The House That Pip Built: an Aether Vitalis Short Story

Aether Vitalis

by Mercy Loomis

College freshman Caleb wants desperately to be in the same fraternity as his longtime crush, Evan. Will he be able to spend enough time in a haunted house to get his wish? Contains explicit sex.


Originally published in Taste Scared Stiff. Round Rock, Torquere Press, 2009.

ebook

First published October 26, 2011

About the author

Mercy Loomis grew up in a haunted house, and has had quite enough of ghosts for one lifetime, thank you. Though she now lives in a 150-year-old house, it is remarkably ghost-free. (That, or they’re staying on the down-low. She doesn’t care which.)

Mercy finished writing her first vampire novel when she was in middle school, and hasn’t stopped writing about them since. She loves stories about the paranormal because monsters are scary, but less scary than real people. Or at least less depressing.

Mercy graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison one class short of an accidental certificate in Folklore. She credits her love of mythology to her mom reading Greek myths as bedtime stories, and her love of fantastical adventure stories to watching cheesy movies with her dad. Her love of history (and coffee!) is completely her husband’s fault, but she doesn’t know who’s to blame for the fascination with physics.

She guesses that hanging out with Dad while he butchered deer also had an effect on her character, but exactly what effect, she leaves up to the reader.

See what Mercy’s up to and find links to her other work at www.mercyloomis.com.