A worldwide gathering of award winning horror authors have come together to craft a collection of dark fiction stories covering every album and every era of Black Sabbath. Each story is inspired by one of Black Sabbath’s greatest songs from the biggest hits to the most obscure album tracks. SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE: A HORROR TRIBUTE TO BLACK SABBATH is an immediate classic for rock fans and horror fans alike. Featuring the talents of Stewart Giles, J. Rocky Colavito, Sidney Williams, Tom Lucas, Thomas R. Clark, Ezekiel Kincaid, Neil Kelly, Tony Millington and many more, curated and edited by J.C. Maçek III with a foreword by Martin Popoff, Symptom of the Universe will whet your appetite for horror and rock at the same time.

All proceeds going to the Dio Cancer Fund

Contributors:

Thomas R. Clark, J. Rocky Colavito, Melissa Howard Corrigan, Scott J. Couturier, Bert Edens, Thomas A. Erb, Jason R Frei, Tom Folske, Stewart Giles, Mawr Gorshin, Kasey Hill, Rhys Hughes, Gail Ice, Shayne K. Keen, Keith Keesler, Neil Kelly, Ezekiel Kincaid, Daniel E. Lambert, Tom Lucas, J.C. Maçek III, Tony Millington, Edward Morris, Duane Pesice, John Reti, Neil Sanzari, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy, John Claude Smith, John Sowder, David L Tamarin, Rob Tannahill, Emmy Viane, Don Webb, and Sidney Williams.

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDJPL9CV

Wide Links: https://books2read.com/u/bPn0oJ

Get in on Godless!: https://godless.com/products/symptom-of-the-universe-1

Martin Popoff
Martin Popoff is a Canadian journalist, podcaster, critic and author of 115-odd books. Specializing in Rock and Roll and Heavy Metal, he has become the leading expert on Led Zeppelin, Queen, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Opeth, Blue Öyster Cult, Dark Tranquility and, of course, Black Sabbath. He has been called Heavy Metal’s most recognized journalist and remains an absolute legend in his field. 

www.martinpopoff.com

Rob Tannahill
Rob Tannahill is a writer, musician, and recovering addict living in Northern Nevada. His stories have been published in Down in the Dirt, Short-Story.Me, and other places. His poetry has been published in The Perch #7 (Substance). He is also a proud grower of various plants.

David L Tamarin
David L Tamarin is a writer of non-fiction and fiction. He writes extreme splatterpunk , crime, culture, drugs, and anything bizarre, disturbing or morbid. He has written for the website MOVIEWEB and was Chief Corpse-Pondent for Girls and Corpses magazine. His writing has appeared in Serial Killer magazine, Rue Morgue, and many more. His fiction has appeared in anthologies such as World’s Best Hardcore Horror 5 and Dig Two Graves Volume 2. He is the author of Hurting My Toys, BOLO: Sociopaths on a Rampage, This Book Hates You and All You Need is Blood. His column UGLY WORLD is available on www.Severed-Cinema.com

Mawr Gorshin
Born in Timmins, Ontario, Canada in 1969, Gorshin moved to Taiwan in the summer of 1996, where he has lived ever since, teaching ESL. When not teaching, he writes prose, poetry, and analyses of literature, film, and music (all from a Marxist/ Psychoanalytic perspective) on his blog, 'Infinite Ocean' 
https://mawrgorshin.com/

Neil Sanzari
Neil Sanzari attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and the School of Visual Arts and worked as a graphic artist, illustrator, and art director in the advertising field. His base of operations was New York City until he was displaced by the tragic events of 9/11. He now resides on the Jersey Shore with his wife, Celia and creates comic books and short stories. Keep your eyes peeled for Neil's upcoming novel. 
Neil’s dark fiction has appeared in Beers with Hank: A Tribute to Bukowski, and Straight-to-Video IV: VOD, Necro-castizine #3, the Nicolas Cage inspired anthology: His Soul’s Still Dancing, and The Siren's Call Zine.

