Exploring the possibilities of spontaneous writing, the gift of deadlines, and the artistry unleashed by daring to write outside our comfort zones and follow our Muse.

four stories of fear and isolation written by the most unnerving voices in the modern horror underground Featuring Jon Steffens Joanna Koch Justin Lutz Dominick Cancilla

SYNTH is a new anthology series of dark SF published quarterly, with each issue containing eight thought-provoking visions of the future . . . tales of utopia and dystopia, of inner and outer space; tales that are bleak, tales that are bold . . . ISSUE #1 features the dark visions of Dan Stintzi, Steve Toase, Virginie Sélavy, Charles Wilkinson, Farah Rose Smith, Jeffrey Thomas, Christopher K. Miller, and Joanna Koch. It is edited by CM Muller, creator of the award-winning Nightscript anthology series. If you are a fan of Black Mirror, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Alphaville, and the like, then SYNTH may well be your next literary fix. For more information, please visit: www.synthanthology.wordpress.com

Martin's keeping a dangerous secret from his partner. He's found love with Jerome, and a life happily estranged from the shapeshifting rituals of his past. But some secrets don't die. As the past comes alive and lures them into a trap, Martin must choose whether to be hunter or prey...Writing about 'The Couvade' and the protagonist of Martin, Joanna recently said: "He is a psychiatrist despite his dark secrets, or more likely because of them. He keeps anxiety at bay by maintaining control as the Doctor, the master of the situation. I like that he's an expert in sanity with a fragile center. He's kind of a mess as a human, and makes bad decisions in his relationship with Jerome, and his reluctance to trust makes him blind to obvious threats."Joanna also added about her research for 'The Couvade': "Elements of this story grew from my interest in sin-eaters, as well as the medieval criminal case of Gilles de Rais. I mean, I just do research because I'm a nerd, basically! Years ago I first heard of sin-eaters from a friend who saw one at their grandmother's wake. Their description of the cloaked sin-eater stuck with me, as did the mystery of what happened behind the closed door. I took my research wildly out of context to create a mythology for this story, though."(Cover by Adrian Baldwin)

Sanitarium Magazine is an independent quarterly magazine, dedicated to bringing audiences the best in horror from around the globe. Inside this issue of Sanitarium Magazine you'll find stories that will keep you up late at night, poems that will haunt you, and new reasons to be afraid of the dark. Here, you'll be forced to confront your deepest fears, your worst nightmares, and the monsters who lurk in the shadows... or within you. Welcome to the Sanitarium. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Sanitarium Magazine is an independent quarterly magazine, dedicated to bringing audiences the best in horror from around the globe. Inside this issue of Sanitarium Magazine you'll find stories that will keep you up late at night, poems that will haunt you, and new reasons to be afraid of the dark. Here, you'll be forced to confront your deepest fears, your worst nightmares, and the monsters who lurk in the shadows... or within you. Welcome to the Sanitarium. We hope you enjoy your stay.All new fiction by: Michael SubjackRussell HemmellJoanna KochAimee BoundsEdward AhernFabiyas M. V.Dan HowarthM. Lopes da SilvaMario E. MartinezA. MerriweatherIan BainChristopher LongPeter Emmett NaughtonJohn GreyD. C. PhillipsPaul JessupAnthony GiordanoStephanie M. WytovichShannon Lawrenc

Paranormal Contact: A Quiet Horror Confessional is an anthology of first-person narratives, many of which blur the line between contemporary horror fiction and autobiographical recollection. Each story is an encounter with the supernatural; while the experiences with ghosts and otherworldly entities may be sometimes subtle, they are often hair-raising, and at times, genuinely disturbing.

From fertilization to approximately the sixteenth day of development, human embryonic cells are said to have the capacities of totipotency and monozygotic twinning, both of which are problematic to a theory of ensoulment at fertilization. In this dissertation I will address the problems which these capacities pose to such a theory and present an interpretation of the biological data which renders ensoulment at fertilization more plausible. I will then argue that not only is an ensoulment theory consistent with current biological data on the human embryo, but it may offer an explanation for the phenomena of monozygotic twinning. Finally, I will argue that a rival account of our origins, offered on the Biological Account of Personal Identity, faces twinning puzzles that a hylomorphic account can avoid, and when compared to a hylomorphic account of the human being and its origins, the Biological Account has little to no advantage.