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I love short fiction. I find the older I get - not to make myself sound faux-world-weary, I’m only twenty-five - the more I appreciate it. There’s probably an uncharitable angle about my dwindling attention span, but I prefer to think that my taste is refining.
One of my favorite things about short fiction is that it forces the writer - if they’re good, that is - to streamline the introductory part of a story, which can really drag on in the hands of a long-winded or over-enthusiastic writer. It also allows writers to experiment with stylistic or narrative elements that might not work in long form. And, on a more subjective note, there’s something fundamentally satisfying about plowing through a dozen or so short stories in a row. It’s like rapidly tossing pieces of popcorn into your mouth.
This is a pretty narrow cut, genre-wise. These are all horror stories, and all can be found on the web-page of Nightmare Magazine, a monthly horror-fantasy anthology.
Many of these stories rely heavily on suspense, so I’ve chosen to avoid spoilers where I can, but if you want to go in totally blind, I’ve linked the stories individually below, with my reviews further down. I’ll also provide some content warnings down at the bottom of the page: violence targeted at children, rape or sexual violence, paranoia triggers like surveillance, and highly graphic gore beyond the “baseline” level you’ll see in other stories. That being said, these are horror stories, so please read with caution if you are sensitive to violence or other common horror elements.
( Read more... )
One of my favorite things about short fiction is that it forces the writer - if they’re good, that is - to streamline the introductory part of a story, which can really drag on in the hands of a long-winded or over-enthusiastic writer. It also allows writers to experiment with stylistic or narrative elements that might not work in long form. And, on a more subjective note, there’s something fundamentally satisfying about plowing through a dozen or so short stories in a row. It’s like rapidly tossing pieces of popcorn into your mouth.
This is a pretty narrow cut, genre-wise. These are all horror stories, and all can be found on the web-page of Nightmare Magazine, a monthly horror-fantasy anthology.
Many of these stories rely heavily on suspense, so I’ve chosen to avoid spoilers where I can, but if you want to go in totally blind, I’ve linked the stories individually below, with my reviews further down. I’ll also provide some content warnings down at the bottom of the page: violence targeted at children, rape or sexual violence, paranoia triggers like surveillance, and highly graphic gore beyond the “baseline” level you’ll see in other stories. That being said, these are horror stories, so please read with caution if you are sensitive to violence or other common horror elements.
( Read more... )
