Dollar Dreadful Volume One: A Tangle of Shadows

By M. L. Hart

This is the first volume in a series of periodical collections of dark, adult and extreme original genre fiction that brings together three shocking short stories from M. L. Hart. Thsee stories do not fit easily into any one genre, featuring instead a blend of many that is characteristic of this exciting, unusual writer.

M. L. Hart lives to avidly read, write and draw, all of which are a constant source of pleasure and inspiration for her. She is influenced by all kinds of dark and passionate literature, history, art, music, film and science. She had a chaotic working class upbringing in the north-east of England and, before the age of ten she had attempted 'attempted murder' - unluckily for her and the world, she did not go through with it. At the age of eleven, when her school burned down, they never could prove that she did it.

She has lived a life of indulgent excess in London for the past eighteen years. She has a BA (hons) in Politics and has studied creative writing with Birkbeck and the Open University. She has published short story collections, articles and poems in various small press publications and has sworn an oath to the goddess of death that one day she will set the literary world ablaze.
M. L. Hart can be contacted on Twitter @PerzenfeniDiz. She is currently working on her second novel and her rousing debut, 'The Curse of the Ivory Hermaphrodite', will be available soon.

- The Short Stories -

1) Freak of Nurture
If, out of the blue, you were offered your deepest desire, would you immediately recognize it for what it was and seize hold of it before it slipped through your fingers forever? And could you even be honest about what that desire might truly be? Could you forsake your whole way of life, throw over your loved ones and life-long beliefs to pursue something utterly unknown? Would you fall prey to temptation, not knowing where it might lead, what its consequences might be? Or would you purse your lips, turn your face away from everything you've ever wanted and refuse it in the name of propriety? Would you really leave behind the daily grind, the mortgage and the marital bed for something so deep and secret you can barely admit it to yourself?

Christian Trent, weary and soul-sore on the commute home late at night, is confronted with this very proposition...

2) The Voice of Ignition
Anton's deadly obsession is fuelled by the voice of ignition that always insists, cultivating his urge to burn, prompting pyromania. The voice tells Anton that arson is his holy mission, that he's destined to bring hell-fire to earth as the agent of fate, just and righteous. But despite his deep devotion to his fiery raison d'être, the voice is never satisfied. It whispers to him, 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to see them all burn?' and Anton cannot help but agree. And so the voice's incessancy drives him out on the prowl once again, cans of petrol in his car-boot and intent to commit arson in his heart...

3) A Tangle of Shadows
You are trying hard to recover from a devastating breakdown. Then, as if by chance, you meet the most lovely, glamorous woman you've ever encountered. She is extraordinarily beautiful and, consequently, far out of your league. So, it is entirely unexpected when she declares her desire for you, how her intention is to satisfy your every whim. And, astoundingly, she proceeds to do so, fulfilling all your needs with a style and nonchalance that captivates you. You are falling madly in love with her and she reciprocates, a new life of delight is unfolding before you like a map of paradise. Then, the rub. She tells you that she is in serious trouble, the kind of trouble that would only get worse if the police were called in. Without even realising it, you've been thoroughly enmeshed in a tangle of shadows and both your lives are at stake...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Guy Blacklock
• Release date: Jul 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310221965

Book preview

Dollar Dreadful Volume One

3 Tales of Terror and Dread

Designed, Compiled & Edited by

Peter Guy Blacklock

Contributing Author

M. L. Hart

This Smashwords Edition

Published by the 451 ePublishing Haus at Smashwords

Copyright © 2017 Peter Guy Black & M. L. Hart

List of Contents:

Acknowledgements

With permissions and disclosure

Foreword

About the Tales and Authorfeatured in this Volume

Tale 1

Freak of Nurture by M. L. Hart

Tale 2

The Voice of Ignition by M. L. Hart

Tale 3

A Tangle of Shadows by M. L. Hart

About this Publication and it’s Publisher

The Dollar Dreadful eBooks and the 451 ePublishing Haus

Copyright Page

Legal stuff

----

Acknowledgements

Designed & Published by the

451 ePublishing Haus

The author of the works of fiction within this publication is

M. L. Hart.

Cover image is by

Yasmin Tehrani & Peter Guy Blacklock.

- Permissions -

Permission is freely given to quote or reproduce a line or two of text for review or reference purposes in your or another person's publication or web-site so long as the following link back to this publication's web-page is incorporated in the review or reference with the publisher's and author's name clearly stated.

Please use this link http://harbinger451.co.uk/dollardreadful01.html

- Disclosure -

The short-stories represented in this eBook are works of fiction. All names, characters, and settings are there-fore fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, names, locales, organisations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

- Author's Dedication -

Thanks to Jamie Spracklen and Ruby for their help with previous versions of this work.

And thanks to Pete and Yasmin for everything else.

----

Foreword

About the Tales and Author featured in this Volume

This first volume in a series of periodical collections of dark, adult and extreme original genre fiction brings together three shocking short stories from M. L. Hart.

This superb new collection, only available as an eBook in the Dollar Dreadful range, is all about sex and death. Each story, told in M. L. Hart's absolutely distinctive voice, tackles our eternal preoccupation with Eros and Thanatos, taking in themes of religion, power and control, mental illness, deviancy, violence, pyromania and murder. All three tales are deft, sensual and fully realised, maintaining their intrinsic force throughout. The stories do not fit easily into any one genre, featuring instead a blend of many that is characteristic of this exciting, unusual writer.

M. L. Hart lives to avidly read, write and draw, all of which are a constant source of pleasure and inspiration for her. She is influenced by all kinds of dark and passionate literature, history, art, music, film and science. She had a chaotic working class upbringing in the north-east of England and, before the age of ten she had attempted 'attempted murder' - unluckily for her and the world, she did not go through with it. At the age of eleven, when her school burned down, they never could prove that she did it.

She has lived a life of indulgent excess in London for the past eighteen years. She has a BA (hons) in Politics and has studied creative writing with Birkbeck and the Open University. She has published short story collections, articles and poems in various small press publications and has sworn an oath to the goddess of death that one day she will set the literary world ablaze.

M. L. Hart can be contacted on Twitter @PerzenfeniDiz. She is currently working on her second novel and her rousing debut, 'The Curse of the Ivory Hermaphrodite', will be available soon.

----

Freak of Nurture

M. L. Hart

‘Perfect love casteth out fear.’

- 1 John 4:18

‘Perfect fear casteth out all else.’

- S.Plath

It was just after midnight when Christian Trent found himself deep underground and utterly alone. Uneasy and self-conscious, he stood stiffly on the otherwise deserted platform, waiting for the last Tube train to shake, rattle and roll him home to the suburbs.

On this particular evening, he'd worked even later than was his usual wont, marooned in a circle of light in the otherwise darkened office, all his colleagues having long since departed. Finally, he'd headed for the station and, feeling like the only man left alive, he was thoroughly unnerved by the silent, empty streets of the Square Mile. By day, this particular area teemed with packs of sleekly expensive predators, perpetually engaged in ruthless pursuit. With no one else to share the burden, he’d felt the full weight of the grandiloquent buildings bear down on him. He'd found himself unable to shrug off the childish notion that the statues he passed were scrutinising him with their graven eyes, mutely upbraiding him for disturbing their stony repose. On reaching the station, even though at that hour there were no staff on duty and therefore the turnstiles stood open, Christian still diligently purchased a ticket from the machine and proceeded to redundantly employ it as he passed through the open ticket barriers. Down the escalators, along the foot-tunnels, he was all alone, peerless; not even buskers or beggars importuning him for alms