Nightmare Magazine, Issue 76

by John Joseph Adams (Editor), Paul Tremblay, Natalia Theodoridou

NIGHTMARE is an online horror and dark fantasy magazine. In NIGHTMARE's pages, you will find all kinds of horror fiction, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror.

We're kicking off the new year with a new dark fantasy story from Natalia Theodoridou ("What it Sounds Like When You Fall")--and trust me, you've never seen angels like these before. Vajra Chandrasekera brings us our second original, "On the Origin of Specie," a story that will make you reconsider how you feel about the spare change in your wallet. Our reprints this month are by Paul Tremblay ("Headstone in Your Pocket") and Laura Blackwell ("Bitter Perfume"). In the latest installment of our column on horror, "The H Word," Cadwell Turnbull writes about the real monsters in our world. Plus, we have author spotlights with our authors, and a feature interview with cartoonist and writer Emil Ferris.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy

86 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 31, 2018

About the author

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. He is also the bestselling editor of many other anthologies, such as ROBOT UPRISINGS, DEAD MAN'S HAND, BRAVE NEW WORLDS,WASTELANDS, and THE LIVING DEAD. Recent and forthcoming books include WHAT THE #@&% IS THAT?, OPERATION ARCANA, PRESS START TO PLAY, LOOSED UPON THE WORLD, and THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH (consisting of THE END IS NIGH, THE END IS NOW, and THE END HAS COME). Called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble, John is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award (for which he has been nominated nine times), is a seven-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and served as a judge for the 2015 National Book Award. John is also the editor and publisher of the digital magazines LIGHTSPEED and NIGHTMARE, and is a producer for Wired's THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY podcast. You can find him online at www.johnjosephadams.com and on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.

Reviews

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bitter Perfume by Laura Blackwell ★★★½☆
Some Herrero’s wish for life everlasting and some for death. The hard North Dakota winter will test their resolve; but either way they will always be family.

While not my favorite trope, sometimes it’s what’s not said, not revealed, that makes a story frightening.


Headstone In Your Pocket by Paul Tremblay ★★★☆☆
A mad story of guilt, sadness, and moral decay told through the medium of teeth.


On the Origin of Specie by Vajra Chandrasekera ★★★☆☆
The nightmare ending of an activist who protested the rising taxes of war.
Meat trapped in stone.

What It Sounds Like When You Fall by Natalia Theodoridou ★★☆☆☆
Sad strange story of a society that buries their poor alive and families so desperate for coin they would hunt angels.

[Cathy Geagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time reading Nightmare - won’t be the last. Chanced it for the Paul Tremblay (which I enjoyed) What it Sounds Like When You Fall - was the standout of the collection for me, a brilliantly punchy, subtle, emotional dark fantasy. I want to read more from that world - and that writer, will be checking out more by Natalia Theodoridou in future

[David L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natalia Theodoridou and Vajra Chandrasekera clothe anti-capitalism parables inside tales of angels hunted for bounties, seniors buried alive when they cannot work, and an anti-war protestor suffering the most horrifying execution I’ve read since “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Paul Tremblay tells a gritty psychological horror tale set along the Arizona-Mexico border, a tale of two adults falling apart over a moral failure in their youth. Laura Blackwell uses a fresh ethnic group and locale - a Spanish American family in North Dakota - to retell the old trope of the horrors of immortality in this fleshy world.