Nightmare “Sell Your Trauma for Salvation” by Isha Karki
“Anatomy of a Haunted House” by Avi Burton
“First in Fear and Then in Pain” by Adam R. Shannon
Reviewed by David Wesley Hill
“Sell Your Trauma for Salvation” by Isha Karki, the first story in the July issue of Nightmare, takes us to a world where people suffer from “The Hunger”—the need to feed on human flesh, not merely for sustenance, but because consuming long pork allows you to absorb some of the personal history of the person on whom you’re dining, and to experience the rapture of “Compassion”, a metaphysical high as intense as a heroin rush. In this world, the rich literally eat the poor—and the poor eat each other— although there are laws in place to ensure the “ethical sourcing” of tissue “extractions.” This complicated background is further confused by the use of three points of view, one in the second person, which makes the plot rather hard to follow, and this reviewer had to read the story several times in order to figure out what was going on…. All in all, an interesting tale, but not for the casual reader.
Next up is “Anatomy of a Haunted House” by Avi Burton, a flash story told in the voice of the “spooks” in the walls, who are welcoming new residents into the titular haunted house by describing what horrors await them after they move in…. Several good lines in this short piece. Amusing.
The last offering in the issue is another story about a haunted house, “First in Fear and Then in Pain” by Adam R. Shannon, in which Carey, recuperating from a traumatic auto accident, moves into a house that is, sadly, haunted by the screaming shades of the family that had been annihilated within its walls. Every night, for months, the ghosts relive their murder while Carey watches, until she cannot bear the situation any longer, and picks up an aluminum bat, determined to make the house into a home… An entertaining ghost story with a likable protagonist and a satisfying resolution.