Poem #5 T.U.P.: Oh Gloomy Day

 

Oh Gloomy Day,

Please don't go away.

The cold and rain, 

Helps dealing with the pain.

It numbs the emotions, oh so fine, 

Now my worries can finally unwind. 

 

~P.C. Snider

Copyright 10/30/2025 

Poem #4 T.U.P.: Cosmic Potholes

 

Cosmic Potholes are everywhere, 

Watch where you step, you might end up, 

Nowhere...

 

~P.C. Snider 

Copyright 10/26/2025 

Poem #3 T.U.P. : Laundry Day

 

Every Sunday, same routine,

Get up, get dressed, get coffee...

at least the clothes will be clean.  

~ P.C. Snider

Copyright 10/26/2025 

Poem #2 T.U.P.: 7am Thoughts

 

What to do today?

My brain likes to say...

 

Maybe dance? Maybe sing? 

Better watch out for bees they sting!

 

Maybe... just go back to bed instead,

And dream that I am more further ahead. 

 

~P.C. Snider

Copyright 10/26/2025 

Poem #1 T.U.P.: The Unknown Path

 

The unknown path, can be scary,

The unknown path, might make you weary. 

 

The unknown path, could be fun,

The unknown path, might lead to the sun.

 

The unknown path, don't be afraid,

Every journey will not lead you astray. 

 

The Unknown Path.

 

~P.C. Snider

copyright 10/25/2025 

Next Poem Collection Reveal

My next poem collection is going to be called The Unknown Path, and Other Poems. This is the finalized cover which I did myself this time. 

There is no eta, or deadline on this. As I am going to be taking a small break from writing to recharge the batteries. But once my break is over I'll be back to doing more poems for awhile. 

As with my first two eBooks I don't plan on rushing things. 

First poem in this collection will be called The Unknown Path. 

Anyway stay tuned for more poems.

Sincerely, 

~P.C. SNIDER 

Tales From Apt. 301 (Now Free!)

 

I have finally completed my second eBook. I have also decided to make this one free like my last one. It includes 9 stories. A couple horror stories, a dark fantasy, a children's story and five science fiction stories. It is roughly 32 pages. 

I decided to keep it nice and short. Hope you all like it. 

Tales From Apt. 301 (Free PDF)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

You are free to share, copy, distribute, and adapt the material for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit to the author.[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]

Copyright 10/18/2025

~P.C. Snider 

The Sun Will Never Shine (Dark Fantasy) (Full Story)

For some odd reason, I've been noticing a lot of false hope about certain things going on in my life lately. So I decided to write a Dark Fantasy story about false hope and learning to accept it. This story will be included in my upcoming Tales From Apt. 301 collection. 

*Warning, this story does not have a happy ending.*

 

The Sun Will Never Shine By P.C. Snider

Mia Darkmoor has been wandering through the halls of her Darkmoor Castle for what seems like centuries. She has not left the place in a very long time. She has been confined by a curse bestowed upon her by a vampire.

She is not allowed to ever see the sun ever again. She does not know the last time she has seen the sun. Still though she hopes to this very day, that she would reach the light again. Be happy... once again.

She wanders the hallways mostly during daylight hours, in search of the sun. Mia mainly dresses in black dresses ironically. Even though her search is for the sun.

One day, in her vast library of books, she came across an ancient spell book called The Solara Codex. It had a passage that gave her hope. Hope to finally be free from the eternal darkness that she had been trapped in for so long.

“If you speak these magic words, your curse will be lifted and a magic portal will open. You will be free once more to go into the light. The magic words are Solara Voco.”

Oh my god, oh my god, I can’t believe it after all these years. I have found the spell! Mia quickly glanced over the magic words.

She whispers softly. “Solara Voco.”

Nothing Happened.

Well that was short lived. She thought to herself. As she closed the book and headed up to her bedroom for a long night’s sleep.

As she walks slowly with her head drooped down, not believing the false hope she had been given about seeing the sun again. Something incredible had happened. A magic door filled with light opened beside her as she almost reached her bedroom.

Her heart was pounding. She opened the magic door hesitantly.

