Scott Nicolay

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Category: Stories from the Borderland (page 5 of 5)

Stories From The Borderland #2: “The Shed” by E. Everett Evans

avonsfreader-evans

Evans didn’t even merit cover credit. The other stories from this issue are entirely forgotten.

A horror story about children can be especially disturbingSomething Wicked This Way Comes, IT, “The Specialist’s Hat.Throwing adults into unnatural peril is one thing—they at least can grasp their options, draw on support, choose to make sacrifices. Children are at once incredibly vulnerable yet charged with potential, so we fear more for them and the immense possibility of their futures than we do for the intrepid polar explorer, the graying antiquary, or the other interchangeable narrators of so many weird and gothic tales. How cruel the author who chooses children as protagonists in a narrative of weirdness and monsters. Continue reading

Stories From the Borderland #1: “Slime” by Joseph Payne Brennan

slimeweirdtalesWho remembers Joseph Payne Brennan? Some of you I am sure, though not nearly as many as his work deserves. He merits a position in the lineages of Weird Horror analogous to those of David Goodis, Chester Himes, Jim Thompson, Dorothy B. Hughes, and Charles Willeford in Noir—a major practitioner of the form who arose in its postwar Silver Age. Stephen King remembers him, and has paid him homage in stories such as “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut” and “The Raft.” Thomas Ligotti remembers him, and it becomes apparent in his verse—Brennan was perhaps the finest poet Weird Fiction ever had—yes, better for the most part than even Clark Ashton Smith, who had a tin ear (though “The Hashish Eater” is a masterpiece, no argument there). Continue reading

Coming Soon: Stories From The Borderland

Stories From the Borderland is a collaborative project between artist Michael Bukowski and myself. Beginning Dec. 2, 2015 and continuing each Wednesday for five weeks (skipping Christmas week when Michael has his own special plans), we will simultaneously showcase on our respective blogs one great Weird story that for varying reasons lacks the currency it deserves. I will post a short essay here about each story, while Michael will illustrate some…creature appearing in the story on his blog: https://yog-blogsoth.blogspot.com/

I am very excited to work with Michael again after our previous collaboration on the Dim Shores Press chapbook of my novella “after.” His artwork for both the cover and the interiors of that little volume won well-deserved praise and offered the perfect complement to the story. So here we go again…

Our first selection was once one of the best known of all Weird stories. A Weird Tales cover story that was anthologized dozens of times in its heyday, it became the uncredited basis for one of the most famous horror films of all time, and one of the first cinematic exemplars of genuine cosmic horror. If you think you know the name of the tale and its author, message me privately…

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