J. Rocky Colavito
J. Rocky Colavito, aka Dr. Damned/The Plague Prof, is temporarily based in the Midwest, but will soon be relocating to the Southwest. An academic by training, he is now a nearly full-time horror writer when he isn't teaching classes on professional wrestling, popular culture, and, yes, horror writing. His work appears in many places: Carnage House, Werewolf Magazine Reborn, The Siren's Call, The Horror Zine, Schlock!, and Caveman Magazine. Other appearances include anthologies curated by Wicked Shadow Press, Madame Gray's Poe-pourri of Horror, Winding Paths, Gasps, Shocking Sojourns, and The Horror Collection: Science Fiction edition. He is the Creator of Buck Neighkyd, porn star turned occult detective, whose serial adventures appear in Caveman Magazine, and in the novel Creative Control. His range extends into Neo-Giallo, (currently at six books), Stoned Cryptids, Splatter Dinosaur Porn, professional wrestling adjacent horror, and quieter pieces (the recent They Will Bring You Shiny Things). He lives by the credo, "Someone's gotta do it; might as well be me,” and is quite comfortable being the one you were warned about.

Sidney Williams
Sidney Williams grew up in Louisiana, spent years in Florida and now hangs his hat in Virginia where he continues to create great works of art. He also teaches creative writing with the expected focus on dark fiction and suspense. The author of the Aimsley Cycle novels as well as a series of young adult novels (under the pseudonym Michael August), Williams has written a number of standalone horror tomes like Dark Hours, Disciples of the Serpent, Midnight Eyes and the short fiction collection Scars and Candy. Follow Sidney Williams at his website SidIsAlive.com

Don Webb
Don Webb is the author of twelve books and over four hundred other items from poetry to articles to trucker fiction and more Cthulhu Mythos stories than H.P. Lovecraft himself wrote. Born on Walpurgisnacht, 1960 in Amarillo Texas, he remains a Texan while teaching online classes for UCLA. Having published in everything from a Norton Anthology to poetry collections to everything in between, Webb’s work has been translated into twelve languages. Don Web is also High Priest of Set and a Magus (V*) of the Temple of Set.

John Claude Smith
John Claude Smith has had three collections, four chapbooks, and two novels published, along with tales and/or poems in Vastarien, Pluto in Furs, and many more magazines and anthologies. His debut novel, Riding the Centipede, was a Bram Stoker Award Finalist. He is presently shopping four novels and a novella, while putting together a short story collection and a poetry collection. Busy is good. Reissues of his OOP earlier books are in process as he types this sentence (one is out now!). He can also confirm here for the first time the rumor that, yes, he did sing vocals on an unreleased Black Sabbath album recorded during the break between Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin, though no evidence remains as the master tapes were lost in a fire at the studio where they were recorded. 
He splits his time between the East Bay across from San Francisco, and Rome, Italy, where his heart resides always.

Edward R. Morris
Edward Morris was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Literature, the Rhysling Award and the British Science Fiction Association Award. His short stories have been published over a hundred and seventy times since 2002 and appeared in six languages. Notable publications include Interzone (print and digital,) Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year 2, The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer, the Book of Cthulhu 1, Peter Rawlik's REANIMATORS!, Tales From Arkham Sanitarium, The Black Stone, A Season in Carcosa, and Joseph Pulver's TALES OF THE KING IN YELLOW, VOLUME 1 as the sole collaborator featured in that volume. His breakout novel ALPHABET OF LIGHTNING is available at 

https://www.brokeneyebooks.com/news/alphabet-of-lightning-by-edward-morris#/

Thomas Folske
Tom Folske lives in Minnesota with his wife, four kids, and three black cats. He has had over 20 short stories published or in the process of being published, with new stories to be featured in upcoming anthologies by Jersey Pines Ink, Theaker Quarterly Fiction, Hiraeth Publishing and House of Loki Press. See more at 

https://tfolske1987.wixsite.com/mysite

Rhys Hughes
Fantastika and Speculative Fiction author Rhys Hughes is a world traveler and adventurer of the highest order. When not exploring ruins or climbing mountains in varied countries, Hughes graces us with his excellent writing. His first novel was published in 1995 and gained a cult following, allowing his subsequent books to sell in greater numbers. Currently, Hughes continues his ambitious project known as Pandora’s Bluff, an interconnected web of exactly 1,000 short stories of both trouble and hope. 

