[On May 10, 2021 Strange Horizons officially expressed its political support for Palestinian solidarity. The views of Tangent Online reviewers are not necessarily those of Strange Horizons. Fiction critiqued at Tangent Online is, as much as is humanly possible, without prejudice and based solely on artistic merit.]

Strange Horizons, June 8, 2025

“The Ache of Hollow Places” by Avra Margariti

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

Faithful readers of Tangent Online may wonder why a story dated June 8 had to wait until July to be reviewed. The reason is that it was part of a special fundraising issue. The contents of that issue were only made available, one by one, as various levels of funding were reached. (The issue also features a story that was available earlier. “View Window” by A. T. Greenblatt has already been reviewed.)

https://tangentonline.com/e-market-weekly/strange-horizons-june-8th-16th-2025/

In “The Ache of Hollow Places” by Avra Margariti, three teenagers enter a haunted house. Only one makes it out alive. Later, the survivor is an actress. She takes part in a horror movie recreating the event, which is thought to be a case of murder without supernatural elements. The actress plays herself and filming takes place in the same house where her friends died. Although this seems like nothing more than tasteless exploitation of a tragedy, the actress has her own reason for being there.

Adding to the self-referential nature of this postmodern horror story is the fact that the actress perceives her memories as movies or stage plays. The author may be saying something about the enigmatic appeal of horror fiction, as contrasted with terrors in the real world. The story also appears to deal with the theme of outcasts as victims, all three teenagers being rejected by their peers for one reason or another.

Despite the obvious ambition of this multilayered work, it reaches a climax that might have appeared in a typical low budget horror movie. Perhaps that is intentional. It any case, it tends to weaken the effect of the psychological depth of the rest of the story.

Victoria Silverwolf is surprised that this story has no content warning.