“Finally, I will be free from all this gloom, depressing inducing darkness.” She thought.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. Walked through the magic door of light.

#

The next morning Mia had awakened again in her bed. Looked around the room, and sighed. She had only dreamed of the magic door. The spell book she had found.

She sighed, and cried.

Knowing this is her fate, she has decided to continue on, she has continued on this long anyway, to accept the darkness. The sun will never shine over her. Despite her tears, she has now accepted it.

Though her dreams of sunlight faded into shadows, Mia’s quiet acceptance whispered that sometimes, hope is just a fleeting illusion in a world bound by darkness.

 PDF Free Download

Copyright 10/17/2025

~P.C. Snider

Spiders (Children Adventure) (Full Story)

Instead of doing a Horror story with my story Spiders. Which will be included in my Tales From Apt. 301 collection. I wanted to see how well I would do at a Children's Story. Give the collection a good mix of Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, and a Children's Story. With some spooky elements. Anyway my first attempt at it. I hope you all like it. Pretty clever ending I think. *Wink*. 

 

 Spiders By P.C. Snider

 

Curtis, and Ava Rogers are brother and sister. They were at the playground in school one day when Curtis had found out that his sister Ava was scared of spiders. Not just the big spiders either, little ones too. 

It didn’t matter what size or type of spider. Daddy long-legs, Black Widows, Trapdoor spiders, you get the idea. 

They were climbing around the Monkey Bars. Ava had placed her hand on the next bar ahead of her and as she did a spider ran across her fingers. She screamed and fell to the ground shaking the spider off her hand as fast as she could. 

“Oh my God! I hate spiders!” She screamed.

I can have fun with this. Curtis thought.

Curtis decided to start collecting a bunch of different spiders. He will use them to scare his sister at random times, and places. 

After searching the playground before recess was over he was able to collect a good five spiders for starters. He had placed them in his backpack for safe keeping.

Five spiders equals five pranks. He thought.

# 

While in his English class Curtis started to day dream about the ways he was going to prank his sister.  During bed time? During bus rides to school, or back home? During meal times? The options seemed endless. 

As the school day ended he had decided to use the first spider on the bus ride home. He sat right behind his sister. He would use the biggest one first to get it out of the way. 

Ava had sat down, and just started to relax for the long ride home. Curtis reached into his backpack and brought out the largest spider in his collection. He was grinning ear, to ear. 

Curtis had never been afraid of spiders. He had no issues with them whatsoever. 

He places the spider right on the back of Ava’s neck. At first she didn’t seem to notice anything but as soon as the spider started to make its way down her right arm she let out a scream so loud the whole bus of people had stopped talking, and glanced in her direction. She flung the spider off almost in an instant. 

Curtis laughed, even as she gave him a cold, dark stare. 

“I gotcha! I gotcha good!” He exclaimed. 

Ava just continued the glare the whole ride home. As everyone else went back to their own conversations. 

She was already beginning to think of a way to get her brother back for what he had done. There were already two spiders today including the first one that had gotten her on the Monkey Bars. 

Once at home, her parents had already started making dinner for the evening. 

“How was school?” Her Mom had asked.

“It was horrible.” Ava said. 

“Horrible... Why?”

“I got scared twice by spiders!” 

“Aw. I’m so sorry honey, I know how much you hate those things.”

“Right!” 

“What’s for dinner?”

“Your favorite. Breakfast for dinner. Eggs, bacon or sausage, toast.”

“Well that’s good at least.” Ava scoffed. 

“Can I go back to my room to do some reading? Before dinner?”

“Sure of course you can.”

“Thanks Mom.”

“Have fun.”

Ava headed toward her bedroom. Wondering what her brother had been up to in the meantime, during the conversation with her Mother. 

#

As she had reached her bedroom, Ava hesitantly started browsing through her mini library of books. She reached for her favorite Alice In Wonderland. Just as she had brought the book out, right behind it was another spider. 

She screamed another scream. 

“This is the worst day of my life.” She said as she swatted the spider to the ground. 

That’s number three. Now she thought. 

She sat on her rocking chair to do some reading. As she started getting into her book, yet another spider crawled across her left arm. 

