Showing results by author "A.J. McCarthy" in All Categories

Haunted by loss, graphic designer Julie retreats to an isolated lake cabin, desperate for solitude and escape. But grief doesn't stay quiet, and neither does the past. When Julie glimpses a frightened boy on a nearby dock, everything she thought she understood about her reality begins to fracture. Everyone insists the boy doesn't exist. Her ex-husband thinks she's imagining things. The police are disbelieving. Even Mark, her enigmatic neighbor who seems too eager to help, is unsure. Is she losing her mind, or is someone trying to make her believe she is?

29 Brand-New Sci-Fi Horror Stories. The future is now, and it's not what we were promised. The optimistic science fiction of old was wrong. Progress is not linear, technology creates as many problems as it solves, and the concept of a better tomorrow has become an abstraction that is in no way guaranteed. When looking at the future now, we no longer ask what is possible, we wonder how we'll cope. Contained within this anthology are 29 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors.

The Off-Season: An Anthology of Coastal New Weird features twenty-five brand-new stories of disquieting and disturbing "New Weird" horror set in landscapes and communities on the edge of the sea. These unsettling stories de-familiarize the ordinary, evoke dread in the daylight, and haunt like half-remembered nightmares. They are tales of mysticism, psychedelia, outsiders, obsessions, collapsed boundaries, weird sea life, and the total abandonment reason. Welcome to the your stay behind the curtain. Please check your sanity at the door.

Charlene Butler, a.k.a. Charlie, is beautiful, independent, and a successful pub owner in downtown Montreal, but prefers not to discuss her past, or the main reason for her success. When she anonymously receives strange letters and the police don’t show an interest in the case, she is convinced by Frank, her best friend, to hire a private investigator to help her solve the mystery. However, PI Simm seems to have a few secrets of his own.

After unexpectedly losing her husband, Hope Herring and her daughter, Cori, leave their home and move away to start over in a new town. With a heavy heart, a new house, a new job, and a new community, Hope is trying to settle in when she is reluctantly drawn into two mysteries. Will Hope and Cori find the clues to a killer before he or she strikes again?

Scare Street is proud to present 14 diabolical new tales in this bone-chilling collection. Each ghastly short story unleashes a new nightmare, ripped from the depths of your psyche. It’s almost as if this book has a mind of its own; a monstrous, disturbed mind, a mind full of dark dreams, and twisted nightmares.

Shanna McGuire is convinced a strange man is following her. When he approaches her on the street, he shocks her with a story that makes her question her family history. She asks Simm to investigate the man's claim. A simple case of genealogy and the search for a possible treasure are perfect for Simm, a former private investigator, and his wife Charlie, both pub owners in Downtown Montreal.

A clue is left at a murder scene: A page from a paperback novel. The title of the book is Murder by the Dozen, and local author, T.L. McGinnis, cannot provide any leads. Detectives Josh Riddell and Clint Weller of the Ottawa Police Service are worried about what lies ahead. It soon becomes evident their worst fears have been realized, and a serial killer is using the novel as a guide. It’s impossible to foresee and safeguard all the potential victims, and time is running out. But who is the killer’s real target?

It is October and Hope and her daughter, Cori, are settling into their new town. When Cori and her friends go to a spooky and haunted attraction for some Halloween fun, things take a strange and frightening turn which thrusts the Herring women into a mystery they want nothing to do with. There's also their resident ghost who needs help researching the past to uncover his killer. Will Cori and Hope be able to figure out what's going on before someone else loses their life?

Murders or a series of coincidences? Charlie is worried her ex-PI husband, Simm, is bored with his new role helping her manage their pubs in Montreal. Offered the chance to investigate the disappearance of a man the previous year, Charlie convinces Simm to take the case. Charlie and Simm discover the case may involve a series of dubious vanishings that were written off as presumed drownings.

Test your Rock and Roll knowledge with the Little Known and Even Less Cared For Rock Quiz and Stomp with your friendly, neighborhood Quizmaster former Morning mouth Mike McCarthy

A little show about little games from well documented bigfoot impersonator Bobby McCarthy and virtual heartthrob extraordinaire Hunter J Allen. Join these two intrepid game explorers as they delve through the depths of the itch.io game store for small specimens well worth your attention. It's a bi-weekly show-and-tell game show that's always under an hour but jam packed with oodles of good games for your perusal. So hop in and get itchy!

Dr. J Interviews is a collection of candid conversations with good black professional men regarding life and career choices. These authentic stories will not only show varying paths to success but provide mentorship for those younger men in need.

A World Elsewhere is a cultural podcast that will examine lifestyle, moving and working trends that have exploded since the advent of the pandemic, political turmoil, and racial reckonings of 2020/2021. This show will speak to people looking to relocate to a place that is more aligned with their values and quality of life. Throughout we will explore the importance of place - where you live, work, and play. We will showcase services that make these major transitions easier; new work methods and systems that will allow people to capitalize on WFH/remote work freedoms; and city and state ...

What dark secret is hidden in her past? What evil has been handed down through the generations? Emily Burton found happiness in a small, picturesque town on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Her sense of peace and security is shattered when she’s brutally attacked, and an innocent person is murdered. The authorities believe the incident is random, until Emily becomes the target of further violence and threats. With the help of her enigmatic neighbor, she uncovers an eerily similar crime that dates back 60 years. Could there be a connection between the two attacks?

Trapped in a wintry setting and followed by two men determined to kill her, Victoria Anderson searches for someone who doesn’t want to be found. She drove the length of the east coast in a quest to find Danny Wilcox, intending to convince him to return to Florida with her. The drug lord, the most wanted criminal in the Province of Quebec, has other plans.

A former New York detective and a loving father is gunned down and killed by the Speed Killers Gang. While in the emergency room, the detective asks his son, Jeff, to find whoever shot him and bring him to justice. In spite of his young age, Jeff promises his father. Twenty-three years later, Jeff is now a detective, following in his father's footsteps, and ready to avenge the unsolved murder of his father and bring the killer to justice.

Charlie and Simm, Montreal pub owners with a knack for sleuthing, thought they were taking on a straightforward case when Noah Wolfe hired them to find his missing family fortune. Their search leads them to the idyllic town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, where they quickly realize this is no ordinary investigation. Joined by Noah's sharp-witted sister-in-law, Sarah, they dig into the Wolfe family's past at a grand estate brimming with secrets.

In the heart of rural Maine, in the midst of the Great Depression and the final year of Prohibition, the McGinn family stands at a crossroads. The bond between Alder, Finn, and Lewin McGinn, the oldest sons of a widowed mother raising twelve children, is about to be tested in ways they could never have imagined.

It is a chilly winter season in North Carolina with Hope and her daughter Cori getting ready for the holidays. As she faces her first Christmas without her husband, Hope continues to search for the person responsible for her resident ghost's century-old murder. After interviewing a descendant of one of the suspects, trouble begins to brew with a false accusation, an unusual gift, and an unpleasant surprise. Will Hope be able to figure out what's going on without putting her own life in danger?