Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction and Non-fiction

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Everyone loves a Christmas ghost story…

December 22, 2018 By Eric Douglas

Have you ever wondered about the line in the song “Scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago?” People used to gather around the hearth at the winter solstice, days before Christmas, and tell ghost stories to each other.

For several years running now, Loren Eaton has organized the Advent Ghosts collection. (He did take a year off, but the birth of a new child will do that.) He coerces as group of writers to submit original scary Christmas/Solstice-themed stories. The catch is, the stories must be 100 words, no more, no less.

Writing flash fiction is always an interesting exercise in telling a story, with the intent of making someone’s skin crawl using only 100 words. It is just as important what you leave out as what you put in.

Below are my submissions to the effort this year. If you want to read more, go to the Shared Storytelling: Advent Ghosts page on Loren’s I Saw Lightning Fall page and follow the links. There are already a bunch there and more will come throughout the day.

You can also see past year’s submissions on my Free Fiction page.

Enjoy!

Roasting Over an Open Fire

Nothing says the holidays for me like the smell of fresh meat cooking over an open fire in the fireplace. There is just a magical feeling that comes with it. I have so many family memories of hunting with my father and grandfather. And for them, generations before that. I can’t wait to eat.

This year we are going to have a special treat, too. As soon as we get those eight reindeer butchered.

But first, we have to decide what to do about the fat man in the chimney. He should’ve known there was a fire in the fireplace.

Costume?

“That’s a great costume, very realistic. But what are you doing here?”

“I’m Krampus. I take bad children and whip their parents for letting them be ill-mannered.”

“We don’t celebrate that way. We believe in free-range parenting and never discipline our kids. They learn better that way and don’t believe in things that will hurt them. We want them to have a safe space to grow up.”

“You know the real world isn’t like that, right?”

“It’s our choice to protect them and shield them from bad things. Well, anyway, that’s a nice costume.”

“Who said it was a costume?”

Filed Under: Free Fiction Tagged With: advent ghosts, flash fiction, free fiction, ghost story

Cliff was his own man

August 20, 2017 By Eric Douglas

Cliff was his own man.  That much was for sure. All the guys at the rally the night before told him so. When they were all chanting together, listening to what the leader told them, and shouting back jeers and cheers, where appropriate, he felt important and independent. No fake scientists with their fake news were going to change his mind.

This morning he turned on the news, but it was the same old drivel again. News reporters, paid for by the liberals and the elites, talking about global warming. Don’t they know it’s actually a cooling period? The earth is getting colder, not hotter. He had read that just a few days ago on the internet site he followed regularly. They reported on stuff the mainstream media wouldn’t tell anyone. It’s all a big hoax.

“I mean literally, follow the money. The crybabies just want to make money and keep people like me working minimum wage jobs. It’s all just a scam to keep people like me down.”

The grand exalted leader said that at the rally last night, too.

Scientists? They don’t know what they are talking about. He had read that all the scientists who said global warming was a hoax had been silenced. They lost their jobs or were shouted down the liberal media. Science was all about the money, too. He knew more than all of them did.

Heading to work at the job he hated, he almost forgot it was the day of the big eclipse. He hoped his boss let them go outside for a few minutes to check it out and see what all the fuss was about.

The day wore on into the afternoon and it was close to time for the eclipse. In fact, looking out the window, Cliff could tell it was getting darker outside.

“Hey guys,” the boss said. “It’s time for the eclipse. Let’s all go outside and watch. I even got special eclipse glasses for you. I don’t want any of you to hurt your eyes.”

Most of the staff was excited about the chance to watch the eclipse although a few were more interested in the chance to take a break and stay on the clock. Nothing like getting paid for a few minutes without having to do anything for it.

Cliff took the paper glasses from his boss, but didn’t like the look of them.

“Another scam. I wonder how much some ‘scientist’ made off these things,” he said and tossed his glasses to the ground.

“It’s time. Everyone, put on your eclipse glasses.”

Cliff stood at the back of the group and watched his co-workers put on their goofy glasses and stare at the sky while it got darker.

“We’ve survived for hundreds of years without these stupid glasses and now we all have to have them or the scientists say our heads are going to explode or something. I don’t believe it. Just like global warming. It’s not real.”

Cliff looked straight at the sun as the eclipse reached its peak. He wasn’t going to listen to any stupid scientist.

He was his own man.

Filed Under: Free Fiction Tagged With: flash fiction, free fiction

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Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against […]

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