Horror is pessimism at its bleakest. Worst-case scenario. The darker side of reality. The glass half-empty. The situation unfathomable. In Black Bubbles, Kelli Owen presents classic genre tropes-ghosts, murderers, zombies, what you'd expect (sans sharks)-but it's the characters, rather than the tropes, that experience the story, speak of the horrors, and sometimes survive the inevitable. Sometimes. A decades-old crime shocks a family as evidence points to one of their own... An ancient evil hitchhikes its way to freedom... A child has an unusual fascination with decay... A woman excuses premeditation... Death takes a holiday... Science and good intentions make horrific bedfellows... A man hides from nightmares that invade his waking world... Kelli Owen's first collection gathers over 60,000 words, including a handful of out-of-print, difficult-to-find previously published work, a plethora of new pieces, story notes, drawings inspired by the title story, and an introduction by the legendary Thomas Monteleone.