Spyder Threads: A Short Horror Story

by Craig Laurance Gidney

Dazzling drag couture and cosmic terror weave together to reveal a tale of horrifying design.

"Spyder Threads" by Craig Laurance Gidney is one of 27 short horror stories in Nightfire's audio anthology.

Come Join Us by the Fire Season 2 is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-only horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. The collection showcases the breadth of talent writing in the horror genre today, with contributions from a wide range of genre luminaries including Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Shaun Hamill, Daniel M. Lavery, Matthew Lyons, T. Kingfisher, Seanan McGuire, Nibedita Sen, and Nightfire’s own Cassandra Khaw and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Horror

18 pages, ebook

Published February 16, 2021

About the author

Author of SEA, SWALLOW ME & OTHER STORIES (Lethe Press) ;BEREFT (Tiny Satchel Press), . SKIN DEEP MAGIC (Rebel Satori Press), THE NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES (Dim Shores Publications); A SPECTRAL HUE (Word Horde). Plus numerous short stories. 3-Time Lambda Literary Award Finalist. NPR’s recommended books of 2019. Current novel, HAIRSBREADTH, is being serialized.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An angle into fashion and beauty and their crossroads for those who don't fit nicely into any of the accepted box combinations, and just how far someone might be willing to go to have just one moment on the catwalk where they are seen as beautiful by everyone watching.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tantalizing story that melds the history of the Black, Queer ballroom scene in DC, and African mythology, by way of dark fantasy. The language by Gidney is supple and gorgeous, alive to the senses evoked from a hunger to be seen, loved, and desired. As the audio reader, Morrison captures the bittersweet, rueful tone of the main character who casts a perceptive eye on a social world that enlivens, devours, and transforms, for worse and for better.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad at times and beautiful at others. We all need to feel like we are perfect. That can mean feeling weird, feeling gorgeous or just simply fitting in. This short story features models who are so unique that most humans would not want to be like them. This story is more about the people who NEED to be like these grotesque models for their own peace of mind.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story hits home quite a bit - aside form the fashion.

Everyone wants to belong. When you find where you belong, you'll do anything to stay there. This story has you follow along as the main character finds where they belong and how they get to stay there.