Beneath Ceaseless Skies #384, June 15, 2023
“Hausferatu” by Chris Willrich
“Spinning Shadow” by Margaret Ronald
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
The 384th issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies has one novelette and one short story.
“Hausferatu” by Chris Willrich
In this horror novelette, Imago is a skilled thief. As he goes to steal from a family, a lady vampire directs him to the next house, claiming the first house is actually poor. After a brief conversation, Imago invites the vampire to join him at the more prosperous house, and she agrees. It’s the start of a lucrative partnership during which Imago learns of Greta’s family, who don’t appreciate her hard work for them.
After many successful robberies, the two thieves dissolve their partnership. As they part, Imago offers to help Greta with her husband by invading her husband’s dreams to influence his treatment of her. However, Imago has an ulterior motive for offering his help. He plans to attack Skizlok, the vampire lord, while he’s in dreamland.
In her husband’s dreams, Imago’s plans collapse, and he finds himself chased by Skizlok. A long battle ensues within the husband’s dreams as Imago uses his wits to evade Skizlok’s many traps. At one point, even Greta became embroiled in these dream battles.
This novelette had a convoluted plot that was difficult to fathom in some places. But the prose was strong, creating a story that kept the reader engaged.
“Spinning Shadow” by Margaret Ronald
Her spindle for spinning thread holds a piece of the Shadow Undying in this short fantasy. Tarma’s spindle was a shard of the Orb Amaranthine into which Shadow Undying embued his dark essence. Now he wants something from Tarma, but she only cares about scratching out an existence while avoiding trouble.
Over time, the deadly spirit grows in strength until he can manifest himself once more as a shadowy person of flesh and blood. Over an even longer time, the spirit and the thread maker come to an agreement about life and the pursuit of happiness.
This quiet and nicely crafted character-based story began as a dark fantasy but ended as a romance.
You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com. There are links there to join his mailing list for a weekly newsletter on the recent release of his fourth novel, The Four Crowns.