Don’t Ask, Ghosts Tell

An LGBTQ+ Horror Anthology

G.B. Lindsey
Book Cover: Don't Ask, Ghosts Tell
Editions:Hardcover, Kindle, Paperback

Truths always catch up with us. There’s no denying it. Your senses heighten—as a presence lurks in the shadows, haunting your thoughts with every move. Knots form in your stomach from guilt, memories, or real horrors. Each moment is fraught with heaviness, zapping energy as your reflections pull toward whatever or whomever cowers in the shadows, ready to pounce at the slightest chance to claw at your soul.

The stories and poems in this anthology evoke powerful emotions across distinct perspectives and eras—plagued by terrors, misinterpretations, suffering, and lost love. Does hope linger when ghosts hold all the cards?

With stories and poetry by Amanda Dier, Amanda Nevada DeMel, Benjamin Larned, Christina Bergling, Darrell Z. Grizzle, Eric David Roman, G.B. Lindsey, J. Daniel Stone, John Grover, M. Edusa, Maxwell I. Gold, May Walker, Michael Thomas Ford, R.J.K. Lee, Rook Riley, Ryan Cole, Sara Tantlinger, Sean Eads, Sumiko Saulson, and Toshiya Kamei.

Proceeds from your purchase of this book go to the Modern Military Association of America, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

Wonderland

Life After the Zombie Apocalypse

J. Scott Coatsworth

Zeke is a hermit in his late forties who lives a quiet life in a small cabin in the Western Montana mountains, a few miles outside of Thompson Falls. He’s gotten used to being alone since the end of the world, and has everything he needs. Everything but someone to talk to.

Nathan is a younger man on a cross-country trek, searching the country for someone... anyone still alive. Saddled with a ghost from his old life and a case of OCD, he stumbles upon Thompson Falls and a pack of rabid dogs.

Rescued by Zeke, he has to figure out how to be human again. And with Christmas just a week away, both men have to figure out if there’s something left to be hopeful for, and if they might have a future together.

Excerpt:

Zeke returned to the kitchen and pulled a couple dirty plates from the sink.

Nathan had flinched when Zeke had hugged him. He had started to shake.

Did that mean Nathan liked him? Was afraid of him, disgusted by him? He didn’t know how to read the signs. He'd always been crap with all that touchy feely stuff.

He glared at the stacks of dirty dishes. He hadn't quite finished cleaning the place, but maybe he could keep Nathan out of there until he had a chance to get things organized.

His visitor seemed like a nice guy. Zeke wished his gaydar was better.

He washed the plates with some dish soap, giving them a good scrub, and dried them with some of his precious paper towels. He pulled out the last of his smoked salmon and put it on the plates, along with the fruit salad. "I have a few Snapples left," he called. "Lemon or peach?"

"Peach is fine."

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Zeke hauled the plates and a couple forks out into the living room and presented one of them to Nathan with a flourish. "Compliments of the chef."

Nathan laughed. "What I wouldn't give to go to a nice restaurant again." He took the plate and set it on his lap.

"I would love to have cheese again. Especially mozzarella."

"I would die for a Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bar."

"I loved dark chocolate." Zeke returned with the drinks and a couple more paper towels and took a seat on the floor against the wall by the fireplace where he could see Nathan properly. "Where did you start out on your journey?"

"Vermont. Seems like I've been walking forever." Nathan took a bite of the salmon. "What about you? Ooh, this is delicious."

Zeke looked around the old cabin. So many memories. "I grew up here. This was my Dad's place. He passed away a few years ago."

"It's... nice." Nathan took a drag on the bottle of Peach Snapple.

"It's a pack-rat's heaven," Zeke corrected him.

"Yeah." Nathan smiled wanly. "Sorry. My OCD is getting the better of me. I thought I had it under control, but the dog attack, and being in a place like this... Stress is a big trigger for me."

"Oh man. I'm sorry." A light went on in Zeke's head. "That's why you wanted the Xanax." He glanced outside. It was getting dark. "I can run to town right now—"

"It's all right. I can cope until tomorrow. The Xanax just helps take the edge off for a few hours; gives me time to cope. I've learned other ways to manage it."

"So... OCD. Like that TV detective, Monk?"

Nathan winced. "Yeah. Kinda. It's more complicated than that."

"How long have you had it?" Zeke's gaze lingered on Nathan's naked chest. He was feeling warmer than he ought to.

"Since I was ten." Nathan looked at the piles of stuff around the room.

Poor guy looked nervous as hell. "You think hoarding is a kind of OCD?" Zeke joked to lighten the mood.

Nathan snorted. "This isn't hoarding. It's survival."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Nathan was handsome, even dirty as he was. Zeke decided that he wanted to kiss him rather badly.

He shifted his trousers. He wasn't usually so out of control like this.

Of course, Nathan had the whole only other living human being on the face of the Earth thing going for him too.

COLLAPSE

Liminal Sky: Ariadne Cycle Complete Box Set

J. Scott Coatsworth
Book Cover: Liminal Sky: Ariadne Cycle Complete Box Set
Editions:ePub, Kindle

Liminal Sky chronicles humankind's first journey to the stars. The first three books - the Ariadne Cycle - cover the creation and launch of Ariadne (aka Forever) as she was grown from seed on an asteroid and then launched across the interstellar void. The books are told in epic fashion, with each broken into three parts that span generations.

THE STARK DIVIDE

Some stories are epic.

The Earth is in a state of collapse, with wars breaking out over resources and an environment pushed to the edge by human greed.

Three living generation ships have been built with a combination of genetic mastery, artificial intelligence, technology, and raw materials harvested from the asteroid belt. This is the story of one of them—43 Ariadne, or Forever, as her inhabitants call her—a living world that carries the remaining hopes of humanity, and the three generations of scientists, engineers, and explorers working to colonize her.

From her humble beginnings as a seedling saved from disaster to the start of her journey across the void of space toward a new home for the human race, The Stark Divide tells the tales of the world, the people who made her, and the few who will become something altogether beyond human.

Humankind has just taken its first step toward the stars.

THE RISING TIDE

The Earth is dead.

Five years after the Collapse, the remnants of humanity travel through the stars inside Forever: a living, ever-evolving, self-contained generation ship.

When Eddy Tremaine and Andrissa “Andy” Hammond find a hidden world-within-a-world under the mountains, the discovery triggers a chain of events that could fundamentally alter or extinguish life as they know it, culminate in the takeover of the world mind, and end free will for humankind.

Eddy, Andy, and a handful of other unlikely heroes must find the courage and ingenuity to stand against the rising tide. Otherwise they might be living through the end days of human history.

THE SHORELESS SEA

Rise of the Inthworld.

The fight for the future isn’t over yet. It could lead to a new beginning, or it might spell the end for the last vestiges of humankind.

The generation ship Forever has left Earth behind, but a piece of the old civilization lives on in the Inthworld—a virtual realm that retains memories of Earth's technological wonders and vices. Lilith leads the uprising, and if she sets its inhabitants free, they could destroy Forever.

But during the ship's long voyage, humanity has evolved. Liminals with the ability to connect with the world mind and the Inthworld provide a glimmer of hope as they face not only Lilith’s minions, but the mistrust of their own kind as homotypicals fear what they can't understand.

The invasion must be stopped, the Inthworld healed, sothe people of Forever can let go of their past and embrace their future.