Achievements (7)
Stories (38)
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The Lion and the Pilot. First Place in 2023 Vocal Writing Awards - Horror Fiction. First Place in Sky's the Limit Challenge.
A chopper drifted over the steep ramparts of the Mogollon Rim; a black monolith dividing the summer night. The moon offered what little glow it had, but still wasn’t bright enough for a full Search and Rescue operation. Dawn would bring on the horses and dog teams more fit for the terrain.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Horror
The Cosmic Rehearsal
Things that are abstract to human perception naturally belong to God - who or whatever that is to you. Time, mathematics, consciousness, the psychedelic experience: all property of the Cosmos, the spirit, and really can only be thought about or spoken on, never pointed out in our environment for someone to behold, like a temple, a canyon, or a jagged scar.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Humans
The Widow's Call. Top Story - January 2024.
The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own. Percy obscured the foreground, followed by Donaghue, and finally myself in the rear. We rocked in the belly of a merchant vessel bound for the Royal coast; the mirror was the first piece of cargo stumbled upon in our pursuit of transport treasure.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Horror
Distant Thunder // Trembling Future. Top Story - March 2023.
I’ve never approached another human being with the intent to fall in love. It’s never been part of my plan or approach to personal situations. Falling in love is much like a streak of lightning: an unpredictable flash that demands every sliver of my attention. It overwhelms my eyes and annexes my vision. If I’m close enough, I feel the electricity tracing through my veins, making static in my muscles. I search for the column of light across a swirling black canvas, but the bolt fades to night before I can behold any part of it. After the initial spark, a great ruckus follows, like boulders falling just above my head. Like the thunder and lightning, love steals my breath before I can recognize it.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Humans
Symposia. Top Story - March 2023.
Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky - this was a relatively new phenomena. Like all terrestrial bonds, though, the horizon was rekindled and made new. Parts of the whole were highlighted and polished to last forever; that went for all relationships, aware or otherwise.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Fiction
Skin Walk with Me. Top Story - February 2023.
If walls could talk, they’d teach you a thousand words for shame. I have no memory of what came before me – this is perhaps our only overlap. Some entities are visitors and others hosts; the most fortunate are the ones who live as both. I am sought by eternal guests in every age and era.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Horror
The Value of Web Presence. Top Story - February 2023.
The Breakdown I’ve been writing on Vocal for eight months, and the experience has coaxed some of my best short fiction out. They reeled me in with their unique short story challenges. I spent a couple of months submitting and losing in contests like the Runaway Train and The Aquarium – but I caught early spirits with a Runner-Up placing in the New Worlds challenge.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Motivation
In the House of the Wasp. Runner-Up in Behind the Last Window Challenge.
The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. There wasn’t a room, of course. At least she didn’t think so. Her vision was just temporarily framed like that – she imagined it was akin to horse blinders.
By Zack Graham3 years ago in Fiction
