E. R. Bills

Welcome to Texas, where the things that go bump in the night are bigger and badder than anywhere else.Thirteen spine-tingling tales await, including Pendulum Grim, a chilling look at the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce, and Nia, a cautionary tale of political extremism. The real terror lies in stories like Warren, a haunting, ripped-from-the-headlines tale of how one man killed Halloween for a generation. E. R. Bills, a master of non-fiction and a voice for the forgotten, takes readers on a journey into the heart of fear with his latest collection of short fiction. With comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, Bills' writing is urgent and horrifying, blurring the lines between truth and fiction.

Welcome to Texas, where the things that go bump in the night are bigger and badder than anywhere else.Thirteen spine-tingling tales await, including Pendulum Grim, a chilling look at the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce, and Nia, a cautionary tale of political extremism. The real terror lies in stories like Warren, a haunting, ripped-from-the-headlines tale of how one man killed Halloween for a generation. E. R. Bills, a master of non-fiction and a voice for the forgotten, takes readers on a journey into the heart of fear with his latest collection of short fiction. With comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, Bills' writing is urgent and horrifying, blurring the lines between truth and fiction.

On July 29, 1910, white mobs marched through the southeastern part of Anderson County and the northeastern portion of Houston County in East Texas, slaughtering African Americans at will. Hundreds perished, thousands fled and the state of Texas turned a blind eye. As black families ran for their lives, the white perpetrators covered their tracks. The story was covered up for over a century, and, today, the victims are still piled up in unmarked mass graves. Here is the story of the Slocum Massacre in riveting detail-as told by its victims.

An exotic fortune cookie-maker hangs up her rolling pin to spare customers the horrifying truth. A dying man comes to terms with the Halloween inside to survive. A woman finds Ambrose Bierce's diary and resolves to break its curse by making her death the final entry. A long-dead lynching victim returns to punish the men responsible for his grotesque execution. The stories in E. R. Bills' first turn at horror fiction showcase an unsettling new voice in the genre.

On November 13, 1969, ten students at Texas State University were suspended for participating in a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War. They had kept vigil in front of the Huntington Mustangs, bearing signs that read, "Vietnam Is an Edsel" and "44,00

For four years now, Bret McCormick and E. R. Bills have been beating the bushes and peering into abandoned wells to seek out the most terrifying tales the Lone Star State has to offer. They have left no stone unturned, no attic unexplored, and no grave undesecrated. And boy howdy, has their diligence has paid off Road Kill Volume 4 is the best and grimmest yet You hold in your hands a grand collection of 16 goose-flesh-inducing prose. But, don't just take our word for it; these sixteen stories speak - or perhaps scream - for themselves.Featuring tales of Texas terror from: Corey Lamb, E. R. Bills, James H Longmore, William Jensen, Patrick C. Harrison III, W. H. Gilbert, Jeremy Hepler, Dan Fields, Thomas Kearnes, Sylvia Ney, Mark A. Nobles, Russell C. Connor, Elliott Baxter, Ralph Robert Moore, Carmen Gray, and Andrew Kozma

On November 13, 1969, ten students at Texas State University were suspended for participating in a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War. They had kept vigil in front of the Huntington Mustangs, bearing signs that read, "Vietnam Is an Edsel" and "44,000 U.S. Dead, For What?" while an increasingly hostile anti-protest crowd chanted, "Love it or leave it " and "Let's string 'em up " It was a day after news of the My Lai massacre broke. Part of a coordinated, nationwide Vietnam Moratorium effort that confounded and infuriated the Nixon White House, the "San Marcos 10" challenged their suspension, taking their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Author E.R. Bills offers this fascinating glimpse into the 1960s antiwar movement in Texas, the extraordinary measures to quell it and the broader social activism in which it participated.

The sheer volume of remarkable Texan exploits creates a dizzying tally for the proudest of its citizens. So it happens that inexplicable marvels slip past an entire state of storytellers and world-famous legends live as anonymous neighbors. Ever hear the story about the escaped ape in the Big Thicket? Or the "Interplanetary Capital of the Universe" that sat on the Gulf Coast? Does the cowboy hat that warmed U.S.-China relations ring a bell? From the Staked Plain Quakers to the Kaiser Burnout, E.R. Bills delves into some of the most fascinating chapters of overlooked Texas lore.

In late July 1910, a shocking number of African Americans in Texas were slaughtered by white mobs in the Slocum area of Anderson County and the Percilla-Augusta region of neighboring Houston County. The number of dead surpassed the casualties of the Rosewood Massacre in Florida and rivaled those of the Tulsa Riots in Oklahoma, but the incident--one of the largest mass murders of blacks in American history--is now largely forgotten. Investigate the facts behind this harrowing act of genocide in E.R. Bills's compelling inquiry into the Slocum Massacre.

In late July 1910, a shocking number of African Americans in Texas were slaughtered by white mobs in the Slocum area of Anderson County and the Percilla-Augusta region of neighboring Houston County. The number of dead surpassed the casualties of the Rosewood Massacre in Florida and rivaled those of the Tulsa Riots in Oklahoma, but the incident--one of the largest mass murders of blacks in American history--is now largely forgotten. Investigate the facts behind this harrowing act of genocide in E.R. Bills's compelling inquiry into the Slocum Massacre.

Some of these quirky true stories might surprise even the most proud Texan. Austin sat the first all-woman state supreme court in the nation in 1925. A utopian colony thrived in Kristenstad during the Great Depression. Bats taken from the Bracken and Ney Caves and Devil's Sinkhole were developed as a secret weapon that vied with the Manhattan Project to shorten World War II. In Slaton in 1922, German priest Joseph M. Keller was kidnapped, tarred and feathered amid anti-German fervor following World War I. Author E.R. Bills offers this collection of trials, tribulations and intrigue that is sure to enrich one's understanding of the biggest state in the Lower Forty-eight.

Some of these quirky true stories might surprise even the most proud Texan. Austin sat the first all-woman state supreme court in the nation in 1925. A utopian colony thrived in Kristenstad during the Great Depression. Bats taken from the Bracken and Ney Caves and Devil's Sinkhole were developed as a secret weapon that vied with the Manhattan Project to shorten World War II. In Slaton in 1922, German priest Joseph M. Keller was kidnapped, tarred and feathered amid anti-German fervor following World War I. Author E.R. Bills offers this collection of trials, tribulations and intrigue that is sure to enrich one's understanding of the biggest state in the Lower Forty-eight.