Sick Bastards (19 page)

Author’s Notes

I suppose I should start with an apology really. I understand that the story you just read is sick. I appreciate that and sort of expect some flak for it (on some levels) too. Just believe me when I say that not all of my stories are as dark and twist
ed (gory or incestious) as the piece you’ve just read (if indeed you managed to read it all the way through to this point).

Know this too...

It wasn’t my fault.

I was never going to write this story. I have a long list of ideas and stories that I need to get written down before I am put into my wooden box and buried under the earth and “Sick Bastards” was not amongst the list.

So how did it come to be written?

Simple.

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Graeme Reynolds of Horrific Tales Publishing. Graeme and I are acquantiances on Facebook and (dare I say it) friends too. At least I regard him as a friend. For all I know, he hates me. It’s nothing something we’ve actually discussed.

Anyway, if you’re on my author page on Facebook, you’re most likely aware that Graeme and I are working together on a new novel (due out in 2014) called “ART”, a story I wrote with the talented author Michael Bray.

ART
is a dark tale, there is no doubt about that, but it isn’t what I would call truly horrific (like this title) but it does indeed have its moments. One evening I was chatting to Graeme on Facebook (as you do) and he signed off saying he was going to go and read more from sick bastards (myself and Bray). He actually meant he was going off to finish reading
ART
but my brain took it in a whole new direction. I just sat there, at my desk, thinking he hadn’t seen anything yet and if he wanted sick bastards - well, I’d be the guy to give it to him.

Having just finished
ART
and being between projects, I immediately penned the opening to this story (the opening that you guys read two hundred and forty odd pages ago as it remained unchanged). I just wanted to make it sick (proper sick) and to make him realise that the work he was currently reading was nowhere near as dark as I could take things. Well I think I did it well. The opening pages including sex (incestuous at that), a hint of blasphemy and - of course - cannibalism. I sent it off with a smile on my face and even posted it onto my author page.

To my surprise my readers seemed to lap it up and even wanted more.

Well - who was I to argue?

By the following morning I had the plot in my head and so many twists as to what was actually happening that I immediately began work on the full piece and it turned into my next serious project. Not bad considering it started off as a joke. More surprisingly - it is also my longest piece of fiction that I’ve written on my own!

All because of Graeme Reynolds.

Anyway - I won’t tell you where my dark thoughts came from (for this piece), just trust me when I say that I haven’t actually slept with any of my family members and I almost definitely haven’t eaten a person in real life. At least, not that I am aware of.

I hope you enjoyed the story (is ‘enjoyed’ the right word?) and that you aren’t put off from supporting my work! Until the next time - take care!

Kind Regards,

Matt Shaw

FROM THE SAME AUTHOR

Novels

The Infestation

The Lost Son

Love Life

The Vampire’s Treaty

ART

(The Peter Chronicles)

Happy Ever After

G.S.O.H Essential

A Fresh Start

PETER

All Good Things

Once Upon a TIme

9 Months Book One

9 Months Book Two

9 Months Book Three

Non-Fiction titles

im fine

Still Fine

PlentyOfFreaks

Wasting Stamps

Self-publishing: Releasing your book to the digital market

Collections

Scribblings From a Dark Place

9 Months Trilogy

Happy Ever After Trilogy

Reviews, Critics & Mystery Shopping
(DELETED TITLE)

The Story Collection: Volume One

The Story Collection: Volume Two

Shorts

A Taste of Your Fears (part of the Literature-Ly You range)

A Taste of Your Fears 2 (part of the Literature-Ly You range)

Taste of Horror

The Peter Chronicles (includes bonus stories)

Novellas

Smile

The Dead Don’t Knock

Writer’s Block

Buried

The Last Stop

The Chosen Routes

A Christmas to Remember (YOU choose the story)

Romance is Dead

The Breakdown

The Cabin

The 8th

The Cabin II: Asylum

The Missing Years of Thomas Pritchard

Consumed

Influenza: Strain ‘Z’

Heaven Calling

Picture Books

I Hate Fruit & Veg

Want to find Matt Shaw?

www.facebook.com/mattshawpublications

www.mattshawpublications.co.uk

[email protected]