S.J.Budd

I'm not your average, everyday American. By the time you've finished listening to what I have to say you're going to get that. Sure, I do average, everyday things, but only to go unnoticed while I'm planning and doing the things that aren't. Y'see, I've killed people - for good reasons though. I mean, it'd be plain wrong to just murder someone who didn't deserve it - I'm not a psychopath y'know. In fact, I fit right in really. If you looked at me, you wouldn't think for a minute I'd bashed in the head of a frail old lady, watched people die in the house fire I lit, or made sure a jumped-up motorhead got crushed to death in the tin can on wheels I 'fixed'. There are others too, but you'll have buy this little look inside my head to find out the rest of it. Don't want to? Really? Let me just make a note of that ... Our unnamed character's life changes forever when a carnival comes to their town, bringing the magical ...

Stranger Things meets Pretty in Pink: Lark Espinoza could get lost in her music—and she’s not so sure anyone in her family would even care to find her. Her trendy, party-loving twin sister and her mother-come-lately Beth, who’s suddenly sworn off men and onto homemaking, don’t understand her love of cassette tapes, her loathing of the pop scene, or her standoffish personality. For outcast Lark, nothing feels as much like a real home as working at Bubble’s Oddities store and trying to attract the attention of the cute guy who works at the Vinyl shop next door—the same one she traded lyrical notes with in class. Auden Ellis silences the incessant questions in his own head with a steady stream of beats. Despite the unconditional love of his aunt-turned-mother, he can’t quit thinking about the loss of his parents—or the possibility he might end up afflicted with his father’s issues. Despite his connection with lyric-loving Lark, Auden keeps her at arm’s length because letting her in might ...

It's a great honour to announce that my latest short story is appearing in this. I'm wildly excited by this one, as you can see there's some amazing horror writers featured in here! Diabolica Britannica is out now via Amazon and all profits will be going to the wonderful NHS!

On the outskirts of town, hides a secret. If you follow a path through the trees, read the rules (always twice) on the sign post, go up a hill and across a grassy clearing, that secret will reveal itself. You see, for hundreds of years, this seemingly normal town has done its part, kept the balance. But on this day, a rule will be broken. You might have heard the rumors shared in whispers. You may have been told about someone who’d seen it with their own eyes. But now, on this day, you’ll join us. You’ll come for a car ride and we’ll park. Then we’ll walk along a path, read some rules (always twice), and go up a hill and arrive at a clearing. Across the grass, you’ll see just what the town’s been hiding, protecting for centuries. Then you’ll feel a pull. And we’ll make our way over to it. Over to the window in the ground. “I looked at the mound and could see that a light was shining up from the under, from inside the window. Something was happening below.” Wow I have to say this is by ...

When Eddie gets a flat in the middle of nowhere, the last thing on his mind is death. Then as darkness falls and the storm worsens, he's forced to seek shelter alongside his significant other, Banksy. Big mistake.Bed and Breakfast, the sign said, but there are no eggs and bacon on the menu here. Instead, their host serves up four tales of terror with a little murder on the side. And as the other residents of the mansion gradually reveal themselves, Eddie and Banksy begin to wonder if they'll ever check out alive. Book 11 in the  Rewind-or-Die  series: imagine your local movie rental store back in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, remember all those fantastic covers. Remember taking those movies home and watching in awe as the stories unfolded in nasty rainbows of gore, remember the atmosphere and textures. Remember the blood. I really enjoyed Dead and Breakfast by Gary Buller from beginning to end. It's a short story collection within a novella, not something I've come across b...

"An anthology of small dark bites of life, death, everything in-between, and beyond written by Ian Sputnik." Food for Worms is the debut collection of dark fiction by Ian Sputnik, a writer whose tales I have been enjoying for some time now after reading his work in Sanitarium Magazine. Food for Worms is a compendium of darkness featuring horror tales, poetry, flash fiction and illustrations. This is a collection of doomed souls and their despair, because in the end each and everyone of us is destined to become food for worms. I really enjoyed the pieces of flash fiction dispersed throughout, highly original with very clever endings! The poetry I enjoyed too despite not really liking poems. The collection gets off to a great start with Meal Deal. For me this is a great story from beginning to end. As well as writing really dark tales Ian can also do dark humour which work really well in his stories. Meal Deal is about a retired couple searching for the perfect B...

Mike Carter and his girlfriend Helen, along with their friends Alex and Kay, travel to a remote loch side cottage for a post-graduation holiday. But their celebrations are short-lived when they hit and kill a stag on the road. Alex's sister Meggie awaits them in the cottage, adding to the tension when her dog, Oscar, goes missing. Mike becomes haunted by a disturbing presence in the cottage, and is hunted by threatening figures in the highland fog. Reeling from a shock revelation, Mike begins to lose his grip on his sanity. As the dark secrets of the past conspire to destroy the bonds of friendship, Mike must uncover the terrifying truth dwelling within the walls of Hearthstone Cottage. Damn I read this in one day. I really wished it would have lasted longer but alas it was just too good! I couldn't put it down, I even read as I ate my dinner. In the last twelve months I've absolutely fallen in love with what Flame Tree Press are putting out right now. Pa...

"When myth becomes nightmare...The price of blood is always blood. Natalia's in trouble. She only looked away for a second, and now her brother's hurt. Her relationship with her mother is fractured, her brother's condition is deteriorating, and her only hope lays deep in the unforgiving forest. A secret spoken only in whispers offers a way out. But when help comes in occult forms a sacrifice may be the only way to restore the balance. Humanity and nature collide in The Balance by Kev Harrison, a modern re-imagining of the Slavic folk tale of Baba Yaga, set in Cold War Poland." I've already read some of Kev Harrison's short fiction so was super excited to get a sneak peak of his upcoming novella, The Balance from Lycan Valley Press. I really loved Cinders of a Blind Man Who Could See released this year by Demain Publishing and this latest offering is just as awesome! Coming in at around 100 pages I read this one sitting. This is one of those...