Four More Stories.

It’s been a busy few months since my last post. From finishing off my new novel (news of which I hope to share here in the upcoming months!), to more personal matters getting in the way of things, I have been, as they say, knee-deep in real life. I thought it was time, then, to do a write-up on the various short stories I have had published in the time since I was last here.

Now, if you follow me on Instagram (which you absolutely should!), you may have seen me post about these there. But for those new here, or who may simply wish to know a little bit more about the background of these stories, then this is the perfect place for you.

To say that I am over the moon to have had these stories put out in the world is an understatement. To have worked alongside these truly terrific publishers and to have released some of my most personal work to date has been such a privilege, and I think that feeling comes through in these tales. From stories of ghosts, possessed laptops, zombies, and Martian Gothic spook shows, I hope that there is something here to tingle even the most rigid of spines.

Check them out, give them a read, and let me know what you think. There will be more to come soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Cake - This Exquisite Topology (Angry Gable Press)

Cake is my twist on the age-old zombie survival thriller. A story that begs the question: if, during a zombie apocalypse, the dead are rising, then what if they aren’t the only kind of undead spat back out from hell? Part traditional zombie story in the vein of The Walking Dead or Romero’s Living Dead movies and part haunted house ghost story à la The Amityville Horror, Cake seeks to do something I have long thought missing from zombie tales by mashing the two genres together and seeing what madness unfolds.

Framed around the relationship between a downtrodden, sick-of-it-all couple, who come across and take refuge in an abandoned farmhouse, they soon find that the things that dwell within the walls of the old building may be more terrifying than the creatures roaming the world outside. One thing I truly loved about writing this story was playing with the idea of the survivors’ boredom, and how day-to-day and normative living amongst rotting, shambling carcasses has become for our two heroes. These characters have been around the block, survived for years, and are, as of the time we meet them, more or less bored with the whole thing. They just want to find a place to settle down and rest for how many short years they may have left.

A statement on how we yearn for days gone by, how, as we age, our dreams dissolve to smoke, and how life always seems to get in the way, Cake is a real fun one. Filled with gore, psychedelic imagery, and just the right amount of sentimentality, this is one short story that I was more than happy to let the good people over at Angry Gable Press get their hands on, and a world that I would love to return to one of these days.

Find it either physically or online at:

Amazon (UK) - https://tinyurl.com/2xm8wrtr

Amazon (US) - https://tinyurl.com/3mpcnd3p

Website: https://angrygablepress.com/

Eden and Padlocks – The Book of Beastly Creatures Volume II (Hex Arcana Publishing)

I was privileged to have not one, but two stories published and illustrated in this spectacular anthology by Hex Arcana Publishing, the literary wing of Scottish horror studio Hex Studios (who have also purchased and resurrected legendary British studio Amicus Productions!), and to sit side-by-side with other great writers, including the colossal Nicholas Vince of Hellraiser/The Chatterer fame!

First off, Eden is the story of a young writer who, upon being gifted a brand-new laptop by a mysterious gentleman, finds herself more inspired than ever before. She soon realises that everything she writes is gold and has publishers banging down her door. There is something more sinister at play, however, when she realises that she is unable to write without using the machine anymore, and that the souls of the writers who used it before her are trapped within, pulling at her, demanding that she join them too.

Featuring probably my favourite opening of any short story I have written so far, Eden is a love letter to Edinburgh, the process of writing, the systems we put into place to put words to the page, and the lengths we sometimes feel we will force ourselves to endure to be published. The hardback edition of The Book of Beastly Creatures Vol II even includes a TTRPG stat page for the old man villain present in Eden, alongside a damn snazzy bookmark depicting various illustrated characters from my stories, and others, included within. How cool is that!

Padlocks, on the other hand, is straight up traditional Female Gothic, haunted house horror. The tale of a woman, from childhood to adulthood, and the misery she has endured at the hands of a terrifying presence dwelling within the basement of her old, family manor in the Scottish Highlands - this is pure terror from start to finish.

I wanted to write Padlocks as a means to explore straightforward horror, without pushing any outside influences or playing with conventions. This is my way of channelling the literary and cinematic works we all grew up loving and inspiring us. It is relentless, it pulls no punches, and it uses the backdrop of some of the most isolated parts of Great Britain to tell just that, a tale of isolation and inescapable horror – both supernatural and genealogical.

Big thanks and shout-out to Sarah Daly over at Hex for thinking of me whilst putting together this great book. Be sure to check out their work and support independent horror!

Find it at:

Website - https://www.hexstudios.shop/

Child of Centaurus – Möbius Blvd Magazine No. 29 (Hobb’s End Press)

This was a joyous return to Hobb’s End Press, which published my very first short story (Man/Maid) back in 2023 in their sister publication, Black Sheep! They are easy to deal with, put out great-quality publications, and I absolutely adore the aesthetics of the covers they produce. But, of course, lest we judge a book by its proverbial cover, let’s get into the guts of the story itself.

A Martian Gothic story about the first man and woman sent to colonise and terra-form Mars, Child of Centaurus tells the tale of what, of course, eventually goes wrong when ideas of legacy and colonisation become grander than even those of love and loyalty, both to your partner and your own home world. As the world begins to form around our characters, soon, their ideas of what it is they are there to do begin to dissolve, when the land itself begins to speak to them, beckon them forth, and demand that they finish the work of those who inhabited the planet millennia ago.

This story is full of isolation, fear, and alien possession. It is a wild one that doesn’t pretend to try and fill the reader in on everything going on, and I believe, is all the stronger for it. I am a huge lover of mixing horror with science fiction, and this is one of my favourite attempts at merging the two I have produced so far.

Find it either physically or online at:

Amazon (UK) - https://tinyurl.com/yf8xwuss

Amazon (US) - https://tinyurl.com/3x8h8f5e

Website - https://darkhorsesmagazine.mystrikingly.com/

And with that, we are all caught up on my current publications! I hope this may have inspired you to check some of these stories out if you haven’t done so yet, and if you have already, that you enjoyed this small insight into them. I enjoyed working with these publishers immensely, and can’t be happier with the final products, both physically and digitally. It really is such an amazing feeling to hold a story you have written yourself in your own two hands. The feeling never ceases to be overwhelming and validating, and is in no small part, a reason why I, and I am sure other writers around the world, continue to do what we do, night and day, week after week, hour after hour, year by year… onwards until the end of time. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Until next time.

Here’s to horror!

-              R.A. Daunton