Issue VIII is The Alien Invasion Issue...

Welcome, chill seekers, to the eighth addition of "TALES FROM THE STILL-BEATING HEART." Within our pages this year you will be visited upon by creatures of all descriptions to tingle your horror bone. To celebrate the new millennium, our theme this Halloween is Outer Space. Prepare yourself - for the invasion is here and you will learn the many ways that aliens can bring terror from the stars. Along with our group of outer space pen-men, we also have a group of tales from good old fashioned Earth. So find a safe place to go on reading, where the things that go bump in the night will not add to the frights of the following pages.

We begin with newcomers Daniel Dakota with Restless Spirits and Eliot Kimball with Dance of Bubastis who have brought to us dread from the very history of men in their two tales. We continue with Dave Kraybill's tasty tale Culture Shock which might make you never eat yogurt again: followed by Oh The Horror by Brad Beard which might make you never travel by air plane again. Coming in behind these is a short yarn by S.W. Beard, telling of a brush with, well, Satan Perhaps.

Falling into the middle of our trail of terror is the younger crowd. Leading the pack is Shauna Mc Daniels with Down The Road, Across The Street spinning a walk in the woods into the fantastic while The Ariel Margo's tale The Falls View Murders gives us a close encounter of the strangest kind. Michelle Einhorn gives us fair warning in The Spider as just after her Tiffany Margo leaves us guessing in Did I Dream It? The Haunted House by Annie Burgeols gives us a good case of the creeps followed by the last of our young crowd, Julian Margo, in the sure-to-be-a-winner The Day Elvis Came Home.

Entering back into the adult author realm, we start with an odd tale Stock In Reality from the story archives of Chris Delton. Returning with all the pomp we are accustomed to expect is Libel Rathe with a witty tale of a man on vacation who passes by hell in While on Tour, followed by another return author -and a man known by many -John Jacob Jingle-Helmer Schmit with another sure to be classic, Sissy Leather-Hide Melbourne. Coming along right after with the futuristic salvation of mankind is Alelsha Russell with The Cure and just behind her, Brad Beard with a chilling tale of a planet's demise in Echoes Of Apocalypse. Ending off our onslaught of horror is Myron Wszelaki with a story where a character gets more than just a twist of his fate in The Blue Tree.

We hope you enjoy the purveyance of chills we have assembled this year. Our authors have aimed to make your Halloween more full of Fear. Tale pleasure in reading them... if you can...