Cover design by George Hage.
Creature Feature
He plays a monster in the movies. Now he’s becoming one in real life.
Actor Ellis Denning is used to the makeup that turns him into the most feared creature on the silver screen: the rubber scales, the dulled talons, the reptilian contacts. The macabre look has made him a star. And being a star has made him miserable. But there’s no escaping the role of a lifetime, because suddenly the makeup won’t come off. The scales have become flesh. The talons are razor sharp. The eyes are his own. Actor and creature are becoming one. Haunted by half-remembered horrors of the past, Ellis must face his own terrible actions before his transformation is complete and the man within the monster is lost forever. Fiction and reality blur in this chilling story by award-winning author Cliff Bumgardner.
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Overtures: Two
The impossible broadcast of a ghostly radio station; a quiet Sunday morning shattered by gunfire; the last ride of a dying man with visions of horrors to come: Three more tales continue the progression of the Overtures story collection from award-winning author Cliff Bumgardner.
This edition collects the original stories “WBRN,” “Bullet in a Bible,” and “The Highwayman.”
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Follow the Truth
Michael Jordan’s father, James, was murdered in 1993, his body found floating in a lonely South Carolina swamp. The public was heartbroken, his family shattered. Justice was swift. But was the wrong person convicted as the killer?
In this podcast series, journalist Amanda Lamb steps back through the case piece by tragic piece and examines the claims of Daniel Green – the convicted murderer who says he didn’t do it.
Co-written by Cliff Bumgardner and Amanda Lamb. Edited by Wilson Sayre. Produced by WRAL Studios.
Winner, 2022 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award
Overtures: One
A bizarre obsession with death and the infinite ways a life can end; an entire life lived and lost in the blink of an eye; sinister happenings behind the closed doors of a nursing home: These tales form the chords of Overtures: One, the first in a series of haunting short fiction collections from award-winning author Cliff Bumgardner.
This edition collects the original stories “Four,” “Rio,” and “Agnes’ Adventures in Wonderland.”
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Cover design by Steve Beach
Dreams 4 Sale
Max Miller is an eight-year-old boy who'd rather be anywhere than a yard sale on Saturday morning, but that's precisely where he finds himself – as well as the mysterious girl with long black hair and a table of objects she calls dreams. Fascinated and overwhelmed by her presence, Max chooses one: A black pyramid the girl warns him not to take. It's a bad dream, she says, the kind you can't wake up from no matter how hard you try, but Max is too caught up to listen. When it's too late to matter, he wishes he'd taken heed. For when Max opens the pyramid, he invites an insidious darkness into his world and starts a chain of tragic events more terrifying than any nightmare. To stop it, Max will have to fight back against a girl whose powers extend beyond the bounds of reality and come to terms with the horrible truth hidden in her cryptic words...
...Because there's no pulling yourself from a dream if you're already awake.
“Cliff Bumgardner is a TOTAL BASTARD. No one should be this good right out of the gate. I read Dreams 4 Sale from cover-to-cover in one sitting and was blown away by a thrilling, satisfying, and downright frightening tale that stuck with me long after I finished the book. It’s a stunning debut and cements his status as an immensely talented new voice in fiction...Read Dreams 4 Sale so you can brag that you found it first.”
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2016 Millarworld Annual
In 2015, legendary comic book creator Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Wanted) held a global talent search to find emerging writers and artists to tackle characters from his prolific bibliography. Cliff's story, titled "American Jesus: Undeath," was selected out of the thousands of submissions and published in the 2015 Millarworld Annual, illustrated by Pennsylvania-based illustrator Steve Beach.
“I read Cliff Bumgardner’s UNDEATH and thought ‘HOLY SH*T, he might be a serial killer...’ The story is so gruesome, so nightmare inducing and incredible.”