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Nightmare Magazine 61: October 2017
NIGHTMARE is an online horror and dark fantasy magazine. In NIGHTMARE's pages, you will find all kinds of horror fiction, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror.
This month, we have original fiction from Cassandra Khaw ("Don't Turn on the Lights") and Joanna Parypinski ("We Are Turning on a Spindle"), along with reprints by Brian Evenson ("Click") and Robert Shearman ("Suffer Little Children"). Over on "The H Word," Kristi DeMeester shares her thoughts on horror. Plus, we also have author spotlights with our authors and a feature interview with Josh Malerman.
This month, we have original fiction from Cassandra Khaw ("Don't Turn on the Lights") and Joanna Parypinski ("We Are Turning on a Spindle"), along with reprints by Brian Evenson ("Click") and Robert Shearman ("Suffer Little Children"). Over on "The H Word," Kristi DeMeester shares her thoughts on horror. Plus, we also have author spotlights with our authors and a feature interview with Josh Malerman.
109 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2017
3 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
John Joseph Adams
367 books982 followersJohn Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 25, 2019
WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
last year, i carved out my own short story advent calendar as my project for december, and it was so much fun i decided to do it again this year! so, each day during the month of december, i will be reading a short story and doing the barest minimum of a review because ain't no one got time for that and i'm already so far behind in all the things. however, i will be posting story links in case anyone wants to read the stories themselves and show off how maybe someone could have time for that.
here is a link to the first story in last year's project,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
which in turn links to the whole monthlong project, in case you wanna do some free short story reading of your own! links to the stories in this year's advent-ure will be at the end of each review.
enjoy, and the happiest of decembers to you all!
DECEMBER 18
this review is for Don't Turn On the Lights by Cassandra Khaw
Stories are defined by a beginning, a middle, and an end. In more literary circles, people talk about denouements and layers, textures, the way a word can transcend to a synesthetic experience. But at the end of day, it all comes back down to those three things. A beginning, a middle, an end.
You’d be amazed as to how much detail gets lost in between, how a good storyteller can make you forget the bits that don’t make sense.
this story makes me love cassandra khaw even more than i already learned to this year. holy moly - this takes my second-favorite urban legend/horror story and twists it again and again, just for fun. and this is just the kind of reworking i like, where you're given a variant
and then another
and another.
hmmmm, what does that remind me of???
oh, yeah, that.
but this story, good as it is, is not like Clue in any way other than being like a choose-your-own-adventure that does the legwork for you and lets you decide which version you want to retell at your next haunted hayride.
my love for her continues.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
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last year, i carved out my own short story advent calendar as my project for december, and it was so much fun i decided to do it again this year! so, each day during the month of december, i will be reading a short story and doing the barest minimum of a review because ain't no one got time for that and i'm already so far behind in all the things. however, i will be posting story links in case anyone wants to read the stories themselves and show off how maybe someone could have time for that.
here is a link to the first story in last year's project,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
which in turn links to the whole monthlong project, in case you wanna do some free short story reading of your own! links to the stories in this year's advent-ure will be at the end of each review.
enjoy, and the happiest of decembers to you all!
DECEMBER 18
this review is for Don't Turn On the Lights by Cassandra Khaw
Stories are defined by a beginning, a middle, and an end. In more literary circles, people talk about denouements and layers, textures, the way a word can transcend to a synesthetic experience. But at the end of day, it all comes back down to those three things. A beginning, a middle, an end.
You’d be amazed as to how much detail gets lost in between, how a good storyteller can make you forget the bits that don’t make sense.
this story makes me love cassandra khaw even more than i already learned to this year. holy moly - this takes my second-favorite urban legend/horror story and twists it again and again, just for fun. and this is just the kind of reworking i like, where you're given a variant
and then another
and another.
hmmmm, what does that remind me of???
oh, yeah, that.
but this story, good as it is, is not like Clue in any way other than being like a choose-your-own-adventure that does the legwork for you and lets you decide which version you want to retell at your next haunted hayride.
