Horror and Wholesome
It doesn't get cold here. No snuggling under heaps of blankets while chestnuts roast over an open fire. Just mild temps and early sunsets to signal that winter is upon us. Of course the town does what it can to usher in the Christmas season, tinseling the lamp posts, draping the palm trees in twinkling... Continue Reading →
City folk don't belong in the country, and they made sure I knew it before I'd even settled into the cabin I'd already dubbed Sanctuary. Only the realtor didn't. The good commission outweighed the guilty conscience, or maybe he really didn't know. He wasn't exactly local, coming from a neighboring town big enough to keep... Continue Reading →
In 2019, I self-published The Festering Ones, a cosmic horror novella about Faith York, a woman who watched her father get dragged into the earth by a spider-armed woman as a child, kicking off her descent into the eldritch horror of the ungodly. On September 12th, 2023, rejoin Faith in a re-release of The Festering... Continue Reading →
All urban legends start as something real. I don't know if that's actually, scientifically true, but it's what I believe (and these days, isn't that enough to make it true?). Sometimes it's fear-based and the legends become a warning of sorts, like all the child-drowning ladies in white who are used to keep kids away... Continue Reading →
She died alone, unless you count the goats. I'm not sure I do, but she probably would have. She preferred them to people. I couldn't blame her. A lifetime of letdown will do that to you. I liked to think I was the best of the worst; the one person she could count on, even... Continue Reading →
I hated camping. My boyfriend loved it. So we compromised and went camping. I put on a brave face, packed my bug spray, and let him do everything else. He assured me it would be great. Fun. Nothing like the disastrous trips of my childhood where my sister wet her sleeping bag and cried until... Continue Reading →
My story, Butch Cassidy and The Scarecrow Kid, opens this year's festivities on The NoSleep Podcast. Won't you join us at the old pumpkin patch? https://www.thenosleeppodcast.com/episodes/s16/s16halloween
Thrilled to announce my short story, From Within, is the opener for Dark Dispatch's upcoming horror anthology, The Dead Inside! The first review has come in and, well, see for yourself what the initial impression is: Huge thanks to editors Laurel Hightower and Sandra Ruttan for including it. More details to come when they're available!
The last straw was that plant. That little fucking plant. I don't remember what it was, only that it was supposed to be hard to kill, even for me. She'd said it in a joking way when she gave it to me, and I knew, logically, she didn't mean anything by it. Not really. But... Continue Reading →
Christmas seemed to shrink the older I got. First Santa stopped coming and all the gifts under the tree were signed by family members. Then my brother moved out for college a few states away. I followed suit, but closer to home. Then my sister. The first few years, we still all made the trek... Continue Reading →
Stories By S.H. Cooper 