Book excerpt: WELCOME TO THE MASQUERADE 2020 was a reality horror show. And like most obnoxious entertainment reality shows, this one had its own idiosyncratic rules and penalties. Call it The Big Lockdown. We were forced to go to ground, to hide in our holes. Some went underground and never came back. Uncertainty ruled because the rules kept changing. Were we following the science or the mad scientists? Was the light at the end of the tunnel the fiery mouth of hell? We couldn’t say for sure, so we ventured out for food, booze and sundries like scavengers in a slow-motion apocalypse, keeping our distance from fellow human beings because you never knew who might be carrying that heavy viral load. And everywhere we went, we went behind the mask. So, it became obvious: The theme of our offering of extreme horror tales from 2020 had to be Masquerade. Our masquerading storytellers nevertheless did what they do best. They went deep into the belly of the beast and sent up fictions reflective of these “trying” times. Their stories peel away the masks (or in some cases, the skin) to reveal the inner workings of darkest hearts and minds and deeper fears. TABLE OF CONTENTS The Nipples In Dad’s Tool Box - Ronald Kelly Going Green - Christine Morgan Whiskey To The Wound - Rachel Nussbaum /thestrangethingwebecome - Eric LaRocca Hey Valentine - Amanda Cecelia Lang In Subspace, No One Can Hear You Scream - Hailey Piper The Pogonip Fog - Sean Patrick Hazlett Gunfire And Brimstone - Alicia Hilton The Happiest Man In The World - Matthew Brockmeyer Synaesthete - Melanie Harding-Shaw Full Moon Shindig - Patrick C. Harrison Iii The Drinking-Horn - Christine Morgan Otto Hahn Speaks To The Dead - Octavia Cade All The Stars In Her Eyes - Deborah Sheldon The Village - Matias F. Travieso-Diaz The Smell Of Night In The Basement - Wendy N. Wagner The Saint - Alessandro Manzetti Her Wounded Eyes - Robert Guffey