Description
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Step once more into the shadows with Another Cauldron of Uncanny Dreams, a chilling new collection from speculative fiction author Donald Firesmith. Within these pages, the ordinary world tilts toward the uncanny — where robots love their mistresses beyond the grave, a tattoo parlor’s miraculous new ink begins to move of its own accord, and a quiet hospice ward harbors footsteps no one can explain. From haunted houses and cursed hotel rooms to ghostly detectives, malignant magic wands, and even the grotesque bureaucracy of Hell, each tale stirs the cauldron of fear, wonder, and dark imagination. Blending horror, fantasy, and the paranormal with Firesmith’s trademark mix of atmosphere and dread, this anthology offers stories that will haunt you long after you close the book. If you savor the unsettling and the unexplainable, pour yourself a cup of courage and dare to open Another Cauldron of Uncanny Dreams. |
Step into the dark where uncanny dreams and nightmares come alive.Contents
- Albert. In a quiet home filled with routines, devotion endures even when the world changes beyond recognition. YouTube Discussion
- Midnight Blue. A detective’s pursuit of justice continues past the edge of life itself.
- The House on Welcroft Lane. A perfect first home hides echoes that refuse to stay silent.
- Room 307. Hospitality workers at the Mulberry Hotel find themselves reluctant to even enter the room.
- Bio-Ink.A glowing new tattoo ink offers beauty beyond imagination — and something far more unsettling.
- The Legend of Todtnau. A haunting German folktale set in the Black Forest, weaving love, alchemy, and forbidden knowledge in a richly atmospheric valley.
- Invisible. A voyeur and would-be rapist accepts an offer from a mysterious stranger, only to discover it comes at a heavy price. YouTube Discussion
- The Black Wand. A stranger arrives with an infamous broken magic wand.
- Death Comes to Peaceful Valley Hospice. A vampire working at a hospice contracts a deadly disease.
- Nightmares in Oil. A tormented painter’s obsession summons visions that refuse to stay on the canvas.
- Down the Drain and Out of Hell. A darkly funny tale about ambition, food, and finding one’s place.
Genres
This collection of short stories and novelettes is a blend of paranormal horror, dark fantasy, and supernatural thrillers, with occasional forays into science fiction horror (Albert) and comic horror (Down the Drain and Out of Hell). The unifying thread is the uncanny and supernatural — ghosts, demons, hauntings, occult forces — told in varied tones from tragic to humorous.
- 90-Minute Teen & Young Adult Short Reads
- Fiction > Fantasy > Dark Fantasy
- Fiction > Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban
- Fiction > Horror
- Fiction > Horror > Ghost
- Fiction > Horror > Occult
#ComicHorror #DarkFantasy #Demon #Ghost #GhostStory #Horror #Occult #ParanormalHorror #ScienceFictionHorror #SupernaturalThriller #Vampire
Status
Several stories are complete, and some are currently being written. Most stories have yet to be identified.
Book and Short Story Awards
“Albert” |
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2025 Indies United Short Story Contest – Third Place
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2024 Next Generation Short Story Awards – Finalist |
Quotes from the Book
Albert:
“He did all this not just because his programming required him to, but because he had been programmed to love her. And Albert loved her with a depth that matched any biological bond.”
“His last coherent thought before the fire destroyed his computer brain was a desperate plea: Please, please wake up and escape.” – Albert
“Why, Albert, you were never my servant; you’re my friend — my family. For as long as this house stands, we will simply stay here together, enjoying each other’s company as we did before the fire.” – Albert’s mistress
Midnight Blue:
“Look down, Sergeant… Bright red blood covered my shirt, and two holes punctured the fabric over my heart. Strangely, I didn’t feel any pain.” – Chief Swanson
“The law was created for the living. But justice — true justice — transcends the physical realm.” — Abernathy
The House on Welcroft Lane:
“Then came the screaming. It wasn’t a dream. It was a woman’s wail, raw and despairing, followed by a man’s angry shouts.
