REBLOG: Unspoken Horror, by Mary Parker, Author of The Endless Hallway | #DarkFiction #Horror #Book @Sirens_Call

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Reblogged from: Spreading the Writer’s Word

Unspoken Horror: Postpartum Depression

by Mary Parker

As a lifelong horror fan, I’m used to seeing all kinds of horrors, be it monsters, violence, or otherworldly. Even psychological horrors run amuck (one of my personal favorites). I also find horror therapeutic. After watching a horror film or reading a horror book or story, I feel a sense of release. When I went into recovery for postpartum depression and anxiety, I looked for horror films and fiction that identified with that pain. There weren’t many to be found.

Sure, there’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” But that was written in the late 1800s. I couldn’t find anything more modern. There are lots of horror films that feature mothers in peril or evil babies, or evil/murderous mothers, but that wasn’t quite was I was looking for either. I wanted something that identified the horrors of a new mother’s own mind and showed her triumphant. It seemed that there was an unspoken horror in the genre – and culture at large.

Postpartum depression is not widely talked about, despite being one of the most common birth complications. Recent studies show that between 15-20% of mothers will experience postpartum depression. If left untreated, the condition can worsen, leading to postpartum psychosis. This is, unfortunately, where most media about postpartum depression can be found: true crime. The effects of the illness can be devastating. Research has suggested that there is approximately a 5% suicide rate and a 4% infanticide rate associated with the illness.

As a young mother, I knew plenty of women around my age who had children. I was, seemingly, the only one who had these feelings. So, I set out to write down my story. I would embellish the more horrific moments, of course, but the heart of the story is my truth. The heart of the story is my experience with postpartum depression. We need truth in our fiction. I wanted to show how the best, most rewarding experience of your life can also be the most challenging. I wanted to show the very real, dark thoughts a mother can have. I wanted readers to experience how deeply depraved a mother’s brain can get. I also wanted to show the depths she can bring herself up from. I wanted to show that a mother’s love can conquer all.

We need to speak about these things; we need to break the stigma around them so women can have better access to help and resources.

I have more friends and acquaintances that are mothers than I can count. Yet only one of them was open with her struggles with postpartum depression. When I finished writing The Endless Hallway, I asked her to read the draft. She told me that she was making her husband read it because the story exemplified all the horrible things she felt – and how she rallied against them to stay alive for her family.

That’s all I really want for The Endless Hallway. I want the novella to be a light and a safe space for mothers who live in the darkness. I want mothers who have overcome their demons to see themselves truthfully represented in horror fiction. But most of all, I want the world at large to experience the very real horrors life has to offer.

If you or someone you know is struggling with postpartum depression, help is available. Go to postpartum.net or text HELP to 800-944-4773

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The Endless Hallway, by Mary Parker

Molly has it all: a good job, a handsome husband, and a beautiful new baby. Her life is everything she once hoped it would be. But something sinister lurks within the walls of her tiny townhouse.

A strange voice echoes from the darkness as Molly rocks her infant to sleep. Lights that were left on suddenly turn off. In the middle of the night, a thin, pale arm reaches over the rails of the crib to grasp for the baby with fierce, jagged claws.

Are the visions that haunt Molly a subconscious warning or something far more vicious?

The Endless Hallway is currently available on:

Amazon: US | UK | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | The Netherlands | Japan | Canada | Australia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Mary Parker is a horror author and journalist from Southern Illinois. She has worked for examiner.com and horrornews.net. A collection of short stories, Predilection, was published in 2009. Her work can also be found in the anthologies Vampires Aren’t Pretty and Slaughter House: The Serial Killer Edition, Vol. 2. Her story, Sweet Nightmares, placed in the top 100 of Wattpad’s Horror Contest sponsored by TNT. She is a proud contributor to, supporter of, ans past ambassador of Women in Horror Month. Visit her Amazon Author Page at: Mary Parker.

