Surrounded by unseen guards and listening to a bizarre tapped message and the anguished screams of those being tortured while he waits for his turn, the narrator gives the reader every detail imaginable as he slowly spirals down into a strange sort of quiet, resigned desperation: The narrator was asked to submit a report and he feels something he did, or didn’t do, in said report is what landed him there. “The Report” is an unsettling and Kafka-esque tale of impending doom and uncertainty that takes place in the microcosm of a dark cell. By putting a narrative within the narrative, Evenson tells two stories in one and delivers the first of many memorable endings (and one that promises yet another story). In “Black Bark,” which possesses the unmistakable aura of a Western while still reading like a horror story, two men are riding in search of a cabin, but one of them, who happens to be wounded, may not be what he appears to be. The first three tales in A Collapse of Horses perfectly exemplify not only the author’s career and multiplicity of themes and approaches but also prepare the reader for what’s to come. Where other authors waste time with descriptions of space or characters, Evenson relies on inner monologues, fast-paced action, and unfiltered narrative prowess to ensure each story has a lasting impact. There is plenty of hyperviolence and grotesquerie, so what’s left to the readers’ imagination is just as awful and suggestive. The variety is outstanding, the writing is superb, but what makes this collection deserving of attention is how Evenson manages to achieve a perfect balance between what is on the page and what is left out. Despite having won a plethora of awards, the collection is proof that Evenson is still getting better.Ī Collapse of Horses is a master class in unnerving storytelling seventeen short narratives that range from horror to science fiction and from surrealism to noir. In early February, Coffee House Press will be rereleasing three of Evenson’s novels, Father of Lies, Last Days, and The Open Curtain, all to coincide with the release of his latest, a short story collection titled A Collapse of Horses.
The third on that list, and perhaps the author who manages to deliver the weirdest, creepiest stories to presently slither their tentacles into the literary realm, is Brian Evenson.
Thomas Ligotti and Laird Barron are names that quickly come to mind. While some still argue about the differences between and individual merits of genre and literary fiction, some of the most important names in contemporary literature are working in the space where the two intersect. Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work.
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