…Ramblings, Mutterings, & Whispers…

Oceanrest, Sneak Peek S.R. Hughes Oceanrest, Sneak Peek S.R. Hughes

The War Beneath, Randall Tyler Hill Excerpt

“You don’t get more after this, Randall,” Deirdre said, her voice calm and icy. “I’m the only one in the goddamned state who makes this shit. You fuck with me and you’ll never see another bag of it.”

“Don’t think we’ll need much more, in earnest. Now, you planning to put down the gun, or are we gonna have to start off enough fireworks to bring every cop this side of the border down on your little homestead?”

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Oceanrest, Sneak Peek S.R. Hughes Oceanrest, Sneak Peek S.R. Hughes

The War Beneath, Dreamer Vision Excerpt

US Highway 1. A gray snake of concrete writhed past her. The Oceanrest exit let off onto an artery road, two lanes on either side of a double yellow line, a dying pulse bloodletting into the sea. Before the iron lung economy, there’d been a trailer park by the highway, and an ice cream shop, and a very large church. Their razed bodies curled in shallow graves, their bones hidden in underbrush. A monster licked the skulls empty, scavenged the flesh.

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Oceanrest, Sneak Peek S.R. Hughes Oceanrest, Sneak Peek S.R. Hughes

The War Beneath, Deirdre's Basement Excerpt

Deirdre had been born a witch. Mysticism resonated in her blood.

Although that didn’t make magic easy, it made it easier. For someone born without the natural aptitude, a ritual like this might take days. For her, it only took nine hours. Nine long, sweat-soaked, repetitive hours, during either the Full or New moon, using simple cantrips and complicated spellcraft to ensure a strong harvest of her esoteric flora.

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Oceanrest, Short Fiction S.R. Hughes Oceanrest, Short Fiction S.R. Hughes

The Oracle as We Burn

Out there in the woods, a tree unfurls its roots; they are nooses, its branches, bone. It claws at the clouds until sunlight spills out. Its decades aren’t carried in the rings of its trunk, but in the bodies hanged up unrevenged. How many children have hanged there? How many boogeymen have added to its collection of endings?

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