Summer Scare 5!

Just when you thought it couldn’t get scarier!

Jul 16, 2025

See Summer Scare Begins | Summer Scare 2 | Summer Scare 3 | Summer Scare 4

Once again it’s Summer Scare time (it started 20 June 2025, Summer Solstice, and will last to the Autumn Equinox when the official Halloween Season begins).

Writers: Gather up your tales guaranteed to give readers a shiver. Can include, but doesn’t need to, any or all of the following: ghosts, goblins, things that go bump in the night, maybe a zombie or two, a werewolf, even a wendigo. Readers await your efforts as they sweat in the heat and crave that chill that only your scary tales can convey.

And, for you readers, rest assured that the writing is ALL done by humans, but not necessarily alive or in one piece!

NOTE: For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, we guarantee these tales will give you a hot time!

Oh, and at the very bottom of this post are links to where to buy my 5 books (so far), including the latest: From the Files of Fontaine Investigations.

First, a few folks to note:

Haunts You Later (a lifelong horror obsessive) continues to bring you horror movie reviews.

Winston Malone is making progress on the new bookstore in New Mexico.

On to the fiction.

Brrr! Quite a Bunch:

The Black Knight posts an interesting haiku:

Shadows and Space

Feeding the Ork

We feel no pity…

10 months ago · 8 likes · 2 comments · The Black Knight

An American Writer and Essayist reviews a cute children’s book:

An American Writer and Essayist

Mary and the Witch's Flower

Man, I’m on a role and I’ve been spoiling you all, but hey let’s jump in. You’ve seen the title, so let’s go…

10 months ago · 5 likes · An American Writer & Essayist

Kummer Wolfe has another worthy tale:

Worlds of Kummer Wolfe

Death Whispers 30: A Quiet Place Between Heaven and Hell

Author’s Note: Death Whispers of the Etherwave is a serialized fiction story that is a part of Legends of the Privateers. Each chapter will appear weekly…

10 months ago · 7 likes · 8 comments · Kummer Wolfe

Colin Devonshire brings us a dark story set in England:

Colin’s Dark-Stories

Happy Pumpkins?

A dark short story, set in England…

10 months ago · 7 likes · 1 comment · Colin Devonshire

Jessica Maison is finding things too hot to handle:

Monster of the Week

On Vacation or Too Hot to Open an Email

I feel you if you are roasting this week! I also am happy for you if you are on vacation…

10 months ago · 15 likes · 8 comments · Jessica Maison

David Perlmutter, as always, brings an amusing and somewhat scary tale:

Made From What's Not Real

The Java From Hell

1. I should’ve seen it coming when I first saw it. When I saw my guy pal Bob Bloch- flying. Made From What's Not Real is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber…

10 months ago · 45 likes · 6 comments · David Perlmutter

Andy Futuro brings us a bullying horror story:

Andy Futuro

Dwayne

Dwayne had a mullet and a rat tail and a dumb accent and a chipped front tooth and a scrunched-up face full of freckles. He said the leather bag he brought to school was his dad's and that his dad had been a marine who'd been killed in the war and that it was better than a backpack. But it wasn't a backpack, and he didn't even have a trapper keeper, and all his books were used…

10 months ago · 41 likes · 42 comments · Andy Futuro

Ethan Sabatella brings us the admittedly fantasy genre but otherwise creepy tale:

Senchas Claideb

The Stone that Shrieks

Eachann and Connor have sworn to assist the Selkies in ridding themselves of an old, bloodthirsty monster they once viewed as a god. They venture to the idol it is said to occupy, a standing stone by the brooding, nighted sea…

10 months ago · 10 likes

Lyndsey Resnick shows how a simple errand becomes…uh, well, read this:

Poison Ivy House

Dead Man's Pond

Tim is helping Grandma Hattie wash the dishes. The water is cooling and greasy and he’s so close to her that he can smell her hairspray. Which is a chemical nightmare mixed with her talcum powder and the smell of stale cigarette smoke that clings to her clothes. Her house…

10 months ago · 13 likes · 10 comments · Lyndsey Resnick

Jennifer Morrow gets a bit eely:

Autumn Lives Here

Reading Horror with Eels

Here’s a slew of books you’ll want, and news that’s actually useful because it’s about stuff that creeps like. You are a creep, aren’t you? I thought so. You look like one. Anyway, here we go…

10 months ago · 7 likes · 7 comments · Jennifer Morrow

S.L. Stallings brings us ghostly tales from her and others:

Ghost Stories

Volume 1: Ed. 4 A Haunting We Will Go

July 10, 2025…

10 months ago · 3 likes · 1 comment

FranB brings a moonlit experience:

Tales at Twilight

One Moonlit Night

This little story is about a situation my female readers will know only too well. The fear of walking home alone at night. A fear none of us should experience, but sadly still do…

10 months ago · 12 likes · 6 comments · FranB

L.L. Ford shows the challenges of a flood in the laboratory:

The Trials of Astra (and other short stories)

