This was the first full issue of Weird Horror that I’d gone through, and I must say, I was really impressed! All the stories are well-crafted, and although I enjoyed some more than others, I found some lovely gems and some new authors I’ll be following in the future.
The issue kicks off with “All the Things We Never Said,” by Gary McMahon, in which a couple find an empty coffin has materialized in their living room. Is it a harmless joke perpetrated by a friend, or is it representative of something much worse? While I liked the relationship dynamics a lot in this one, I felt the ending was a bit too abstract for my personal taste.
The next story, “Calcium,” by Jacob Steven Mohr, is about a young man who begins receiving packages of bones in the mail. This one is a dark, unflinching tale about the complexities of young love and father-son relationships. The narrative voice was strong in this one, and the sinister atmosphere permeated every sentence. I liked it a lot!
“On the Occasion of Bloodletting,” by RJ Taylor, is a surreal nightmare following a plague doctor tasked with an unusual burden in a sickened town. This one weaves dreamlike darkness and the consequences of broken relationships together in a satisfyingly eerie tale. Dark and enjoyable.
In “Any Kind of Friend,” by Jack Klausner, a lonely narrator befriends a stranger in a pub and realizes how isolated he’s become. But sometimes it is better not to talk to strangers. Short and atmospheric, this one felt like a solid apéritif for the issue.
“Aster,” by Elin Olausson, comes on dark and soily in the best of ways. Linna lives happily alone in her garden-surrounded cottage, until she receives an enchanted seed that gives her much more than she asked for. But will she find this unexpected gift benefits her? Or is it a curse she must break? This one is darkly poetic, like the old fairytales in which things rarely turn towards happy endings.
“Ecdysis,” by Jess Koch, was one of my absolute favorites of this issue. A mother tormented by her own psychological issues and damaged past finds herself facing down the creature that lives in her walls. But all is not as it seems. This chilling story reminded me of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Shirley Jackson’s psychological horror pieces.
“Rigor,” by Alison Moore, follows Floyd, a man bent on contacting the dead. But suffering endless failures takes its toll, until Floyd discovers a method that he’s certain will work. While I liked the atmosphere of this one, I felt the ending didn’t land as much of an emotional payout as I’d been hoping for.
Perry Ruhland’s “Long Scissors, Black Candles,” brings us to a dark hilltop, where a cluster of schoolboys find more than they bargained for. Children can be so cruel, but there are other cruel things in the shadows. Dark, and taking a bit to get off the ground, I found this story solid, though I would have liked the idea pushed a little farther.
Aimee Ogden rarely disappoints, and “Patience is a Virtue,” is no exception. A scientist bent on preserving life by any means necessary has trapped his nearly-dead wife in a life-sized doll’s body. But being alive isn’t the same as living. Eerily beautiful, this one sat with me for a while after reading.
“Hello,” by John Patrick Higgins, plays with one of my favorite horror tropes: voices through disconnected phones. But while the calls the narrator first fields are mere echoes of the past, there is a more sinister intention afoot. I enjoyed this one a lot, even if the ending was a touch predictable.
The final story, “The Haunting House,” by David Ebenbach, is a quintessential horror-not-horror story, which manages to use classic horror tropes to root out the truly horrifying things we must all live with everyday. I loved the heck out of this story, reminiscent of Jackson’s “The Summer People,” in that it asks if literal monsters are actually the thing we should be most scared of.
RECOMMENDED READING:
“Ecdysis” by Jess Koch
“The Haunting House” by David Ebenbach
“Calcium” by Jacob Steven Mohr