And Midnight Came to Call This thought provoking, Horror / Sci-fi genre collection features nine short stories of various lengths having a wide audience appeal. The plots and themes are crisp and clean; and more importantly, the ideas driving the stories forward seem to take on a life of their own. Each story differentiates itself from others within the collection while spanning the globe and time itself. Wherever possible, the settings reflect actual locations, social conditions, and backdrops based within realistic science or myth such that while the underlying plots may strain credibility, they seldom threaten to tear open its fabric. Grounded in a slightly bent, rather than a fully warped sense of reality, the stories exude an underlying sense of normality, until they do not. The nine stories within the collection "And Midnight Came to Call" reflect this preference often bringing along unexpected twists as they end. A brief synopsis of each story follows. Tenant: A lonely senior with a strong penchant for his feathered friends seeks a novel birdhouse design and a challenge to his woodworking skills, but gets far more than he bargained for when something quite unexpected takes up residence in his creation. The Madison: A nameless terror has been disturbed below the foundations of an old "turn of the century" theater. When the management begins presenting a summer series of classic horror films, strange and frightening events begin occurring in the small town. Dog Days of Summer: In the distant future, a Golden Retriever bears witness to an alien invasion during a hot and dry summer. Dark Voyage: Captain Thomas Jakes and the crew of the slave ship Amity endure a stormy passage while returning to port from the Americas finding themselves imprisoned for weeks within a dead calm; together with an unmentionable horror that walks her decks. Reap the Whirlwind: A patriotic North Korean weather analyst with an unusual ability to forecast the weather finds her gift extends much further than even she had ever dreamed. An Angry Dragon: A Chinese Magician who endured Japan's "Rape of Nanking" pays a visit to a small restaurant in China town and provides the management a new and rather unique recipe for success; and revenge. Kindred: A group of researchers contact a highly unusual and very ancient society that appears to be on the verge of extinction, but offers them an unexpected a solution to their troubles. The Rattle of Bones: Unwilling to surrender his dark cherished memories and unable to dodge those seeking their revenge for their murders, a sadistic captain of the Khmer Rouge meets an old friend on his way to his comeuppance many years later. Vagrant: A novel twist of an old theme, an aging and sickly New York City homeless senior visits Palm Springs and gets a new lease on life; and death.
About the Author: Stephen Kirk enjoyed a satisfying career in policing, graduating with honours in Criminal Law studies at the Calgary Police Academy. He further distinguished himself as an expert witness in the field of Traffic Collision Investigation and Reconstruction having received his training at Northwestern University, Illinois, and under the tutelage of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Following his police career, Steve turned his efforts toward private insurance investigation, import and export, online retailing and most recently, technical financial investing. Steve also researched and wrote the 2014 book "Fractal Evolution = Profit Revolution!" explaining novel technical charting techniques specifically designed for Metastock Charting Software. The book is available through Amazon and other venues. A singer songwriter (of self-admitted dubious quality), Steve has also enjoyed amateur astronomy for over half a century, though his favourite hobby is now his family, a hobby that has grown substantially in recent years. "And Midnight Came to Call" is Steve's first collective work encompassing a selection of his favourite short stories and novellas to date. Steve is currently engaged in numerous projects, including several novels, his first, "Dire Echoes," has an anticipated release date of mid 2017.