My Eyes are Nailed, But Still I See by Brett Alexander Savory and David Niall Wilson

Posted byEric Joel Bresin
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"My Eyes are Nailed, But Still I See" by Brett Alexander Savory and David Niall Wilson

ImageHow to describe the extremely weird "My Eyes are Shut, But Still I See" a 23,000+ word story by Brett Alexander Savory and David Niall Wilson?

I think the best word would be: disorienting. Another excellent word might be: disturbing. The graphic scenes and relationships depicted in this story are not for the faint of heart. They include such things as: intestines in Jello, a horse picked clean to the bone, and an incestuous love relationship.

The plot is even more elusive/disorienting. This story might be about a young man named Johnson who suffers the tortures of his mother and older brother, which drives him insane and lands him in a psychiatrist’s office. This story also might be about Johnson who imagines his mother and older brother tortured him, and that his father’s soul is trapped inside a stuffed pig, and in actuality Johnson is just completely nuts. It could also be a combination of the two where he was tortured by his mother and brother, but the supernatural elements (talking-stuffed pigs, demon-pigs, and spiders who won’t die) are exaggerated fantasies caused by these experiences. It could even be a story about a boy who is a "fear factory" and can make the things he imagines become real. This plot is open to interpretation and lingers permanently between an amorphous zone of the psychological and supernatural, never telling the reader which sub-genre it wants to be. If I had to label it, I’d call this horror surrealism.

If this story is anything, it’s extremely surreal.

I’m not going to say whether I liked the story because honestly I’m not sure of the answer myself. The plot was hard to grasp, yet the tangible images which tied everything together, kept me reading. On a positive note, this story does what it sets out to do. I think you’re supposed to keep guessing what the hell is going on and develop your own interpretations of the events in the story.

One line from the story describes the weirdness of the plot quite well:

"Nails are where the heart is. Home is where the nails are. Nails are home and nails are hearts. We nail our hearts with our homes, and our homes nail our eyes closed so that we can’t see where we—"

Understand all that? Good, then maybe you’ll enjoy this story.

I think the best part of the story is the title, "My Eyes are Nailed, But Still I See," seems to riff Harlan Ellison’s "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream." Got to love a title like that!

I would suggest if you’ve never read horror surrealism, you give it a try. I’m glad for the new experience, even if I’m not a hundred percent sure I’d want to experience it again.

Publisher: Delirium Books, June 2005
Format: Limited Edition Hardcover Novella ($45.00)

(This book will be sold only in preorder. You must order this book before April 30, 2005 to secure your copy. No copies will be sold after this date. The number of orders received will become the actual print run.)