Nightmare Magazine, Issue 124 (January 2023): Nightmare Magazine, #124

By Wendy N. Wagner

NIGHTMARE is a digital horror and dark fantasy magazine. In NIGHTMARE's pages, you will find all kinds of horror fiction, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror.

 

Welcome to issue 124 of NIGHTMARE! This issue opens with "To Cheer as They Leave You Behind," a story from James L. Sutter about the ultimate helicopter mom. And when I say "helicopter," you should picture an Apache chopper bristling with missiles. This is not a story to read near Mother's Day! Katherine Quevedo brings us another short story ("Until It Has Your Reflection") from the perspective of a mother, but this mama is of a much kinder variety. She's simply been confronted by a horror spreading through her family like a winter cold. Alyza Taguilaso continues the emphasis on mothers in her eerie poem "Fruit," and Gordon B. White returns with a flash story ("Last Night at the Sideshow") about every kid's dream of joining the ultimate found family: the circus. Of course we have author spotlight interviews with Katherine Quevedo and James L. Sutter, and The H Word returns with an essay from James Chambers, who asks himself (and us) whether zombies still hold any kind of relevance in the horror genre.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adamant Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215052815

Book preview

Nightmare Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Issue 124 (January 2023)

FROM THE EDITOR

Editorial, January 2023

FICTION

To Cheer as They Leave You Behind

James L. Sutter

Last Night at the Sideshow

Gordon B. White

Until It Has Your Reflection

Katherine Quevedo

POETRY

Fruit

Alyza Taguilaso

NONFICTION

The H Word: The Living Dead---Us Versus Them

James Chambers

de•cryp•ted---Taylor on Bulgakov

Terence Taylor

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHTS

James L. Sutter

Katherine Quevedo

MISCELLANY

Coming Attractions

Stay Connected

Subscriptions and Ebooks

Support Us on Patreon, or How to Become a Dragonrider or Space Wizard

About the Nightmare Team

© 2022 Nightmare Magazine

Cover by

www.nightmare-magazine.com

Published by Adamant Press

From the Editor

Editorial, January 2023

Wendy N. Wagner | 468 words

Welcome to 2023, and welcome to Issue #124! I know a lot of people make New Year’s resolutions—they aim to lose ten pounds or get more sleep or completely reinvent themselves. Not me. The only thing I’m resolved to do in 2023 is hunt down more delightful stories about the darker side of life and offer them up to you, our fantastic readers.

In January, a lot of magazines focus on getting out of the house and doing more. Apparently after all the family-centered holidays in November and December, most people are sick of their families and ready to hang out with strangers. That’s not how we’re rolling here. After all that time stuck inside with our relatives, I know a lot of us need to decompress before we can be expected to function properly again. So I’ve collected a handful of works about family—not the families we choose, but the families we’re stuck with—to ease us back into ourselves. If you follow it up with a chaser of Hereditary or maybe Mommy Dearest, you ought to be feeling just fine for February.

Speaking of mommies, we’re opening the issue with To Cheer as They Leave You Behind, a story from James L. Sutter about the ultimate helicopter mom. And when I say helicopter, you should picture an Apache chopper bristling with missiles. This is not a story to read near Mother’s Day!

Katherine Quevedo brings us another short story (Until It Has Your Reflection) from the perspective of a mother, but this mama is of a much kinder variety. She’s simply been confronted by a horror spreading through her family like a winter cold. Alyza Taguilaso continues the emphasis on mothers in her eerie poem Fruit, and Gordon B. White returns with a flash story (Last Night at the Sideshow) about every kid’s dream of joining the ultimate found family: the circus.

We do have one big change this year at Nightmare. After over five years of reviewing books for us, Terence Taylor is stepping down. But he’s delivered one last book review to help launch de•crypt•ed, our new column on classic horror reads and the roles they’ve played in the lives of horror creators. We’re so sad to be saying farewell to Terence’s insights on literature, but we’re beyond excited about the new project!

Of course we have author spotlight interviews with Katherine Quevedo and James L. Sutter, and The H Word returns with an essay from James Chambers, who asks himself (and us) whether zombies still hold any kind of relevance in the horror genre.

It’s another great issue, and we hope you enjoy it while you ease into another page of the calendar.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wendy N. Wagner is the author of the horror novel The Deer Kings and the gothic novella The Secret Skin. Previous work includes the SF thriller An Oath of Dogs and two novels for the Pathfinder Tales series, and her short stories, poetry, and essays have appeared in more than fifty venues. She also serves as the managing/senior editor of Lightspeed Magazine, and previously served as the guest editor of our Queers Destroy Horror! special issue. She lives in Oregon with her very understanding family, two large cats, and a Muppet disguised as a dog.

FictionDiscover John Joseph Adams Books

To Cheer as They Leave You Behind

James L. Sutter | 5828 words

She comes early, forcing you to reschedule meetings from the car as Alan drives, white-knuckled. You don’t mind—sending contract notes while in labor is the sort of story the partners will tell for years.

Delivery is an athletic event, but you understand those. You ran cross-country in college, before law school took over. You understand pain, how to bear down and force your body into submission.

And then it’s over. They put her in your arms, swaddled and squalling, and she is exactly as you imagined. She nuzzles against the sweat-sticky skin of your breast and goes quiet, looking up at you. Beside you, Alan is crying, because of course he is. But you have eyes only for your daughter. Here, at least, other people were right. You look into that tiny face, as fat and red as a drunken senator’s, and feel the flood of love like a second water breaking. And right behind it, a second wave cresting and breaking on your shore, is pride. You made this, from your own body. She is perfect, and she is yours.

She is yours.

• • • •

People tell you to go easy on yourself: friends, doctors,