"Filth" (in the anthology NIGHT SHADOWS: QUEER HORROR). by 'Nathan Burgoine

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I mentioned earlier my love of the notion of ghosts, and I also mentioned how wonderful it is to be in anthologies because I get to meet so many new authors. Sometimes, I get to meet them face-to-face, and this is the case with the next author in my trip through Night Shadows, who wrote a creepily unsettling ghost story.

Jeffrey Ricker and I are anthology brothers a few times over. He's a wonderful fellow, and - if I can slip into the vaguely maudlin for a moment - one of the people (many of whom inhabit Houston or New Orleans most of the time) that I wish lived close enough to see whenever I had a hankering for good company, wine, a phenomenal Wonderwoman impression and some of those 'you want a dog!' telepathic rays.

"Blackout" by Jeffrey Ricker

In "Blackout" we meet a loving couple who have moved into a new home, but the spectre of the former occupant - a man none to kind to begin with - might be reached from beyond. And it's not a welcoming hand that's being offered.

The chill of this tale is bone-deep, and as the story progresses, I was cringing with the impending sense of doom that Jeffrey Ricker slowly unwinds for the reader. The cold, the dark, the noises and movements of the house, and an impending storm all coalesce into a shiver-worthy (and satisfying) ending.