Haiku Review of Nightmare Magazine #1

I’m a fan of editor John Joseph Adam’s Lightspeed Magazine, which publishes fantasy and science fiction, so I was intrigued by the announcement of Nightmare Magazine, a sibling venue for scarier stories. (Full disclosure: I made a token contribution to the Kickstarter project.)

The first issue was released this month, just in time for the Halloween season. I read it last week… and I survived! Here are one-line synopses and rhyming pseudo-haiku reviews of the four stories in Nightmare Magazine issue one.

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Property Condemned by Jonathan Maberry

Bitter reflections
splinter young friends’ directions;
weakness, seen, may sprout.

On a dare, four kids confront the contents of an ominous house.

Frontier Death Song by Laird Barron

Good dogs, guns, and frost;
huntsmen whisper, howl, and stalk.
Quarry, cornered, caught?

A reunion of outdoorsmen renews the hunting season.

Good Fences by Genevieve Valentine

Peering down the street –
vandals; burned out cars; debris.
“No one cares but me.”

Evidence of urban decay agitates a troubled man.

Afterlife by Sarah Langan

“Limbo kids, be free –
move on, grow, and haunt not me.”
Teacher, hark to thee.

A woman struggles to soothe her pupils while coping with crises of her own.

Posted on Saturday, October 13th, 2012.