“There, written in the fogged glass, were the words: HE’S BACK. … as if they’d always been there.”
“That night, as an icy wind blew down Welcroft Lane, a spectral Rachel sat in the empty nursery, silently rocking a ghostly Grace while Thomas’s spirit swayed in the hallway, an empty bottle in hand.”
Room 307:
“The window does not want to be locked. It’s like the Bible. Always open. I close it, but it opens again.”
“Three-oh-seven… It’s not a room. It’s a pulpit. And the Bible is the sermon.”
Bio-Ink:
“The liquid inside looked a lot like ordinary red ink. But when he turned off the lights, it glowed like black-light ink… pulsed, slow and steady, like a living heart.” – Erin Vega
“The bio-ink was eager. I know how spilled ink behaves. This was not ink — it was intent made liquid.” – Erin Vega
“This is my warning. I am not a scientist. I am a woman with a razor scar and a shop with a heartbeat. If you’ve ever trusted an artist to hold your pain for an hour and hand it back to you in another shape, trust me now.” – Erin Vega
The Legend of Todtnau:
“Above them all, hunched on its hill like an old dog unwilling to die, stood Schloss Todtnau. Once proud, the castle was now more ruin than fortress, its dignity hanging on like a tattered cloak.”
“The pact, if you must have it in a sentence, was this: he traded the two things no coin can buy back — his name and his shadow — for one night of the one thing no man can live without.”
Invisible:
“Once again, does it really matter? Here’s my offer: I’ll grant you the power to make yourself invisible in exchange for your agreement to accompany me on a quick little trip.”
“Of course. Your eyes are invisible. Their invisible pupils and lenses can’t focus light any more than your invisible retinas can absorb it. Being blind is an inevitable consequence of invisibility.”
“Like I told Norman, I’m not the devil. I’m just a common run-of-the-mill demon. He was far too insignificant to warrant the master’s personal attention.”
The Black Wand:
“My name is Pierce Longarrow, and for over 40 years, I was a master wand maker by trade… And now, as I lie on my deathbed, the time has at last come for me to reveal a secret I have never shared.”
“Pain! Terror! Death and destruction! I saw a vision of fire engulfing hundreds of mounted knights… Never had I felt such overwhelming evil.”
“Then I prayed to the city’s protector god, beseeching the deity to ensure that no fish swallowed the stone, and, if one did, no fisherman would catch it.”
Death Comes to Peaceful Valley Hospice:
“Fear was not an emotion Ambrose had much experience with. As a predator, he inspired fear rather than felt it.”
“The cruel irony crashed through Ambrose’s confusion. The very thing that had sustained him — feeding on the dying — would undo him.”
Nightmares in Oil:
“He dropped into his nightmares as if hurled headlong into a pit. He surfaced gasping, disoriented, already trapped in landscapes of ruin.”
“The canvases seemed restless. Shadows flickered at their edges when he wasn’t looking directly at them.”
“Don’t you understand? I don’t want this. I don’t want them. But if I don’t paint them, they’ll find another way out. They’ll claw through my skull if they have to. The canvas is the only wall I can stop them.”
“Thousands of figures knelt in unison. At the altar, the mirror rose, taller than before, its surface rippling like mercury. Myra’s reflection grinned back at her, its eyes dark with hunger.”
Down the Drain and Out of Hell:
“The smell was beyond description, though if one had to try, it resembled ‘a compost heap set on fire during a vomit festival.’ Close enough, really.”
“Blort extracted a fork from the napkin, decided the napkin seemed edible and therefore must be a palate cleanser, and chewed discreetly.”
“Clogs can be cleared. Sometimes you just… need a different tool. Sometimes that tool is Yelp. Sometimes, it’s refusing the wrong promotion.”
“Not bad for a sewage demon of the lowest order, counting the stars above a used car lot.”