Science Fiction · Scott Sigler
BLOOD IS RED
by Scott Sigler
A collection of eight horror stories created by #1 New York Times best-selling novelist Scott Sigler, author of the Infected Trilogy, the Earthcore Duology, Ancestor, and Nocturnal. Author's notes explain the history and/or impetus of each story, giving you an insight into the method behind the madness. Stories in BLOOD IS RED: Number One with a Bullet: In the high-stakes world of the National Football League, a wasted draft choice can cost careers and damage a franchise for years to come. When the league investigates sure-fire number-one pick Eugene Patterson, however, they find far more than they want to know. Red Man: To be marked as a sex offender, a pedophile, a child rapist, is to carry stigma that all but banishes you from society. And if that mark is literal—a permanent, inoperable face tattoo— anonymity vanishes, and all who see you know of your crime. For a man who is wrongly convicted of horrible deeds, this mark becomes his life. Wolf: In the time before man, one social animal ruled the Americas. The wolf. Wolf packs roamed the continent, hunting and killing and breeding. But before any wolf ever saw the death that would walk on two legs, there came another danger. The Great Snipe Hunt: Nature abhors a vacuum. One such vacuum exists in the “urban ecologies” of our cities. From bacteria to insects, from rodents to hawks, from feral cats to the mass numbers of pigeons, plants and animals weave together a web of life that goes mostly unnoticed by humans. What is missing from this mosaic? Four college students set out to find this mythical creature, the “Snipe,” and learn that a vacuum isn’t the only thing nature abhors. Iowa Typhoon: Come visit Fenders Pointe, IA. We’d love to have you stop by, see the trees, smell the flowers, and relax with our Midwestern hospitality. Only, you should try to schedule around the rainy season. If you’re here when the typhoons hit, we’ll be happy to welcome you as a permanent resident. Sacred Cow: There is a fine line between absent-minded genius and idiot savant. Gordo Gordon keeps a foot planted firmly on either side. Father Al knows this better than anyone. Father Al watches over Gordo and tolerates the young man’s endless—and useless—inventions. When Gordo creates a theory to track “prayer energy,” however, Father Al will find a religious secret that puts his faith to the test. Hunter Hunterson & Sons: Welcome to the family business. Hunter Hunterson and his kin live in Slayerville, KY, making their living chasing crack-smoking ogres, peeping-tom phantoms, bail-jumping zombie pimps and the occasional rabid unicorn. When a methed-out vampire (and family friend) goes on a road-trip rampage, Hunter and his kin pack up the truck and follow the trail of corpses all the way to San Francisco. This reality-TV style story feels like a combination of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” meets “Ghostbusters” meets “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Hunter’s “war journal” is a mix of tawdry laughs and gut-churning horror. Mount Fitz Roy (the original first chapter): In 2005, Sigler released Earthcore as the world’s first podcast-only novel. This chapter is Scott's first take on where the story would go. Earthcore was re-written, and Mount Fitz Roy became its own girthy novel, but this ditty will please the Sigler die-hards with what might have been.
