Black Bubbles
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- Votes 5
- Parts 1
Horror is pessimism at its bleakest. Worst-case scenario. The darker side of reality. The glass half-empty. The situation unfathomable. In Black Bubbles, Kelli Owen presents classic genre tropes-ghosts, murderers, zombies, what you'd expect (sans sharks)-but it's the characters, rather than the tropes, that experience the story, speak of the horrors, and sometimes survive the inevitable.
Sometimes.
A decades-old crime shocks a family as evidence points to one of their own... An ancient evil hitchhikes its way to freedom... A child has an unusual fascination with decay... A woman excuses premeditation... Death takes a holiday... Science and good intentions make horrific bedfellows... A man hides from nightmares that invade his waking world...
Kelli Owen's first collection gathers over 60,000 words, including a handful of out-of-print, difficult-to-find previously published work, a plethora of new pieces, story notes, drawings inspired by the title story, and an introduction by the legendary Thomas Monteleone.
... I have included the first story, and invite you to check out the entire collection at http://kelliowen.com/bookstore/black-bubbles/
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In the depths of her childhood, at the tender age of 7, an unsettling gift awakened within her - the power to glimpse the impending demise of others. Ghosts and ethereal apparitions became her companions, while the looming specter of death itself held an unyielding presence in her life. Anleane possessed an eerie talent; her visions never faltered, always revealing the cruel inevitability of mortality. Even those closest to her weren't spared. Hauntingly, she foresaw her own mother's fate, the grim prophecy manifesting just days before its fulfillment. A chilling truth gripped Anleane's reality: those she glimpsed in her visions were bound to the realm beyond. There was no escape from the dance of death that she alone witnessed. And then, the inexplicable occurred - her own figure materialized within the confines of her ominous predictions. Confronted with the realization of her impending doom, Anleane's fight for survival intensified, a desperate attempt to defy the very destiny she once foretold. Amidst the relentless shadows of her cursed ability, Anleane grapples with a question that consumes her every thought: Can she, against all odds, outwit the clutches of the inescapable, or will she become yet another victim to the merciless hands of fate?
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