“The Sea Like Glass” Arrives in Cosmic Horror Monthly
Cosmic Horror Monthly has just published my latest short story, “The Sea Like Glass” in its Halloween issue. It’s a story told only in dialogue between two mutinous sailors trapped on a ship in a dead-calm sea. They crowd the rail and watch as a mysterious object floats toward them on the still water. Dread mounts as they realize that the seagulls are pecking at something inside it, but with the crew growing bloodthirsty, will its approach spell salvation or doom?
Here’s an excerpt:
“It could be a boat. Out there with the birds? Now that it’s closer, I can just about see it. A skiff or a jollyboat of some sort. And the birds all crowding on top of it, divin’ down and coming back up to circle again. I wonder if there’s somethin’ inside.”
“I told ye, it’s a bit of whale as sure as I’m standin’ here, and so far gone to rot that it ain’t no good to no man anyhow. Keep your mind here, on this ship, on those men below deck, and don’t be takin’ no flights o’ fancy! There’s trouble brewin’, sure as the wind don’t blow. Idle talk is one thing, but give a man a day without water, and all that talk’ll turn to whisperin’. And pretty quick, whisperin’ turns to plannin’.”
“They say it’s our fault. That ain’t the worst of it by a long mile, but they’re sayin’ there wouldn’t be this fog if it weren’t for us. They’re sayin’ the wind would start blowin’ again if only...if only...”
“Aye, and they might be right. I always had it in mind that you were bad luck. I told the Captain, ‘That Fowler’s a Jonah, as sure as I’m standin’ here,’ I told him. ‘The stores’ll go to spoil or we’ll run aground if you take him on,’ I said. But damned if the Captain didn’t take you on anyway.”
“And now the Captain’s dead.”
“Aye. The Captain’s dead. And all the better for it.”
“The Sea Like Glass” appears in the October issue (#16) alongside stories by Jon Padgett, Alexander Stanmeyer, Dana Carroll and others. It’s available in both print and ebook from the Cosmic Horror Monthly website.