REBLOG: ‘Fictionalized Reality’ by Mary Parker, #author of The Endless Hallway | #horror #DarkFiction #Book #GuestEssay @Sirens_Call

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Reblogged from Glor’s World:

Fictionalized Reality

by Mary Parker

The Endless Hallway is a novella about a young mother’s struggles with postpartum depression and anxiety (PPDA). It is my story.

Well, a fictionalized version of my reality.

While in therapy to recover from PPDA, I spoke with my therapist about the story I was writing. I tend to start everything as a short story – that keeps the pressure off. I was dealing with so much internal pressure already; I didn’t want to add lofty ambitions like novella or novel. We brainstormed and troubleshot the ideas I had. I was stuck on the ending – or, rather, I didn’t know where the story should go. At the time, I wanted Molly to conquer the monster because I desperately needed to conquer my own mental illnesses.

“What would be the benefits of having this monster captive?” my therapist asked me.

I had no answer. I was wrapped up in putting my life on the page, to purge the darkness from my psyche. I desperately wanted life to imitate the art I was creating. But that’s not how life works. I got stuck. Writer’s block for months. My PPDA relapsed.

As I started back up the mountain of recovery, the ending of The Endless Hallway revealed itself to me. I decided to document the two weeks of my life over holiday break in my notes app. I would make little observations of what happened each day and weave the monster into those days.

It was not difficult to toe the line between reality and fiction. In a lot of ways, I am Molly, but not totally. For example, I never felt the urge to harm my daughter. My husband is not Cory (he is much more active in my life than the character is in the story – this is because Molly feels completely isolated). I tried to keep the most intimate details of our life private, but the darkness of PPDA stains the pages of my life and the novella.

In all, I was in recovery for nine months, from the time my daughter was six months old. I wrote the novella during that time, over my lunch breaks at work. I poured my heart into this book. Every dark thought, every depraved dream, I bled onto the page. I also let my love and devotion for my husband and daughter flood the pages. They are, without a doubt, the best things that ever happened to me. They are my everything.

I think that writers put a piece of themselves into everything they write. I think you must to be able to create – there is a truthful base for everything. But for this novella, there was no other way than to put my life, my thoughts, my sickness, into words. Thankfully, my husband approved everything I wrote. It helped him understand what I was going through, like I hope this novella will help the public better understand PPDA. We can create our own destinies, like I created the perfect world to house my monsters.

The Endless Hallway
Mary Parker

Molly has it all: a good job, a handsome husband, and a beautiful new baby. Her life is everything she once hoped it would be. But something sinister lurks within the walls of her tiny townhouse.

A strange voice echoes from the darkness as Molly rocks her infant to sleep. Lights that were left on suddenly turn off. In the middle of the night, a thin, pale arm reaches over the rails of the crib to grasp for the baby with fierce, jagged claws.

Are the visions that haunt Molly a subconscious warning or something far more vicious?

The Endless Hallway is currently available on:

Amazon: US | UK | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | The Netherlands | Japan | Canada | Australia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Mary Parker is a horror author and journalist from Southern Illinois. She has worked for examiner.com and horrornews.net. A collection of short stories, Predilection, was published in 2009. Her work can also be found in the anthologies Vampires Aren’t Pretty and Slaughter House: The Serial Killer Edition, Vol. 2. Her story, Sweet Nightmares, placed in the top 100 of Wattpad’s Horror Contest sponsored by TNT. She is a proud contributor to, supporter of, ans past ambassador of Women in Horror Month. Visit her Amazon Author Page at: Mary Parker.

REBLOG: A Monstrous Evolution, by Mary Parker – author of The Endless Hallway | #Horror #DarkFiction #Book #Creepy @Sirens_Call

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Reblogged from Lee Andrew Forman:

A Monstrous Evolution

by Mary Parker

The Endless Hallway features a creature that has haunted me since I was a teenager. This vile thing, with disgusting claws, rows of teeth, and black, void-like eyes, has featured in my writings for two decades. As the years go by, its appearance gets worse and worse: a monstrous evolution that personifies my mental illnesses.

