Eight Days of Madness

By Chris Allinotte

This short story anthology is comprised of eight suspenseful and horrifying tales, composed for a special one-week fiction event on the blog, "The Leaky Pencil".

These stories centre around the theme of Madness. Not one of the stories approaches this theme in the same way, and each has something unique to say.

Features eight outstanding new tales by: Laurita Miller, Richard Godwin, Angel Zapata, Sean Patrick Reardon, Erin Cole, Lily Childs, and Chris Allinotte.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Allinotte
• Release date: Mar 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458112484

Chris Allinotte

Chris Allinotte lives in Toronto with his wife and two sons. In 2008, his story The Dirt on Ronnie Wilkins won first place in the Toronto Star Short Story Contest. As a result of winning the contest, Chris got to attend the prestigious George Brown College Writer’s course, where he studied for eight months with author Tim Wynne Jones. Chris is the creator and editor of the Eight Days of Madness, and Nine Days of Madness anthologies. He is currently working on his first novel.

Book preview

Eight Days of Madness

Edited by Chris Allinotte

Eight Days of Madness

Published by Chris Allinotte at Smashwords,

Copyright 2011, Chris Allinotte

All works contained within are published by permission of the individual authors. All subsidiary publishing rights are retained by the individual authors.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. Thank you for your support.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Paranoia - Laurita Miller

Blister Pack - Richard Godwin

Mad Dash – Angel Zapata

Heart Shaped Hammer – Sean Patrick Reardon

Still Alive – Erin Cole

Living in a Box – Lily Childs

The Doll Maker and the Rat – Chris Allinotte

Introduction

In February of 2011, I put out a challenge to the writing community. I wanted to read fresh, original short stories around a central theme of Madness.

To my great delight, the responses I received were thoughtful, well crafted and absolutely gripping. Better yet- from seven different authors, I received seven totally different shades of madness. Not a single writer approached the theme from the same angle and that’s what made the week of March 13-19 so incredible. Each of these stories first appeared on my blog, the Leaky Pencil. The event was named (with tongue firmly in cheek) Madness in March. In order to avoid any anticipated confusion and/or problems with riffing on the NCAA’s most popular tournament, a small name change for this eBook version seemed appropriate.

While Laurita Miller starts things off with haunting tale of unknown, Richard Godwin takes us by the throat and shows us a man at war with his own demons. Angel Zapata treats us to a perfectly normal man on one of the worst dates ever, while Sean Patrick Reardon explores the depths we go to over the loss of a loved one. Erin Cole lets us see what happens when the loved one being lost is oneself. Lily Childs’ unfortunate patient who finds herself endangered by her own damaged psyche closed out the series. Because I couldn’t resist, my own story gives new meaning to the phrase What's up, Doc?

Enjoy this collection of stories, again and again.

You’d be mad not to.

Chris Allinotte

**MIM**

This collection is dedicated to the contributors.

Thank you all.

Paranoia

Laurita Miller

It was moving.

He could hear it, the soft shuffling, the creaking of the floorboards.

Creak. Creak.

He scratched his ear, turned back to the fire, and poked at the logs until the sparks flew out onto the rug. The warmth felt good. The fire was good.

He tapped the poker against the floor. Tap, tap. He stopped, listened. It was moving. Still moving.

Creak. Creak.

Did he lock