October 2011 – The Writing on the Wall

October. A month when the nights begin to close in around us and Winter begins to flex its chill fingers. It’s a month when the cold starts to nip at our heels just before it really begins to bite. October to me is a time of transition, a slightly mystical month; with the world-changing around us it feels like almost anything could happen. When it finally draws to a close October goes out with a bang, culminating in All Hallows Eve. If there is a day that embodies the mystery of the unknown I have yet to discover it. It is a night where the world feels just a little flimsy and surreal, as if the fabric which holds everything together is not quite as stolid as we believe it to be. The night where even the bravest and most sceptical of us all are just a little bit afraid of what might really be out there, lurking in the dark and dim corners of the world…

I personally think I missed the mark with the whole horror thing. I’m not sure what I’ve ended up with. It’s something, that I have no doubt of, but the question is what exactly that something is. The rest of the wordascopes are similarly lacking in bowel loosening terror, they are also not entirely terrifying, more unsettlingly bizarre. They leave you without answers nor explanation. They leave you only with a feeling of deep unease. I think it’s better this way.

The Rogue Verbumancer – A patient in a mental hospital is not entirely what he appears…

Ali “The Terror” George – A tale of punishment and determination.

Andrew “The Thing That Man Was Not Meant To Know” Blair – A story somewhere in the grey and misty regions between body horror and the supernatural.

The original blog post responsible for spawning this rampant frivolity can be found here: October’s Pictonaut Challenge and the post where the entries were originally collated, here: The Writing on the Wall