She screams again.

Curtis this time came through the door, she had forgotten to lock it. “I gotcha again!” He laughs so hard he is literally rolling over the floor holding his sides. 

“That’s four times in one day! The first one I didn’t even have to plan!” He laughs. 

“I’m gonna get you back!” She says to him. “You will see!” 

She ran to tell her parents what he has been up to. 

Curtis meanwhile just keeps laughing. “Go ahead!” He says. 

#

Ava tells both her parents about Curtis and the spiders. They didn’t really have much help or advice except that she had learned from her Mom that Curtis happens to be afraid of snakes.

“Snakes?”

“Yep! Snakes...” Her Mom gave her a wink.

 #

Ava decided to visit her Uncle Bob’s place on the weekend; he had a lot of snakes as pets. “Which one do you think I could borrow, if any, to scare my brother?” She asked. “He got me way too many times with Spiders this week, and I need to teach him a lesson.”

“I’d go with the big one. The Ball Python. Named Slither.” Her uncle said. 

“Can I borrow just for Monday?” She pleaded.

“Yes of course you can.” He gave her a wink, just as her Mother had given her. 

“Thank you! Thank you!” She gave him a big bear hug. As she placed the Snake in her backpack making sure it was still safe, and not in danger. 

#

Sunday night, she was able to sneak Slither into her brother’s backpack with no problem. Oh he’s gonna scream on the bus tomorrow morning just like I did. She thought. 

#

Monday morning, Curtis picked up his backpack to get onto the bus, he had noticed almost immediately it was heavier than it was the night before. He struggled getting onto the school bus. He glanced over to Ava, she was grinning ear to ear. She sat in the seat across from him so she could get a good look at his reaction when he opened his backpack. 

Curtis immediately decided to open his backpack to see why it was so heavy getting onto the bus. He glances in, doesn’t see anything, he decides to reach in, as he does, he feels something slithering and slimy. 

He pulls out The Ball Python. He lets out a scream, and faints. 

Right before he passed out, he could swear he heard his sister laughing. 

 PDF Free Download

Copyright 10/12/2025

~P.C. Snider 

Favorite Quotes from Authors

I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes from my favorite authors. I'll update this as I find more.

 

"The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - H.P. Lovecraft

"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." - Edgar Allan Poe 

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick

"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane." - Philip K. Dick   

 “When you sleep, your dream world is as real to you as life, isn’t it?" - Richard Matheson 

"SSDD (Same Shit Different Day)." - Stephen King 

"Get busy living, or get busy dying," - Stephen King 

  

~P.C. Snider 

301 (Horror) Full Story

Here is a short horror story I had finished over the weekend. I named it 301 kinda as a tribute to Stephen King's 1408. However I think the story itself hopefully has an Edgar Allan Poe vibe. Hope you like it. This will be included in my next collection Tales From Apt. 301.  

 301 By P.C. Snider

Charlie McFarland has been living alone in apartment 301 for about eight years now. It’s not a big place, which suits him fine since he’s been on his own. Inside, there’s a double bed, a dining table, a small library of books, a kitchen sink, refrigerator, and a bathroom. He’s thankful that the bathroom has both a tub and a shower—he switches between the two, depending on his mood.

He also has a small 32-inch TV and a vast DVD collection. Plus, a cheap Yamaha keyboard that he sometimes plays when boredom strikes. His ex-girlfriend Lisa used to love hearing him play classical music—mainly Beethoven and Mozart.

His routine is simple: get up, shower or bath, make breakfast, watch some TV, then off to get coffee before heading to work. After all, he’s got rent and bills to pay—forever, it seems, at least until he dies. Even then, he jokes morbidly, he’d probably still have to work.

He chuckles darkly at the thought. His humour is grim because he’s still haunted by a car crash—an accident that changed everything. His ex-girlfriend, Lisa, didn’t survive; she was in the passenger seat when the transport collided with them on the highway.

He still remembers their last fight—about money, about living in a bachelor apartment, about not owning a house. He feels guilty, wishing he could have done something differently. But he’s come to accept his life as it is. His job as a librarian at the local library keeps him comfortable, and he enjoys the quiet solitude. Reading has always been his refuge, a passion since childhood.

