Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity
()
About this ebook
Explore the human mind as it is pushed to breaking point ... What if every man you'd ever met was named Ian? What if the stress of an unrelenting routine intruded while you were stopped at an intersection? Insanity is a darkness that can envelop you before you're even aware of it. Sometimes, it begins with an itch, sometimes, a mysterious invitation. Regardless of the catalyst, it never ends well.
The Apocrypha Sequence is a series of dark fantasy collections with interwoven themes and interconnected stories from Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Australia's master of the macabre. Also in the Apocrypha Sequence: Deviance, Divinity, and Inferno.
Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Shane Jiraiya Cummings has been acknowledged as "one of Australia’s leading voices in dark fantasy". Shane is the author of the forthcoming Yokai Wars series (Circle of Tears, Clockwork Legion, and Blight of the Underworld) and the dark fiction books The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After, Shards, the Apocrypha Sequence (Deviance, Divinity, Insanity, and Inferno), and the Ravenous Gods cycle (Requiem for the Burning God and Dreams of Destruction). He has won the Australian Shadows Award and two Ditmar Awards, and he has been nominated for more than twenty other major awards, including Spain's Premios Ignotus.Shane is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association and former Vice President of the Australian Horror Writers Association. When he is not writing, Shane is an editor and journalist by day. By night (and on weekends), he can be found indulging in hobbies such as playing the guitar, photography, sword fighting, and testing the limits of his new cruiser motorcycle.In his youth, Shane was trained in the deadly arts of the ninja, and the name Jiraiya (lit. "Young Thunder", after the legendary ninja Jiraiya) was bestowed upon him by his sensei.Shane was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. He lived for many years in Perth, Western Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand, but he recently returned to his old home town to revisit the ghosts of his past.More information on Shane (including his free fiction) can be found online at www.jiraiya.com.au.
Read more from Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Apocrypha Sequence: Deviance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApocrypha Sequence: Divinity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApocrypha Sequence: Inferno Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Smoke Dragon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Song of Prague Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Apocrypha Sequence
Related ebooks
Our Daily Bread Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTennessee Rain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Little Book of True Ghost Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reward, Lost Cat, The Search for Spock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlain Jane Assassin ~ Rise of the White Lotus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Lost Station Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPart One: Prince of the Blood - Transformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Beast Without a Name: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImagining The Darkness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Seed Man and Other Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStep By Step Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tail of Our Doggies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Curious Waitress Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Widow in Waiting Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Witch's Handbook of Kisses and Curses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Virtue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkip Tracer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAb Khan Din Plays: One (NHB Modern Plays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoxanne: My Extraordinary Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Someday Now Forever Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSinister Serpent: The Cleansing, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOh Death, Where Was Thou Sting Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPenny Maybe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Diary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeflection of Pig-Ponies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJessica's Way: Conversations With Myself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Fantasy For You
This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of the Vampire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Galatea: A Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Forest: Book One of the Sevenwaters Trilogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Empire: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mistborn: Secret History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote: [Complete & Illustrated] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Immortal Longings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Apocrypha Sequence
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Apocrypha Sequence - Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Apocrypha Sequence:
INSANITY
Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Copyright © Shane Jiraiya Cummings 2011.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes:
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Except in the case of short-term lending, if you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fictitious.
No reference to any living person is intended.
* * *
CONTENTS
Introduction
Ian
Stop
Itch
Song of the Infernal Machine
The Black Door
* * *
Introduction
Welcome to the Apocrypha Sequence, a collection of themed stories outside the continuity of my 'regular' collections, Shards (flash fiction) and the forthcoming The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After (short stories and novellas). The stories in the Apocrypha Sequence lie somewhere in between. There is some overlap between the Apocrypha stories and those in my collections, but this is because I have cherry-picked stories from my body of work to suit the themes present within the Sequence. For each book in the Apocrypha Sequence, I chose a story or two from my collections, a couple of previously uncollected stories, and the odd original or two. Each volume in the Sequence is a remix. You might find a story from this volume elsewhere (by itself or in one of my collections), but its inclusion in the Apocrypha Sequence gives it a more appropriate context—and in some cases, demonstrates its place in a shared world of directly-linked stories.
Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity explores the human mind as it is pushed to breaking point. What if every man you'd ever met was named Ian? When would the penny drop that something wasn't quite right? Insanity can creep in at anytime. What if the stress of an unrelenting routine intruded while you were stopped at an intersection? How about while working on a top secret government project? Insanity is a darkness that can envelop you before you're even aware of it. Sometimes, it begins with an itch, sometimes, a mysterious invitation. Regardless of the catalyst, it never ends well.
Read on and enjoy this volume, and if you crave more, please seek out the other three volumes that comprise the Apocrypha Sequence. Details about the rest of the Sequence and my other e-books can be found at the end of this volume.
— Shane Jiraiya Cummings
* * *
Ian
Every man I've ever met has been named Ian. I'm not exaggerating.
I am the daughter of proud and doting parents, Ian and Margaret, and was raised in what Ian called 'backwoods' Tasmania, well away from anything that could be called civilisation.
My Dad was a writer. He'd sold a few books in his glory days and could afford the isolation. Mum just fussed around the house a lot, although she did visit her cousins Sue and Shirley up in Burnie every month. Dad and I also went into town, for supplies, but only once in a blue moon. He enjoyed the solitude of his castle, and I was raised to know no different.
When we went to town, we shopped at the grocery co-op. The store owner was a rotund man named Ian. He used to wave and smile and carry on when Dad came in.