Wasp & Snake by Livia Llewellyn
My rating: 3/5 cats
SPOOKTOBER DAY FIFTEEN
welcome to my spooktober audio advent calendar, where, each day during the month of spooktober, i will be celebrating by listening to a free audio short from nightfire’s Come Join Us by the Fire series, and you can join ME by following the links. let’s all be scared together!
12 minutes
i was unfamiliar with the aesop fable that this story is having its way with, but i’ll save you the google and plop it here for you:
A wasp seated himself upon the head of a Snake and, striking him unceasingly with his stings, wounded him to death. The Snake, being in great torment and not knowing how to rid himself of his enemy, saw a wagon heavily laden with wood, and went and purposely placed his head under the wheels, saying, “At least my enemy and I shall perish together.”
this reconfigures the fable with human participants, employing some effective body horror to tell the tale of a supernaturally-enhanced assassin-for-hire enacting a revenge-plot on behalf of her cuckolded employer, with an outcome that does not go to plan. it dabbles a little too much in the realm of cosmic horror for my personal liking, but the parts the my feeble brain could grasp were chillingly good.
listen to it here:
https://play.google.com/books/listen?id=AQAAAECstnT2yM
THE STORIES:
OCTOBER 1: 57 REASONS FOR THE SLATE QUARRY SUICIDES – SAM J. MILLER
OCTOBER 2: SOME BREAKABLE THINGS – CASSANDRA KHAW
OCTOBER 3: EMERGENCY LANDING – SEANAN MCGUIRE
OCTOBER 4: THE CHANGELING – SARAH LANGAN
OCTOBER 5: THE BEASTS OF THE EARTH, THE MADNESS OF MEN – BROOKE BOLANDER
OCTOBER 6: THE FIREPLACE – CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN
OCTOBER 7: BONE – TADE THOMPSON
OCTOBER 8: IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING – MOLLY TANZER
OCTOBER 9: DREAM HOME – KAT HOWARD
OCTOBER 10: SPAWNING SEASON – NICHOLAS KAUFMANN
OCTOBER 11: THE GIRLS FROM THE HORROR MOVIE – GWENDOLYN KISTE
OCTOBER 12: IT WASHED UP – JOE R. LANSDALE
OCTOBER 13: BLACK NEUROLOGY – RICHARD KADREY
OCTOBER 14: WHEN THE ZOMBIES WIN – KARINA SUMNER-SMITH
OCTOBER 16: THIS GUY – CHUCK WENDIG
OCTOBER 17: THE POND – PAUL TREMBLAY
OCTOBER 18: A LIFE THAT IS NOT MINE – KRISTI DEMEESTER
OCTOBER 19: GREENER PASTURES – MICHAEL WEHUNT
OCTOBER 20: THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL YOU – LUCY A. SNYDER
OCTOBER 21: COLD, SILENT, AND DARK – KARY ENGLISH
OCTOBER 22: WAS SHE WICKED? WAS SHE GOOD? – M. RICKERT
OCTOBER 23: THE DAYS OF FLAMING MOTORCYCLES – CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE
OCTOBER 24: FLAYED ED – RICHARD KADREY
OCTOBER 25: MAMA TULU – JESSICA GUESS
OCTOBER 26: THE VAULT OF THE SKY, THE FACE OF THE EARTH
OCTOBER 27: EL CHARRO – JOHN LANGAN
OCTOBER 28: STANDING WATER – CAITLIN R. KIERNAN
OCTOBER 29: MIDNIGHT CALLER – STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES
OCTOBER 30: TOOTH, TONGUE, AND CLAW – DAMIEN ANGELICA WALTERS
OCTOBER 31: THE QUIET BOY – NICK ANTOSCA
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