Since the accident, working in the library has become easier—organizing and re-organizing books, helping visitors find what they’re looking for, pointing them toward the restrooms, the librarian’s desk, or the way out. Mostly, he keeps to himself these days. He’s not sure why—maybe it’s a getting older thing, tolerating people less and less.

Today marks what would have been his and Lisa’s second anniversary. He’s been feeling down all day. It doesn’t help that the last customer asked where Beethoven’s biography was located, which only reminded him of her.

Strange things have been happening at night in his apartment. Dishes seem to clean themselves, already spotless by the time he gets home—despite leaving a pile of dirty ones in the sink. His keyboard unexpectedly plays Beethoven or Mozart—sometimes Moonlight Sonata, sometimes Requiem.

Food in the refrigerator gets re-arranged, laundry appears to be done, clothes put away—all without him lifting a finger.

#

One evening, after a long day at work, Charlie sat quietly in his apartment, feeling the weight of loneliness and memories. The room was silent, except for the faint vibrations of a melody—an almost imperceptible hum that seemed to linger in the air. His heart ached with longing, remembering her smile, her voice, the last words they shared.

Suddenly, a soft, tremulous voice filled the space:

*"Maybe we're better apart."*

He froze, a tear slipping down his cheek. The vibration of her words still resonated in the air—faint, beautiful, yet painfully real. For a moment, he hesitated, wishing she could stay, wishing she could be saved.

But then, slowly, he nodded, accepting her absence. He reached out, but the space was empty. Her whisper faded into silence—like a fading song—leaving only the stillness of the room.

In that quiet moment, Charlie understood: some loves linger in memories, in the vibrations of the past, but it was time to let her go. He took a deep breath, finally allowing himself to accept her departure, knowing she was free—her love forever etched in the vibrations of his heart.

He closed his eyes, feeling a gentle breeze brush past him. The room was still, and though her presence was gone, the faint vibration of her love remained—embedded in the quiet, in the memories that would never fade.

PDF Free Download

Copyright 10/06/2025

~P.C. Snider 

Blog Update, Writing Update.

I have cleaned up the My Writing, and Upcoming pages into clearer sections. I was initially going to use tables but I find them a bit confusing so still went with the regular layout with hopefully what I think is a better organization between my stories and poems. 

Also made it clearer which stories I have self-published vs traditional even though I only have had one story ever printed in an anthology so far. 

Anywho, today's free stories are 301 (horror), and Copy and Paste (science fiction). Hope you like them.

~P.C. Snider 

Copy and Paste (Science Fiction) (Full Story)

Here is another science fiction story I had written over the weekend. Hoping it has a Twilight Zone vibe.  

 

Copy and Paste By P.C. Snider

Michael Kane, a Computer Science major, has figured a way to hack a quantum simulation program. He is now able to copy the events of a day in the past, and paste a specific day of his choosing in the future.

At first his experiments seemed harmless. Almost just like playing a video game, and either winning, or losing.

In this current situation he is hoping he is going to win.

But what he doesn’t know is that in this current simulation event something terrible is about to happen.

The events within the program can now alter actual reality itself.

He thinks of the time when he was really young he had broken his right arm falling off a tricycle. Ended up in the hospital for three days. The best part of that though was he remembers watching old scifi shows on TV for hours on end.

He looks at his arm, still not fully healed, but he wonders about copying and pasting the days that are going to be like. He thinks to himself, I gotta really think about what days I am going to copy and paste to reuse later. Gotta choose good ones. Not bad ones.

He thinks of a time when he got rejected by a girl he was in love with in high school. Sarah. How it had hurt him so much he didn’t sleep or eat for about three days.

They had sat beside each other listening to tunes on his portable CD player sharing ear buds with each other.

After a few months of sitting next to each other he decided to ask her out. She said she had a boyfriend, and couldn’t go out with him. He remembers being slapped in the face. After that she had stopped sitting beside him.

Ugh. Definitely not that day. He thought.