my love for her continues.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
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November 1, 2017
3.5 stars for this set of horror short stories, free online here at Nightmare Magazine. Review for "We Are Turning on a Spindle" first posted on Fantasy Literature:
4 stars: "We are Turning on a Spindle" by Joanna Parypinski, a twisted "Sleeping Beauty" retelling. The castle of the Beauty of the Night is hidden away on a remote, forgotten world of an abandoned corner of the universe. There is a searcher, following the ancient legend of this beautiful lord’s daughter, whose beauty “was so great, it blinded the stars and turned them to burnt-out husks” and led to a spiteful sleeping curse. Now, after years of searching, he believes he has finally found the Beauty. But first he must pass through a primeval forest, with its clutching brambles and sleep-inducing whispers, and escape the other terrors and traps of the ancient castle. Then, perhaps, the legendary sleeping Beauty will be his.
“We Are Turning on a Spindle” is a deftly mixed blend of fairy tale, science fiction, fantasy and horror. The story suggests that “These are strange worlds that lie on the fringes, so old they may have existed before physics settled down with its proper rules.” It’s fascinating to see antediluvian castles with malevolent magic exist side by side with references to wormholes and the space-time continuum. The horror element is not just in the setting but also in the man’s heart, as we gradually become more aware of his thoughts and desires.
Other stories in this issue of Nightmare:
☠ "Suffer Little Children" by Robert Shearman. Seriously creepy story about a governess in a bygone era with troubled charges, that resides at the intersection of H.P. Lovecraft and The Turn of the Screw. Well done, though not really my cuppa tea. But if you like this type of horror story it might be yours.
☠ "Don't Turn on the Lights" by Cassandra Khaw, in which the author creepily plays with different scenarios from an urban legend about a girl's murder taking place while the girl's roommate, who hears ominous sounds, is too terrified to turn on the lights and see what's actually happening.
☠ "Click" by Brian Evenson. A man is accused of murdering four people, but doesn't remember a thing about it. Is he hallucinating? One of those indeterminate ending stories that tend to irritate me.
4 stars: "We are Turning on a Spindle" by Joanna Parypinski, a twisted "Sleeping Beauty" retelling. The castle of the Beauty of the Night is hidden away on a remote, forgotten world of an abandoned corner of the universe. There is a searcher, following the ancient legend of this beautiful lord’s daughter, whose beauty “was so great, it blinded the stars and turned them to burnt-out husks” and led to a spiteful sleeping curse. Now, after years of searching, he believes he has finally found the Beauty. But first he must pass through a primeval forest, with its clutching brambles and sleep-inducing whispers, and escape the other terrors and traps of the ancient castle. Then, perhaps, the legendary sleeping Beauty will be his.
“We Are Turning on a Spindle” is a deftly mixed blend of fairy tale, science fiction, fantasy and horror. The story suggests that “These are strange worlds that lie on the fringes, so old they may have existed before physics settled down with its proper rules.” It’s fascinating to see antediluvian castles with malevolent magic exist side by side with references to wormholes and the space-time continuum. The horror element is not just in the setting but also in the man’s heart, as we gradually become more aware of his thoughts and desires.
Other stories in this issue of Nightmare:
☠ "Suffer Little Children" by Robert Shearman. Seriously creepy story about a governess in a bygone era with troubled charges, that resides at the intersection of H.P. Lovecraft and The Turn of the Screw. Well done, though not really my cuppa tea. But if you like this type of horror story it might be yours.
☠ "Don't Turn on the Lights" by Cassandra Khaw, in which the author creepily plays with different scenarios from an urban legend about a girl's murder taking place while the girl's roommate, who hears ominous sounds, is too terrified to turn on the lights and see what's actually happening.
☠ "Click" by Brian Evenson. A man is accused of murdering four people, but doesn't remember a thing about it. Is he hallucinating? One of those indeterminate ending stories that tend to irritate me.
October 24, 2017
Overall a really good issue. The stand out story to me was Don't Turn on the Light by Cassandra Khaw, I listened to it on the site and actually ended up enjoying the narrator for it as well.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews