Zoetrope: All-Story The Horror Issue

Zoetrope; All-Story The Horror Issue, Fall 2011 Vol. 15 No.3

Another unbelievable issue this quarter. I can't believe I haven't been reading this publication from the beginning. This quarter are all scary stories with the art by Kate & Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. The art is creepy and the following two pics are probably my favorite although it's hard to choose;




This issue there is a quick introduction about scary stories by Francis Ford Coppola, new stories by Alexandra Kleeman, Jim Shepard, Ryu Murakami and Karen Russell, finishing with a classic story by Edgar Allan Poe.

FAKE BLOOD by Alendra Kleeeman
Great way to start off the issue. It's about a woman who shows up to a party dressed as a bloody nurse that turns out not to be a costume party. Possible murdery hi-jinks ensue and fun or not fun is had by all. Surreal and creepy, loved it.

HMS TERROR By Jim Shepard
I was thinking ghost ship by the title and encouraged as the story is written as a crew members journal starting in 1845. I'm not going to tell you if I was right or not but the ship is sailing into the arctic to find the true magnetic pole. Loved the format, the writing and the tension Shepard creates.

PENLIGHT by Ryu Murakami
This story centers around an absolutely disgusting, filthy slob of a prostitute who thinks she has a ghost living in her head. There are some extremely dark things that happen towards the end of the story and I can't figure out if they happened or not. Thought provoking, interesting characters, deeply disturbing and weird. This is one of those stories that I won't be able to tell if I liked it until I reread it sometime in the future.

THE HOX RIVER WINDOW by Karen Russell
I can't articulate how excited I was after I bought this issue and saw she had a new story in it. It's fantastic, just fantastic. It's about a family living in Nebraska trying to meet the qualifications of the Homestead Act so I'm guessing late 1860's early 1870's. After hearing Ms. Russell speak and meeting her briefly it's a little surprising that someone who comes off as so sweet, adorable and quirky can pull off something this scary. Besides being creepy it's also really interesting to thing about how hard a life these farmers had in trying to own their own land. Especially considering how hard the land was to farm and how brutal the weather between the winters and the droughts. When it's all said and done this is definitely one of my favorite short stories she's written which is saying a lot.

BERENICE by Edgar Allan Poe
I haven't read a ton of Poe and not really sure why. His dark humor is right up my alley and you can't find a more enjoyable writing style for his day. Creepy story with enough ambiguity to add some extra anxiety in the tale. Great choice for the collection of horror stories.