Writing Darkness

The Works of Zachary Robert Long

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Month: October 2024

Two glowing yellow eyes peer out from the darkness of the closet

The Crow-Man
by Zachary Robert Long (3220 words, estimated reading time: 15 minutes)

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Zack Long

Charlie didn’t like it when the lights went out. The bed was warm and cozy, sure, but that was just because Mommy tucked the blankets tight around him every evening when she kissed him goodnight. He didn’t have a problem with that part. In fact, he quite enjoyed it. But then she would turn the…

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The face of a cat, mouth opened wide to reveal fangs, emerges from darkness

Mrs. Tinkles
by Zachary Robert Long (4979 words, estimated reading time: 25 minutes)

Posted on October 2, 2024April 8, 2025 by Zack Long

Samantha is going to fucking kill me, Chloe thought as she stared into the gaping hole beneath the sink. “It was just the pipes,” she whispered. “It had to be the pipes.” But she knew that wasn’t true. The pipes made tons of noise, but they never sounded like a meow before. She’d been in…

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To me, a story can be both concrete and abstract, or a concrete story can hold abstractions. And abstractions are things that really can’t be said so well with words.

— David Lynch

Recent Posts

  • A Good Mother
    by Zachary Robert Long (1049 words, estimated reading time: 5 minutes)
    She made airplane noises while balancing the slime-covered spoon as it made its descent, begging for a landing strip, but when he refused to open his...
  • Obfuscation: The Hidden of Art
    by Zachary Robert Long (1211 words, estimated reading time: 6 minutes)
    The mystery genre can largely be divided into three categories:  Who did it?, How do it?, and Why do it?   Each category requires the author...
  • My Son in the Sun
    by Zachary Robert Long (2837 words, estimated reading time: 13 minutes)
    Bills Hicks had a bit about how he didn’t understand what people saw in the beach. It’s where water meets land. What’s so special about that?...
  • Where Silence Meets Speed
    by Zachary Robert Long (2500 words, estimated reading time: 12 minutes)
    I don’t trust electric cars. And no, before you ask, it isn’t because of Musk and the endless litany of issues with Tesla. Fiat, Lotus, Hyundai,...
  • Talking Teapots: A Wallace & Gromit Treatise
    by Zachary Robert Long (1279 words, estimated reading time: 7 minutes)
    When Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) was released onto Netflix this January, my family had to watch. It had been nearly twenty years since...

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