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The Radical Individualist's avatar

There's a certain Twilight Zone feel to this story. But I'm sure whatever code they worked from wouldn't allow this story to get produced. But they could clean it up. Aldo's parents were only wounded, and the neighbor next door is a cop and hears the shots. As he rushes into the room, Mark attempts to shoot him, but Flarn jumps up and bites him in the hand. Mark drops the gun and Cynthia and Mark jump out the window to escape, but land on a hay rake and twist and turn until they die. Mom and Dad are about to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance, but not before they promise to let Aldo read late from now on. Closing scene, they all look at Almighty Flarn and admire him for his brave act that saved everyone's lives.

Sorry, I got started, and couldn't stop. And, yes, I may have borrowed some ideas from other shows.

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J. Daniel Sawyer's avatar

I love it.

The entire collection has that kind of feel, and I'm planning to do another volume this coming year. They're all centered around that pawnshop and the weird artifacts it sells--and they get very strange indeed :-)

The Twilight Zone feel comes from the particular genre. It's a special variety of American horror called Southern Gothic--Other artists of the form include Flannery O'Connor, Saki, O. Henry (sometimes), Richard Matheson, Ambrose Bierce, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, etc.

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Eric Brown's avatar

I really got a Flannery O’Connor vibe from this.

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J. Daniel Sawyer's avatar

High praise indeed :-)

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