It’s issue #154, and it’s July. Summer’s hot weather does something to the wood of our bathroom cabinets, releasing a decades-old aroma of must and vintage perfume. Every year I wipe everything down and take the drawers outside to sit in the sun, and every year my attempts at cleaning prove futile. The smell remains locked in the wood no matter what we try. After living here over thirteen years, we are starting to accept that we cannot shake the ghost of the elderly woman who used to own our house.
What haunts you, and what brings your ghosts to the surface? It’s a question our writers confronted this issue. Kristi DeMeester brings us the tale of a woman eagerly seeking the supernatural in her violent story “Asking for It.” Anne Mai Yee Jansen’s story “Hungry Ghosting” follows a tormented ghost who has found a way to utilize technology—and her own viciousness—to survive in the spirit world. Benjamin Percy has penned a heartbreaking and haunted flash story (“The Hearth”), and Kevin Varghese writes about the lasting power of guilt in his poem “The Neighbor’s Cat.”
Speaking of guilt and regret, our nonfiction this month includes an interview with film director Kevin Greutert, whose biggest hit, Saw VI, asked: What would it take to make a health insurance executive feel bad about their job’s cruelty? Critic Zach Gillan returns to “The H Word” to delve further into the realm of Weird fiction (you might remember his previous “The H Word” essay about the way Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” functions as Weird fiction). Plus of course we have spotlight interviews with our authors.
Luckily for me, the ghosts in my house aren’t nearly as toxic as the ones in this month’s issue. Sure, we sometimes wake in the night to feel phantom dogs jumping on the bed to join our pup (who seems unfussed by these strangers), and once in a while I catch a glimpse of a short, nightgowned figure walking in the hall. But these former residents seem content to simply enjoy our company. I like to think that all the books about ghosts piled on every surface make them feel more welcome and cozy.
And it’s a good thing we have all those books to keep the ghosts company, because this month I won’t be home much to hang out with them—I’m going on tour to promote my new novel, Girl in the Creek. If you’re in Portland, OR; Denver, CO; Rogers, AR; Minneapolis, MN; Collegeville, PA; or Seattle, visit my website (bit.ly/theGITCtour) for details, because I love meeting our readers!
Stay cool, and keep reading scary stuff. I hope you and your ghosts enjoy this month’s issue.
