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Dog
Dog by Bruce McAllister is a chilling horror story about a young American couple who encounter dogs in Mexico very unlike any domesticated variety north of the border and what happens.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 25, 2015
1 person is currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Bruce McAllister
160 books160 followersBruce McAllister is an American writer best known for his science fiction, fantasy and literary fiction. His short fiction, which he began publishing as a teenager ("The Faces Outside," 9TH ANNUAL OF THE YEAR'S BEST SF), has appeared over the years in genre magazines, original anthologies, “year’s best” anthologies, literary quarterlies and college readers; won a National Endowment for the Arts writing award; and been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Shirley Jackson awards. He has published three novels--HUMANITY PRIMe, the "esp in war" Vietnam novel DREAM BABY, and THE VILLAGE SANG TO THE SEA: A MEMOIR OF MAGIC, which Michael Bishop has called "an eloquent ode to the universal mysteries of both place and coming of age." He has edited and co-edited (with Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss) science fiction and fantasy anthologies; and has served on James Tiptree, Philip K. Dick and Nebula juries. In high school he sent a questionnaire about literary symbolism to l50 of the world's most famous writers, half of whom responded. (See Sara Funk Butler's 2011 article on their responses at the PARIS REVIEW blog.) Bruce grew up in a Navy family with marine-science and anthropology/archeology interests, lived as a child on both American coasts and in Italy (where he first fell in love with fantasy and science fiction), and, after a career in university, is now a full-time writer and writing coach living in southern California.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 22, 2020
“That’s what you get when you mix the blood-sacrifice Aztecs with the Catholic emphasis on suffering.”
a deliciously creepy tor short, with a whizz-bang of an ending that'll have you all fist-pumping and oorahing no matter how you feel about dogs.
me, i love dogs. i mean, wookit:
but some dogs are very very bad.
nope, worse than that.
yeah, more like that.
david and jennifer are newly-wedded and deeply in love, with plans and dreams and full of the liberal fervor of youth. they get teaching positions down mexico way, but david dismisses the good advice he is given by a wise friend: Don’t be stupid. Find out what you need to know about a country . . . so you don’t die like an idiot, a decision he will come to regret:
We did not yet know that to romanticize a country, to sentimentalize its people and places and the creatures of it, not only is an affront to them—to the struggle between darkness and light which gives any human beings their meaning on this earth—but can end very badly.
and things will end very badly, indeed.
and it will involve dogs. very bad dogs.
yeah, just like that, you sweet innocent thing.
it's a ferocious little story, and it reinforced my decision to never travel anywhere ever. i may still die like an idiot, but i will die like an idiot in my own house, on my own terms.
the rest of you, look out!
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2015/03/do...
come to my blog!
a deliciously creepy tor short, with a whizz-bang of an ending that'll have you all fist-pumping and oorahing no matter how you feel about dogs.
me, i love dogs. i mean, wookit:
but some dogs are very very bad.
nope, worse than that.
yeah, more like that.
david and jennifer are newly-wedded and deeply in love, with plans and dreams and full of the liberal fervor of youth. they get teaching positions down mexico way, but david dismisses the good advice he is given by a wise friend: Don’t be stupid. Find out what you need to know about a country . . . so you don’t die like an idiot, a decision he will come to regret:
We did not yet know that to romanticize a country, to sentimentalize its people and places and the creatures of it, not only is an affront to them—to the struggle between darkness and light which gives any human beings their meaning on this earth—but can end very badly.
and things will end very badly, indeed.
and it will involve dogs. very bad dogs.
yeah, just like that, you sweet innocent thing.
it's a ferocious little story, and it reinforced my decision to never travel anywhere ever. i may still die like an idiot, but i will die like an idiot in my own house, on my own terms.
the rest of you, look out!
read it for yourself here:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2015/03/do...
come to my blog!
April 8, 2015
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“Watch the dogs when you’re down there, David. They’re not like the dogs here.”
That’s no joke, folks. Jennifer and David are free spirited newlyweds who jump at the opportunity to become teachers just South of the Mexican border. When the couple decide to take a few days off in order to peruse the local flora and fauna, they find a bit more than they were looking for.
When I first saw this story was about the Chichimeca or “dog people” I immediately thought of this . . .
but then I remembered it was on tor.com instead of a fanfic site, so I consoled my sad little brain and reminded it that stuff like this . . . .
is good too.
