Welcome to issue #166 of Nightmare Magazine, your home for horror and dark fantasy of all shapes, flavors, and colors.
If your physical home exists within the borders of the United States, then you are certainly aware that this month marks the nation’s 250th anniversary. There have already been too many magazine covers with red, white, and blue bunting and articles about the Founding Fathers to count, and think pieces are springing up like patriotic mushrooms.
I apologize, but Nightmare is also getting on the American bandwagon, with a month of darkly horrible fiction and poetry exploring American life.
We’re starting off the month with “The Plague Comes From Chinatown,” a new short story from Claire Jia-Wen exploring the treatment of Chinese immigrants during San Francisco’s 1900 bubonic plague epidemic. It’s a searing critique of the way the nation both depends upon and ostracizes recent immigrants—and a beautiful piece of dark fantasy. It’s a piece that makes a good conversation partner for “A Bargain Made in the Monster’s Shadow,” this month’s poem by Sam W. Pisciotta, which is also a sharp critique of life within the imperialist core of global capitalism.
There’s nothing more American than the Mouseketeers, and S. L. Coney brings us a claustrophobic piece of psychological horror in a new story called “Annette Funicello Is My Dream Mouse.” It’s as messed-up as the title might make you hope, so prepare to be unsettled.
Steve Toase might technically be an Englishman, but his flash story “A Nebraskan Choir” perfect captures the eeriness of America’s wide open spaces. We don’t see nearly enough prairie horror, and this short gem is a perfect addition to the subgenre.
Our nonfiction team does a bit to lighten the mood. Alex Puncekar asks novelist Chloe Lauter all about the American road trip in a fun feature interview, and our author spotlight team sat down with Claire Jia-Wen and S.L. Coney to discuss their writing processes. Mary Berman brings us an H Word essay about the troubled relationship between women’s issues horror and hetero romances.
It’s another terrific issue, packed full of great insights, blood, magic, and creepy rats. I think it’s the perfect counter to room temperature potato salad and overcooked hamburgers. I hope you think so, too!
