There's a well-known French saying, "Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose," or roughly translated, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Matt Schiariti applies that epigram to a very familiar tale of supernatural revenge that he gives an innovative 21st century social media twist. The resulting story, cleverly called "Words with Fiends," would have made a great "Twilight Zone" episode, if only smartphones and online games had been around in the 1950's.



The main character of "Words with Fiends" is a seemingly ordinary guy named Morgan who just did a very bad thing. While driving home from the local tavern one wintry night after having a few too many, he ran over a woman on a dark country road. Since no one saw what happened, or so Morgan thought, he buried her body in the woods and told his car mechanic that he'd hit an animal. Since then, Morgan's been able to get on with his life, but it's clear in the story that he's still badly shaken about the incident. So, when Morgan starts getting a bunch of weird messages from an unknown online acquaintance with whom he's started a game of Words with Friends, he gets increasingly rattled. The messages start out as random curse words and soon get much more specific, indicating that the caller knows a lot about the death of the young woman. And, to make matters worse, Morgan can't stop the messages from coming.



This plot description will probably sound familiar to anyone who's read any horror stories, especially those of the "Tales from the Crypt" variety. It's not hard to guess the origin of the mysterious phone calls, and it's also not hard, at least in general terms, to guess what's going to happen to Morgan. But, quite frankly, there aren't that many completely new plot ideas in horror stories anyway, and, like a ride on a roller coaster, the fun isn't in the final destination so much as the ride to get there. And Matt Schiariti gives readers one heck of a ride in "Words with Fiends."



Schiariti does two things that elevate "Words with Fiends" well above the norm for this type of fiction. First, he incorporates social media seamlessly into a classic storyline. Instead of finding ghostly messages written on walls as in days of yore, the unfortunate Morgan can't get them off his smartphone. There's something inherently creepy about the repeated buzzing to announce messages that Morgan doesn't want but can't avoid. And, as the story goes on, the smartphone and the game app assume even greater importance in the story. The second thing that Schiariti does to make “Words with Fiends” such a good story is take his time establishing Morgan's mental state. At first, he’s a man on the edge who's been able to rationalize his behavior, then later, he’s a man spiraling out of control as things get worse. Morgan winds up doing some things that are extremely ill-advised, but the author's attention to building up his character makes what happens seem quite inevitable. Fans of traditional shock horror shouldn’t despaire as the story builds tension; the finale should be gruesome enough to suit anyone’s taste.



There's a reason why "The Twilight Zone" remains so popular decades later, even though by now everyone knows the twist endings of many of the best episodes. Rod Serling and the other writers crafted stories that would hold up on repeat viewing, and knowing what's going to come often makes those stories that much better. Matt Schiaritti may not be at Serling's level yet, but he's done an excellent job of crafting a story that, while most people, including me, had a pretty good idea where it was headed, it was still lots of fun watching Schiaritti and his unknown forces ratchet up the pressure on the hapless Morgan as the story went on. Morgan might not have enjoyed playing this game, but after reading "Words with Fiends," I certainly wouldn't mind reading some more words by Schiariti.