Into The Ruins: An Anthology of New Beginnings

By Rachel Coles

Into The Ruins is an urban fantasy anthology featuring life-changing or world-changing events. They feature everything from comic horror, as in Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, horror, as in Mushrooms, historical fantasy, as in Plagues, science fiction, as in Whistles, and finally a fun animal story, as in Beergarden.

In Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Detective Nate Mallon investigated vice, when he was alive. Being a police officer was his life. Even dying didn't dampen his enthusiasm for solving his last case. However, there are others who aren't ready to be dead yet, and they aren't trying to solve cases. They are at the center of them.

In Mushrooms, Kallie and Mark Sangiovi didn't live complicated lives. They enjoyed their humble home in Denver, fresh food, and most of all: each other's company. But one strange summer in 2011, everything changed. What begins with an invasion of ants, and summer colds, brings them to the brink of death, in a few days. And they aren't the only ones. During this time, Denver becomes an eerie city, populated by the sick, whose imperative is to bite the people closest to them. The city grows still as the epidemic progresses, and Kallie and Mark leave the human race behind.

In Plagues, Miryam, humble daughter of Hebrews, doesn't have many aspirations as a slave in the city of Ra'amses. It might not be much, but the stability of her husband, child, and home are enough for her to live her life as it is. Her brother, Moses, raised in the Pharaoh's palace and 'touched by God', has grander aspirations for their entire people. But there are many sides to the growing conflicts. The political situation deteriorates in Mitzrayim with the rising power of Ramses, and the advent of terrible environmental disasters. And Miryam finds that her friendship with her Egyptian neighbor, Acenath, means as much to her as her religion.

In Whistles, Diana Carrick moved to a new neighborhood as a young, urban professional. She was right where she thought she should be in her life. She even bought a house in the charming old Baker district, a Victorian neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. The only problem with the house was that it was near train tracks, a detail she failed to investigate before buying. She quickly found that the noise of the tracks was not the most disturbing problem. The blasts of the trains were accompanied by strange dreams. As she slowly discovered, the rest of the neighbors experienced the same dreams. Could the trains be causing the dreams? What could they mean? Diana and her new neighbors begin investigating, and their discovery would change all of their lives.

In Beergarden, Eva Worker knew that her life as a forager honey bee outside the hive would be interesting. She had always been curious, and not overly-obedient. The city of Munich does not disappoint her, with its colorful flower boxes, lights...and beer gardens. In fact, the new Ellsen Brauhaus quickly becomes a smash with everyone in the city: humans, bees, and wasps. On her first day out of the hive, Eva meets Gertrude: a wasp. Though young bees are all warned about the peril of wasps, Gertrude is different than Eva was taught to expect. Is this because of the effects of the intoxicating human nectar? What happens to their relationship when their two hives forbid the consumption of beer?

Delve into these stories of horror, hope, and transformation, and see what the world looks like when you are done.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rachel Coles
• Release date: Sep 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465744616

Rachel Coles

Rachel Coles is a medical anthropologist working in public health and emergency preparedness in Colorado. She lives with her husband, Adam, and her daughter, Rosa. Rosa's fondness for scary stories is the inspiration for many of the stories. Rachel and Adam share a love for old horror novels and stories, and science fiction. They also compete for knowledge of the most obscure Star Trek and Babylon 5 trivia.

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