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My own origin story begins when I was about seven, or maybe eight years old. I was raised by a single mom who worked most nights, which meant that I was under the care of my older brother. He was five years my senior (putting him around thirteen), and he absolutely loved horror (movies and books). On the nights our mom was working, my brother would sit on the couch and obsessively watch scary movies. Everything from Friday the 13th to Ghoulies. Now, picture little, tiny me, faced with two options. One, go elsewhere in our house, alone, while the sounds of bloody mayhem bounced through the rooms of our home from the television. Scared out of my mind. Or two, sit and actually watch these terrifying bits of cinema, but do so from the safety of being next to my big brother. Spoiler alert, I chose the latter.
From there, the horror tree (because that’s how I sort of picture it. The seed was planted while watching those movies with my brother) continued to grow. Once again, my brother was influential in the next step of my evolution, as he introduced me to horror literature. Some of the first horror novels I ever read were bowered from him. Richard Laymon, Stephen King, and Dean Koontz all came to me by way of his book shelves.
By the time I reached adulthood, the tree was in full bloom. I no longer needed my brother to provide me with the goods (like some sort of horror drug dealer). I was finding them just fine on my own. Which is why, when I first sat before my computer and had the notion that I would like to try my hand at writing, it was obvious what the genre would be. I had been training for it my whole life.
Dug from the twisted mind of C.M. Forest, the acclaimed author of Infested, comes a collection of 15 horror stories that will drag you into the abyss of fear and despair.A fast-food playland with a nightmarish secret, a greenhouse with a bug problem, a busload of kids lost in the woods, a trip through the solar system to investigate a strange comet, and many more.
Brace yourself for an unrelenting journey through a world where evil knows no bounds, and darkness consumes all.
Enjoy an Excerpt
Alison got out of her car, the engine still on, and staggered down the road. Blood soaked through the front of her dress. It looked black—like a growing oil spill—under the sickly haze of the street lights. A smattering trail of circles on the pavement marked her route as she stumbled away. Her underwear, torn and soiled, hung limply around one ankle.
She did not want to look back at the car, but a deep, primal urge overrode all her wants and desires. Even as her body trembled, she found herself peeking over her shoulder. Tendrils of mist, which were seeping in off the nearby dark fields, gave her vehicle a ghostly appearance. A 3000-pound wraith waiting to lunge. The headlights, blazing though the fog, seemed to stare back at her. The fender, a taunting grin. Specks of blood dotted the windshield from the inside; gory handprints stained the seats.
Something moved within the car. An arm, a face, briefly—horribly—illuminated by the interior lights. A shifting figure, covered in a blanket of shining viscera. It was already bigger than it should be. It was growing fast.
About the Author: 
C.M. Forest, also known as Christian Laforet, is the author of the novel Infested, the novella We All Fall Before the Harvest, the short story collection The Space Between Houses, as well as the co-author of the short-story collection No Light Tomorrow. His short fiction has been featured in several anthologies across multiple genres. A self-proclaimed horror movie expert, he spent an embarrassing amount of his youth watching scary movies. When not writing, he lives in Ontario, Canada with his wife, kids, three cats and a pandemic dog named Sully who has an ongoing love affair with a blanket.