Dog was a fairly excellent little creeper. Being that it’s so super short I won’t give anything away. I’ll just say there’s a good chance you might want to reconsider your stance if you are a dog person. That is, until you start reading and you feel some weirdo being particularly derpy behind you . . .
(WTF is he even looking at? A ghost in the corner? There's nothing up there. STOP LOOKING UP THERE!!!!!)
or obtain photographic evidence of how he is willing to sacrifice life and limb in order to pull off a kamikaze sneak attack on whoever dares come down the steps . . .
Maybe he’s part evil dog????? Oh well, at least his butt makes a good pillow for the non-devil cat . . .
I have to give props to karen for her tor.com reviews. I’ve been very vocal of not being a fan of the short story, but I’m slowly coming to the realization that I do appreciate a good short. My complaints stem more from my experience of not enjoying collections of short stories by the same author being thrown together and published as one book or a $2.99 Kindle price point for something that is only 10 or 20 pages.
“Watch the dogs when you’re down there, David. They’re not like the dogs here.”
That’s no joke, folks. Jennifer and David are free spirited newlyweds who jump at the opportunity to become teachers just South of the Mexican border. When the couple decide to take a few days off in order to peruse the local flora and fauna, they find a bit more than they were looking for.
When I first saw this story was about the Chichimeca or “dog people” I immediately thought of this . . .
but then I remembered it was on tor.com instead of a fanfic site, so I consoled my sad little brain and reminded it that stuff like this . . . .
is good too.
Dog was a fairly excellent little creeper. Being that it’s so super short I won’t give anything away. I’ll just say there’s a good chance you might want to reconsider your stance if you are a dog person. That is, until you start reading and you feel some weirdo being particularly derpy behind you . . .
(WTF is he even looking at? A ghost in the corner? There's nothing up there. STOP LOOKING UP THERE!!!!!)
or obtain photographic evidence of how he is willing to sacrifice life and limb in order to pull off a kamikaze sneak attack on whoever dares come down the steps . . .
Maybe he’s part evil dog????? Oh well, at least his butt makes a good pillow for the non-devil cat . . .
I have to give props to karen for her tor.com reviews. I’ve been very vocal of not being a fan of the short story, but I’m slowly coming to the realization that I do appreciate a good short. My complaints stem more from my experience of not enjoying collections of short stories by the same author being thrown together and published as one book or a $2.99 Kindle price point for something that is only 10 or 20 pages.
April 19, 2015
Available here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2015/03/dog-bruce-mcallister
Ah shizzle. I'm going to be the party pooper on this one. It was okay. Love the premise but it just didn't bite me, at least not in any place where I like to be bitten.
Creepy undertones, exotic setting, with a familiar Twilight Zone / Night Gallery vibe. Should be all good things but it ultimately just doesn't deliver on the goods in a memorable way.
Since this one fizzled for me, I want to take the time to put a plug in for Tor shorts. They're offering some amazing, inventive prose for FREE, and the accompanying artwork for each story is sublime. I keep meaning to read more of these. Bookmark this page!
As for a Tor short that I did love -- try this one!
Oh! And karen pimps these shorts regularly and has a whole shelf of them that she's reviewed. I wish I were that voracious and organized. I am feeling inadequate.
April 29, 2015
Description: “Dog” by Bruce McAllister is a chilling horror story about a young American couple who encounter dogs in Mexico very unlike any domesticated variety north of the border and what happens.
Read here
Opening: We were very young when we went to Mexico, my wife and I. We’d been married only a year, were just out of college, were both teachers, and had the liberal fervor of youth. We did not yet know that to romanticize a country, to sentimentalize its people and places and the creatures of it, not only is an affront to them—to the struggle between darkness and light which gives any human beings their meaning on this earth—but can end very badly.
Read here
Opening: We were very young when we went to Mexico, my wife and I. We’d been married only a year, were just out of college, were both teachers, and had the liberal fervor of youth. We did not yet know that to romanticize a country, to sentimentalize its people and places and the creatures of it, not only is an affront to them—to the struggle between darkness and light which gives any human beings their meaning on this earth—but can end very badly.
February 27, 2017
This was one hell of a chilling, hair-standing-on-end story, about the aztec mythology itzcuintli dogs.
You can read the story here on TOR.com
You can read the story here on TOR.com
April 8, 2015
This was a delightfully creepy short story, told in a matter-of-fact and very readable style.
