What I Was Afraid Of

by Eric Hanson

What I Was Afraid Of is a book of fears, suspicions, uncertainties, bewilderment, confusion, guilt and unease. The stories are an exploration of things that never happened, and couldn’t happen because we are safe in­doors, under the covers, with the doors locked.

We fear the things we don’t understand, so we crawl inside them and look out through a stranger’s eyes. We imagine ourselves involved in sinister and peculiar things. We put ourselves in a criminal’s shoes to see how they feel and where they take us. Where do these thoughts come from? Are we complicit?

The fact is, people take fear as a stimulant. It’s the pinch that tells us we’re awake. Unrea­soning fears are the most enter­taining. The horrible visions we recoil from are often ourselves seen in a dark mirror or someone we know seen in bad light.

237 pages, Hardcover

Published March 10, 2022

About the author

At age seven, ERIC HANSON read a biography of Kit Carson and has been interested in famous lives ever since. He grew up to be a writer and illustrator whose artwork has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harper’s, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Travel & Leisure, and Gourmet, among other publications. His fiction and satire have been published in McSweeney’s, the Atlantic, Smithsonian and elsewhere.

Reviews

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hit or miss, like any collection. I loved the insurance story. Naaaaasty (and I can't say I haven't had similar thoughts about how insurance works)! I'm glad I read it, I just wish it was consistently more engaging. YMMV.