Nightmare Magazine, Issue 125 (February 2023): Nightmare Magazine, #125

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 125 of NIGHTMARE! We're starting the month with "Who the Final Girl Becomes," a story from Dominique Dickey that begins where most stories end: in the middle of a bloodbath. But where the Final Girl takes herself will probably surprise you. The mayhem continues in Erik Grove's skin-crawling short story of obsession and stealth, "Home." If you love language, Ruth Joffre's flash story "A Girl Defines Herself" will satisfy your etymological appetites. We also have an unsettling poem ("When At Last He Was Empty") from Rob E. Boley. Our nonfiction includes interviews with Dominique Dickey and Erik Grove, as well as a full-length interview with author and award-winning editor Eric J. Guignard. In the H Word column, Rena Mason discusses the dark-haired ghost haunting Asian cinema.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adamant Press
• Release date: Feb 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215822364

Book preview

Nightmare Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Issue 125 (February 2023)

FROM THE EDITOR

Editorial, February 2023

FICTION

Who The Final Girl Becomes

Dominique Dickey

Home

Erik Grove

A Girl Defines Herself

Ruth Joffre

POETRY

When At Last He Was Empty

Rob E. Boley

NONFICTION

The H Word: A Jaded Eye on Good Girls Gone Bad in Asian Cinema

Rena Mason

Interview: Eric J. Guignard

Lisa Morton

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHTS

Dominique Dickey

Erik Grove

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

© 2023 Nightmare Magazine

Cover by Lobard / Adobe Stock Images

www.nightmare-magazine.com

Published by Adamant Press

From the Editor

Editorial, February 2023

Wendy N. Wagner | 438 words

Welcome to Issue #125 of Nightmare Magazine! And welcome once again to February, a month I’ve always had a lot of mixed feelings about. Here in Portland, February traditionally brings the Worst Day of the Year Run (or Ride—take your pick, the weather is going to be terrible no matter your method of transportation) and the Winter Light Festival, because at this point in the season, a Portlander will do just about anything to take their mind off the endless damp and cold. On the plus side, February also holds Valentine’s Day and its beautiful morning-after sibling, Cheap Chocolate Day. But is chocolate enough to save you from cabin fever? At this stage in the game, even a cheerful person starts to feel a little sympathy for Jack Torrance.

Needless to say, I like to think of this issue as a bit of first aid for the cabin-fevered soul. We’re pulling out all the stops on ultraviolence and creepiness for . . . The Killer Issue.

In related news, we are also test-driving the addition of content warnings for all of our stories! While a content warning can feel like a bit of a spoiler, I’ve had requests from staff members to start adding them to our submissions process. I also know that even the most hardcore horror lover can still have topics they need to protect themselves from. If we’re going to help all kinds of readers find their horror groove, then we need to do a better job making sure our readers feel welcomed and safe! So check out the notes at the beginning of every story and poem to see if that piece is the right read for you.

We’re starting the month with Who the Final Girl Becomes, a story from Dominique Dickey that begins where most stories end: in the middle of a bloodbath. But where the Final Girl takes herself will probably surprise you. The mayhem continues in Erik Grove’s skin-crawling short story of obsession and stealth, Home.

If you love language, Ruth Joffre’s flash story A Girl Defines Herself will satisfy your etymological appetites. We also have an unsettling poem (When At Last He Was Empty) from Rob E. Boley.

Our nonfiction includes interviews with Dominique Dickey and Erik Grove, as well as a full-length interview with author and award-winning editor Eric J. Guignard. In the H Word column, Rena Mason discusses the dark-haired ghost haunting Asian cinema.

I hope this month’s creepy offerings help make your February a little more enjoyable—or at least give you the chills while you snuggle up reading them.

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

Who The Final Girl Becomes

Dominique Dickey | 7199 words

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Content warnings:

Violent assault and murder, blood, bodily fluids

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Cinda begins the worst afternoon of her life by hiding in a closet.

It’s spring break of her senior year of high school, and she’s rented a cabin with four friends using money she saved from her job at the bookstore, and it all feels terribly grown-up: the long drive into the mountains in the passenger seat of her boyfriend Travis’s car; the box of condoms Paulina not-so-secretly tucked in the glove box; the case of cheap beer and freezer bag of weed that Wally stowed in the trunk; the excursions and activities that Maeve carefully planned.

According to Maeve, they’re supposed to be hiking right now, an easy trail with a waterfall at its end, but a sudden thunderstorm has them stuck inside. Paulina suggested hide-n-seek as a way to break up the boredom, the tension, the way everyone got kind of snappish once the clouds blew in. Cinda thought it was stupid, juvenile, but once she’s curled up in the pantry, her eye pressed to the keyhole, she realizes that the childishness is half the fun. All she has to do is sit here and wait, and she’ll either be found or she won’t, and it doesn’t really matter either way.

Ready or not, here I come! Maeve calls from the living room, and Cinda watches the narrow strip of the kitchen that she can see through the keyhole and waits.

• • • •

Maeve finds Wally first. He’s contorted inside the washing machine—Cinda