The dogs are different down there, all right.
The dogs are different down there, all right.
April 9, 2015
Not bad but left me unsatisfied. Not a big fan of the short story.
July 21, 2019
Have you ever holidayed in another country or even in your own country and found yourself being very wary of the stray dogs who follow you? That's always creeped me out, because much as I love animals and want to help them, being eaten while vacationing is not my thing.
This Tor short looks into the myth of Itzcuintli, the sacred dog of the ancient Mexican civilizations. As the narrator explains his story, I did get a chill because I felt something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good. What this tale did inspire me to do was to research the history of the Chichimeca peoples, who managed to defeat both the Aztecs and the Spaniards while being associated with the Natchez tribe of the Mississippi.
So, interesting supernatural story with a historical side note.
Book Season = Spring (let's buy some pottery)
This Tor short looks into the myth of Itzcuintli, the sacred dog of the ancient Mexican civilizations. As the narrator explains his story, I did get a chill because I felt something was going to happen and it wasn't going to be good. What this tale did inspire me to do was to research the history of the Chichimeca peoples, who managed to defeat both the Aztecs and the Spaniards while being associated with the Natchez tribe of the Mississippi.
So, interesting supernatural story with a historical side note.
Book Season = Spring (let's buy some pottery)
April 6, 2015
You may read online Tor.com.
Opening lines:
The god of death, Xolotl, made the Sacred Dog, Itzcuintli, from a sliver of the Bone of Life, from which The People were also made. Upon their death, human beings are led to the afterlife across a great lake by Itzcuintli. Should they hesitate in accepting Death, the Sacred Dog helps them on their way.
—Encyclopedia Archaea
I am not a big fan of horror stories, specially when animals are concerned.
Opening lines:
The god of death, Xolotl, made the Sacred Dog, Itzcuintli, from a sliver of the Bone of Life, from which The People were also made. Upon their death, human beings are led to the afterlife across a great lake by Itzcuintli. Should they hesitate in accepting Death, the Sacred Dog helps them on their way.
—Encyclopedia Archaea
I am not a big fan of horror stories, specially when animals are concerned.
April 21, 2015
Perfectly creepy, and well done.
April 9, 2015
Well, that was super creepy!
March 25, 2015
Them Mesoamerican curses are the worse.
August 19, 2017
Un bel racconto horror con un tematica originale, lo consiglio agli amanti del genere.
January 9, 2017
I hated this book so much, I don't even want to write about it now. Usually there's some positive thing in a story that I can focus on, but for Dog there's nothing I liked other than the cover, and I didn't even like that much.
I believed none of the characters -- not a single one, from main to most minor, seemed like a real person.
The plot was unbelievable, from biggest point to smallest.
I disliked the writing ("I got up on the broken safety glass, stood, and began, like a frantic foghorn, to call Jennifer's name.").
The editing/typesetting was awful (endless spacing issues after dialogue tags).
The plot was about some ~~evil~~ supernatural dogs that "helped" people die who were supposed to die. An American couple who seemed straight out of Tumblr ("We were young and loved each other very much. Like two puppies playing in a big back yard someone else took care of (which any First World country is) we were enjoying life as the young should...") went to Mexico to teach English. They decided to take a bus tour to someplace, the bus was on a road that cut straight through the jungle, and lightning hit the road in front of the bus. That's right, lighting ignored all the taller things than the flat ground, and struck the road exactly in front of the bus. This blinded the driver, and the bus rolled through the jungle. The American woman got badly hurt, a compound fracture in her leg. Wild dogs (and/or these supernatural evil dogs) came out of the jungle and tried to drag her off. How'd they do that? Did these dogs try to pull her off by her clothing? Did they bite into her flesh? No. They grabbed her by the bone sticking out of her leg. How in the world does that even make sense?
Mumble mumble grrr.
I believed none of the characters -- not a single one, from main to most minor, seemed like a real person.
The plot was unbelievable, from biggest point to smallest.
I disliked the writing ("I got up on the broken safety glass, stood, and began, like a frantic foghorn, to call Jennifer's name.").
The editing/typesetting was awful (endless spacing issues after dialogue tags).