Duane Pesice
Writer and musician Duane Pesice performs and records under the stage name “Moderan,” he has recorded a number of great songs, including a fascinating instrumental cover of Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan.” As an author, Mr. Pesice has written under many pseudonyms as well as his own name. You might find his name in surprising publications attached to short stories as well as sports articles. The man is prolific. Living in Arizona, not too far north of the Mexican border, you’re not likely to catch Duane wearing fur coats or parkas in his selfies but you are likely to see him surrounded by pet dogs, pet cats and pet guitars, none of which does he stray far from. 

Tom Lucas
Author Tom Lucas’ literary cred is established by his day job as a college professor. His Rock and Roll cred is confirmed by his performances on the Lollapalooza stage. Yes, he’s a spoken word performer as well as an author, teacher and daredevil. His fast driving may well be his birthright, as Tom was born and raised in Motor City (aka: Detroit). Some time ago, he fled the ice and snow in favor of the sunny shores of Florida. He is known for his satirical novel Research Randy & The Mystery of Grandma’s Half-Eaten Pie of Despair. It’s like Encyclopedia Brown meeting Cthulhu backstage at a Jane’s Addiction concert. He has also been published in periodicals like The Oakland Press, The Orlando Weekly, Writer’s Digest, The Writer’s Monthly Review and many more. Yes, it’s safe to call this cool guy “prolific.”

J.C. Maçek III
J.C. Maçek III, the editor and curator of this very book, is the author of the hit true crime novel The Black Dahlia (2024) and the producer of the 2018 film [CARGO], starring Ron Thompson of American Pop fame, as well as the author of the film’s tie-in novel. His other novels include The Antagonist and Seven Days to Die. More recently, the author has found success in shorter stories and novellas, though novels are still his primary focus. An experienced and prolific entertainment journalist and celebrity interviewer, he has written thousands of articles, reviews and interviews. In addition to his work in Symptom of the Universe: A Horror Tribute to Black Sabbath, he is also appearing in the anthologies Confessions from the Think Tank and Nature Triumphs from Dark Moon Rising Publications. He resides in Southern California with his wife, family and a veritable ZOO of pets.

Jason R. Frei
Author Jason R. Frei is a therapist for children and adolescents. In addition, Mr. Frei has been publishing dark tales of zombies, killer spiders, monsters and all manner of things to make you scream in a number of anthologies. His music-based stories have appeared in the collections Dismembering the Coop, Vinyl Cuts and Heavy Metal Nightmares. Luckily, he’s given us not one, but two Sabbath inspired tales of terror. Jason is currently busy finalizing his first ever anthology of all his own work. Stay tuned!

Gail Ice
Gail Ice is a space alien from the planet Xeta IX and is single handedly responsible for the zombie virus outbreak of 1867 in the Southwest United States… not that he’s bragging. After a century or so of hibernation, Gail unfroze himself from his cocoon and attended York Technical College where he honed his skills as a writer and filmmaker, earning his associates degree in Filmmaking in 2008. Along the way, the Iceman wrote poetry, screenplays and short stories. He once killed a man just for snoring too loud. Among his crowning achievements is the two-part short film Choices parts 1 and 2. The crime thriller was written and directed by Gail Ice himself (who also appeared as the mob boss). Gail has been a rock and roll fan his whole life. He discovered Black Sabbath at age 13 and has been a huge fan ever since, even meeting Ronnie James Dio in 1991. He currently lives in York, South Carolina. with his wife Sheila. The rumors of Gail Ice potentially releasing a new zombie outbreak are completely unfounded… he swears!

Daniel E. Lambert
Back in the 1970s, Daniel E. Lambert’s mother turned him on to the Righteous Brothers song, “Rock and Roll Heaven.” Dan has contemplated the afterlives of rock stars in the back of his mind ever since.
He writes fiction and teaches English at East Los Angeles College and California State University, Los Angeles. Some of Dan’s greatest influences are David Lynch, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, and Ray Bradbury. Dan published a collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories, Mere Anarchy, in 2016. His fiction also appears in the anthologies When Words Collide, Flash It, Daily Flash 2012, Daily Frights 2012, and Autoduel Tales: The Fiction of Car Wars. He has also contributed to the periodicals Silver Apples, The Daily Breeze, Easy Reader, Other Worlds, and Wrapped in Plastic. You can find Daniel E. Lambert in Cyberspace at 

http://dan_lambert.homestead.com/ 

“If there’s a rock n’ roll heaven… Well, you know they’ve got a hell of a band…”

