13 Cannibal Conflicts

Give your cannibal character a dietary restriction. Have your cannibal review a restaurant critic as they dine on him. Put your cannibal on a fat farm. Play referee in a new sporting event: Cannibal vs. Cannibal! Depict the chores of the dishwasher in the back of the cannibal cafe. Your cannibal has lost his teeth. What now? Write The Constitution for the country of Cannibali. Convert your cannibal to a new religion. Poison your cannibal in an inventive way. Describe the day job of your cannibal without ever referencing his or her insatiable appetite. Invent a TV show for the…

Showcase Updated: KZ Morano

The Instigation Showcase page has been updated with a new featured author, KZ Morano, who talks about her creative process and offers up a new Instigation prompt all her own. KZ is the author of the new book, 100 Nightmares -- an illustrated collection of horror drabbles, each 100 words long. Recommended reading! She also generously reviewed Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side on Amazon with the following kind words: "...These are not the kind of prompts that you can find just anywhere. The ideas are bold, bizarre, brilliant. They make you go to places that you never even…

Horror 101 – New Book for Writers

Horror 101: The Way Forward has just been released by Crystal Lake Publishing, and if you're a writer on the dark side, I highly recommend it. As Mort Castle wisely notes in the book's introduction, this book is a successor, of sorts, to JN Williamson's classic writer's guide, How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and enters the canon of "essential reference" for the dark fiction author, alongside the HWA's On Writing Horror and Michael Knost's Writer's Workshop of Horror. It's a great collection of "advice from seasoned professionals" on how to sustain a career in the…

AVENGER – my Peter Gabriel-inspired crime poem for 30 Days of the 5-2

AVENGER I know something about opening pimpers and whores I know how to kill quietly and mop up bloody wooden floors I know how to hide body parts behind my cabinets and drawers Clipping the strippers Clipping the strippers of their spinal cord wires Their stunned paralysis inspires Inspires me I like laughing at lap dancers when they're tied to chairs I like listening to harlots when they make their final prayers I like watching while they clutch their throats for air Avenger's happy in the dark Avenger's come Avenger's come to take away your mark, devil's mark devil's mark…