A woman moves to a posh suburb with her husband and senses danger and terror beneath the serene surfaces. This is a good story that builds subtle dread; it’s never clear whether…
Author: Michael Hartford
“By Night He Could Not See” by Joel Lane
Mysterious murders, with the victims found with hands and heads covered in paint, lead a man to believe that someone is seeking revenge for a terrible crime he participated in long ago….
“Dead End” by Nicholas Royle
A man on vacation with his mistress is haunted by guilt and frightening premonitions. This is an elusive little story; I wasn’t sure at first if the images of a car crash…
“The Burning Circus” by Angela Slatter
A trapeze artist who has been unjustly imprisoned seeks out her former circus to deliver vengeance. This story holds its cards close to the chest and plays them out slowly, delivering a…
“Stemming the Tide” by Simon Strantzas
A misanthropic man and his partner go to the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy to watch the tide, and other horrors, rush in. This story has echoes of “Ringing the…
“A Night’s Work” by Clive Barker
A man wakes from a dream and tries to write it down, but discovers that he’s still dreaming. A nice little story of recursion and existential uncertainty.
“The Next Glade” by Robert Aickman
A woman meets a strange man at a friend’s party who invites himself for a hike in the woods near her home; later on a family outing in the same woods she…
“The Sailor-Boy’s Tale” by Isak Dinesen
A young sailor sneaks ashore and has several life-threatening adventures; he is saved in the end due to an act of kindness he performed on an earlier journey. This has a fairy…
“The Desert of Wounded Frequencies” by Betty Rocksteady
A man driving across the desert in a broken-down car catches disturbing sounds among the static on the broken radio and is forced to face his own darkness. A grim little story…
“The Boy Upstairs” by Joshua Ferris
A woman at the periphery of a putative tragedy finds her life unraveling as she ponders whether she would bargain away her happiness for the sake of another person. As New Yorker…