Stephen A. Roddewig

“At Sea”

Featured in Rogue Waves from Dragon Souls Press

A horror thriller where a merchant crew is set upon by gold-eyed eels with strange hypnotic abilities

Samuel has served many years aboard the merchant sloop Spot. One night, Spot has anchored in the Tybee Roads off the coast of Georgia.

On deck watch, Samuel spots a derelict ship’s boat and ties it alongside Spot, finding a ship’s log. Unable to read more than a few words, Samuel is unable to understand the tale of terror it tells for the crew of The Kingfisher, another merchantman that laid anchor at the roads.

The next morning, Spot is hailed by a cutter from the Revenue Service searching for the missing ship. Its officer initially suspects that the sloop’s crew had a hand in the disappearance until Samuel produces the ship’s log. Its account of gold-eyed eels scaling the sides of the ship to hypnotize the crew into stepping off the sides to an unknown fate is originally met with skepticism.

Skepticism, that is, until the eels appear to each side of Spot.

Also includes bonus story “SEALAB IV,” a horror thriller set beneath the sea at the edge of the Pacific-Antarctic trench.

“Off Martinique”

Featured in Beautiful Darkness 2 from Dragon Souls Press

A horror thriller set in a lighthouse on a deserted Caribbean island

Sentenced to serve out his jail sentence on a deserted island as the sole keeper of the St. Croix Light, Maxwell plots his next escape attempt.

However, the strong currents surrounding him provide no obvious answers, and he finds himself more and more preoccupied with the mystery of St. Croix Light’s former keeper, who vanished one day with only smooth, winding tracks in the sand as any form of evidence.

Events start to point toward the water cistern in the basement as a potential source of clues, culminating in Maxwell discovering a human skull. He also finds a tiny eel moving in the cistern and adopts it as his pet, naming it Julian. However, Julian soon grows too large and shows signs of aggression toward Maxwell.

Moving the eel to a larger container, Maxwell prepares St. Croix Light for a massive storm moving in from the Atlantic. But he will soon find himself facing more than the elements as Julian’s progenitor returns to collect her kin, culminating in a desperate battle atop the lighthouse that yields the final clue to the former keeper’s fate.

“Dawn on Taylor’s Creek”

Featured in Pirate Gold from Dragon Souls Press

An action-packed pirate adventure set on the coast of colonial North Carolina

A new mission.

Lieutenant Jack Nealson and his company of Royal Rangers have been sent to retake Beaufort, part of the North Carolina Colony, from the Spanish privateers who have taken over.

Their initial insertion into the town goes almost to plan, and the supporting brigantine HMS Swallow moves to engage the Spanish sloop La Tormenta.

Now fully alerted to the presence of British regulars, the privateers still ashore make their stand led by their boisterous captain Cardiz, and the mission devolves into a hand-to-hand engagement in the town square.

As Spanish captain and British officer lock blades, the balance of the battle rests with he whose courage holds fast as steel sings and spent gunpowder fills the air.