Richard Schiver

Tag: horror fiction

  • Fridays 5 with Eric A Shelman

    Fridays 5 with Eric A Shelman

    1 When did you first consider yourself a writer?

    A. In 1992, I sold a short story called The Crossing for $2.00. That was the moment I felt I was a writer.

    2 What is the hardest part of writing?

    A. The hardest thing about being a writer is finding the right story. A story you’re not excited about will not inspire you to write.

    3 How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

    A. At the completion and release of my first full-length book, it was a major milestone … a hump that once you’re over, the floodgates open and the next and the next are easier.

    4 In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about?

    A. My band, The Mood Zombies. Check us out at http://www.reverbnation.com/themoodzombies

    5 If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, what would it be?

    A. I don’t really have any questions for other authors anymore. Not after 26 books!

    Eric lives in southwest Florida with his wife, Linda. A fan of horror since he was young, he’s been writing since his teens. Growing up his room was filled with monster models, including The Wolfman, Dr. Phibes, Frankenstein’s Monster, and many others. His first novel, A Reason To Kill, was about a serial killer before he moved on to his true passion with The Witches of Laguna Beach. In 2009, after a 12 year hiatus, he wrote Dead Hunger. He currently has over 20 books to his credit, all but two of which are novels.

    Eric can be found online at his amazon author page

    He also shares his stories on his You Tube channel.

  • Weekly Writing Challenge 10/29/2025

    Weekly Writing Challenge 10/29/2025

    While working on today’s episode yesterday morning the purpose of the story presented itself to me. Quite frankly I can write novels easier than I can write short stories, hence the reason I started doing this challenge. To force me to buckle down and work on a short story until it was done. I chose to follow the alphabet format and have completed the first drafts of stories up to the letter G. As time allows I work on rewrites and edits of the past stories as I try to whip them into some semblance of a real story worth a read. One of these days I’ll release them for everyone to read.

    Without further adieu let’s get into the continuing saga of Jared and Eric in Hell Hole.

    Story begins where it left off.

    They didn’t look sturdy enough to support the weight pressing down upon them, and it appeared the wood had rotted away on the surface, making them half the size they had originally been.

    “You know why they call it hell hole?” Jared asked.

    Eric shrugged. “Rumor has it the mine went so deep you had to be careful which way you swung your pick.” He stopped as he maneuvered around an old coal car whose steel sides had rusted away to nothing, leaving a flat surface covered in debris.

    Eric pushed past the coal car, coming to a section of tunnel that appeared much older than what they passed through earlier. Here the jagged walls and ceiling were brown and in some places water leaked through the various cracks and crevices that covered the entire surface, filling the space with the incessant sound of dripping water.  It looked like the entire ceiling was about to collapse and he wanted to turn around right then and there.

    He was beginning to get irritated with Jared’s endless whining. If he didn’t need him as bad as he did he would never have spoken to him. He was no more than a means to an end, that of his continued survival. Promises had been made, so promises had to be kept.

    “Why?” Jared asked.

    With a deep sigh Eric turned back to face him and when he did he was struck by a deep anger at the lengths he had to go to. “Because you might hit the devils door,” he replied with a laugh.

    “That’s not funny,” Jared said, turning in a complete circle as if he were afraid someone, or something, were sneaking up on him.

    “Come on, let’s go, you said you wanted to see this room of crystals.” Eric turned and started walking into the depths of the mine. He heard Jared scrambling to get around the abandoned coal car.

    “Wait for me,” Jared said as he rushed to keep up.

    Eric smiled, satisfied he had set the hook firmly. Once they got deeper into the mine Jared would be attached to his hip, which was just as well, he didn’t want him wandering off until he’d gotten what he came for.

    The mine had operated from the mid seventeen hundred until 1890 when a cave in sealed off the lower portion of the mine, opening the passageway to the r0om of crystals. They called them the devil’s jewels, locked away deep beneath the earth.

    The miners of the time had been very superstitious, in addition to being God fearing men. But when the only exit from a mine collapses, and God does little to save you, promises made to others became sacred vows.

