The Light In Snake Fuss, Horror Fiction by Ron Koppelberger, Available at Amazon.com

Forest Dreams

Ron Koppelberger

Forest Dreams

He finds himself tempted by the fire, almost overwhelmingly. The dark phantasms that whisper his name over and over again, “Almar Downy, Almar Downy!” He lays unsleeping except for the waking dream, the dream of flames and perdition. He stands before a forest of tall iron pines, there is no way through the wood…except for the hacksaw. He approaches the first tree and begins sawing the lower branches off of it. Soon he has a pile of timber, it must burn he thinks. Lighting a match he sets the pile of branches on fire then begins sawing at another of the trees and another, and another until he has giant heaps of timber to burn. Perhaps he will see his way to the other side of the woods.
The day moves forward into the twilight hours of dusk and still Downy finds himself burning and sawing at the trees. The first sliver of moonlight shines through the trees and the bright orange glow of the fires cast a hazy aura into the dense tree line. “Almar Downy, “ they whisper again, “Almar Downy…”
He saws at the branches until the piles overwhelm the terrain, piles of burning brush in great conflagrations. In the end the woods catch the flame and the tall iron pines light the night sky with a burnt umber glow, smokey and hot. Near morning tide the forest has revealed itself as ash and soot, a once proud enclave for those who seek shelter from the edge of the world. The edge of the world, and this is what Almar found on the other side.
Tall buildings crumbling with decay and great mountains of refuse, a small dirty pond filled with plastic containers and tin cans. A reflection of what lay just beyond the forest.
Almar walked over to the small dirty pool of water and looked at his reflection there and he saw tired eyes, dark half moons and dirty smudges of soot across his face. Had he dreamed all of this or was this his fate.
He stood before the tall pine with hacksaw in hand and looked forward, in that moment he realized that it was not the view to the other side that he wanted and instead he built a house from the surrounding trees, a place to hide from the other side and a shelter against the future, for one day he would have to go to that pond and look into it, but for now the forest would remain his shelter and his sanctity, his peace of mind like the soul of a wise owl who knows the way.

Raven's Blood a book by Ron Koppelberger available at Amazon.com!

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Wishful Listeners

Ron Koppelberger

Wishful listeners

The tribe lived on the distant moon of galiumnet number eight. There were five or six hundred of them and they were a rare sight to see. They kept to themselves, hunting snakes and wild chickens brought by the Earthers. They lay still by the edge of a great gully, all waiting, prone, listening for the sound of the hover crafts. They held lassos and large hooks designed for their thick braided fingers. They waited and listened as they had been for the last several years. If they were never seen there was a reason, they did not want to be seen. The purity of their mission was simple, to kill and capture as many of the humans as possible, learn the hover crafts and take the mother ships, and so they waited with an amazing patience. Gossamer webs of light lit their eyes as the sound of approacing crafts neared and they said Amen, for theirs would be Eden. One of the females sighed and adjusted the hook on her hand. What of her storm, the vesture of her life on this world, what would she become as a future mother and wife. She closed her eyes and crawled away from the gully and the advent of an endless war. She would be free, with child and free.

Ron Koppelberger (Holding the light of secret dreams)

Ron Koppelberger

Greetings

I have been poasting on this web site for over a year and I do not say much personally except with my poetry stories and artwork.   My Grandmother died yesterday at 7.00 P.M.,  she was in a lot of pain.  I take solace that she is with god now and happy.   Some might say that the forces of darkness have a monopoly on the sorrow we experience and that may be true but I know there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I ordered an advanced copy of Diablo 3 last week and it's due in today.  I guess that's like a task I'm not sure.......anyway the one thing my grandmother wanted was for me to suceed as a writer  she said you are going to be famous someday Ronnie with lots of books.  I have about 103 books with my stories in them and another 160 or 170 magazines with stories art and poetry in them and I am not famous yet.........nevertheless I know I will be because my grandmother was blessed with that kind of intuition....She will be missed and the bad guys have something extra to worry about now.  Anyway I hope you have a woderful day.

Ron Koppelberger