What if I could get a better result though going back to riding the tricycle, be more careful riding it. Or being more prepared for Sarah’s rejection, not taking it so personally.

“Okay Computer, paste the day I fell off the tricycle.” He said.

The whole room flickers, and a flash of green and blue lights flickered throughout the room.

A sound of thunder followed, and a flash of lightning outside his office’s window.

#

A boy was riding his tricycle in the front drive way. He is about three years old. He notices a pothole in front of him at the very last minute before he would’ve hit it. He swerves and misses the pothole.

Just then a flash of green and blue lights flickered throughout the whole area. A sound of thunder followed, and a flash of lightning outside his office’s window.

#

Michael awakes at his keyboard. Look at his right arm. Everything seems normal, he rubs the spot where he knew it was broken before. No pain this time. Not even a single indication that he had broken it.

He looks at his computer screen.

It reads. Copy and Paste Experiment #1 successful. Would you like to continue to try again?

Michael takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes to see clearer. Put them back on. Copy and Paste Experiment #1 successful. Would you like to continue to try again?

He couldn’t believe the very first experiment went so well.

He thought about high school, and being rejected by Sarah.

“Let's go two for two!” He screams in excitement.

“Okay Computer, paste the day I was rejected by Sarah on the school bus.”

The whole room flickers, and a flash of green and blue lights flickered throughout the room. A sound of thunder followed, and a flash of lightning outside his office’s window. He glances quickly at the Computer screen. Warning: System Update had failed, System now unstable…

“Oh crap. Here we go!”

#

“I told you I have a boyfriend!” Sarah slaps Michael across the face. She gets up out of the seat and goes to the furthest one in the back away from him.

Just as the slap occurs, yet another flash of green and blue lights flickered throughout the school bus. A sound of thunder followed, and a flash of lightning outside the bus’s windows. He blanks out.

#

Michael awakes, with a slight pain on his right face. He glances at the computer screen. System Update Repaired.

Copy and Paste Experiment unsuccessful.
He thinks to himself, better not try that again.

Somethings best not to be tampered with. He thought to himself. He decides to shut the computer down for the night, and take a long break to consider his next project idea.

He powers the computer down. As he leaves his office to head home. A flash of green and blue lights flickers across the office, a sound of thunder, and then a bolt of lightning appears.

Free PDF Download 

Copyright 10/06/2025

~P.C. Snider 

Next Collection Title and Cover Reveal

 

The next collection is going to be a short story collection called Tales From Apt. 301. This cover has also been edited by Paul Ferguson who did my first cover edit. 

I am thinking probably a collection of scary short stories as a free e-Book. Kinda like my poem collection. I think I will put in some science fiction and maybe a mystery as well.

No eta or deadline for this just like the other collection. It will be out whenever I have completed what I think is a good amount of scary stories for this. This will most likely will be my last free e-Book. We will see.

I have submitted a Mystery story Jack's Last Drink to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Still waiting on response.

Anyway keep your eyes out for Tales From Apt. 301. 

Sincerely, 

~P.C. Snider 

Jade's Ghost Story (Full Story)

I guess some people have missed the memo that this full story is included in my poem collection as a bonus story. I think is very funny. So to ease any confusion here is the full story for Jade's Ghost Story. This is actually a rewrite of a story I had written back in 2009, but I had lost the original copy somehow so I did my best to rewrite it from memory. Hope you like it. 

 

Jade’s Ghost Story 

By P.C. Snider

 

Jade Price was driving her Toyota Corolla, in the middle of a blizzard that came out of nowhere. She is with her boyfriend Sam. They are stuck right behind a big snow plow on the highway of all places.

Her and her boyfriend Sam are currently having an argument about the situation.

“I told you we should have stayed home.” Sam said, while engulfing a cheeseburger and fries that they managed to get before the blizzard started.

“I know, I know. You’ve said that countless times now.” Jade snapped back.

“Why do we have to go visit your parents anyway? You know they don’t like me.” Sam scoffed at the thought of seeing them again.

“They wanna make sure that you are still a good match for me I guess.” She responded not angry.

“No pressure.” He sighed.

“Rather be watching the tube, could be missing a good Basketball game.” Sam said.

