Kaidankai: Ghost, Supernatural, and Dark Short Fiction

What would happen if people with phantom limbs could put the ghostly appendages to work? Can they be used to change the past? Michael Fowler is a humor and science fiction writer living in Ohio. You can read "The Phantom Detective" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com. Click here to learn about the 2023 Kaidankai contest for writers. Follow us on: Twitter Mastodon Instagram YouTube Facebook Please...

Every Sunday I post a favorite story that was broadcast in the early days of the Kaidankai. So, whether you listen while working or relaxing, turn up the volume and enjoy "The Hunter's Wife" by Andi Brooks. A man falls in love with a woman and creates a long and loving life with her. But can we ever truly know the people in our lives? A Tokyo resident since 2006, Anglo-Irish writer Andi Brooks is...

A young witch learns the strength and depth of her powers. When a rogue witch puts the entire coven at risk, will her powers be enough to save the community? Lori D'Angelo's work has appeared in various literary journals including Drunken Boat, Gargoyle, Hawaii Pacific Review, Heavy Feather Review, Juked, Literary Mama, the Potomac Review, Reed Magazine and Word Riot. She is a fellow at Hambidge C...

The mind under stress sees things that aren't there, imagines conversations, and befriends strange creatures. Or, it sees peculiar things, has conversations with strange bedfellows, and befriends dangerous creatures and we just attribute it to mental illness because our own brains are too uncomfortable with the possibility such things could be real. War was written in Russian by Jonathan Vidgop an...

What changed God's favorite angel to the black-hearted, evil devil of today? The answer will surprise you. Melissa Miles is an American who lives in New Zealand. She had many professional iterations, including acting, teaching, and film-making. She is now focused on her writing and her aging menagerie. You can read "A Devil in the Making" at https://www.kaidankaistories.com. Hear "Sympathy for the...

​A couple takes a detour on their way to New Orleans and gets lost. Can they escape what they encounter on the backroads of the Deep South? Lamont A. Turner is a New Orleans area author and father of four. His work has appeared in numerous print and online magazines and anthologies. "Souls In A Blender," his first collection of short stories was released by St. Rooster Books in 2021 and is availab...

A story from the Saami culture. A father and his children worry about an evil and powerful witch showing up at their house. They do what they can to ward off danger. Will it be enough? Ron Riekki’s books include Blood/Not Blood Then the Gates (Middle West Press, poetry), My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting in Extinction (Loyola University Maryland’s Apprentice House Press, hybrid),...

A short detour takes an unsuspecting psychic to church. But the preacher and congregation have a few unresolved issues to work out, and only a psychic can help. Geoffrey Marshall is a writer in Aurora, Canada. He knows just enough to be dangerous (mostly to himself) in several different fields. You can find his work in The Ansible, Academy of the Heart and Mind and the September 2022 issue of Moon...

Artists often have to be creative to make ends meet. What lengths would you go to to have your art read/seen/listened to? Is it possible to stop once you've established a "fan" base? Joyce Chng's fiction has appeared in The Apex Book of World SF II , We See A Different Frontier , Cranky Ladies of History , Accessing The Future, The Future Fire and Anathema Magazine . Joyce also co-edited THE SEA I...

What goes on in the mind of a serial killer? And is there any protection--in this world or another--against them? Adam Breckenridge is an Overseas Traveling Faculty member of the University of Maryland Global Campus where he travels the world teaching US military stationed overseas and is currently based in Japan. He has thirty-three story publications to his name and has most recently appeared in...

When a pet dies, is its ghost obligated to be loyal to its earth family? Especially if one family member didn't love it? ​James Rumpel is a retired high school math teacher who has greatly enjoyed spending some of his free time turning a few of the odd ideas circling his brain into stories. He lives in Wisconsin with his wonderful wife, Mary. You can read "Lucky" at https://www.kaidankaistories.co...

Charles Dickens really hates grumpy people during Christmas. Here is another story that helps us understand there is much to love about life. Charles Dickens was an English writer of the 1800s who created some of the Western World's most famous stories including Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. You can read "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" at https://www.kaid...

Even sleep demons have their troubles. Where do they go to solve their problems? Luis Paredes is a horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction writer living in Westchester, New York. Current work includes Head Hunters, his debut novel featuring 10-foot-tall praying mantis demons; Out On a Limb, the first in a series of magic noir mystery adventures staring private occult investigators Rebecca Suarez...

