This reddit thread on creepy things children say started a discussion with a group of writing friends. We decided to use the thread as inspiration for writing horror and submit our stories to each other. In short order the Facebook page we created filled with links to tales of creepy ankle biters and their friends.
Dan Rabarts, local writer extraordinaire, suggested that the stories coming out were so devilishly chilling we should collect them and see if we could raise money for Duffy’s Books in Homes. So we did. Our Pledgeme campaign to fund paper copies of the book met it’s target in a week!
Baby Teeth is set to become a reality! More than that people have been running with our shorts for podcasts, newspaper articles, and radio interviews.
I have two stories in Baby Teeth: my first ever attempts at writing horror.
“The Birthday Present”
I have long had a story kicking around in my head about fetus in fetu: encapsulated babies that live on inside their twins. It will be quite different to the ”Birthday Present” but, regardless of that, I finally had to let my imaginary encysted friend out to play. The idea first came from an X-files episode called ”Humbug”” about an encapsulated twin that escapes and kills people in his attempt to find a new host. I thought at the time it was purest, wonderfully creepy, fiction. Later an article about an Egyptian child found with a fetus in fetu headlined channel one news. I was hooked on the whole idea: imagine having someone that close to you. Could they be conscious? Doctors say no; but they are found with grey matter, spinal cords, hair, fingers, and teeth. So why not?
“Practise makes Perfect”
Ahah – this story is straight from another creepy fascination. Young serial killers and how to detect the tendency in people before they kill. What would the inside of a young serial killer’s head look like? I am more fascinated, perhaps oddly, by fictional serial killers than real ones. The challenges of Hannibal and Dexter to function with their emotional deficits move me where the real life exploits of Dahmer, the Wests, et al, leave me utterly… cold.
Is going right into Sunrise or the next book on (War, I think). I bet those who haven’t read this entry don’t pick he is real!
