"The Chairs" was my first rather long short story written in the nuclear Cold War era of the 1980s. It is now a free pdf ebook, available here:
The Chairs (google pdf doc) WARNING! This story is realistic psychological horror. It may be free, but there will be a price to pay -- in your dreams!
Author's Note: A long time ago, now, The Chairs was written in an age called the Cold War era, when the world teetered upon the 11th-hour brink of nuclear extinction, where the constant threat of a global atomic war between the super powers, the Soviet Union and the U.S. and its allies, loomed over us all, as it had since the mid-1950s. Thirty duck-and-cover years. We of the bomb-baby generation, many of us lived our whole lives under the MAD umbrella, Mutually Assured Destruction, in fear of imminent nuclear holocaust and annihilation. This is our story.
Publishing Note: The Chairs was to appear in Eldritch Tales, purchased by Crispin Burnham on 9 February 1992. Sadly -- for this story and for the world of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi -- the publisher ceased operation before The Chairs ever came to press. Due to the story's specific historical context, and world events transpiring in 1991-92, I never resubmitted The Chairs elsewhere for publication. Wonderful rejection letter from the Exquisite Corpse editor-in-chief Andrei Codrescu, 1990; codrescu.com. Then sold to Eldritch Tales in 1992. Eldritch Tales Issues Listing.
P.S. Not long after finishing the first draft of this story, my nuclear nightmares ceased. I haven't stopped writing since.
The Chairs (google pdf doc) WARNING! This story is realistic psychological horror. It may be free, but there will be a price to pay -- in your dreams!
Author's Note: A long time ago, now, The Chairs was written in an age called the Cold War era, when the world teetered upon the 11th-hour brink of nuclear extinction, where the constant threat of a global atomic war between the super powers, the Soviet Union and the U.S. and its allies, loomed over us all, as it had since the mid-1950s. Thirty duck-and-cover years. We of the bomb-baby generation, many of us lived our whole lives under the MAD umbrella, Mutually Assured Destruction, in fear of imminent nuclear holocaust and annihilation. This is our story.
Publishing Note: The Chairs was to appear in Eldritch Tales, purchased by Crispin Burnham on 9 February 1992. Sadly -- for this story and for the world of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi -- the publisher ceased operation before The Chairs ever came to press. Due to the story's specific historical context, and world events transpiring in 1991-92, I never resubmitted The Chairs elsewhere for publication. Wonderful rejection letter from the Exquisite Corpse editor-in-chief Andrei Codrescu, 1990; codrescu.com. Then sold to Eldritch Tales in 1992. Eldritch Tales Issues Listing.
P.S. Not long after finishing the first draft of this story, my nuclear nightmares ceased. I haven't stopped writing since.
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