Unearth the Chilling Secrets of Saltmare:
A New Tale of Terror is Here
The rain didn't just fall; it clawed.
This is how the story of Saltmare begins—a gripping new ebook that will pull you into a world of shadow, grief, and a horror that lurks just beneath the surface. Published by Calico Tales Publishing LLC, this work of fiction is a chilling exploration of loss, memory, and the dark things that feed on sorrow.
A Village Drowning in Secrets
Saltmare is a village clinging to a jagged coastline, a place of peeling paint, salt-laced weeds, and unspoken dread. For Marin Carver, a sculptor haunted by a past she cannot escape, it is both a sanctuary and a self-imposed prison. Five years after a tragic car crash stole her family, Marin's life is a hollowed-out existence, her days marked by the relentless rhythm of the Atlantic and the ghosts of her memory.
But Saltmare's fury is not confined to its storms. After a brutal tempest claws away a portion of the cliff face, Marin discovers something impossible nestled among the debris: a strange, intensely black clay. It's a substance that seems to breathe, to pulse with a faint, unnatural warmth, and it calls to the artist—and the brokenness—within her.
When Grief Takes Form
What begins as artistic curiosity soon spirals into a waking nightmare. The black clay is not just material; it is a sentient, malevolent entity that feeds on grief. It knows Marin's deepest secrets, her most painful memories, and it begins to shape itself into horrifyingly precise replicas of her lost loved ones.
First, her mother, Eleanor, whose love language was a "relentless stream of meticulously articulated criticism". Then, her beloved younger brother, Michael, his easy optimism twisted into a leering, predatory smirk. And finally, the most devastating creation of all: the child she never had the chance to hold.
These are not mere sculptures. They whisper. They move. They accuse.
"You weren't fast enough, Marin."
The horror soon escapes the confines of her studio, spreading like a contagion through the grieving heart of Saltmare. Other villagers, consumed by their own losses, find themselves visited by dark, clay effigies of their departed, their most cherished memories twisted into instruments of exquisite, personalized torture.
A Desperate Fight for Survival
As the very fabric of the village begins to warp and the clay's hunger grows, shifting from psychological torment to physical violence, Marin realizes she is at the center of the storm. With the help of a skeptical but brave local, Tomas Reed, she must find a way to fight this "devil's mud" before it consumes everything and everyone. The question is, how do you destroy a horror that you created?
"I made you," she whispered... "And I will unmake you."
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Copyright © 2025 by Calico Tales Publishing LLC
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means—including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods—without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except as permitted under U.S. copyright law.
