Nightmare “The Morning Room” by Katharine Tyndall
“They Bought a House” by Osahon Ize-Iyamu
“Karabasan” by Leyla Hamedi
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Three stories involving marriage appear in this issue.
The narrator of “The Morning Room” by Katharine Tyndall discovers something shocking in the basement of her house. The conclusion reveals that not everything is as it seems.
I have been deliberately vague about the plot because the story depends on its unexpected revelations. The narrator is unreliable, and the story can be interpreted as a study in madness. The narrator’s relationship with her wife is an uneasy one, and the work can also be seen as a study of an unhappy marriage. In addition to its gruesome content, expected in a horror story, this piece contains a sexually explicit scene, which may disturb readers who are very sensitive to such material.
“They Bought a House” by Osahon Ize-Iyamu is a brief tale in which a married couple move from an apartment, where they encounter very odd ghosts, to a complex with bizarre neighbors. An additional move to a house leads to further strangeness.
The story is mostly told in very simple language, almost like a folk tale, despite its surreal content. Near the end, the text includes a large number of typographical tricks, which could be seen as gimmicky. The work will be best appreciated by those who enjoy weirdness for its own sake.
In “Karabasan” by Leyla Hamedi, a woman about to enter into an arranged marriage is visited while she sleeps by a supernatural being. The visits lead to a decision on her part.
The story contains a great deal of detail about the culture in which it takes place, which will be unfamiliar to many Western readers. This aspect of the work is more interesting than the rather simple plot.
Victoria Silverwolf bought several old copies of Asimov’s from a used bookstore in Huntsville, Alabama, recently.