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Thomas Huff read two of his short stories at Kensington Row Bookshop by Jesseka Kadylak [originally published in the KensingtonPatch, October 14, 2010] To get into the Halloween spirit, Kensington Row Bookshop had a local author read some of his scary stories on Wednesday. Local author and anthologist Thomas Huff read two original short stories from his self-published book, Horrific Fables. The book includes his two originals and is a collection of Huff’s favorite eight scary stories from authors including 
Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London and more.The author would write short stories and make hand-made books on his computer to give to friends on Halloween. His friends suggested that he publish his stories and that sparked the idea for Horrific Fables. Since he didn’t want to release 20 paged book with only his stories, he chose to pair them alongside the greats of the genre, he said. Huff said that he wanted to write about ideas that he had never read before. The first story he read focused on grave robbers, but his twist was that the robbers dug tunnels underground to steal from the coffins so that they could work during the day instead of sneaking in to the cemetery late at night and doing it the traditional way. The second story gave one reason as to why babies start to cry in the middle of the night, but didn’t actually have a human character other than the baby. Hearing a story read out loud by the author lets the listener experience the story as the author intended it to be read. A sentence written as “Little by little, it crept across the floor—silently, cautiously, carefully,” might be read straight through without a hesitation. But the author might emphasize the space between his words by reading, “Little by little, [pause] it crept across the floor—[pause] silently, [pause] cautiously, [pause] carefully,” to make sure the listener captures the eeriness of the statement. Even though only a few people attended the reading, the way Huff read “Devil’s Food” created a suspenseful tension that helped the listeners get into the creepy mood of Halloween. To purchase the book pop in to the Kensington Row Bookshop or order your copy online. Copyright ©2010 BethesdaPatch. For information about the Horrific Fables anthology, which includes “The Exhumation of Shawn Leslie” and “Devil’s Food,” please visit Horrific Books. |