My senior year of high school, I went with my parents to spend the weekend at my grandparents’ house.  They lived in a small town about 75 minutes away from us.  On the drive down, I listened to music, daydreaming as I watched miles of hills and highway pass by. Suddenly it appeared to me: an emaciated human-like creature, completely bald with shiny, slimy skin, no nose, two gaping voids for eyes, mangled claws, and vicious teeth.  I imagined the creature standing in front of me, opening its mouth to inhuman levels, and swallowing my head. I didn’t know if this was my depression consuming me or setting me free.

This image stuck with me, and I immediately wrote about it in the composition notebook I always carried with me.  Over the next several months I wrote a story featuring this creature, but more in link with a vampire – think of a play on Nosferatu.  In this iteration, the monster’s main features were rows of fangs and knotted, gnarly hands with claws, along with the bald head and void-like eyes.  Later, I wrote a short story featuring the creature that was a meditation on how depression shapes a person’s growth from adolescence to adulthood.  In both stories, the ending was more finite: in the first, the monster is burned to death; in the latter, it swallows the protagonist.

A decade on, I got married and had my daughter. Postpartum depression and anxiety hit me hard.  Again, I imagined the creature looming over me, ready to strike.  This time it was more disgusting and vicious: now its teeth dripped black ooze and its mangled, jagged claws were ready to take everything from me. As I rocked my daughter to sleep, I vowed I would not let it.

Instead, I wrote it all down.  I owned the monster and made it do my bidding. On the page, it couldn’t hurt me.  The depression could threaten us, it could lurk around every corner of the life I always wanted, but it would never touch us. 

Yet, as I finished The Endless Hallway, I found the ending was more ambiguous.  Age had taught me that the depression never really goes away.  Instead, we would live with it, like a haunting; deal with it whenever it decided to show its monstrous face.  There’s a comfort in that, a comfort in knowing that while we can’t always defeat our demons, we can always overcome them.

Even if we still check the baby monitor for claws creeping through the bars of the crib, and double-check the corners of the baby’s room for dark figures.

Picture of the Creature drawn by the author in 2005.  From the author’s writing scrapbook.

The Endless Hallway

by Mary Parker

Molly has it all – a good job, a handsome husband, a beautiful new baby, and a supportive family. Her life is everything she once prayed it would be. But something sinister is lurking within the walls of her tiny townhouse. A strange voice comes from the darkness as Molly rocks her infant to sleep. Lights that were left on are suddenly turned off. Molly has nightmares in which her husband’s throat is slit. In the middle of the night, a thin, pale arm reaches over the rails of the crib and lunges for the baby with fierce, jagged claws. The voice in the darkness soon seems to be coming from inside Molly’s head.

Are the visions Molly has been haunted by a subconscious warning or something more vicious?

Paperback and Kindle available on Amazon:

US | UK | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | The Netherlands | Japan | Canada | Australia

About the Author:

Mary Parker is a horror author and journalist from Southern Illinois. She has worked for examiner.com and horrornews.net. A collection of short stories, Predilection, was published in 2009. Her work can also be found in the anthologies “Vampires Aren’t Pretty” and “Slaughter House: The Serial Killer Edition, Vol. 2.” Her story “Sweet Nightmares” placed in the Top 100 of Wattpad’s Horror Contest sponsored by TNT. She is a proud contributor to, supporter of, and past ambassador of Women in Horror Month.

Visit Mary’s Amazon Author Page at: Mary Parker

RELEASE: The Endless Hallway, by Mary Parker | #Horror #DarkFiction #Book #BookRelease

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Sirens Call Publications is pleased to announce its latest release…

The Endless Hallway

by Mary Parker

Molly has it all: a good job, a handsome husband, and a beautiful new baby. Her life is everything she once hoped it would be. But something sinister lurks within the walls of her tiny townhouse. 

A strange voice echoes from the darkness as Molly rocks her infant to sleep. Lights that were left on suddenly turn off. In the middle of the night, a thin, pale arm reaches over the rails of the crib to grasp for the baby with fierce, jagged claws. 

Are the visions that haunt Molly a subconscious warning or something far more vicious?

