Talk about asking for it. Ferdie might as well have hung a sign around his neck that read “Please kill me.”
Prior readers may recall that I’m a fan of grueling sea voyage tales (not GSVs themselves, mind you, I’m a hopeless landlubber). Probably the worst journey ever was Ferdinand Magellan’s trip around the world, capably described by Laurence Bergreen in his history, Over The Edge Of The World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation Of The Globe. From starvation to scurvy to death by drowning, cannibal attacks, harrowing, endless storms, and a miserable tyrant to drive them on, this little go round had everything anyone could possibly want from a jolly sea cruise.
The whole wretched episode in the great Age of Exploration inspired me to write an extreme horror story, Isle Of The White Worm Spice, about an island in the South Pacific where a miraculous fruit grows that, like the Shmoos in L’il Abner, provides for every human need. Of course, the Europeans come along and ruin everything.
Hydra M. Star, editor of Infernal Ink, a journal of erotic horror, has graciously accepted the story to be published in the April 2018 issue. I’m delighted to have the story accepted since Infernal Ink is a market that (WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! ALERT! DOUBLE ENTENDRE APPROACHING!) I’ve wanted to penetrate for a long time. I’m very sorry, but I can’t help myself.