Some Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw
My rating: 4/5 cats
SPOOKTOBER “DAY TWO”
some months ago, i decided that, for spooktober, i would do a version of my december short story advent calendar project in order to take advantage of the wealth of free horror audio shorts available courtesy of nightfire. and then i forgot about this plan. so i’m going to backtrack a bit here now and pretend i’ve been doing it all along for these past five days and then settle into a one-a-day listen. so bear with me as i catch up. i probably won’t be doing too extensive a review on any of these, but i’ll at least provide some links and you can check them out yourselves!
19 minutes
oof, this is a very mike flanagan kind of horror; where spookiness mingles with sadness and the haunting is both real and figurative—broken glass and grief fighting for “which one is gonna mess you up more?” khaw’s claustrophobically atmospheric prose works perfectly here to establish and maintain the complicated emotional trampoline of a daughter dealing with the aftermath of an abusive parent’s passing, and the narrator conveys her alternating states of helplessness, apology, and anger beautifully.
listen to it here: https://play.google.com/books/listen?…
THE STORIES:
OCTOBER 1: 57 REASONS FOR THE SLATE QUARRY SUICIDES – SAM J. MILLER
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 15: WASP & SNAKE – LIVIA LLEWELLYN
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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