Free Black Treacle Magazine (Issue 4) by Black Treacle Publications

BLACK TREACLE
MAGAZINE
Issue #4
     
     
    EDITED BY A.P.
MATLOCK
     
    Smashwords
Edition
     
    Copyrights and
Acknowledgements
     
    “ Editor’s Notes” Copyright © 2013 by A.P. Matlock
    “ The Devil’s Due” Copyright © 2012 by Mike Rimar
    “ Nainaine of the Bayou” Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Keelty
    “ Corn-fed Baby and
Gravy ” Copyright © 2013 by Christian Riley
     
    Cover Image
     
    “ Devil’s Contract ” ©
2006 Mario
Anima , used
under  Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
License
     
    Publisher—Black
Treacle Publications
    http://blacktreacle.ca

    Smashwords
Edition, License Notes
     
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    ISBN: 9781301258222
    ISSN: 2291-241X
     
     
    Black Treacle
Publications
269 Charlotte Street
    PO BOX 265
SYDNEY
    Sydney, NS B1P
1T0
    CANADA
     
     
    Black Treacle
Magazine is a free bimonthly Magazine dedicated to original short
fiction in the Horror, Dark Fantasy, and Speculative fiction
Genres. Released on the first or second Tuesday of each month
     
     
    TABLE OF
CONTENTS
     
    Editor’s
Notes
    A.P.
Matlock
     
    The
Devil’s Due
    Mike Rimar
     
    Nainaine of the
Bayou
    Christopher
Keelty
     
    Corn-fed Baby
and Gravy
    Christian
Riley
     

Editor’s
Notes
    A.P.
Matlock
     
    Hard to believe
it is August already but time really does fly when you are having
fun.
     
    Our next issue
is just around the corner, so I wanted to take a little time to
talk about it.
     
    October is a
fine month. It might even be my favourite month. We’ve got
Thanksgiving at the beginning (in Canada) and then Halloween at the
end. Two festivals of gluttony. Oh, turkey! Oh, candy!
     
    To celebrate,
October’s issue will be Hallowed-themed. You can see the Black
Treacle website for more details but for the month of October we
will only be reading submissions that have strong association to
Halloween.
     
    Four down, two
to go!
     
    ***
     
    A.P. Matlock is a Writer and the
Editor of Black Treacle
Magazine.
     
     
The Devil’s Due
    Mike Rimar
     
    “Imp!” My
master’s voice rumbled with the comforting malice of a thousand
forges. “What the Heaven is this?”
    I leaned
forward hoping to appear sufficiently inquisitive and peered at the
Soul List. Created from the flayed skin of the eternally damned,
the scroll unfurled across his obsidian desk. Smoke trailed from
the blackened rim of the hole he’d made with his stiletto-like
finger. Around the hole the remaining letters of a name fading from
view.
    Blinking once,
I blinked again. Even by the bastardized physics of Hell, something
like that should have been impossible. But my master demanded and
answer and I made a great show of pinching my features in pensive
repose, heeding the first lesson upon my servitude that ignorance
was an undesirable virtue.
    “Ah, yes,” I
said. “Well,” I considered. Having not a clue why this had
happened, I ventured an educated guess. “Perhaps his situation has
changed.”
    “Perhaps?”
Spittle, searing hot as molten lava, peppered my exposed skin.
“This man is supposed to be damned. This man, this Tomas Luis
Grandon, is scheduled to arrive today, this very hour. Satan has
been awaiting his execution for years. Now, he isn’t arriving at
all! Tell me, Imp, how does a damned man become undamned?”
    Trembling, I
gave the list a closer viewing in vain hope I might glean some clue
to the mystery. “He might have found religion.” My fingers caressed
my blistered skin. “I understand that happens a lot in prison.”
    My demon
master dismissed my suggestion with a wave. “That born again
nonsense doesn’t work for capital crimes. You kill your fellow man;
you burn--that’s the