The Missing Moon: horror short story

by Aaron Beardsell

The moon is gone. Madness runs wild, and the stars themselves have become strangers. On an isolated island, cut off from the world, chaos reigns. An amatuer astronomer tries to unravel this apocalyptic mystery. Who will survive, and at what cost?

The Missing Moon was originally published in Summer of Sci-Fi & Volume Two, by Worldstone Publishing. It is also available as part of the Coffinwood collection.

23 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2026

About the author

Aaron Beardsell fell in love with writing when they purchased a typewriter from a church buried deep in the woods. Some say the typewriter has a soul of its own, and lives through its victims. Others say it now sits abandoned in a basement somewhere. Only time will tell.

Aaron's stories have been published in a wide variety of anthologies, including Anterior Skies, Bullet Points, Cult Horrotica, Dark Speculations, Shadowed Realms, SNAFU: CONTAGION, Strange Aeon, and Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy.

Reviews

[Jamie Kort · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Missing Moon is a piece of short fiction sent to me by the author, and it's a great slice of creepy, epistolary, cosmic horror. Aaron's writing is crisp and clean and the story unfolds beautifully. It's a brisk 23 pages, but well worth your time. Check it out on KU.

[Steve Stred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this to blurb and it was fantastic!

What begins with one of the most unsettling opening lines you'll ever read, reveals itself one journal entry at a time, until the world is flipped on its head, flames dot the shoreline and strange creatures step foot on land. Outstanding.