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The Dark Magazine, Issue 69: February 2021
Each month The Dark brings you the best in dark fantasy and horror! Selected by award-winning editor Sean Wallace and published by Prime Books, this issue includes four all-new stories:
“Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo
“The Yoke of the Aspens” by Kay Chronister
“One Last Broken Thing” by Aimee Ogden
“A Resting Place For Dolls” by Priya Sridhar
“Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo
“The Yoke of the Aspens” by Kay Chronister
“One Last Broken Thing” by Aimee Ogden
“A Resting Place For Dolls” by Priya Sridhar
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
63 pages, ebook
First published February 1, 2021
11 people want to read
About the author
Sean Wallace
160 books26 followersSean A. Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an award-winning American science fiction and fantasy anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for his work on Prime Books and for co-editing two magazines, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Fantasy Magazine. He has been nominated a number of times by both the Hugo Awards and the World Fantasy Awards, won two Hugo Awards and one World Fantasy Award, and has served as a World Fantasy Award judge.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 15, 2021
This issue didn't really have very memorable stories for me. 2.5 stars
“Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo - This one I liked! I don't know why I like camping/someone disappears into the forest stuff. In some ways that's quite a traditional horror story, which I do enjoy, but this one also adds its own thing to it. We follow the protagonist through the immediate events as well as the long years after her sister's disappearance, and how she reacts to it.
“The Yoke of the Aspens” by Kay Chronister - Didn't really feel it.
“One Last Broken Thing” by Aimee Ogden -Ok, but I think I've seen/read this metaphor before.
“A Resting Place For Dolls” by Priya Sridhar - I didn't quite get this, maybe? Also, it made me uncomfortable that it referenced a real celebrity suicide, even though it was in the context that the protagonist was sad about it.
“Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo - This one I liked! I don't know why I like camping/someone disappears into the forest stuff. In some ways that's quite a traditional horror story, which I do enjoy, but this one also adds its own thing to it. We follow the protagonist through the immediate events as well as the long years after her sister's disappearance, and how she reacts to it.
“The Yoke of the Aspens” by Kay Chronister - Didn't really feel it.
“One Last Broken Thing” by Aimee Ogden -Ok, but I think I've seen/read this metaphor before.
“A Resting Place For Dolls” by Priya Sridhar - I didn't quite get this, maybe? Also, it made me uncomfortable that it referenced a real celebrity suicide, even though it was in the context that the protagonist was sad about it.
March 13, 2021
Another issue with three of four stories to read. Those three fit the billing of dark fantasy, and were notably good, with one particularly sticking with me to lead off the issue:
“Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo — An immigrant to Canada with her parents from the West Indies, Anarika has mixed feelings about the birth of her sister Sabrina, an immediate citizen of this new land, her only home in contrast to the rest of the family. But, when Sab goes missing on a family camping trip, Ana deals with the guilt and the pain of her parents for the years to come. The eerie story combines familiar conventional themes of sibling rivalry and the immigrant experience with elements of classic horror (ghosts) and the monstrosities of colonization in very effective ways.
“The Yoke of the Aspens” by Kay Chronister — I do not read you.
“One Last Broken Thing” by Aimee Ogden — Liv’s mother has abandoned her and her father, who now live on an unproductive farm where her father shoots any animal that he sees in the fields. At school Liv is mocked and outcast. But as HS graduation approaches, Liv yearns to depart for college, though her father remains set against it. An apt title for a story showing how people can be broken by the past and loss, but also the power of staying true to oneself.
“A Resting Place For Dolls” by Priya Sridhar — A baker who is distraught over the suicide of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain uses a doll-making hobby – and power – inherited from her grandmother to help friends and acquaintances in her life who struggle with depression and stress. An anti-Voodoo doll kind of concept here, in a brief but good short story.
The issue also features cover art “Angel Fire East” by Tomislav Tikulin.
“Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo — An immigrant to Canada with her parents from the West Indies, Anarika has mixed feelings about the birth of her sister Sabrina, an immediate citizen of this new land, her only home in contrast to the rest of the family. But, when Sab goes missing on a family camping trip, Ana deals with the guilt and the pain of her parents for the years to come. The eerie story combines familiar conventional themes of sibling rivalry and the immigrant experience with elements of classic horror (ghosts) and the monstrosities of colonization in very effective ways.
“The Yoke of the Aspens” by Kay Chronister — I do not read you.
“One Last Broken Thing” by Aimee Ogden — Liv’s mother has abandoned her and her father, who now live on an unproductive farm where her father shoots any animal that he sees in the fields. At school Liv is mocked and outcast. But as HS graduation approaches, Liv yearns to depart for college, though her father remains set against it. An apt title for a story showing how people can be broken by the past and loss, but also the power of staying true to oneself.
“A Resting Place For Dolls” by Priya Sridhar — A baker who is distraught over the suicide of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain uses a doll-making hobby – and power – inherited from her grandmother to help friends and acquaintances in her life who struggle with depression and stress. An anti-Voodoo doll kind of concept here, in a brief but good short story.
The issue also features cover art “Angel Fire East” by Tomislav Tikulin.
March 19, 2022
This review and rating issues only for the “Laughter Among the Trees” by Suzan Palumbo. Also the winner of 2021 Nebula Award for Short Story.
What a dark and chill ending! Great writing, however the whole theme was a bit too macabre for me. But in fairness, the story was published in The Dark magazine, so duh!
“Mama pushed me to leave. Said, “ ‘dis go haunt you here.’ You can’t outrun the past, Ana, even if it’s dead and drowned in another country.” She fell silent.”
3 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️
What a dark and chill ending! Great writing, however the whole theme was a bit too macabre for me. But in fairness, the story was published in The Dark magazine, so duh!
“Mama pushed me to leave. Said, “ ‘dis go haunt you here.’ You can’t outrun the past, Ana, even if it’s dead and drowned in another country.” She fell silent.”
3 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️
June 9, 2022
This review is only for “Laughter Among the Trees,” a nominee for the Nebula Award for Short Story. This read as more of a ghost story to me than sci-fi or fantasy. It’s well-written, but I can’t say I was particularly invested in it.
February 21, 2021
Especially liked the ending in “Laughter Among the Trees” and visceral writing style in “One Last Broken Thing”.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews