Splatterpunk's Not Dead Page 10
Walter was still stood motionless in the shower, his mind reeling from losing his face, confused and disorientated by the abrupt lack of vital senses. When, without warning, his right arm and shoulder exploded in a spectacular gout of colour, instantaneously liquified and bursting in all directions. The white tiles were momentarily awash with fresh glorious splashes before it was showered away, down into the drain. Glugging through flaked skin and matted cotters of hair from a Walter of old. Not that Walter noticed. He was past fear, beyond rational thought in a vacuous limbo of insanity. Then his whole torso, head and remaining arm were gone. They popped simultaneously. Yet more colour briefly adorned the walls. Walter's legs crumpled on the plastic shower tray shortly afterward. Lifeless, still joined tenuously at the crotch. They soon were gone too. Disintegrating, exploding, dissolving, diluting.
Marjorie stood over the painting. She had rubbed and wiped it down to the bare canvas in parts. Elsewhere the paint had simply been smudged into a formless oblivion. Only the background in far corners remained untouched. The familiar dirty walls of Walter's room. If Marjorie had been of an inquisitive nature and had a keen eye for details she may have noticed the hole in the wall painted in shadowy detail on the ruined portrait. She may have observed this and deduced that it was the location of a clue to the puzzle. But Marjorie didn't harness any of these problem solving attributes. Sleuth she was not. And she didn't care enough about Walter to give it much presence of thought. If anything she was fearful of how he would react to her meddling of his work. She left in a hurry and never returned. The destroyed painting was binned, finally crushed and ripped to shreds, it's tattered remains buried in a landfill five miles east of the city. Sometimes Marjorie did think about the painting. The wondrously handsome man. Sometimes she would dream about him.
Walter, unnoticed in his absence was soon forgotten about. Only his landlord became aware of his tenant's departure when the sporadic installments of rent payments ceased altogether. The landlord was grateful. Glad to have finally gotten rid of the drunk who annoyed his neighbours with his boarish ways. Whether dead or alive no one knew and no one cared. No tombstone to merit the merest hint of a legacy, Walter's work was destroyed before it left his flat in life by his own hands and in death at the hands of strangers. The few possessions of Walter's found temporary shelter in a skip before disposal, or if holding slight value, the back pocket of the unlucky sod given the job of clearing out the stinking hovel.
The book was never recovered. The hole in the wall never investigated. Patched up by a decorator priming the flat for the next tenant. The book could wait, it would be held again. And it's powers within, would never grow old.
Contributors
Jeff Burk is the cult favorite author of SHATNERQUAKE, SUPER GIANT MONSTER TIME, CRIPPLE WOLF, and SHATNERQUEST. Like the literary equivalent to a cult B-Horror movie, Burk writes violent, absurd, and funny stories about punks, monsters, gore, and trash culture. Everyone normally dies at the end. He is also the Head Editor of Eraserhead Press’ horror imprint, Deadite Press. Born in the Pennsylvania backwoods, he was raised on a steady diet of Godzilla, Star Trek, and EC Comics. He now resides in Portland, Oregon. His influences include: Sleep deprivation, comic books, drugs, magick, and kittens.
Nathan Robinson lives in Scunthorpe with his darling five year old twin boys and his patient wife/editor. So far he’s had numerous short stories published by www.spinetinglers.co.uk, Rainstorm Press, Knight Watch Press, Pseudopod, The Horror Zine, The Sinister Horror Company, Static Movement, Splatterpunk Zine and many more. He writes best in the dead of night or travelling at 77mph. He is a regular reviewer for www.snakebitehorror.co.uk, which he loves because he gets free books. He likes free books. His first novel STARERS was released by Severed Press to rave reviews. This was followed by his short story collection DEVIL LET ME GO, and the novellas KETCHUP WITH EVERYTHING and MIDWAY. He is currently working on his next novels, CALDERA, DEATH-CON 4 and a sequel to STARERS. Follow news, reviews and the author blues at www.facebook.com/NathanRobinsonWrites or twitter @natthewriter
Robert Essig is the author of IN BLACK, PEOPLE OF THE ETHEREAL REALM, and THROUGH THE IN BETWEEN, HELL AWAITS. He has also published over seventy short stories, two novellas, and edited two anthologies. Robert lives with his family in Southern California.
Jeff Strand is a four-time nominee (and zero-time winner) of the Bram Stoker Award. His novels include PRESSURE, DWELLER, WOLF HUNT, and a bunch of others. You can visit his Gleefully Macabre website at www.jeffstrand.com
Saul Bailey lives in Barnstaple, North Devon, surrounded by alcoholics and pubs. If that sounds like fun, he's telling it wrong. Moving is too expensive and suicide too much effort. That leaves writing. So he writes.
Adam Cesare’s books include ZERO LIVES REMAINING, THE FIRST ONE YOU EXPECT, VIDEO NIGHT, THE SUMMER JOB, MERCY HOUSE and TRIBESMEN. He writes a monthly column exploring horror fiction and film for Cemetery Dance Online. He lives in Philadelphia and can be found at AdamCesare.com, where he’s giving away a free ebook if you sign up for his mailing list.
Brendan Vidito is a short story author and novelist from Sudbury, Ontario. He studied literature in university and collaborated on the publication of a local literary journal. His work has appeared in Splatterpunk Zine, Dark Moon Digest, and Infernal Ink Magazine. He’s paranoid, eats too much cheese, and sells his excessive body hair to help make Chewbacca Halloween costumes for kids. You can visit him at brendanvidito.wordpress.com
Shane McKenzie is the author of many horror and bizarro books, including MUERTE CON CARNE, PUS JUNKIES, and WET AND SCREAMING. He wrote comics for Zenescope Entertainment. His novel MUERTE CON CARNE was adapted into a multiple award winning short film called EL GIGANTE, which will be a feature film very soon. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and two children.
Paul Shrimpton is been a lifelong horror fan. He has dabbled in filmmaking - winning the Horror Channel’s: CUT! Short Horror Film competition (in 2008 with the revenge quickie HUNG UP and in 2009 with the zombie ridden TELEPORTAL). TELEPORTAL subsequently gained inclusion in the Dread Central feature anthology ZOMBIEWORLD. Paul also co-wrote the 2011 comedy horror INBRED and recently performed writing duties on the (at time of writing) forthcoming splatter comedy, ATTACK OF THE ADULT BABIES. Paul also plays Bass guitar in the horror film tinged ska-punk outfit Deadbeat At Dawn. This is his first published short story.
Dan Henk was born in 1972, on a small army base in the south, he grew up on a diet of science fiction and horror books. At eighteen Dan Henk was kicked out of his house. He spent the next eight months homeless, often living in the woods. Six months later, he was in the passenger seat of a car that flipped and his face broke the windshield. Soon after that, the tendon on his thumb was severed in a fight with a crackhead. He came down with brain cancer in 2001, and his wife died in a hit-and-run in 2007. In 2012, a car shattered his bike, throwing him through the windshield and putting him in a coma for hours. There's a running theory that he is a cyborg. He's done art for Madcap Magazine, Maximum Rock and Roll Magazine, Tattoo Artist Magazine, Black Static, This is Horror, Deadite Press, Skin Deep, The Living Corpse, Aphrodesia, Splatterpunk, Tattoo Prodigies, Pint Sized Paintings, Coalesce, Zombie Apocalypse, Most Precious Blood, Indecision, Locked In A Vacancy, Shai Hulud, Purity Records, and a slew of Memento books. 2011 saw the release of his first book, THE BLACK SEAS OF INFINITY, care of Anarchy Books. Permuted Press reissued it in 2015, and a few months later released his second novel DOWN HIGHWAYS IN THE DARK...BY DEMONS DRIVEN.
Jack Bantry is the editor of Splatterpunk Zine. He works as a postman and resides in a small town at the edge of the North York Moors.
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