    Eric had learned all of this from his research into the mine when he first heard about the crystal room. Sure, he was an explorer willing to take chances, but they were calculated risks made only after he was certain about the facts. He had visited the crystal room himself, along with the mouth of the section of the mine where the collapse occurred. Someone had placed a plaque nearby listing the names of the men entombed within. It was rumored if you listened closely you could still hear panicked pounding coming from the other side.

    To be continued!

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  • New Release

    New Release

    Lilitu: Bloody Caleb by Jonathan Fortin

    Now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback.

    Dante’s Inferno meets The Count of Monte Cristo in Lilitu: Bloody Caleb—a Gothic dark fantasy of murder, revenge, and the horrors of Hell.

    Caleb Schwartzenfeld, a 22-year-old vagrant violinist in the grim streets of Victorian England, is struggling to survive. But when his search for a patron leads him into the clutches of a sinister cult, he’s brutally sacrificed—and awakens in Hell, a nightmarish realm where death is impossible, and demons delight in torturing the living.

    Refusing to let eternal agony break him, Caleb vows to escape, reunite with the woman he loves, and exact revenge on those who murdered him. Yet the only way back to Earth may require becoming one of the very monsters who torment the damned.

    Under the dark tutelage of the depraved incubus Salem Sotirios, Caleb is seduced into the twisted pleasures and deadly politics of Hell’s elite. As he navigates a macabre underworld of power, lust, and vengeance, Caleb must decide whether reclaiming his life is worth risking his soul.

    Perfect for fans of Gothic horror, supernatural revenge thrillers, and dark romantic fantasy, Lilitu: Bloody Caleb delivers a chilling, seductive, and unforgettable journey through Hell and back. It is the newcomer-friendly second volume in the Lilitu saga, and can be read either before or after the first volume, Lilitu: The Memoirs Of A Succubus.

    Explore the Dark Depths: https://getbook.at/Lilitu2

    Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240624391-lilitu

    Lilitu saga series: https://geni.us/LilituSaga

    Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing— Where Stories Come Alive!

    About the author

    Jonathan Fortin is the author of “Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus” (Crystal Lake Publishing), “Requiem In Frost” (Horroraddicts.net), and “Nightmarescape” (Mocha Memoirs Press). An unashamed lover of spooky Gothic stories,

    Jonathan was named the Next Great Horror Writer in 2017 by HorrorAddicts.net. He attended the Clarion Writing Program in 2012, one year after graduating summa cum laude from San Francisco State University’s Creative Writing program. When not writing, Jonathan enjoys voice acting, dressing like a Victorian gentleman, and indulging in all things odd and macabre in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can follow him online at www.jonathanfortin.com or on Twitter @Jonathan_Fortin.

  • Weekly Writing Challenge 10/15/2025

    Weekly Writing Challenge 10/15/2025

    I believe I’ve reached the end of God’s Chosen. All that’s really left to do is edit the opening and the ending and it will be done. So the time has come to move on to the next story. This week we will begin the tale of two friends Eric and Jared who like to explore caves. I give you the first 500 words of HELL HOLE.

    Jared had been a little hesitant when he heard the name of the cave Eric wanted to explore. After all who would name a cave, Hell Hole, without good reason. Eric assured him that while the cave was technically difficult, there was no real danger outside of what they would normally face in any other cave.

    “It’s not as bad as Nutty Putty,” Eric assured him, the name awakening the memory of the story surrounding the cave’s name. In 2009 John Jones became stuck in the Nutty Putty cave in such a way it was almost impossible to save him. He’d gone through what he thought was a section of the cave known as ‘the birth canal,’ a narrow stretch that forced cavers to make themselves as small as possible to push through. In reality he entered an unexplored section that narrowed to the point he could not move. He was stuck, upside down, for twenty-seven hours before passing.

    Jared shuddered at the thought of becoming trapped in such a way. He could have done without the mention of the cave, but the lure of exploring unknown regions was too strong to dissuade him. He believed he was smart enough to not let himself become stuck like Jones had, who it was said was not as experienced as other cavers who had vanquished the nutty putty cave.

