Muse

Inspiration is a living thing and it is hungry...

Terra Desmarais's success as the next big artist in NYC is absolutely inevitable. Her patrons, the associates, Mr. Black, Mr. Silver, and Mr. Green, can practically taste the raw talent dripping from the enigmatic trailer park prodigy's dollar store paints.

Up and coming pastel artist Cedric Fleck is a lucky discovery of the associates. Rescued from oblivion by Mr Green, put up in a studio by Mr. Silver and paraded around on the arm of Mr. Black should be the dream. But within the steady stream of great press and even better parties, Cedric can't shake the sense that something is very wrong. He wants to hate Terra for her overnight success, but he's taken by her earnest love of art.

As the artists around them crash and burn, and Cedric struggles to break free from the toxic seduction of Mr. Black, Terra is only concerned with her strange and compelling paintings. She seems to want nothing of the fame, the money, the sex or the drugs. As greed exposes the true colors of the associates, and Terra is too lost in her art to notice the danger, Cedric discovers that inspiration is a living thing, and it is hungry.

Auteur

LCW Allingham is a Philadelphia area author, artist, and editor. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and publications. She is the co-founder and executive editor of the indie press, Speculation Publications. Her horror novella, MUSE, is coming out in April 2024, and her debut historical novel, LADY, will be out in September, 2024.