The Doll Factory

Miklos drew a deep breath. “The lunatic, Costea, fled to a remote place. Soon after, inhabitants of that region began to talk of strangeness intruding into daily life. Tiny automata on the edge of vision, there one moment, gone the next. Gruesome carvings found on doorsteps. Tiny coffins filled with entrails, discovered in unexpected locations. Unsettling images painted on bedroom walls during the night, whilst the inhabitants noticed nothing. Snatches of odd conversation which echoed from impossible places. Locals began whispering that the district was haunted. Then a sickness came, and another. Many died. A man was found, stumbling pitifully out of the hills. Before his death, he spoke of a place of terror which he referred to as ‘The Doll Factory’. Then my daughter...” He trailed off. “Forgive me if I cannot talk about it.” Miklos Dalca is on a crusade. Northwest of Bucharest, in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains, insane experiments have left behind a trap of surpassing lethality – one which must be destroyed. ‘The Doll Factory’ is a dark fantasy novelette of obsession, revenge, and insanity, complete at 8,100 words. This edition also includes a short bonus story, ‘The Drowned Earl’, adapted from Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1860 original. Tim Kennerman has been writing for twenty years, and has more than a hundred books -- fiction, non-fiction and spaces in between -- published under his birth name, Tim Dedopulos. As Tim Kennerman, he writes dark urban and epic fantasy, science fiction, cosmic horror, and other things that tickle his imagination. You can find him on twitter at @Ghostwoods or, from time to time, at ghostwoods.com.

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