Blood is Red: The Color Series: a collection of Scott Sigler Short Stories

Scott Sigler

May 2011 · Scott Sigler

About this ebook

A collection of eight horror stories created by New York Times best-selling novelist Scott Sigler, author of INFECTED, CONTAGIOUS and ANCESTOR.

This eBook-only title features seven tales from Scott's six years of free audiobook podcasts, including the Parsec Award-winning “Red Man,” plus the brand-new novella "Hunter Hunterson & Sons.”

Scott still gives away his audio stories -- for free -- every week.

Stories in BLOOD IS RED:

Number One with a Bullet

In the high-stakes world of the National Football League, a wasted draft choice can cost careers and damage a franchise for years to come. The investigators of NFL security dig into the past of potential draft picks. When they investigate sure-fire number-one pick Eugene Patterson, however, they find far more than they want to know.

Red Man

To be marked as a sex offender, a pedophile, a child rapist, is to carry stigma that all but banishes you from society. And if that mark is literal -- a permanent, inoperable face tattoo -- anonymity vanishes, and all who see you know of your crime. For a man who is wrongly convicted of horrible deeds, this mark becomes his life. Red Man won the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Short Story.

Wolf

In the time before man, one social animal ruled the Americas. The wolf. Wolf packs roamed the continent, hunting and killing and breeding. They were the dominant species: a full wolf pack could back down any predator, even the great grizzly bears. But before any wolf ever saw the death that would walk on two legs, there came another danger ...

The Great Snipe Hunt

Nature abhors a vacuum. One such vacuum exists in the “urban ecologies” of our cities. From bacteria to insects, from rodents to hawks, from feral cats to the mass numbers of pigeons, plants and animals weave together a web of life that goes mostly unnoticed by humans. What is missing from this mosaic? The role of the dominant predator. Four college students set out to find this mythical creature, the “Snipe,” and learn that a vacuum isn’t the only thing nature abhors.

Iowa Typhoon

Come on, come visit Fenders Pointe, IA. We’d love to have you stop by, see the trees, smell the flowers, and relax with our Midwestern hospitality. Only, you should try to schedule around the rainy season. If you’re here when the typhoons hit, we’ll be happy to welcome you as a permanent resident.

Sacred Cow

There is a fine line between absent-minded genius and idiot savant. Gordo Gordon keeps a foot planted firmly on either side. Father Al knows this better than anyone. Like a guardian angel, Father Al watches over Gordo and tolerates the young man’s endless -- and useless -- inventions. When Gordo creates a theory to track “prayer energy,” however, Father Al will find a religious secret that puts his faith to the test.

Hunter Hunterson & Sons

Welcome to the family business. Hunter Hunterson and his kin live in Slayerville, KY, making their living chasing crack-smoking ogres, peeping-tom phantoms, bail-jumping zombie pimps and the occasional rabid unicorn. They are bounty hunters that track down the netherworld’s most wanted. When a methed-out vampire (and family friend) goes on a road-trip rampage, Hunter and his kin pack up the truck and follow the trail of corpses all the way to San Francisco.

This reality-TV style story feels like a combination of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” meets “Ghostbusters” meets “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Hunter’s “war journal” is a mix of tawdry laughs and gut-churning horror.

Mt. Fitzroy (first chapter)

In 2005, Sigler released EARTHCORE as the world’s first podcast-only novel. His fans have been waiting since then for MT. FITZROY, the second book in the trilogy. BLOOD IS RED features the first chapter of this oft-promised and long-delayed sequel. Join Patrick O’Doyle and Bertha Lybrand as they head back down below to deliver a heapin’ helpin’ of revenge.

Ratings and reviews

Ever since listening to my first Scott Sigler audiobook (Nocturnal) while rocking my newborn to sleep - not a great combination of activities by the way given the story-line of Nocturnal - I've been hooked on his writing. I wouldn't consider myself one of his 'junkies', but he is a darn good writer. That said, I'm a bigger fan of his long-form fiction than I am his short stories. I've heard all of the stories in this book through his podcasting of Bloodcast Season 1, except for "Hunter Hunterson & Sons" which curiously wasn't part of that podcast series. Reading them myself allows me to pick up some of the finer details that you might miss while you're caught up in Scott's fantastic narration. The stories in this book are ok with two clear standouts: "The Great Snipe Hunt" and "Sacred Cow". Those two stories earned the collection 4 stars from me instead of 3. I also loved the notes sections after each story in which Scott gives some background on where the idea for the story came up and how they evolved his writing. Overall, a good collection of short stories from the Science Fiction/Horror genres.

The first.book I read by Scott Sigler was Infected n I have been devouring his books ever since. He creates wonderful outlets for ppl who, like me, often think about the terrible things ppl can do to each other but would never actually do to someone. His writing style is fast-paced n action packed. Which is good since I have the attention span of a Chihuahua on crack. A book that captures n holds my attention is rare. All of Scott Sigler's books have done exactly that. His books r worth every penny!

The guy, I don't mind the cursing, but u really need to lay off that GD word, I'm saying this in the most respectful way!

About the author

New York Times best-selling novelist Scott Sigler is the author of ANCESTOR, INFECTED and CONTAGIOUS, hardcover thrillers from Crown Publishing. Before he was published, Scott built a large online following by giving away his self-recorded audiobooks as free, serialized podcasts. He released EARTHCORE as the world's first "podcast-only" novel. His loyal fans, who named themselves "Junkies," have downloaded over eight million individual episodes of his stories. Scott has been covered in Time Magazine, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, The Huffington Post, Business Week and Fangoria. Scott still records his own audiobooks and gives away every story - for free - to his Junkies at www.ScottSigler.com. Michigan native, Scott lives in San Francisco with his wife and dog.