The Flood

Working weekends wasn’t so bad. As far as Sandy was concerned, it gave her a break from staring at the wall. She didn’t make enough money to do anything fun on the weekends, so her time at home was mostly spent doing what she needed to survive in her studio apartment. If she had to work weekends, at least she had something to do. She thought most people…

10 months ago · 5 likes · 2 comments · L.L. Ford

C.P. Night makes darkness more eerie:

C.P. Night’s Myriadu

Only the Dark

10 months ago · C.P. Night

Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ , despite her current situation, still manages to thrill us with tales from Michigan:

Twisting the Myths

Bigfoot is a Yooper

Since we all know who Bigfoot is, I had a bit of an issue figuring out what to talk about in this post. Does anyone really need a lesson on who or what Bigfoot is? Maybe a young’un. Someone in their early teens who is just learning about cryptids. But for most of us, Bigfoot is a superstar of the cryptid world. He is well known. I wouldn’t be telling yo…

10 months ago · 22 likes · 18 comments · Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️

Saint-Lazare brings us a flash fiction view from the battlefield:

Saint-Lazare, Writer

As Black as Blood

Gustave Dore, The Archangel Michael and his angels fighting the dragon…

10 months ago · 28 likes · 18 comments · Saint-Lazare

Grace Anderson-Author continues her paranormal serial:

Grace’s Spook Show

The Ghost and the Purple House-Part 4

Read part one here…

10 months ago · 7 likes · 1 comment · Grace Anderson-Author

and brings us this folk horror story:

Grace’s Spook Show

The Bride of the Sunflower

We had not seen the sun since the middle of June…

10 months ago · 8 likes · Grace Anderson-Author

and a bit of horror flash fiction:

Grace’s Spook Show

The Awakening

I shouldn't have awakened something like this…

10 months ago · 13 likes · Grace Anderson-Author

These should keep your thirst for the scary sated until the next update. (If I’ve missed anything from the past week, please let me know and I’ll get it next time.)

More Writers Who Produce Scary (and Sometimes Cute) Stuff (in alphabetical order):

Some writers on here who, as far as I’ve seen, write stories in that scary arena. If I’ve missed adding you here or have tagged you in error, please let me know.

NOTE: Every writer named here has assured me they don’t use AI in any aspect of their writing. I don’t knowingly promote AI-generated junk. Thanks for reading.

A. B. Frank – Victorian Vignettes – Exploring eerie elegance of Gaslamp Horror in Victorian era

Adi Out Here – Turn on the Light – Murder, mystery, sex, romance, sci-fi, horror

Amanda V Shane – Monsters & Mystics – Fantasy, paranormal romance

Andy Futuro – Cyberpunk, horror, dirtbag literature

Brett – Sinister Solutions – horror, science fiction

Brian B Baker – My Head is Unraveling – Horror writer, book reviewer

Brian Schell – Horror Weekly

Bryan Beal – Dead Heretic – Cyberpunk, Science fiction

Caroline Barnard-Smith – SwampWitch

Chris J. Franklin – Tales of the Zeitgeist – Contemporary fiction, humor, horror, Science fiction, host of Wednesday House of Haiku

Colin Devonshire – Colin’s Dark Stories

Connor McGwire – Ars Corvi – Gothic, noir

Dungeon Mistress – Dungeon Mistress Chronicles

Emily S Hurricane – The Eye of the Storm – Romance, erotica, horror, gamelit

FranB – Tales at Twilight – Speculative stories with dark edge, humor

Grace Anderson-Author – Grace’s Spook Show

Honeygloom

Jane Dougherty – Jane Doughtery’s Bestiary

Jennifer Morrow – Autumn Lives Here

Jessica Maison – Monster of the Week

John Coon – Strange New Worlds – Science fiction, horror, humor/satire

Kummer Wolfe – Worlds of Kummer Wolfe ("Oh, by Crom is it human written…")

Leigh Parrish – Halcyon Horror

Lyndsey Resnick – Poison Ivy House

Michael B. Morgan – AroundSciFi - Read - Imagine - Discover

M.P. Fitzgerald – Graphomania with M.P. Fitzgerald – Darkly humorous Science fiction & horror

Natalie Phillips – Plotted Out – Cornish fantasy & dark humor

Nocturnal Narrator – Speculative Fiction and Dark Tales | Nocturnal Narrator – Dark speculative fiction, builds interactive worlds to tell strange stories

Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ – Twisting the Myths

Redd Oscar – ReddOscarWrites – Fantasy, science fiction, and horror

S.L. Stallings – Ghost Stories – Paranormal fiction, tech horror, dystopia

Sam Bartol – Ghost Notes

Scrawls of Dread – Scrawls of Dread’s Substack

Shane Bzdok – Matte Black – Science fiction, dystopian, horror

The Dread Legacies – Reimagining classic monsters

Theo Priestley – Tales of the Unexpected

Travis Blake – Dracula’s Ghost

Wendy Cockcroft – Wendy Cockcroft’s Writings