Bert Edens
Bert Edens is an avid reader and fan of all kinds of literary genres, which has easily led to his publication in multiple genres as well. From the early days of his writing for webzines to his recent prolific era of anthologies, the man has published his fair share of cool works. Bert is a martial arts instructor, chef and disability rights and women’s rights advocate, sometimes all at the same time. Bert is the creator of the successful book Dismember the Coop (a horror anthology inspired by the music of Alice Cooper) and is planning a new anthology paying tribute to the great Blue Öyster Cult. Get more of Bert Edens at
http://bert-edens.com/

Thom Erb
As emperor of the ERBAL NATION, Thom Erb has refused to define his writing by any one genre, choosing instead to explore the light and the darkness and, to quote Erb himself, “the varying definitions of heroism.” A prolific editor and short story, writer, Erb has more recently focused on longer works like Heaven, Hell or Houston and The Last in Line. Thom is also a musician, specifically a skin-beating percussionist, a sports fan, role playing game fan, and a pet lover who shares his domain with a couple of hellcats. In addition to writing, Thom is a talented visual artist who takes influence from many of the comic book greats from Jack Kirby to John Buscema to John Byrne to Bart Sears. Outside of the comics world, Thom has been inspired by everyone from classical painters like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo to modern painters like Frank Frazetta and Norman Rockwell. You can probably guess that Thom Erb is also very talented with cover design.

Shayne K. Keen
Author and editor Shayne K. Keen lives in the wilds of Northern Michigan with his partner and cats. He is an editor, curator and contributor to the flash fiction anthology series Weird Fiction Quarterly. His stories and poems have appeared in regular publications Weirdbook and Eternal Haunted Summer in addition to the anthologies Caravans Awry, A Walk in a Darker Wood, and A Walk Through a City of Shadows among others.

Stewart Giles
As the author of over fifty books, Stewart Giles is nothing if not prolific. After a speaker crashed down onto his head, Giles had the idea for a detective series of novels featuring DS Jason Smith. This became Giles’ first successful series and is now in its 25th volume (and counting). The success of the Smith novels led to a new series, the DC Harriet Taylor Cornwall saga. After three novels, Cornwall crossed over with Smith for a new joint series. This Enigma series brings together the brooding, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor. Desiring a break from the crime thriller genre, Giles came up with The Divide - a macabre horror tale of survival. Crime remains his true love. A new series featuring Irishman, DI Liam O'Reilly followed with ten more mysteries set on the island of Guernsey (to date). When not writing, Giles loves sailing, guitars and jumping out of perfectly good planes. He lives with his wife Ann on a lake near a world-class skydiving drop zone in South Africa.

Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Author and musician Jayaprakash Satyamurthy is the bassist for the Doom Metal band Djinn & Miskatonic. He is best known as a prolific writer of short fiction and he is a master of the craft, having appeared in over forty-one anthologies over the past eighteen years. He has also written the novella STRENGTH OF WATER and the acclaimed book WEIRD TALES OF A BANGALOREAN along with collections of his own poems and short stories. Originally from Chennai, India, Satyamurthy now lives in Bangalore in the south of India with his wife and a number of rescue animals.

Emmy Viene
Emmy Viene was born and raised out west and developed a love of horror at a young age. Probably too young, but oh well. One night when she was 12, and her parents were out late, she found The Exorcist on TV and she was mesmerized. At 13, she had read the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe and started working her way through classics by Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz. She is a novice writer just dipping her toes into the horror genre. She cites the evening news as her source for inspiration. She loves poetry, her adorable kitties, her husband, and cucumber-lime Gatorade. Sadly, she’s a Miami Dolphins fan. Don’t laugh. That’s a horror story right there.

Thomas R. Clark
Thomas R. Clark is a musician, graphic designer, author, journalist, and critic. You can find Tommy’s articles and stories in outlets like Rue Morgue, This is Infamous, and more. As a fiction writer, Tommy has published several novels including The Death List and Summerhome along with a plethora of short stories. He has also been nominated for Splatterpunk awards for his novellas Fireflies & Apple Pies and Bella’s Boys, both of which can be found in the collection The God Provides. Tommy lives in Central New York with his wife and their Jack Russell fur kids.

