Short Stories
As is clear from the very short list below, I am not a
prolific writer of short stories (I'm not a prolific writer of anything,
in fact).
“Consent”, Deathport,
Pocket Books, September 1993
This story was inspired by the furor over the publication
of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho and my experience reading
several well-known horror anthologies, in which only 2 or 3 of 20 authors were
women and a large number of the stories had to do with the murder, and the
justification of murder, of women. Having written such a story myself
(Exodus 22:18), I have a lot of conflicting opinions on this subject, which I
attempted to work through in this story. I worked on it for a couple of
years until the HWA anthology was announced and then, oddly enough, the haunted
airport was the thing I needed to make it work. I like the story quite a
bit, but it never did fit very well in that anthology.
“Cold Sleep”, Northern
Frights, October 1992
This story is the original inspiration for the character of Dimitri Rozokov.
Set in Mt. Pleasant cemetery in the middle of winter, it was actually written
sitting beside the swimming pool. Northern Frights is an excellent
series of horror stories (mostly by Canadians) edited by Don Hutchison.
“Exodus
22:18”, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, June 1989
- Reprinted in Northern Frights 3, October
1995
My serial-killer-with-a-twist story. My musical influences at the time
(notably Siouxsie and the Banshees) are clearly on display. This is also
one of several of my stories that feature song lyrics I've written (or co-exist
with them). In this case, I wrote the song first.
“The
Party Over There”, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, June 1988
- Reprinted in Northern Horror/Canadian fiction Anthology
2000
This was my second entry in Twilight Zone's new writers
contest (I got an encouraging note back the previous year). The story
received an honorable mention and Tappan King encouraged me to make a few
changes and resubmit it for publication. I didn't do anything about it
(mostly because I didn't actually agree with him about the changes) until he
phoned me at work to ask me why I hadn't resubmitted it. I explained my
reservations and he said "Then tell me I'm full of shit and send it
back." So I changed a few words and that's what I did. They
published it as part of their TZ First series. I lost the year-end contest for
best new story, but since Elizabeth Hand won, I could hardly complain.
I also wrote a song based on the same concept.
"Into
The Black", Cadre 1, 1982
I wrote this story for my final assignment for the Science
Fiction Literature course I took as an undergraduate at the University of
Toronto. It, like "Exodus", was heavily influenced by my musical
tastes at the time. The title is taken from the Neil Young song "Rust
Never Sleeps". It was published in a small press magazine called
Cadre, created by Kim Kofmel, who several years later, when we finally met in
person, became one of my best friends.
"A
Terrible Beauty is Born", Cadre 2, 1983
This is, in its own odd way, one of the seminal stories of
my life. I wrote it in university, based on characters I had invented
(some in conjunction with friends) in high school. I keep saying someday
I'm going to write a novel about the main character, as soon as I have an actual
plot. In the meantime, writing the parts of the novel that aren't plot is
one of my favorite
writing "warm up" exercises.
As an aside, it took me a long time to recognize that
"A Terrible Beauty" would be the perfect title for my third novel
because I'd already used it for this story. The phrase is from the
W.B.Yeats poem, Easter 1916.
"Admit One", Cadre
3, 1984
The closest thing to a standard horror story I've ever
written. The setting is based on the old roller coaster at the CNE (Canadian
National Exhibition).
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