The Endless Hallway is currently available on:

Amazon: US | UK | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | The Netherlands | Japan | Canada | Australia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Mary Parker is a horror author and journalist from Southern Illinois. She has worked for examiner.com and horrornews.net. A collection of short stories, Predilection, was published in 2009. Her work can also be found in the anthologies Vampires Aren’t Pretty and Slaughter House: The Serial Killer Edition, Vol. 2. Her story, Sweet Nightmares, placed in the top 100 of Wattpad’s Horror Contest sponsored by TNT. She is a proud contributor to, supporter of, ans past ambassador of Women in Horror Month. Visit her Amazon Author Page at: Mary Parker.

Guest post by E.F. Shraeder, #author of As Fast as She Can – I Was a Teenage Monster @Sirens_Call @Darc_Nina

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I Was a Teenage Monster

E.F. Schraeder

When I was a sixteen year old monster, I wanted to get away from home, and I wanted to do it as fast as I could.

Okay, so I wasn’t actually a monster. I was a full fledged weirdo. But a lot of the time I felt like a monster. Though I’m definitely nothing like Ginger…

Except for not getting along with my parents very well when I was her age and having a lot of angsty feelings about that. And having crushes on girls. And wanting to escape into the woods to sift through all the things that confused me.

But definitely, not a monster.

Even if Ginger’s story is a tiny bit informed by some of my own experiences of feeling like an outsider, I’m nothing like Ginger. Obviously.  I never ate my neighbors or anyone else— I don’t any animals at all, in fact, human or otherwise.  So I guess if Ginger shares a few oddball traits with me, it’s not the monstrous ones. But I sure do love a good yarn about the monstrosities of youth— all those wild indulgent appetites and unchecked, raging powers ready to be loosed on the world. If you’re up for a bloody romp through the woods with an untamed, irrepressible, girl monster, lace up your running shoes. Ginger is out there in the woods waiting for a good chase, and she’s ready to roar.

As Fast as She Can, by E.F. Schraeder

Living in a quiet house on the outskirts of town, Ginger isn’t like the other girls.

When she wakes up and discovers the unthinkable about her adoptive parents, she runs away and goes on a rampage straight to the only friend she has. Can she control what they both become?

With a violent, growing hunger and more questions than answers, Ginger has nowhere to turn.

As Fast as She Can is currently available on:

Amazon: US | UK | Canada | Australia | Germany | France | Spain | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Brazil | India | The Netherlands

ABOUT THE AUTHOR — The author of Liar: Memoir of a Haunting (Omnium Gatherum, 2021) and other works, E.F. Schraeder usually writes about not quite real worlds.  Schraeder is also an avid gardener and hot pepper enthusiast who believes in ghosts, magic, and dogs. Say hello online at efschraeder.com.

RELEASE: The Sirens Call eZine Winter 2021 Edition – Issue 56 | FREE Online #Horror & #DarkFic #eZine #magazine @Sirens_Call

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http://www.sirenscallpub.com

The Sirens Call Zine -Winter 2021

The 56th issue of The Sirens Call weighs in at 190 pages containing 139 pieces of dark fiction and horror in the form of short stories, flash fiction, and dark poetry! This issue also features artist Dave Dick who has shared 12 pieces of his artwork with us, including Sky Monster, which is featured on the cover. This issue also spotlights our first glimpse from cartoonist D.S. Ullery, his article A Cartoon Saved My Life, and 12 of his satirical and humorous Goulash panels. Our featured author, Mike Salt, has a bit of advice for budding or struggling authors, and has graciously offered an excerpt from his novella, The House on Harlan.

Download your FREE copy at SirensCallPub.com

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED: The Sirens Call – issue 56 Winter 2021| #Horror #eZine #fiction #stories #poetry @Sirens_Call

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Submissions are closed for the Winter 2021 eZine.

Please check back in January when we open the call for he Spring 2022 issue of The Sirens Call.