“I could be working on my book.”

“Lots of other things I could be doing than being stuck here in the middle of a stupid blizzard on the highway. ”

“Ugh. Why don’t you just finish eating and take a nap. Let me focus on driving and getting us there in one piece?” Jade said.

“Best idea you’ve had all day.” Sam said. Just as he finished the remainder of his meal and reclined his seat, and put his cap over his face.

Jade sighed a sense of relief. She turned off the radio station for the time being. Just as she did the car started to fishtail just a little bit, she was able to correct the mistake. But it scared her wide awake now.

She gripped the steering wheel tighter with her hands. Pretty much white knuckling as they call it now.

The car behind her flashed its high beams at her.

“Ugh. Please get off my butt.” She said, “We’re driving in a blizzard!”

The driver behind her must’ve heard her thoughts, as he floored it past them in the passing lane.

She honked his horn at him, and gave him the finger. She knew he wouldn't see the finger gesture anyway with the way the blizzard is behaving.

Guy must be crazy! She thought.

She decided to straighten her review mirror, as she adjusted it, she could have sworn she saw a woman on the side of the road! She was holding her right arm as if it was broken. She thought she could see her saying the words, “Please, help me.”

Before she knew it the woman was gone.

She let out a small scream. Which jolted Sam awake from his already short nap.

“God what now?” He said.

“I saw a woman walking on the side of the road babying a broken right arm!”

“No you didn’t…” Sam responded.

“I swear I saw her in my rear view mirror! She was saying "please, help me.”

“You know I can read lips right?”

“Yeah I know.” Sam said.

He took a look at his right view mirror to see if he could see her too. But the mirror was covered in snow. He couldn’t see anything.

“I can’t see anything.” He said.

“No duh, your mirror is covered in snow.” Jade responded.

He sighed.

“I’m going back to my nap.”

“Good idea.”

The snow plow ahead of them started to slow down.

Oh great, we are never going to get to my parents place now.” Jade thought.

Maybe we should’ve stayed home like Sam said. She thought as she looked over at him, starting to snore now.

The snow plow is now going to a very slow crawl.

I bet there’s an accident up ahead.

Now the snow plow has stopped completely.

Jade slams on the breaks. The car fish tails again, but still just only a little bit she was able to correct, and come to a complete stop just inches before hitting the back of the snow plow.

This time Sam is still sound asleep.

She wipes the sweat that formed recently on her forehead. “Phew. That was close.” She said.

But just immediately after she uttered those words another truck came up behind her. “Please stop, please stop.” She said as she saw it also fishtailing behind her.

Only this time she didn’t get her wish. The truck had slammed right in the back of her vehicle, also pushing it into the back of the snow plow.

She blanks out. She thought she had heard Sam scream before she lost consciousness.

#

When Jade came too, the first thing she saw was Sam covered in blood, looking like he had hit his head on the car window.

The next thing that happened was a shearing pain in her right forearm. She looked down and saw that her arm was broken.

She slowly got out of the car, and decided to go for a walk to find some help. She had to get help for Sam, and for her arm. There was no one in the snow plow ahead of her. He must have gotten out too to go find help. She thought.

As she walked in the blizzard, waving her good arm for help, the cars just kept passing by.

One of them almost looked like the car she was driving…

 FREE PDF Download

Copyright 9/21/2025

~P.C. Snider

 

Writing Updates

I have decided to continue posting stories, and the odd poem here on my blog. They will still be free to read, as this is mainly a hobby for now anyway.

I like the idea of self-publishing more for full control for my stories and poems.

Next project is a short story collection. Once I have enough short stories I will compile them like I did with my poems. Still currently Untitled. Once I have a title and a cover figured out it will be posted here.

I am looking around for self-publishing places for paperback/hardcover options.

So keep an eye out for more short stories, and poems, and a short story collection coming soon.

Sincerely,

P.C. Snider

Blog Updates: Comments enabled.

I have enabled comments now if anyone would like to leave feedback on my current stories or poems feel free. 

Depending in how well the comments are. Will depend on me keeping the option available. 

Sincerely,

P.C. Snider