From the Author
There's a saying along the lines of "throw away your first million words", attributed to Robert Heinlein, or Ray Bradbury, or John D. McDonald; the Internet can't seem to agree. It's not bad advice, whoever it came from, but when I was in high school, writing a new short story every week, I thought it was nonsense. I continued to tap away at typewriters and computer keyboards, churning out every little thought I ever had, sometimes submitting them to magazines, and collecting rejection letters.
Years later, looking back at those stories, they were mostly bad, and that quote finally started to ring true.
This is a collection of some of the stories I didn't want to throw away. I cleaned them up a little and put them in a collection together, and Dark Things is the result.
I didn't want to take four random stories and slap them together, so there is a common theme here. The stories range from supernatural horror to psychological suspense to science fiction, and what I realized when selecting them is that darkness can come from anywhere. But where there's darkness, often there's also light.
Whether I do more digging into my metaphorical trash can of past stories or do more tapping away, I wouldn't be surprised if a Dark Things Part II comes at some point in the future. Regardless of what I do, I'd like to thank you, the reader, for what you do. Even if you pass by without ever reading a word I've written, thank you. Without the reader, the writer isn't much more than a madman listening to himself talk. You're what makes us that much more.
About the Author
David Lovato was born in California in 1988. He spent his childhood moving around a lot, and as such his most consistent friends were characters in books. It didn't take long for him to decide to start writing some of his own, and he spent his time in high school writing dozens of short stories, most of which would become the famous "first million words" to throw away. Now he keeps most of what he writes, which tend to be novels and novellas in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres.
![Dark Things by [David J. Lovato]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Kr9kBqrGL._SY346_.jpg)
