“Ave Satani,” Michael West’s short story from the Reel Dark anthology, edited by  L. Andrew Cooper and Pamela Turner, has been named one of the Top 10 Best Horror Short Stories of 2016 in the annual P&E Readers’ Poll.

“I wish I could take some sort of credit, but I hardly touched the thing,” said co-editor L. Andrew Cooper of the tale.  “(Michael West) turned in one of the best manuscripts I’ve ever received in any of my professional outings–a well-deserved award!”

A “sojourn into apocalyptic soundscapes,” Michael West’s “Ave Satani” tells the story of a legendary film composer’s even more legendary final score  — music written for an Italian Horror film from the 1970’s that was ultimately never used.  For years, it has been one man’s holy grail.  Now, he may actually get the chance to hear this lost symphony…and we may all pay the price.

Published by Seventh Star Press, Reel Dark is a collection of award-winning authors as well as newer voices spinning tales of movie mayhem.

If you have not read this award-winning tale, you can get your very own copy of the Reel Dark anthology here.

My short story, “Ave Satani,” will be featured in the Reel Dark anthology.   Described as a “sojourn into apocalyptic soundscapes”, “Ave Satani” tells the story of a legendary film composer’s unused final score, one that should have remained lost forever.

Here is the official press release:

Seventh Star Press is proud to reveal the cover art by Aaron Drown of Aaron Drown Design for the new edition of the Reel Dark anthology from editors L. Andrew Cooper and Pamela Turner.  With a cinema theme and a mix of speculative fiction tales that include suspense, horror, science fiction, fantasy, and even poetry, readers will find this anthology a unique and captivating reading experience.

This edition features 2 brand new stories, one from bestselling horror author Michael West and one from acclaimed author and editor Alexander S. Brown.  eBook and print editions are set for release in the first week of May.

Synopsis of Reel Dark:
Welcome to a macabre cinema for the imagination, to twisted tales projected not on a movie screen but on the page. In Reel Dark you’ll find suspense, horror, science fiction, and fantasy in fiction and poetry by authors ranging from new voices to bestsellers. From the battle for recognition between a child actress and a vengeful, long-forgotten film star in “Whatever Happened to Peggy…Who?” to a hapless artist whose talent propels him into a nightmare of jealousy and revenge in “The Dreamist,” the authors have created worlds filled with madness and twisted desires. Where the lines between reality and fantasy blur, where films flicker at 24 frames per second, we catch a glimpse of strangers’ dreams and nightmares. As David Lynch puts it, “This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.” As Karen Head writes in her poem “Amnesia,” responding to Lynch, “In the movies / everything is illusion.” But with cameras everywhere, how do you know whether you’re in a movie?