JASON PARENT: Stalking

STALKING

Jason parent

Copyright © 2016 Jason Parent

Not too long ago, I read an amazing story by Kealan Patrick Burke called “Offline.” The tale largely consists of email conversations between two people who develop a personal connection over the Internet, one of whom is not who he or she appears to be. The story is simple and commonplace yet immensely powerful, holding a mirror to society and revealing its ugly truths where our computer screens cannot.

Social media is now as much a part of life as eating, commuting, working, sleeping. We are tied to our phones, our computers, our “i” thises and our “i” thats, with the Internet being the capital “I” uniting them. What millennial doesn’t wake up and check his or her phone and email for messages, plans his or her day with a text or two?

This is not a criticism of technological advancement. These devices make life, people, learning—everything more accessible. Social media connects minds and hearts across the globe, allows us to spread ideas, unite cultures, and, at its best, celebrate diversity through understanding and tolerance, if not acceptance.

Yet, everyone has an agenda, and media (and I dare say all forms of it now) is filled with spin, misinformation, and outright lies. Absolutely false political memes from every worm-filled crevice of the political spectrum spew forth in a never-ending wave of Facebook mudslinging campaigns, tampering our elections results with their infectious disease. Those charged with crimes are so often judged and executed by the so-called public forum, deemed guilty until proven innocent and left tainted even after they have been. The mob mentality rules supreme, ignorance in unchecked bliss.

We all know this. And we all know the worst filth that thrives in this environment: the trolls and the bottom feeders, the cyber stalkers and the catfishers, the sexual predators and morally perverse. Yet, every day, someone new, someone bright and hopeful, with a warm heart filled with good intentions, swallows these vile creatures’ bitter pills.

Why? Is it because we truly believe that some anonymous person with a smiling picture and a clever turn of phrase really wants to reach out to us for us, that he or she saw something in our online personas (which, in themselves, are only a fraction of who we really are) that shined above all others. Are we so willing to believe this stranger’s snake-forked tongue because, in the oddly introverted confines we self-impose through our lives in the public, digital world, we desperately yearn, for love, acceptance, and all the other deeper goods that comes from genuine human interaction? Or is it just a more basic need to be seen and heard, to count for something in this failing world?

And so we let in the wolf, as Burke’s character does in “Offline.” We let him into our homes and our hearts only to be devoured. And once we’re reborn, we let another wolf just like him right back in.

Trust is a fool’s errand. Shedding it, however, is a cold way to live. In today’s climate, where so many of our friends and family have formed relationships and even marriages with those they’ve met online, it’s hard to deny the Internet’s potential to drive a better existence.

But it has revealed an uglier, insidious truth: that so many demons lurk among us, hiding in the shadows no more. The Internet has given them a playground where they can enter the public behind any mask they choose. They are evidence that, as a whole, we are not a good species. Too many live to shame, stalk, bully, and hurt others, all for their personal gratification or some other self-serving or wholly non-philanthropic interest.

Knowing this, my logic tells me to trust no one. But like all of you, I suffer from that same disease, the one that makes us human. And so, every now and then, I hold my hand over the fire, wondering if this will be the time I get burned.

Monsters are real, people, and the worst of them are among us. Cut the head from one, and a dozen others take its place. They’re smiling in profile pics, greeting us with compliments, worming they’re way onto our friend lists. And unless we change what it means to be human, I’m afraid we’re powerless to fight them.

GIVEAWAY

Today’s giveaway is another great one!!! Jason Parent is giving away ONE SIGNED PRINT COPY and TWO ECOPIES of WRATHBONE AND OTHER STORIES!!!! 

THE PRINT COPY IS LIMITED TO THE U.S. AND CANADA!!! The way this will work is that the top three names will win. The 1st name will receive the PRINT copy, numbers and 2 & 3 will receive the ecopies. However, if the 1st winner lives outside the U.S. and Canada, the PRINT copy will default to the 2nd place winner. If the 1st and 2nd winners both live outside the U.S. and Canada, it'll default to the 3rd place winner. Good luck to all!!!!

To enter to WIN: Find today’s post on the Official FB Event page featuring Jason Parent, and comment, “I WANT TO WIN!” in that post and you just might!!! Good luck!!!

OFFICIAL FB EVENT PAGE

Introduced by Kealan Patrick Burke

Terror follows those who let it into their hearts.

Wrathbone
Guests of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris attend a showing of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. On that fateful night, a great man falls, but he is not alone. For Henry and Clara, the night is only the beginning of lives wrought with jealousy, madness, and horror.

The Only Good Lawyer
Bradley is a savvy defense attorney with no scruples. Under his representation, many a guilty man has gone free. But when a voodoo priest takes the stand, Bradley soon discovers that he, too, is on trial, and the punishment for guilt may be more than he could bear.

Dorian's Mirror
Dorian loves himself, and why wouldn't he? Every guy wants to be him, and every girl wants to be with him. He would trade all he has to make his looks last forever, but bargaining with the devil may leave him short a soul.

For the Birds
Nev's best friend is his parrot. In fact, it's his only friend… and his only ally when his home is invaded.

Revenge is a Dish
Maurice has landed a dream job, chef for a rich couple on their yacht. The wife has carnal desires for him. Maurice has some carnal desires of his own.

"From the eerie opening tale to the grisly closer, and all of the wonderfully mean-spirited tales in-between, Wrathbone is a winner!" --Jeff Strand, author of Dead Clown Barbeque

"This is horror of the mind at it's very best . . . Very dark, very atmospheric, very powerful writing. Excellent stuff . . . Only the second time ever that I have given every story in a collection five stars. This one is going to be hard to beat." --Nev Murray at Confessions of a Reviewer and Scream Magazine

"Wrathbone and Other Stories is a hard-hitting collection that you can completely immerse yourself in. The title story is a beautifully written period tale of love and tragedy." --Mercedes M. Yardley, author of the Bram Stoker Award winner Little Dead Red.

"Jason Parent channels the darkness. Wrathbone and Other Stories offers a glimpse into the twisted mind of a gifted storyteller, whose characters are every bit as vivid as the demons that haunt them. Parent's definitely an author to watch!" --Michael McBride, author of Subterrestrial and Burial Ground

"An elegantly written novella of madness, murder, and demons, Jason Parent's Wrathbone reads like Edgar Allan Poe's take on 'Jacob's Ladder.'" --Adam Howe, author of Tijuana Donkey Showdown, Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet, and Black Cat Mojo

AUTHOR BIO

In his head, Jason Parent lives in many places, but in the real world, he calls New England his home. The region offers an abundance of settings for his writing and many wonderful places in which to write them. He currently resides in Southeastern Massachusetts with his cuddly corgi named Calypso.

In a prior life, Jason spent most of his time in front of a judge . . . as a civil litigator. When he finally tired of Latin phrases no one knew how to pronounce and explaining to people that real lawsuits are not started, tried and finalized within the 60-minute timeframe they see on TV (it's harassing the witness; no one throws vicious woodland creatures at them), he traded in his cheap suits for flip flops and designer stubble. The flops got repossessed the next day, and he's back in the legal field . . . sorta. But that's another story.

When he's not working, Jason likes to kayak, catch a movie, travel any place that will let him enter, and play just about any sport (except that ball tied to the pole thing where you basically just whack the ball until it twists in a knot or takes somebody's head off - he misses the appeal). And read and write, of course. He does that too sometimes.

Please visit the author on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJasonParent?ref=hl, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AuthorJasParent, or at his website, http://authorjasonparent.com/, for information regarding upcoming events or releases, or if you have any questions or comments for him.

Link to Jason Parent's Author Page