PASSING THE TORCH
by L.L.
Sanders
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Mesa Kingston's first
memory of burying a corpse was at eight years old. Back then it had been the
carcass of a large lizard her dad found that they buried in the backyard of
their isolated cottage. At age fourteen, the body of a young lady accompanied
the reptile's remains, and ever since, an accumulation of female bodies began
to grow. Now, the only way Mesa can stop the haunting screams of the dead is by
drowning them out with flames. Or is there more to the blaze than even she can
perceive?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Good girls do anything for their fathers, including rob,
cheat, and kill, and I always considered myself a good girl. The time I first
came to that conclusion will stay with me forever. Years later, here I am,
still fulfilling my daughterly duty.
After wiping the sweat from my palm onto my jeans, I press
the bulbous tip of the match against the strike strip on the side of the small
carton. My hands shake worse than Grandma's had when trying to slice her
ninety-first birthday cake just a few hours ago, but I manage to run the match
across it anyway. The flame comes alive at my fingertips, dancing merrily at
the prospect of latching on to something and disintegrating it into smoldering
embers. Although the light breeze causes the flame to flicker at the end of the
matchstick, I'm aware of the control I have over it. I watch the glow change
shape through a veil of tears and with that the decision was absolute.
The flame will get to perform its destructive duty.
I flick the match toward the pile of wooden planks that used
to be the porch. Instantly the fire catches the fumes of the pooled liquid and
expands so quickly a wall of gasoline-scented hot air rushes me before the
blaze travels deeper into the house. I back away to a safe distance as the
straw-like grass crunches beneath my feet. Nearing the homemade fence, which is
nothing more than a double row of chicken wire, I hear the screams from the
distance, cries of agony that meld with my memory like two spreading pools of
melted wax. I can't stop the waterworks. I don't even make an attempt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
The L.L.
stands for Leslie Lee. I write erotic romance and post-apocalyptic/dystopian
fiction under Leslie Lee Sanders.
But horror
and thriller fiction is what I grew up on, what inspires me, and what began my
pursuit to authorship. I’ve written many short scary stories since the 6th
grade. Now they’re much more mature in general, thanks to the wide range of
emotion and experience I’ve encountered over the years.
I’m a huge
fan of horror and psychological thrillers in every fashion, including movies,
books, art, campfire tales, etc. Some of my favorite stories are those that
twist at the end or are ambiguous with deep societal or morality themes. This
includes dystopias like Hugh Howey’s Wool, psychological thrillers like Shutter
Island, and popular and classic horror/romances like V.C. Andrews’s Flowers in
the Attic, my favorite.
All my ideas
start with a twist, which is exactly how most of my stories end.
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/lls4sanders
TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/LeslieLSanders
WEBSITE:
http://llsanders.com/
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Thanks for hosting me today! I'll be checking in all day to answer any questions and respond to comments. Thanks for your interest in Passing the Torch!
ReplyDeleteReaders, let's discuss ... Do you enjoy surprises and twist endings in your thriller reads?
Thank you for hosting today.
ReplyDeleteAwesome excerpt!
ReplyDelete