Nightmare“To Cheer as They Leave You Behind” by James L. Sutter
“Until It Has Your Reflection” by Katherine Quevedo
“Last Night at the Sideshow” by Gordon B. White
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
There are three original stories in the 124th issue of Nightmare. Overall, it was an entertaining collection.
“To Cheer as They Leave You Behind” by James L. Sutter
In this short horror, she is a hard-working and successful lawyer. So, when her daughter is born, she decides to be the perfect mother while still being a good lawyer. So determined is she that she has the placenta ground into powder to make tablets. But when she takes one, she finds herself transferred into her baby daughter’s mind from twenty-four hours ago.
At first, she resists this form of time travel, but when an accident paralyzes her preteen daughter, the mother uses another pill to replay history to avoid the mistake. Soon the idea of taking a tablet to help her daughter’s grades becomes an obsession. But it doesn’t come without a price that affects the lives around her. Can she ever hope to ween herself off this fixation?
The author wrote this in the rarely seen second person. Every part of it worked well to make an entertaining read.
“Until It Has Your Reflection” by Katherine Quevedo
Alicia’s husband is the first person to warn her in this short horror story. He told her to draw a line on the mirror across her throat’s image. Alicia didn’t understand why until she saw her reflection becoming hazy. Somehow It was taking her reflection, and something terrible would happen if she didn’t take the precautions he told her. Of course, drawing that line also had consequences.
This snippet of a story was fun to read.
“Last Night at the Sideshow” by Gordon B. White
Harrison spends the night with the bearded lady in this flash nightmare. In the morning, he watches as she puts on her makeup, including her fake beard. She offers him a chance to join the circus, but he isn’t sure it’s for him. After all, he’s already wearing his costume and doesn’t want to take it off to frighten people.
This short story was well written, but its speculative elements were only hinted at, at the end.
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 second novel, The Fifth Kingdom.