Messenger of Sorrow

By Gerald Saracco

Derek encounters a mysterious figure in a dream, who tells him his father will die. This leads him down a dangerous path as he tries to learn more about this mysterious figure. When someone he works with has a similar encounter, he realizes this figure is dangerous. Can he stop The Messenger of Sorrow, or is he headed for a tragic end?

This story has ties to the works of Robert W. Chambers & H.P. Lovecraft. Also included is a bonus flash fiction piece, That Last Time at the Beach, another person's encounter with the Messenger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerald Saracco
• Release date: Oct 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005088774

Gerald Saracco

Gerry Saracco has written material featured in various RPG supplements such as Eden Studios Presents vol 2, Enter the Zombie, Fistful O'Zombies, The 1pg Companion, as well as the main author for $layers: The Dead of Night for Savage Worlds. He's now branching off into writing Weird Fiction stories, inspired by the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, Jeffrey Thomas, William Meikle, Robert W. Chambers and others.Originally from New York City, he currently calls Portland, Oregon home.

Book preview

The Messenger of Sorrow

Gerry Saracco

Soultaker Studios

Copyright © 2022 Gerry Saracco

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 9781234567890

ISBN-10: 1477123456

Cover design by: Canva

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

Printed in the United States of America

To my father, Ronald A. Saracco

I miss you pops

To Ava Jacob-Borgas, whose dream inspired The Messenger

To Alice, Antonio, Joe, Spencer & Quinn, for riffing ideas off of, or giving me feedback on my crazy ideas

Preface

One night at work, my friend & co-worker Ava Jacobs-Borgas told me about a dream she had. Her dream is similar to the events in Part III, where Anna tells Derek about the Messenger telling her that she won't see her sister again. In Ava's dream, the person was dressed all in white.

I found her story interesting, and asked her persmission if I could use it as inspiration for some fiction. She said yes, and the original draft of Messenger of Sorrow's first part was Derek encountering a Messenger dressed all in white. At the time, this was more of a creepy pasta than Mythos related.

As time went on, I started thinking about incorporating the character into the Cthulhu Mythos. I was reading The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers, and decided to make the Messenger an agent of his herald, the Phantom of Truth. I originally wrote some flash fiction pieces, then added a few more that went into more weird fiction