Kasey Hill
Kasey Hill, the publisher of this collection and sole proprietor of Dark Moon Rising Publications, has lived in Franklin County, VA, for most of her life. Spending two years in journalism in high school, and publishing articles in the Franklin News Post, she built much of her young adult life around reading and writing. She has several horror novels published as well as a Christian Fantasy series, and many more stories circulating for anthologies as she pushes her passions forth into the writing community. As a nonfiction author, she is both a poet and the historical archivist for Trinitarian Wicca with an upcoming historical account of the shift from polytheism to monotheism in Abrahamic religion.

Keith Keesler
Keith Keesler lives in the suburbs of Atlanta Georgia where he studies film history and filmmaking. Although “Anno Mundi” represents Keith’s first published work, he has been working on a modern-day Dracula epic that is sure to capture the public’s imagination. Keith is also an aspiring filmmaker working on a number of horror projects.

Melissa Howard Corrigan
Melissa is a United States Navy veteran, author, podcaster, adoptee, devoted wife and mother, and all around good friend. Her podcast, The Light at the Other Side, has become successful around the world. 
Her book 45 Days of Pushing Through- A Guided Journal: A journey of self-discovery through reflection, acceptance, and action is a self-help book that has gained attention for its intelligent planning and coping mechanisms. Follow Melissa’s ongoing projects at 
https://www.melissacorrigan.com/

Scott J. Couturier
Scott J. Couturier is a Rhysling-nominated poet and prose writer of the weird, liminal, and darkly fantastic. His work has appeared in numerous venues, including The Audient Void, Spectral Realms, Tales from the Magician’s Skull, Space and Time Magazine, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and Weirdbook; his collection of Weird fiction, The Box, is available from Hybrid Sequence Media, while his collection of autumnal & folk horror verse, I Awaken In October, is available from Jackanapes Press. He is an editor, curator and contributor to the flash fiction anthology series Weird Fiction Quarterly. He currently lives an obscure reverie in the wilds of northern Michigan with his partner/live-in editor and two cats.

John Reti
Multifaceted artist John Reti, half of the team that brought you "Too Late" has previously written in the anthologies Possessions 1 through 3, Dark Holidays, and DNA for n6. He has several short stories coming up in conjunction with Dark Moon Rising Publications. He also writes under the name P.J. Scorpian. John probably writes because he could never figure out a way to get himself into a rock band and "be The Beatles" as he said he wanted to as a child. John also paints, and thumps around on the keyboard when not writing.

Ezekiel Kincaid
Nicknamed “The Pastor of Horror,” Christian minister Ezekiel Kincaid has published a plethora of excellent short stories. While he is primarily a horror author, Ezekiel writes in many voices, bringing the reader up close and personal with his subjects. He brings real-world fear and dread into his dark fiction and the macabre is only the beginning of the journey. In addition to his great and prolific writing (and preaching, of course), Ezekiel Kincaid is the holder of three degrees in Theology, a father, an American football player, a martial artist, a horror movie fan and a chaplain.

John Sowder
John Sowder is an illustrator who has worked on Drew Edward's comic book HALLOWEEN MAN and illustrated a book entitled SCARED SACRED by HOL Publishing (with a foreword by Doug Bradley).

Tony Millington
British crime author Tony Millington signed with quality English publisher Dark Edge Press where he began his Ravenswood Crime series of police procedural novels. The series continues today at City Stone Publishing with his latest novel BATTLE LINES, featuring police detectives Monteith and Watson. Tony currently lives in Peterborough, England with his wonderful wife Ann.

Neil Kelly
Musician, music historian, record collector, radio DJ, journalist and audiovisual engineer Neil Kelly has been a broadcaster for 30 years. His knowledge of music and his ability to speak about it on the air is peerless. Combining that undeniable skill with his intelligence and academic achievements and speaking about music naturally led to writing about music. Starting in 2013, he entered into professional writing as a record reviewer, celebrity interviewer and columnist for popmatters.com. Since then, he’s reviewed records for radio station websites across the country and can currently be found writing reviews for classic 45s and albums at his own radio stations streaming at theoldschoolarchives.com. 

A southpaw guitarist like Tony Iommi, Neil has been a Black Sabbath fan his whole life. Neil currently resides in Cle Elum, Washington where he works as an audiovisual specialist at a resort community.