The twenty third issue of the UK's most controversial weird fiction magazine features Adam's Lovecraftian story, Equilibrioception Revoked. Also featuring: The Body Bank By Charlotte Johnson Illustrated By Joe Young, Double Ganger By E.B. Hoight, The Passenger By Edward A. Taylor, Angus By Alexander Williamson Illustrated By R. J. Smuin, Ancestral Sins By Scathe meic Beorh, Squatters By Todd Outcalt Illustrated By Candra Hope, The Dink, the Donk, and the Pool Pile By Douglas J. Ogurek, And Then There Was Only Us By Kenneth Buff, I Know You By Shaun AJ Hamilton. Read the magazine Christopher Fowler calls "edgy and dark". www.morpheustales.com

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He stumbles maniacally across the rooftops on the eve of the joyous day, being careful not to topple to his death. The sack slung across his shoulder is heavy
– much heavier than it was at the start of the night – and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to breathe, for fat men do struggle with such simple things, even when not dancing clumsily through the night. A slip almost sends him over the edge, and he drops to his knees, clawing optimistically at a nearby chimneybreast. 
    Cursing, he realises it’s of no use, and before he knows what’s happening he’s sliding down the rooftop, pushing snow aside. The crammed sack follows the fat man down as if loath to desert him, not after all they had
been through that night. “Ho, ho, holy shit!” the man
grunts as the rooftop disappears beneath him, replaced by air. He has time – mere seconds, but long enough – to picture what they would say when they opened his sack, how people would recoil, turn aside and vomit in the fresh snow. They would gasp, and sob, and cover their children’s eyes with tremulous gloved hands, and he would be dead before them, the anti-Santa, his unwrapped gifts strewn across the snow, soaking into the fleeting
whiteness.
    As he folds up with a nauseating crunch on the silent street below, the lips beneath his silvery beard curl into a perpetual smile.

Every year, without fail, Bobby ate baubles. His parents refused to keep them in the house, but at Christmastime, their son would find a way to satiate his incongruous hunger.
    “I’m going to Jerry’s,” he called from the front door.
    Dan, Bobby’s father, leapt up from the sofa. “If I find out you’ve been eating baubles,” he said, “you’re grounded for a fortnight.” But he knew that such threats were pointless; Bobby was an addict, as dependent on glittery decorations as an alcoholic was on cheap booze.
    When Bobby returned that night, with sparkling lips and a sorrowful expression, neither parent reproached
him. In time, they hoped he would seek help, but for now their support was superfluous.
    “We should be thankful,” Dan told his wife,“that Christmas comes but once a year.” And yet Abigail – Mom – was far from grateful, for it was she that cleaned the blood from the toilet bowl, watching the fleshy shards intently as they flushed away.
    And the oddest thing about it was: Bobby didn’t bother with Easter, said the chocolate eggs tasted
funny.

The Marionnettiste of Versailles and Other Oddities, Adam's new collection of short stories, will be released in March 2014 as both a paperback and digital book. Featuring 25 stories, 7 of which are previously unpublished, The Marionnettiste of Versailles is a must-own for fans of the weird. To pre-order the trade paperback now, click on the Paypal button below. Not only will you receive this collection of bizarre and horrific stories before anyone else, but Adam will also sign and personalise your book for you before despatch. Just include your personalisation message in the Paypal message box upon checkout.