    While preparations had taken the better part of a week while they pulled together the supplies they would need, the trip to the cave itself was only a matter of a couple of hours. Rumor had it there was a chamber below filled with crystal formations similar to the Cave of Crystals in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico. A chamber nearly a thousand feet beneath the surface with some crystals measuring as much as 39 feet long. Some considered it one of the wonders of the natural world, and the thought such a room might exist a few hours’ drive from their hometown of Frostburg was too much to pass up.

    Leaving interstate 68 they followed the winding roads of rural West Virginia, turning off onto a gravel lane that vanished into on of the many hollows. Here there was only forest pressing in on either side of the narrow lane until they reached the end of the road that spilled out onto a wide gravel lot. They were alone and as they gathered their gear Jared surveyed the opening of the mine. A concrete casing had been built into the opening, making it look like a tunnel. On the arch above the opening someone had spray painted the legend. Hell Hole in tall red letters.

    A shudder washed across his shoulders as a cloud passed over the face of the sun, plunging the lot into a false dusk.

    “How deep is the mine?” Jared asked.

    “It goes down about six hundred feet before we come to the natural opening that will lead us to the room of crystals. It’ll be easy going at first, and it’ll get a little tight before it opens into the room.”

    A chill tumbled down Jared’s spine as the thought he might never see the sun again strayed into his mind. He pushed it away. He’d been caving with Eric for several years now and he had never once given him reason to doubt him.

    To be contd!

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  • Fridays 5 with Bryan Hall

    Fridays 5 with Bryan Hall

    1. When did you first consider yourself a writer?

    A. The minute I finished my first short story. If you put pen to paper – or fingertips to keyboard – and create something then you’re a writer. Success means different things to different people, for sure, but as far as just being a writer I consider anyone who’s done something like that to be one.

    2. What is the hardest part of writing?

    A. Confidence. I read a blog from Neil Gaiman once where he talked about being three quarters of the way through a book and realizing it was pure and utter crap. That nobody would want to read such drivel and that if they did they wouldn’t understand it or would realize how terrible it was. He told his agent (or publisher) that and they said “Oh you’re at that part”. It happened to him every time – that moment of doubt that shut down his ability to keep writing. I’m sure that’s not the exact story word for word, but it’s a good approximation of it. And that same thing happens to me at a couple of points during anything I’m writing. Keeping my confidence up can get tricky sometimes.

    3. How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

    A. Excited, for sure. Almost in disbelief, as well. I got very lucky in that the publisher I’d hoped would pick up my book did so rather quickly. I’d reached the goal that I’d set for myself and was honestly in a bit of shock that it had happened. Once the release came the reality of it set in. It was very surreal. Even now, a release does the same thing for me. It’s a good feeling to know that your stuff is getting out there in the world.

    4. In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about?

    A. Hobby-wise I keep bees and play video games. I also read voraciously. Other than writing those are my main pursuits, but I don’t know if any of them can come close to what I get out of writing.

    5. If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, what would it be?

    A. I’d ask Clive Barker if he had any plans to get back to his roots and do some real old-fashioned horror writing like he used to. I know he has to write what he’s inspired to, but I’d really love another volume of The Books of Blood or a novel like The Damnation Game.

    Bio: Bryan Hall is a fiction writer living in a one hundred year old farmhouse deep in the mountains of North Carolina.

    He spent the first nineteen years of his life writing and reading voraciously, until pausing for some befuddling reason to spend a decade drinking whiskey and beer, playing in various garage bands, and rock climbing, eventually conquering practically every worthwhile cliff in western North Carolina.

    Although a bad back has greatly hindered his rock climbing, he still considers himself an aficionado of good beer and great whiskey, which seem to add fuel to his demented imagination.

    Growing up in the Appalachias, he’s soaked up decades of fact and fiction from the area, bits and pieces of which usually weave their way into his writing whether he realizes it at the time or not.

    His amazon author page is:

    https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B004VRN73K/

    If you are a writer working in the fields of horror, sci-fi, or dark fantasy and would like to participate in Fridays 5, answer the five questions above and send them, along with a brief author bio and author photo to rschiver@gmail.com