Did you know “The Iron Shroud” by William Mudford was the impetus for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum”? Well, it was. I

In the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Alice steps through a mirror and into a Looking Glass World where everything is reversed and the rules of chess become important.

In Jack London’s short story Moon Face, our narrator has a deep-seated dislike for his neighbor, Jack Claverhouse, a man with a face like a moon and a constant cheerful demeanor. His hatred grows until he takes it upon himself to fix the problem of the moon-faced man.

A pretty young girl named Rosamond discovers a mesmerizing violet flame dancing around her forehead. But every time she looks in a mirror it flickers and dims.

Published in 1892 it’s both a horror story and a feminist piece. I’ve read it dozens of times and I still love it, if not

The short story “Sand Walls, Paper Doors” is from my first collection of short stories called, “A Robe of Feathers and Other Stories”. Set in Japan, it’s a somewhat autobiographical tale about a exchange student trying to find her way in the world. Also, there are quite a few youkai, these curious Japanese creatures.  

Today’s story is “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, a particularly relevant tale for the world’s current state of affairs.