Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 6

WELCOME TO THE MASQUERADE2020 was a reality horror show. And like most obnoxious entertainment reality shows, this one had its own idiosyncratic rules and penalties. Call it The Big Lockdown. We were forced to go to ground, to hide in our holes. Some went underground and never came back. Uncertainty ruled because the rules kept changing. Were we following the science or the mad scientists? Was the light at the end of the tunnel the fiery mouth of hell? We couldn’t say for sure, so we ventured out for food, booze and sundries like scavengers in a slow-motion apocalypse, keeping our distance from fellow human beings because you never knew who might be carrying that heavy viral load.And everywhere we went, we went behind the mask. So, it became obvious: The theme of our offering of extreme horror tales from 2020 had to be Masquerade.Our masquerading storytellers nevertheless did what they do best. They went deep into the belly of the beast and sent up fictions reflective of these “trying” times. Their stories peel away the masks (or in some cases, the skin) to reveal the inner workings of darkest hearts and minds and deeper fears.TABLE OF CONTENTSThe Nipples In Dad’s Tool Box - Ronald KellyGoing Green - Christine MorganWhiskey To The Wound - Rachel Nussbaum/thestrangethingwebecome - Eric LaRoccaHey Valentine - Amanda Cecelia LangIn Subspace, No One Can Hear You Scream - Hailey PiperThe Pogonip Fog - Sean Patrick HazlettGunfire And Brimstone - Alicia HiltonThe Happiest Man In The World - Matthew BrockmeyerSynaesthete - Melanie Harding-ShawFull Moon Shindig - Patrick C. Harrison IiiThe Drinking-Horn - Christine MorganOtto Hahn Speaks To The Dead - Octavia CadeAll The Stars In Her Eyes - Deborah SheldonThe Village - Matias F. Travieso-DiazThe Smell Of Night In The Basement - Wendy N. WagnerThe Saint - Alessandro ManzettiHer Wounded Eyes - Robert Guffey