READER BEWARE 2022

We're back, baby! READER BEWARE is a small collaborative horror zine that's free to download featuring comics, poetry, and short fiction pieces from seven authors. 

Excerpt from the cover story, The Death Tree by Lucy Eller: 

In the summer of 1980 and all the years that follow, mentions of Jonathan Sladek will be met with responses of, “Camp Raytona has never employed anyone of that name.”

But for now, it is 1979. You are twenty-two years old. Your name is Jonathan Sladek, and you are standing in front of a tree.

The tree is massive, placed in the middle of a clearing a five minute walk off the Red Trail. You just have to turn right at the large rock with red moss growing on it, turn right again, and keep going until you hit the clearing. You couldn’t miss it if you tried. Again, it’s absolutely massive, not just in terms of height but in terms of width, too, with knots of roots spreading out all around it, twisting and entwining like tentacles. Above, it breaks off into branches, just as twisted and entwined, that fade into a thick canopy of bright green.

It’s a dare. “Anyone who carves their name on that tree dies.” There are no names on it. You approach the tree, drawing your pocket knife, and you pick the spot where nobody will miss your name. The blade cuts into the bark with surprising ease, though it still takes you some time to clumsily carve in the fourteen letters. You step back and admire your handiwork.

JONATHAN SLADEK

You return to the Red Trail, where your girlfriend of four years (Daphne), your bunkmate (Cliff), and Daphne’s friend (Gail) are waiting.

“Did you do it?” Cliff asks at once.

“Yeah, you can check if you want.”

“Absolutely not,” Daphne says, “I’m not going near that thing.”

You, Cliff, and Gail laugh at Daphne’s silly superstitions and you walk back to camp because Rest Hour is almost over. You catch Daphne’s hand, her skin warm against yours. She says, “Your palm is sweaty.”

Also featuring: 

• A car crash near a creepy small town
• Human-compatible Cordyceps fungus
• Luridly-illustrated horror comics dripping with blood
• Lesbian vampires