The plot was about some ~~evil~~ supernatural dogs that "helped" people die who were supposed to die. An American couple who seemed straight out of Tumblr ("We were young and loved each other very much. Like two puppies playing in a big back yard someone else took care of (which any First World country is) we were enjoying life as the young should...") went to Mexico to teach English. They decided to take a bus tour to someplace, the bus was on a road that cut straight through the jungle, and lightning hit the road in front of the bus. That's right, lighting ignored all the taller things than the flat ground, and struck the road exactly in front of the bus. This blinded the driver, and the bus rolled through the jungle. The American woman got badly hurt, a compound fracture in her leg. Wild dogs (and/or these supernatural evil dogs) came out of the jungle and tried to drag her off. How'd they do that? Did these dogs try to pull her off by her clothing? Did they bite into her flesh? No. They grabbed her by the bone sticking out of her leg. How in the world does that even make sense?
Mumble mumble grrr.
July 17, 2017
I enjoyed this short story more than it seems others did. I don't know anything about Mexican culture and so I cannot understand the inaccuracies in this book, but I wholeheartedly understand the difficulties people will have with this novella if they are aware of true Mexican culture. For me this was purely fictional, the comments about Mexico didn't settle in my head as correct or accurate, I'd only take things as true if this was non-fiction or a documentary, though I'm always still happy to be corrected and to learn!
A creepy novella that I found fun to read. I wasn't so keen on all the sudden turn of events. The beginning of the story was drawn out and really let you into the narrators life whereas it just seemed to get rushed towards the end.
Thrilling and different. It was a nice change to the things I'm used to reading.
A creepy novella that I found fun to read. I wasn't so keen on all the sudden turn of events. The beginning of the story was drawn out and really let you into the narrators life whereas it just seemed to get rushed towards the end.
Thrilling and different. It was a nice change to the things I'm used to reading.
April 26, 2015
I read this for free here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2015/03/do...
The god of death, Xolotl, made the Sacred Dog, Itzcuintli, from a sliver of the Bone of Life, from which The People were also made. Upon their death, human beings are led to the afterlife across a great lake by Itzcuintli. Should they hesitate in accepting Death, the Sacred Dog helps them on their way.
Mexican devil dogs! Certainly NOT mans best friend. The history behind the story was really interesting but I would have liked to read a but more about the struggle in the woods. A bit more suspense would have been good
The god of death, Xolotl, made the Sacred Dog, Itzcuintli, from a sliver of the Bone of Life, from which The People were also made. Upon their death, human beings are led to the afterlife across a great lake by Itzcuintli. Should they hesitate in accepting Death, the Sacred Dog helps them on their way.
Mexican devil dogs! Certainly NOT mans best friend. The history behind the story was really interesting but I would have liked to read a but more about the struggle in the woods. A bit more suspense would have been good
June 8, 2015
The best thing of this story is the use of tension. It grips you steadily to the story from the beginning to the end. The bloodshed and gore scenes are realistically depicted and amazingly disturbing. However, the storyline doesn't develop naturally. It just feels stiff at some points, giving the impression that some situations or characters were added to the story in an attempt to make it more troubling or create atmosphere.
June 13, 2015
A good creepy story, though the narrator fucks things up by saying several incredibly dumb things that I'm not entirely sure mean that the narrator is an entitled American ignoramus or if it's actually the author shining through the text and letting his prejudices show. The story itself is good, but some stuff he says about Mexico, supposedly from a knowledgeable standpoint, are beyond stupid.
May 9, 2015
Dog is the chilling horror story of a young progressive American couple that visit Mexico to better understand its culture, but end up having a close encounters with nightmarish creature from the country ancient history: a breed of dogs very unlike any domesticated variety north of the border.
October 18, 2016
Dog is a delightfully creepy horror story based on some myths from Mexico. It moves slowly, but with purpose, showing the characters make unremarkable errors in judgement that lead to disastrous results. It was also enjoyable to see a story center on an unusual setting for a horror tale. A quick, but strong read!
January 1, 2016
Short and grim. Interesting points about not romanticizing other cultures.
June 15, 2015
The style was reminiscent of Lucius Shepard.
September 20, 2015
Couldn't help but think of Chinese food when reading this.
June 1, 2016
3 stars!
Review to come.
Review to come.
June 18, 2016
Very creepy and compelling with lots of great detail. Very much enjoyed this.
December 18, 2016
First part was a bit of a drag but oof! - Part 2 was a kick to the gut. Very Stephen King-esque.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews