RobSmales.com
I write character-driven dark fiction.
What do you do?
Old Mr. Ross didn’t believe in LaundryLegs. He thought the monstrous centipede was made up by his wife—a joke to scare their kids. After his wife’s death, Mr. Ross finds himself face-to-face with the creature. Or does he?
“New homeowners, take heed: previous occupants may leave more than memories behind, and some infestations are impervious to insecticides. Smales’ LaundryLegs delivers the creepy crawlies with precisely the right tempo of building paranoia. Never again will the slithering shadow spied out of the corner of your eye look the same.”
-Rebecca Rowland, author of White Trash & Recycled Nightmares
Reviews: Madelon's Reviews
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People—children—in Cherokee, North Carolina, are dying. Murdered.
The police say things are under control, but the death toll is climbing.
Enter Carl Spaberg, ace reporter: legend in his own mind.
Carl doesn't know why his bosses have sent him to Cherokee, nor does he care. Recently blackballed down to tabloid status, Carl only wants one thing: to break a story so big and juicy it'll catapult him back into the big leagues--and he's not going to let a little thing like the truth stand in his way.
But when the case involves an obnoxious investigator, the world's oldest car thief, and a thousand-year-old ogress, isn't it possible the truth may actually be stranger than fiction?
Reviews:
The crew of the Ravager thought they were on top of the world, taking what they wanted and burning the rest―even the Royal Navy couldn't stop them.
Then they met the tribe.
Then they found the fog.
And in the fog they couldn't see what was coming until it was far too late.
Red Blood, White Wood, a standalone not-so-short story, available now in the Kindle store for just 99 cents!
Beware the fog.
It was 1975, and they were just boys being boys. Kids being kids. It was supposed to be a simple hazing—just something to get the neighborhood loser off their backs.
And then things went . . . wrong.
Will they ever be right again?
From the slightly odd mind of Rob Smales, through the twisted vehicle of Bloodshot Books, comes Friends in High Places, a novella about friendship, personal growth, and, let's face it, death.
Reviews: Hellnotes―EP Hellnotes―BJL
"Christmas?"
"Too commercialized."
"Krampusnacht?"
"Too mainstream."
When Brian and Carol came to England, all they wished for was the most traditional holiday celebration they could find: a dance in the village square, dinner in the inn's taproom, and a lovely winter stroll beneath the stars.
No one told them to be careful what they wished for: they just might get it.
A terrifying tale from seasoned horror writer Rob Smales, just in time for the holiday. Because not all Christmases are bright.
—OUT OF PRINT
Do funerals make you chuckle?
Is Hannibal Lecter a really funny guy?
Do friends and family keep on telling you "That’s nothing to laugh at"? Is the dark side of humor your thing?
Step right up and grab A Sharp Stick in the Eye (and other funny stories), fourteen tales of the darkly humorous, collected for you into one fantastic volume. Featuring original stories by the four-time Stoker nominated king of the horrifically funny, Jeff Strand, and Stoker Award nominated author John McIlveen, and edited by Rob Smales.
That’s nothing to laugh at? Oh, we disagree.
Reviews: Hellnotes
—OUT OF PRINT
In Triplicity, the first installment in a series known as the Terror Project, you’ll find a trio of dead women with three very different tales.
"Brando and Bad Choices," by Stacey Longo
A vain woman learns firsthand if there’s an afterlife . . . and if one can find redemption, even in hell.
"Steel," by Tony Tremblay
A young woman leads a group of survivors in a dangerous, dystopian world.
"The Christmas Spirit," by Rob Smales
A mother-in-law explains how a holiday tradition got its decidedly spiritual start.
Reviews: Horror MadeButtonholed Book Reviews
—OUT OF PRINT
The dead of winter: the coldest part of winter.
~The Oxford English Dictionary
Dead of Winter: a trio of ghostly tales to chill your blood on those cold winter nights.
~Rob Smales
Publication Date: December 22, 2013
My first attempt at scraping some of my stories together, out of print due to differences with the publisher.
—OUT OF PRINT
From the dark corners of award-winning horror writer Rob Smales's twisted mind come thirteen tales of murder, terror, ghosts, and ghouls.
A boy learns how to be a man in a post-apocalyptic world . . .
An old man teaches his grandson to do the right thing, with terrifying results . . .
A plane crash leaves a damaged man doing whatever he must to survive . . .
This collection of the scary and sublime will burrow into the most disturbed part of your soul, leaving you wondering: what was that noise in the other room?
Perhaps it was nothing.
Or perhaps it was an echo of darkness.
Featuring my Pushcart Prize nominated shorts, "Death of the Boy" and "In Full Measure."
Reviews:DarkMedia.Com