The typical misbehavior of young children ratchets up to an alarming level. This starts as a fairly anodyne, “life among the savages” story of trying to get a young child ready for…
Author: Michael Hartford
“Come Closer” by Gemma Files
A woman notices that a strange, decrepit house is slowly moving toward her home, leaving destruction in its wake. This is an odd, dream-like story (with actual dreams about strange houses figuring…
“Cleaver, Meat, and Block” by Maria Haskins
In the aftermath of a zombie-like plague, a girl must come to terms with the the things that she has seen and experienced, and with what other people did. When I started…
“Lords of the Matinee” by Stephen Graham Jones
While sharing the audio assist device with his father-in-law at a movie, a man discovers that he can tap into his father-in-law’s memories and uncovers a terrible secret. So much of the…
“Motel Architecture” by J. G. Ballard
A man who lives alone, surrounded by television screens, is troubled by an intruder. The story itself wasn’t terribly surprising, but the premise felt weirdly prescient – replace the television screens with…
“A Dead Cert” by Seán Ó Faoláin
While visiting Dublin from her home in Cork, a woman meets with an old male friend and their flirting turns into a sort of challenging emotional combat. This is a quietly dark…
“A Hotel in Germany” by Catriona Ward
A movie star and her assistant have a strange, dark relationship. This is an odd and disorienting story. There is some back story implied, of near-immortal, vampire-like creatures who are made less…
“Exhalation #10” by A.C. Wise
A man blessed and cursed with acute hearing helps his police detective friend hunt for a killer who has left behind gruesome recordings of his crimes, which have begun to seep into…
“Tragic Event” by John F. Gilgun
A man returns from San Francisco to the small town where he grew up, and tries to convince his childhood friend to go back to San Francisco with him after a terrible…
“The Biographer’s Hat” by Cynthia Ozick
A questionable biographer of a questionable literary/cultural figure insinuates himself into a woman’s life and draws her into complicity with his intended deceits. This is a nice little story that draws on…