Please visit our web site for further details and guidelines: www.SirensCallPub.com

RELEASE: The Sirens Call eZine Halloween 2021 Edition – Issue 55 | FREE Online #Horror & #DarkFic #eZine #magazine @Sirens_Call

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dark fiction, Dark Poetry, eZine, Flash Fiction, Free, Horror, Poetry, short stories, The Sirens Call

The Sirens Call Zine – Halloween 2021

The 55th issue of The Sirens Call is 184 pages containing 143 pieces of dark fiction and horror in the form of short stories, flash fiction, and dark poetry! This issue also features artist Victor Hugo Palacios Mendez who has shared 12 pieces of artwork with us; a glimpse at Cult of the Box and why you want to join; featured filmmaker Mike Lera with three short films – Frames, The Shell, and The Imaginist; and featured author Angela Yuriko Smith who offers us a glimpse into her Stoker nominated book, Bitter Suites.

Download your FREE copy at SirensCallPub.com

OPEN SUBMISSIONS: The Sirens Call – issue 56 Winter 2021| #Horror #eZine #OpenCall #Reprints Welcome #fiction #stories #poetry @Sirens_Call

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Winter 2021

It’s time once again to pay homage to the death of yet another year with our Winter 2021 eZine.

For the fifty-sixth issue of The Sirens Call eZine, we’re looking for horrifying and well-constructed tales centered around death. Average serial killer pieces will not be entertained. If you choose to go the ‘killer’ route, please be sure to make your antagonist something extra… be that super-human, not human, off their freakin’ rocker in a severe capacity, or whatever uncharted territory you come up with, be extremely creative!

Any and all supernatural, or freakishly heinous deaths are encouraged.

We’ll be accepting short stories, flash fiction, drabbles, and poetry that fit within the horror/dark fiction genre. We welcome reprints as long as you hold the copyright to the piece.

Your piece can be scary, sullen, emotive, freaky, elegant, bizarre, have a dark satirical edge to it, or scare the crap out of us as long as they center around death!

The basic rules:

• Write the piece well.
• It must be primarily horror/dark fiction oriented and contain a death.
• No pieces containing coronavirus/covid-19 references will be accepted.
• Don’t break our set-in-stone taboos – NO pedophilia, NO bestiality, and NO descriptive rape scenarios.

Be creative, be morbid, be vicious, be clever, and, most of all, write about death! If your piece fits our criteria, we’ll offer it up to our readership of approximately 35,000

REPRINTS ARE WELCOME!

Submission Deadline: November 1, 2021

Circulation: Approximately 35,000

Short story word count: 1,000 – 2,500 (limit of one submission per author)
Flash fiction word count: 500 – 999 (limit of one submission per author)
Short flash fiction word count: 101 – 499 (limit of three submissions per author)
Micro fiction word count: 50 – 99 (limit of three submissions per author)
Drabbles: 100 word prose (limit of five submissions per author)
Poem length: 10 – 50 lines (limit of five subs per author)

Reprints are welcome as long as you currently hold the copyright.

All story, flash, and poem submissions MUST be submitted to:
Submissions@SirensCallPublications.com for consideration.

Full page ads are available at $10 per ad.
Please contact Nina@SirensCallPublications.com for advertising information.

Please visit our web site for further details and guidelines: www.SirensCallPub.com

The Long Walk

Do you know what your shoes do at night? It sounds like the intro to a children’s tale, but it is anything but. ‘The Long Walk’ is a piece of flash fiction crafted by the amazingly talented Miriam H. Harrison and currently available on PenoftheDamned.com – Enjoy the read!

Pen of the Damned

Her shoes walked about at night. She could hear them pace through the house all night, yet by morning they always returned to their place by the door, waiting for her.

One morning she came down to find the shoes dirty. More than dirty—ruined. The once-white sneakers were caked with mud, scratched as if from underbrush. She went through the house and found the back door standing open.

That night she brought the shoes to her bedroom and set them down beside her bed. Closing the bedroom door, she settled in to sleep.

It wasn’t long before her shoes began to shuffle about, then pace the room. She rose and opened the door. The shoes hurried out; she followed close behind. Down the hall, the stairs, to the front door. The shoes shuffled about eagerly as she turned the latch, opened the door. They hurried out, but she hesitated at…

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