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    Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity
    Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity
    Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity
    Ebook51 pages43 minutes

    Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity

    By Shane Jiraiya Cummings

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    About this ebook

    Explore the human mind as it is pushed to breaking point ... What if every man you'd ever met was named Ian? What if the stress of an unrelenting routine intruded while you were stopped at an intersection? Insanity is a darkness that can envelop you before you're even aware of it. Sometimes, it begins with an itch, sometimes, a mysterious invitation. Regardless of the catalyst, it never ends well.

    The Apocrypha Sequence is a series of dark fantasy collections with interwoven themes and interconnected stories from Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Australia's master of the macabre. Also in the Apocrypha Sequence: Deviance, Divinity, and Inferno.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherShane Jiraiya Cummings
    Release dateJan 19, 2011
    ISBN9781458029171
    Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity
    Author

    Shane Jiraiya Cummings

    Shane Jiraiya Cummings has been acknowledged as "one of Australia’s leading voices in dark fantasy". Shane is the author of the forthcoming Yokai Wars series (Circle of Tears, Clockwork Legion, and Blight of the Underworld) and the dark fiction books The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After, Shards, the Apocrypha Sequence (Deviance, Divinity, Insanity, and Inferno), and the Ravenous Gods cycle (Requiem for the Burning God and Dreams of Destruction). He has won the Australian Shadows Award and two Ditmar Awards, and he has been nominated for more than twenty other major awards, including Spain's Premios Ignotus.Shane is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association and former Vice President of the Australian Horror Writers Association. When he is not writing, Shane is an editor and journalist by day. By night (and on weekends), he can be found indulging in hobbies such as playing the guitar, photography, sword fighting, and testing the limits of his new cruiser motorcycle.In his youth, Shane was trained in the deadly arts of the ninja, and the name Jiraiya (lit. "Young Thunder", after the legendary ninja Jiraiya) was bestowed upon him by his sensei.Shane was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. He lived for many years in Perth, Western Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand, but he recently returned to his old home town to revisit the ghosts of his past.More information on Shane (including his free fiction) can be found online at www.jiraiya.com.au.

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      Book preview

      Apocrypha Sequence - Shane Jiraiya Cummings

      Apocrypha Sequence:

      INSANITY

      Shane Jiraiya Cummings

      Copyright © Shane Jiraiya Cummings 2011.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

      This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Except in the case of short-term lending, if you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      All characters in this book are fictitious.

      No reference to any living person is intended.

      * * *

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Ian

      Stop

      Itch

      Song of the Infernal Machine

      The Black Door

      * * *

      Introduction

      Welcome to the Apocrypha Sequence, a collection of themed stories outside the continuity of my 'regular' collections, Shards (flash fiction) and the forthcoming The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After (short stories and novellas). The stories in the Apocrypha Sequence lie somewhere in between. There is some overlap between the Apocrypha stories and those in my collections, but this is because I have cherry-picked stories from my body of work to suit the themes present within the Sequence. For each book in the Apocrypha Sequence, I chose a story or two from my collections, a couple of previously uncollected stories, and the odd original or two. Each volume in the Sequence is a remix. You might find a story from this volume elsewhere (by itself or in one of my collections), but its inclusion in the Apocrypha Sequence gives it a more appropriate context—and in some cases, demonstrates its place in a shared world of directly-linked stories.

      Apocrypha Sequence: Insanity explores the human mind as it is pushed to breaking point. What if every man you'd ever met was named Ian? When would the penny drop that something wasn't quite right? Insanity can creep in at anytime. What if the stress of an unrelenting routine intruded while you were stopped at an intersection? How about while working on a top secret government project? Insanity is a darkness that can envelop you before you're even aware of it. Sometimes, it begins with an itch, sometimes, a mysterious invitation. Regardless of the catalyst, it never ends well.

      Read on and enjoy this volume, and if you crave more, please seek out the other three volumes that comprise the Apocrypha Sequence. Details about the rest of the Sequence and my other e-books can be found at the end of this volume.

      — Shane Jiraiya Cummings

      * * *

      Ian

      Every man I've ever met has been named Ian. I'm not exaggerating.

      I am the daughter of proud and doting parents, Ian and Margaret, and was raised in what Ian called 'backwoods' Tasmania, well away from anything that could be called civilisation.

      My Dad was a writer. He'd sold a few books in his glory days and could afford the isolation. Mum just fussed around the house a lot, although she did visit her cousins Sue and Shirley up in Burnie every month. Dad and I also went into town, for supplies, but only once in a blue moon. He enjoyed the solitude of his castle, and I was raised to know no different.

      When we went to town, we shopped at the grocery co-op. The store owner was a rotund man named Ian. He used to wave and smile and carry on when Dad came in.

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