Amaranthine and Other Stories by Erik Hofstatter Read Free Book Online Page B

sensation alerted Mike. He glanced down at his urine stained trousers.
    “Please, don't hurt me!” he begged.
    Imamu reached into his other pocket, pulling out another humanoid figurine.
    Mike trembled, retreating. Imamu snapped an arm and Mike dropped to his knees—screaming.
    “Why? Why did you do this to us?”
    Imamu levelled with Mike, gazing into his soul—wallowing in his pain.
    He shrugged his shoulders. “Ya kind has oppressed ma people for centuries. So why not?” he said, tearing the doll's head off.

Story Notes
The Birthing Tub
    This is the most recent (and fun!) story in the collection. We all have parasites living, feeding and multiplying inside of our bodies. I don't know about you, but just imagining that appetizing scenario scares the shit out of me (pardon the pun, I assume you read the story so you'll know what I'm talking about). It frightens me far more than your ghosts, vampires, werewolves etc. Why, you ask? I'll tell you why. Because it's
real
. It can actually happen. To any one of us, including you or me. These tapeworms can grow to monstrous lengths, we're talking 20, 30 metres. I wouldn't want that coming out of my asshole, would you? No. It's disgusting but more importantly—it's
scary
. Perhaps not in a traditional sense of the word, but scary nonetheless. If you're familiar with my previous work, you'll know that I favour realistic horror. Human suffering. The torment of everyday life. And writing a story about an intestinal parasite just seemed like a logical step in the right direction (well, I was drunk and it seemed like a good idea at the time!). So there you have it. A story about a tapeworm. But that wasn't enough. Even I knew that a tapeworm wouldn't make much of a relatable protagonist. So I outlined a concept of a heartbroken man, attempting to adjust to his newfound loneliness by creating a special…friend. We all reach a point in our lives when we feel alone in the world and we all react differently. But we all want to be loved. You might reach out to your parents, siblings, sons or daughters, cats or dogs, but what if you had absolutely no one to reach out to? What then? Perhaps Eli would become your only friend, too.

Tristan's Equation
    When I was a kid, I sucked at maths. And I still suck at it to this day. I guess the cool thing about being a writer is that you can create characters who will overcome any obstacles you throw at them, whilst you observe from the comforts of your sofa or a chair. So I decided to create the opposite of my childhood self. A kid who's not only good at maths, but is a fucking mathematical genius! Ah, the joys of writing! Conjuring characters that excel at everything you never did. Loser. And that's how Tristan was born. But again, to inject that little bit of human trauma into it—he doesn't remember any of it! Due to an accident, he lost the ability to create new memories so he's stuck in this limbo, not knowing why or where he is. Again, I personally find that kind of realistic horror very frightening! The Millennium Prize Problems is a real thing, by the way. The Clay Mathematics Institute is truly offering a $1 million prize to whoever provides the correct solution. Fancy having a go?

Amaranthine
    A few years back, I read an article (and you might remember this because it's not that long ago) where books bound in human skin were discovered at Harvard University. For some odd reason, my mind immediately sprang to
Necronomicon Ex-Mortis
(Book of the Dead from the
Evil Dead
franchise, but originally a story by Lovecraft). As a huge fan of the original trilogy, I decided to pay homage with my own little tale! My story wouldn't invoke any demons, roaming around the woods. Instead it would focus on the disturbing factor of binding books in human skin—pure and simple. So I started researching anthropodermic bibliopegy. I was shocked to learn that this thing was actually pretty popular back in the day (waaaaay back in the day!). I created