geocache. Just a plain, hollowed out rock down by the local creek. I knew it was the last one he found, because he had logged the date in the geocache journal. I ran my fingers over his name. Next to the exact date he … Continue reading #Spooktober2020 Day 9: Journal
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