Notes on “Panacea”

This story was written for the anthology, Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love. It meant a great deal to me, so I rose to the occasion and submitted my best work possible. The story grew from the small seed of an idea I’d had about an alien parasite infesting a woman and her children.

This tale is among my darkest. I was in a terrible frame of mind when I wrote it. I can’t remember exactly why, now, but it definitely shows in the narrative. It’s not an erotic piece, but the nasty stuff it contains felt natural so I left all of it in. What are you going to do? Deny the muse? Hell no.

As a side note, a sequel to this story is in the works at the time of this writing. I’ve been working on it for years now, but I’m slow.

Sue me.