The Dark Issue 67: The Dark, #67
()
About this ebook
Each month The Dark brings you the best in dark fantasy and horror! Selected by award-winning editors Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Sean Wallace and published by Prime Books, this issue includes four all-new stories:
"For Successful Haunting" by Jessica Reisman
"Camouflage Baby" by Ebuka Prince Okoroafor
"Forwarded as Received" by Osahon Ize-Iyamu
"My Wife" by Ernest O. Ògúnyẹm
Related to The Dark Issue 67
Titles in the series (100)
The Dark Issue 2: The Dark, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Issue 26: The Dark, #26 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 6: The Dark, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 10: The Dark, #10 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 1: The Dark, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Issue 24: The Dark, #24 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 19: The Dark, #19 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 7: The Dark, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 11: The Dark, #11 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 3: The Dark, #3 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dark Issue 42: The Dark, #42 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 29: The Dark, #29 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 8: The Dark, #8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 4: The Dark, #4 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Issue 22: The Dark, #22 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 18: The Dark, #18 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 16: The Dark, #16 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 12: The Dark, #12 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 17: The Dark, #17 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 13: The Dark, #13 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 9: The Dark, #9 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 5: The Dark, #5 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Issue 32: The Dark, #32 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 14: The Dark, #14 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 33: The Dark, #33 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 28: The Dark, #28 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 55: The Dark, #55 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 15: The Dark, #15 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 23: The Dark, #23 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Issue 21: The Dark, #21 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related ebooks
White Fang Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Fang (Best Navigation, Free AUDIO BOOK) (A to Z Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Fang: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegends of the West (Part 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite Fang - Unabridged Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld Of Terrors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInferno Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite frang Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSteel, Magick and Faith: Book 1 of The Remus Rothwyn Chronicles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystic’s Test Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite Fang by Jack London Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape Velocity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadow Fraction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMythic Winter: Mythic Tales, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Monster from the Dump yard: Mutation, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsViva Iron Eyes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite Fang (Diversion Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite Fang (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Consumed: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Is Stronger Than Evil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crimson Witch: The Royal Thieves Trilogy, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Midnight Mansion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelling Your Father's Bones: America's 140-Year War against the Nez Perce Tribe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTangled Skein: A Dimension Spanning, Time Traveling, Reality Jumping Adventure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLean Creatures Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIronwrought: Tales Of Blood, Steel And Vengeance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden Hand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhite Fang (Wisehouse Classics - with original illustrations) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nocturnal Academy 17: Victoria Victorious Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fields Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Fantasy For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Immortal Longings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Underworld: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray (The Original 1890 Uncensored Edition + The Expanded and Revised 1891 Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Assassin and the Empire: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Talisman: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote: [Complete & Illustrated] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daughter of the Forest: Book One of the Sevenwaters Trilogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Dark Issue 67
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Dark Issue 67 - Jessica Reisman
THE DARK
Issue 67 • December 2020
For Successful Haunting
by Jessica Reisman
Camouflage Baby
by Ebuka Prince Okoroafor
Forwarded as Received
by Osahon Ize-Iyamu
My Wife
by Ernest O. Ògúnyẹm
Cover Art: The Deer with its Fire Horns Standing on Rocks in Winter
by grandfailure
ISSN 2332-4392.
Edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Sean Wallace.
Cover design by Garry Nurrish.
Copyright © 2020 by Prime Books.
www.thedarkmagazine.com
For Successful Haunting
by Jessica Reisman
Sin was a summer ghost, born of a death sudden as lightning. They slipped on bare ghost soles down the long corridors of an old inn deep in the forest, drifted and danced in the abandoned heft and dust-limned dim of the inn’s pillared halls. With ghost vision, Sin could see the many lanterns, persimmon and gold, that once illuminated the inn’s woodwork and polished floors, and the travelers and locals seated over honey wine and food.
These spirits of the inn’s long memory flickering through the abandoned spaces annoyed Sin at first, speaking of a kind of life they had never known. At the same time, the gauzy manifestations engaged them, like dreams on the ever-waking air of their ghostlife. One evening, they tried an experiment, sitting in the memory flicker of a patron, a large, thick-bellied man. Sin moved with him while taking a bite and the flavor of onion pancakes burst crisp-savory-sweet through them. The honey wine startled them, sting and tang, but its soft echo settled like fragrance on skin.
After that, Sin spent evenings slipping from one memory guest to another, tasting dishes the inn had been known for, getting drunk on honey wine and making up the flickers’ silent conversations.
Let us eat all the food.
Yes, we are so rich and can have all the food.
Ah,
finger to the side of their nose, and we will not share with grubby orphan children because we are piiiiiigs.
When the inn’s remembering faded each evening, night came large and rustling in the woods around it. In the darkness, the memory of lanterns lingered, the inn wearing festive shimmer.
One night, some uncounted run of mornings, noons, and nights into Sin’s ghostlife, as summer passed into autumn, a cat squeezed into the inn through a crack in the walls, wild-eyed and rattled. Sin heard barking and snuffling on the other side of the wall, and drifted through to see three dogs, large and excited. They saw Sin, bayed and barked, then ran off.
Back inside, the cat heaved breath, eyes wide and round under one of the tables.
Sin hovered nearby, settling to sit, though still a handspan above the dusty floor. The cat watched them. His eyes were gold and caught the shine of memory lanterns. But he was not a ghost; Sin could feel his warm, wild solidity, the rank odor of dirty, dog-slobbered fur going through them as strongly as the smell of a roasted potato from a street cart had when they were alive.
Eventually the cat began to clean himself, the sound of rough tongue rasped over disheveled fur slipping into the night. Sin sat, hovering, the cat washed his fur clean of dog and fear, and the night ticked over until the cat curled up to sleep, Sin keeping watch. When dreams twitched the cat’s grey paws and made his whiskers tremble, running from dogs in the endless of his inner landscape, Sin drifted closer and lowered one hand to, then through, tongue-washed fur, into heat and intent, hunger and fascination with the tiny motions of the world. You’re safe, you’re safe here,
they said, incanting it so with all their ghostly will.
In the early, still-dark morning, the cat stretched with thorough languor and slinked off to investigate all the corners and corridors of the inn. There were voles to eat, grasses in the inner courtyard to chew, water in the broken cistern, where birds came down to drink. Sin drifted after and when, as day crept on and sun furled into dust-soft air, the cat curled up on the rocks of the broken cistern, Sin stayed in the courtyard, twirling and singing, following memory guests passing through or sitting with them in the open doors of their rooms.
The season turned, rains poured through the courtyard, leaves in shades of flame and plum fell from trees and patterned the broken stones, leaving shadows behind when winds blew them dervish. Sin called the cat Hui and Hui followed them as much as they followed him. Hui played with the trailing tatters of Sin’s ghostly clothes, rolled in the sun for them to stroke his fur, and butted his triangle head into their hand, seeming to like it when Sin’s touch sank through him and they mingled selves.
When the first frost etched the inner courtyard’s rocks and grasses and one twisty tree in tiny ice crystals, a gang of men came and forced the tall, broken doors of the inn. They set up camp in the main hall. The men’s rough, incarnate presence interrupted the inn’s remembering and left the evening empty of spirit patrons and lanterns. Sin hovered among the men unseen. Hui hid.
When, that first night, one of the men hit another and the others laughed, Sin sank close enough to hover a hand through the man’s head, shuddered and recoiled at the sense of straining filthy water through teeth Sin no longer had. The man shook his