13DWF Day Four: "The Rave" by Andy Joynes
Our fourth story of The 13 Days of Weird Flash is Andy Joynes's "The Rave" from our "Summer '23" release.
Happy Cyber Monday!
If the online shopping bug has bitten you and you’re interested in some weird flash fiction for yourself or a friend, we have a page set up that will direct you to your local Amazon to pick up any of our fine publications. Please give it a look and see if anything strikes your fancy today.
Given that it’s Monday and we all have things to catch up on after the holiday weekend, we’re going to jump right into today’s story, “The Rave” from WFQ’s Summer ’22 edition by Andy Joynes.
In addition to being both a storyteller and illustrator (check out his illustrations in WFQ’s Fall & Halloween ’23 installment), Andy is a horror artist/sculptor and has been a practitioner of Japanese martial arts since the age of 12. He has a degree in music technology and spent the best part of the 90’s producing acid house/techno. He still occasionally dabbles in electronic music. He’s had a couple of exhibitions, and his artwork has been published in several horror books. (Stay tuned after the story for those!)
The Rave
By Andy Joynes
July 23rd, 2023
Clive Peters (aka DJ Dammij), was in a field that he and his brother, part time events organiser, part time MC, and full time drug dealer, Jay Peters (aka MC Distrukshon) had located last week. The field was perfect for the rave that the brothers were planning to put on.
Besides the underground legends that were ‘Dammij ‘N’ Distrukshon’ there would also be DJ Diggzy, DJ Flash, and headlining the event were DJ Grabbit ‘N’ MC Skarpa. Already, from the Facebook notifications alone, over 1000 people were expected to attend. Exact figures would be much higher, almost double.
The location of the field, was an extremely remote, abandoned farmstead. An old, rotted signpost at a ramshackle, crumbling old farmhouse, had identified the place as ‘Talbot Farm’. It was ideally isolated amongst the Howgill fells, somewhere between the towns of Sedbergh and Tebay.
The Peters brothers and their crew had arrived at the location mid-morning, and by late afternoon had already set up the main stage and generators, and were now in the late stages of finalising the finer details of the sound and lighting systems and the smoke machines. This rave, entitled ‘Moon Dance’ was going to be perfect.
The Peters brothers had planned it all perfectly, even down to the fact that on that night, Sunday, July 23rd there would be a cloudless sky, and a very visible full moon.
What the team of rave organisers did not know, was that the location they had inadvertently chosen was cursed.
For generations, the five, shunned, inbred families that bordered ‘Talbot Farm’ had lived in the grip of supernatural fear and abject poverty. They bred more sheep than any of their outside neighbours. It was just that two thirds of the stock that the families bred never went to market. Instead, the majority of their lambs were placed in the sacrificial field every full moon. It was the only way to appease ‘The Ancient One’.
The Ancient One was in a viler mood than usual, which was quite something considering the murderous rage that it perpetually spent its waking hours in. It had been human once, many, many moons ago. Back then it would only transform into a beast under the influence of a full moon. Now it had lost all but the last vestiges of its humanity. It spent most of the time it was not under the lunar influence in a state of deep hibernation, but tonight its peace had been disturbed.
11.13pm
The light of the full moon fell upon the Ancient fiend, sending shuddering waves of transformation through its already bestial form. Its razor claws and teeth elongated, its bunched muscles rippled beneath its matted, tic riddled fur. It raised its bear trap head to the moon, howled, then it was off into the summer night, eager to sate its ravenous appetite for flesh and blood and to take the twin gifts of murder and mutilation to the noisy interlopers.
And so, the Moon Dance commenced.
Q&A with Andy Joynes
WFQ: Why do you write weird fiction and when did you start?
AJ: I have been a lifelong horror fanatic, fascinated with all things related to monsters and the supernatural since being a toddler. I dabbled with writing weird fiction as a kid, but only because I was forced to write during English lessons. I became a published author by default, when my cunning plan to infiltrate the weird fiction world in order to push my artwork backfired on me and I was invited to write a story for a weird fiction/Lovecraftian cat anthology. That book was Weird Tails and my story was a very gruesome piece entitled "RoadKill".
WFQ: Who are the literary inspirations for your contributions?
AJ: Without a doubt my favourite author is Clive Barker, but also the usual suspects: Lovecraft, M.R. James, Arthur Machen, William Hope Hodgeson, Stephen King, James Herbert, Ramsay Campbell, etc.
WFQ: What do you like most about the 500-word format we use? What do you find most challenging with it?
AJ: I have found the 500 word format to be an excellent exercise in literary restraint. To distill the essence of a story down to its absolute bare minimum and still make it coherent is quite a challenge.
WFQ: If you were made editor for an issue, which theme would you choose to guide a whole WFQ installment?
AJ: Specific supernatural creatures. I mean like a Vampire issue, a Werewolf issue, a Zombie issue. Ooh, a cryptid issue would be cool!
WFQ: Where else can we read more of your work? Where can we find out more about you?
AJ: The aforementioned Weird Tails, Corridors, and Portraits of Terror, all published by Innsmouth Gold and featuring stories by the Innsmouth Writing Circle, of which several other WFQ authors are members. I also have stories in the anthologies: Unlocking The Darkness, Tales of the Sanguine Elixir, and Beyond the Stones.
On my personal Facebook page you can find most of my published works along with some of my artwork and various other nonsense. And my Facebook group Dark Dimensions, Horror Artists/Writers Showcase, which I set up some years ago as a for those involved in any aspect of the horror genre to plug their work.
Thanks again to Andy for introducing us to the Moon Dance. May your own Monday get off to a better start than that of the Ancient One today.
We’ll be seeing you soon.