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Todays tale, The Resonance of Her Own Extinction, is a weird tale of a woman who receives a middle-of-the night phone call from a most unexpected caller - herself.

Then Tim works on his recruiting; he's getting ready to roll out an Army of the Dead. Check it out, you might just find yourself inspired to enlist.

Guest author Ghazifa Bashir is a writer and a student at Kinnaird College, Lahore. She is a second-place winner of the FIU Adam Smith International Essay Competition (2026) and recipient of an Honourable Mention at the Cambridge Re:Think Essay Competition. Her writing has appeared in Monograph Magazine, St. Stephen's College's PostScript (twice), Swim Press (twice), Florescence Magazine, Jarida Today, and The Disappointed Housewife. She has been published in the Yemipoet anthology, the BSP anthology Confessions of the Obsessed, and received a Commendation from the Author of Tomorrow Award. She was also a second place winner of the GGAC Essay Competition in Nigeria. Her work explores memory, erasure, and resistance across fiction, poetry, and essays.

Image by Pheladi Shai from Pixabay

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Todays tale, Golden Hour, comes to us courtesy of guest author Jordan Marie McCaw. She's an artist and writer living in Southern Oregon whose fiction has appeared in Stonecoast Review, Chilling Tales for Dark Nights, Creepy, and more. When she isn’t drawing skulls and cryptids or working on her current writing project, she’s taking care of her two daughters. You can learn more about her at @jm_mccaw on Instagram.

Once we've hiked up the mountain and captured that perfect shade of crimson, Tim's looking to open the holes in your head even wider with a sharp little number entitled The Cotillion of the Dead.

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Is your view of a meat market that of a butcher shop, with rows of bloody cuts intermingled with freshly-stuffed sausages? Or is it that of a crowded bar, where single people attempt to pair off ritually without finding themselves stuffed in tomorrow's trash? Or is it both?

Meat Market was published in print form by Schlock Webzine in July, and comes to us from guest author Amy Armstrong, who writes humorous and twisted horror stories for people who love a good squish and crunch, but want to think a little bit. Amy screens manuscripts for The Masters Review. She loves nerding out on all things horror and literary fiction. Her special turn on is a combination of the two. When she isn’t finishing an assignment for her UCLAx Editing and Publishing certificate, reading slush, or watching B-horror movies, Amy snuggles her dogs and naps. She also is a frequent panelist at MileHiCon and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference.

After we've made our visit to the meat market, Tim's sure to further tantalize your musical taste buds with a dessert entree entitled The Morgue Door Opens.

Image by Maciej Cieslak from Pixabay

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Guest author Charles Collister brings us "Trash Juice," a hard, horrific look at a minimum wage job and how it sucks the living soul out of anyone trapped within it...faster and more efficiently than anything Lovecraft ever dared dream of.

Charles Collister resides in Boston, Mass, where he's representing the Dorchester neighborhood in specific. He strives to write for other people too broke to do anything but stay inside and read. Check out his Substack (https://substack.com/@charlescollister)

After that delightful, mouthwatering excursion, Tim's continuing our dinner date with a lighthearted piece entitled So Pretty, So Dead.

Image by ImaArtist from Pixabay

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It's all about the plants! Whether stately trees or massive fields of corn, we humans might just take the inhabitants of kingdom Plantae - our floral cousins - a bit too much for granted.

Guest author Nicholas Kellogg weaves chilling tales from his home in Connecticut, where he lives with his partner and balances fatherhood, with two toddlers under five and a full-time job. Early morning prior to work, he creates nightmares while many are still having them. Drawing inspiration from the eerie realities of everyday life while exploring the darkness beneath the ordinary.

After that spectacle, Tim's tickling of the ivories and stroking of the strings is coming at a much steeper price with a new piece entitled 'Every Note a Knife.' Do visit Tim for more excellent musical interludes on Spotify and YouTube under T. Virgil Parker.

Image by Kathrynne from Pixabay

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It's time to celebrate these hot, sweaty days and muggy, buggy nights by leaving behind our delightful, air conditioned dungeons in order to sleep with only a thin layer of polyester fabric between us and the most violent, bloodthirsty creatures the deep woods might throw at us.

Ashley Mangtani is a UK writer whose work explores ecological and social collapse, and the roles people inhabit in moments of crisis. Drawing on an M.Sc. in Environmental Science and a background as a civil servant in digital media policy, he crafts stories shaped by inevitability and loss. Blending literary realism with slipstream, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Litro, Washington Square Review, Boudin, Expat Press, Thieving Magpie, Flash Fiction Online, HAWKEYE, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Literary Garage, Neither Fish Nor Foul, Empyrean Magazine, and others. Read more at ashleymangtanifiction.carrd.co

Later, Tim tears away the facade and shows us all what's 'Behind the Curtain.' Do visit Tim for more excellent musical interludes on Spotify and YouTube under T. Virgil Parker.

Image by Henning Sørby from Pixabay

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Edgar Allen Poe's Hop-frog is a delightful tale of a vile, power-mad ruler, given to bouts of debauchery and cruelty, plus his cabinet of sycophants who would never dream of crossing their monarch. Written in 1849, so of course it bears no resemblance to anything modern. Just sit back and enjoy the heart-warming ending!

After that spectacle, Tim's nibbling at the remains of the smoldering barbecue and considering his choices in life and how they've been reflected in his music, as he walks us back indoors to the House of Primal Fear. Do visit Tim for more excellent musical interludes on Spotify and YouTube under T. Virgil Parker.

Image by Thanks for your Likes from Pixabay

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