A simple story about an evening in the life of a zombie. It's funny and gross, a little weird, and very surprising. Ronan O’Driscoll is the author of Poor Farm, published by Moose House Press, and Chief O’Neill, published by Somerville Press. Poor Farm is an imagining of what might happen to an autistic young man in nineteenth century Nova Scotia. Chief O’Neill covers the life of Francis O’Neill (...

The term 'sensei' is an honorific title bestowed on teachers and experts, and there is a certain amount of clout that comes with the title. In "Jack Sensei"the title refers to an artist who made his name in Japan painting portraits of beautiful women. How can that possibly go wrong? L.P. Ring is the author of four Seoul-based crime novels and a neo-noir thriller which are all available on Amazon a...

Japan is known for being a safe country. You still have to watch out, though, for unexpected dangers. E.F. Crabtree is an artist and writer based in Buffalo, NY, but used to work in Japan. She co-founded Kyoto Cryptids, a literature and arts magazine about Kyoto, Japan, with her friends. The magazine, along with more of her work, can be found at: https://kyotocryptids.gumroad.com/ You can read "Th...

A samurai places a curse on his enemy: whoever hurts his family will be maimed or die a horrible death. A curse on one family is a blessing spell to the other family. But are curses effective against people who don’t believe in them? Deaf since birth, Anne Hansell is a third generation Japanese-American and distant relative to Mitsunari Ishida, who lost the Battle of Sekigahara to Tokugawa. During...

Melissa Miles explores the concept of anthropomorphism and wonders how a car would interact with its family if it had thoughts and feelings. Melissa Miles was born in the US but resides in New Zealand. She has had many professional iterations--acting, teaching, film-making--but is now focused on her writing and caring for her aging menagerie. You can read "Rover" at https://www.kaidankaistories.co...

This is a story about friendship, who you trust, and who comes through for you in your time of need. Sometimes, that’s who you least expect. Tyler Marable studies creative writing at Google University. He enjoys good food, good beer, and good people. He is an African American and aims to write fiction with protagonists that are POC, but also aims to write fiction that appeals to all races and ethn...

Four teenagers visit the town’s haunted house. The party they encounter in the house, though, has nothing to do with the booze and weed they brought with them. This is a complicated story, with scene changes and multiple voices. It was a real challenge to present. Unlike my normal podcasts, which have no sound effects, I used an eerie background drone to indicate when the action happens in the gho...

What’s your ailment? Feeling old and tired? Do you have a bum knee or sciatica shooting pain down your leg? Whatever your ailment—rheumatism, toothache, sore throat, from itchy insect bites to ingrown toenail to ideopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Mister Mungo’s Fanciful Elixir Cures All. You’ll grow to depend on it, but it’s so reasonaly priced, you’ll be back for more and more. Ah…but have you ever w...

Imagine your husband, wife, partner, just ups and disappears one day, then a few weeks later, you get a letter from them. Well, you would rip open that letter with so many questions and hopes. And, from a writer’s perspective, the possibilities for a good story are endless with this premise. Well, in Dear Madeline, Christian Riley gives us a good story, one with a weird little twist that, as he re...

In "The Shrine," Pettus takes us on a journey into a deep, dark forest, a creepy, dilapidated trailer, and a weird shrine to the Virgin Mary. There’s rock music, nasty people, innocents and monsters…in short, everything you would want in a story that is the first in our October Halloween series. Robert Pettus is an English as a Second Language teacher at the University of Cincinnati. Previously, h...

The emergency room is full of blood and gore and death. It may be surprising, then, that the character in Prosit’s story, chooses deer hunting as a means of relaxation. But sometimes, there is no escape. Joe Prosit writes sci-fi, horror, and psycho fiction. “Machines, Monsters and Maniacs” is a self-published collection of sixteen of his short stories. You can find it on Amazon or at his website,...

A friendly ghost helps a detective solve a long-standing mystery. Sometimes, mysteries may be better left unsolved. James Rumpel is a retired high school math teacher who has greatly enjoyed spending some of his free time turning a few of the odd ideas circling his brain into stories. He lives in Wisconsin with his wonderful wife, Mary. You can read "The Blue Murders" at https://www.whiteenso.com/...