“It would be accurate to say that Busboom’s fiction is a love letter to schlocky, neon horror, peppered with sticky-sweet nostalgia and loving luridity. It would, however, be a mistake to dismiss this work as merely such. There is something deeper in Busboom’s terror, rooted uncertainty. The uncertainty of being a child, of being in love, and the ever-present uncertainty inherent in the dark. “Thoughtful horror, under the guise of gorilla monsters, looming owls and the awful things people do to each other. An outstanding collection from a phenomenal writer.” —S. L. Edwards, author of The Death of an Author and Whiskey and Other Unusual Ghosts In his debut collection, David Busboom presents fifteen tales of dark fantasy and horror, populated by bizarre reptiles, occult serial killers, carnivorous protoplasms, and parasitic worms. A child faces down the giant ape destroying his parents’ marriage. A cheating husband wakes up to find his hand replaced by a mucous-covered tentacle. A Midwestern office complex becomes the setting for a ghastly, apocalyptic nightmare. Within these pages you’ll find strange creatures sliding over dark country roads and twilit train tracks, detectives and swordsmen fighting through occult mysteries and marauding fish-men, a shunned filmmaking prodigy’s deadly magnum opus, and the seductive death of innocence. You’ll find regret, self-destruction, and relationships gone bad. Here, where weird pulp horror meets the darker sides of love and disillusion, you’ll find slime, and stink, and Every Crawling, Putrid Thing.

Issue #5 includes fictions from Stephen S. Power (author of The Dragon Round), John C. Foster (author of Mr. White, and Baby Powder and Other Terrifying Substances), David Busboom (author of Nightbird), Gary Buller, Jake Marley, Christa Carmen, K.P. Kulski, Sara Codair, and Aaaron J. Housholder. Includes a feature by Gwendolyn Kiste (author of And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, and Pretty Marys All in a Row). Publisher spotlight on Coffin Hop and Q&A interviews with Owen King (coauthor of Sleeping Beauties, and author of Double Feature) and Christina Henry (author of Lost Boy, and Alice).

In the fourth issue of Shock Totem, K. Allen Wood and crew have compiled yet another eclectic collection of horror fiction. This issue features previously unpublished stories from the likes of Weston Ochse, Lee Thompson, A.C. Wise, Jaelithe Ingold, David Busboom, and others. Also to be found, conversations with Kathe Koja and Rennie Sparks, nonfiction by K. Allen Wood, reviews and more.

On the night a strange and beautiful woman captured Isaac's virginity, something happened. It was something dark, unsavory, and unexplainable. On that night, the mysterious woman captured much, much more than a first. Sixteen-year-old Isaac just wanted to see a midnight movie. He didn't expect to meet the woman of his dreams: more beautiful, mature, and intelligent than any of Isaac's high-school crushes, and (best of all) willing to fulfil his fantasies! So what if she didn't have a computer, a phone, a car, or a job? So what if she shares an isolated farmhouse with a half-dozen insatiable, love-crazed people, all aching for her attention? She was ready and willing. That one night was enough, perhaps too much. Isaac resigned himself to never seeing her again and moving on. But is that possible? Will he ever be rid of her? Can he love another? Will she ever release that hold? Or will she be there forever, especially at night, when the wind whistles through the forest and the screech owls cry...