Abominations of Desire Read online

  Unspeakable Horror 2:

  Abominations of desire

  Edited by

  Vince A. Liaguno

  UNSPEAKABLE HORROR 2: Abominations of Desire

  Compilation copyright © 2017 by Vince A. Liaguno

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This book contains works of fiction. All characters depicted in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons—living or dead—is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design copyright © 2017 by Deena Warner Design LLC

  Formatted by Jeffrey Kosh

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Evil Jester Press printing, October 2017

  ISBN-13: 978-1973793960

  ISBN-10: 1973793962

  Permissions

  “Introduction: Deconstructing Desire” copyright © 2017 by Vince A. Liaguno

  “Unspeakable Desire” copyright © 2017 by Chad Helder

  “Fugitive Colours” copyright © 2017 by Erastes

  “Underground” copyright © 2017 by Marshall Moore

  “Ofrenda” copyright © 2017 by Lisa Morton

  “Clearing Clutter” copyright © 2017 by Michael Hacker

  “The Grief Season” copyright © 2017 by Lee Thomas

  “Investment Opportunity” copyright © 2017 by Evan J. Peterson

  “A Soldier’s Mercy” copyright © 2017 by Martel Sardina

  “Twilighter” copyright © 2017 by Martin Rose

  “Tabula Rasa” copyright © 2017 by Brad C. Hodson

  “Caldera” copyright © 2017 by Helen Marshall

  “Bent on Midnight Frolic” copyright © 2017 by Tom Cardamone

  “Murder on the Prurient Express” copyright © 2017 by David Nickle

  “Rougarou” copyright © 2017 by Greg Herren

  “Bargain Books” copyright © 2010 by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder. First published in Icarus: The Magazine of Gay Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press, Issue 7/Winter 2010). Reprinted with permission of the authors.

  “The Sisterhood” copyright © 2017 by Richard Payne

  “Kissyface” copyright © 2017 by Stephen Graham Jones

  “The Shell” copyright © 2013 by Norman Prentiss. First published in Four Zombies (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2013). Reprinted with permission of the author.

  “Lagan” copyright © 2017 by Gemma Files

  “a strange form of life” copyright © 2012 by Laird Barron. First published in Dark Faith: Invocations (APEX Publications, 2012) and subsequently in Wilde Stories 2013: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press, 2013). Reprinted with permission of the author.

  For Reesa Brown,

  whose unspeakable talent was taken from us far too early.

  Rest in peace, dark scribe.

  Unspeakable Contents

  INTRODUCTION

  DECONSTRUCTING DESIRE

  VINCE A. LIAGUNO

  UNSPEAKABLE DESIRE

  CHAD HELDER

  FUGITIVE COLOURS

  ERASTES

  UNDERGROUND

  MARSHALL MOORE

  OFRENDA

  LISA MORTON

  CLEARING CLUTTER

  MICHAEL HACKER

  THE GRIEF SEASON

  LEE THOMAS

  INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY

  EVAN J. PETERSON

  A SOLDIER’S MERCY

  MARTEL SARDINA

  TWILIGHTER

  MARTIN ROSE

  TABULA RASA

  BRAD C. HODSON

  CALDERA

  HELEN MARSHALL

  BENT ON MIDNIGHT FROLIC

  TOM CARDAMONE

  MURDER ON THE PRURIENT EXPRESS

  DAVID NICKLE

  ROUGAROU

  GREG HERREN

  BARGAIN BOOKS

  VINCE A. LIAGUNO AND CHAD HELDER

  THE SISTERHOOD

  R.B. PAYNE

  KISSYFACE

  STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES

  THE SHELL

  NORMAN PRENTISS

  LAGAN

  GEMMA FILES

  A STRANGE FORM OF LIFE

  LAIRD BARRON

  CONTRIBUTORS

  ABOUT THE EDITOR

  Introduction

  Deconstructing Desire

  Vince A. Liaguno

  In conceptualizing the theme for this second volume of unspeakable horrors, I knew that I wanted a collection of speculative fiction centered on the abstract of desire gone awry. After all, our desires, in all their myriad forms, have been getting us into trouble since the dawn of time.

  For those of us who grew up with any semblance of institutional religion attached to our upbringing, desire was always the villain in the proverbial good book—whatever version of it your denomination subscribed to. Inappropriate forms of desire are a source of all manner of moral wrongdoing in various religions, from the irresistible craving to eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Israel's creation story of Judaism and Christianity, to the pathway of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha in his discovery that desire is the cause of life's suffering. Desire dominates five of the seven deadliest sins—the excessive desire of food (gluttony); the rapacious desire and pursuit of material possessions (greed); the coveting of another’s traits, status, abilities, or rewards (envy); the desire to compete with God himself (pride); and the intense desire for money, fame, power, or sex (under the all-encompassing umbrella of lust).

  But for those of us who shouldered the added burden of a theologically incompatible sexual orientation, there was one passage—courtesy of the Old Testament’s notorious Book of Leviticus, 20:13—that always seemed to nip at our heels like a hound from hell itself:

  “If a man also lies with a man, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

  That single biblical passage has stalked those living outside heteronormative boundaries with the ferocity of a preternaturally resilient psychopath from a slasher film. Over the years, its grossly manipulated message of seeming damnation and condemnation for those of an LGBT orientation has crossed church thresholds into cultural and political arenas as easily as Michael Myers once crossed the leaf-strewn streets of Haddonfield from one ill-fated babysitter’s house to another.

  And, before you raise a finger to interject, put aside any scholarly deconstruction of the infamous Leviticus quote, for the deity-charged operate on their own special brand of spiritual fuel, not thoughtful and methodical analysis. Alas, reasoned reader, you must also cast aside any logical enquiry as to the army of other abominations listed in the same Old Testament tome, for although the eating of shellfish and pork, the trimming of hair and beards, the wearing of blended fabrics, inking one’s body with tattoos, and garden-variety adultery are all expressly prohibited and deemed abominations, the pious are also selectively so, it would seem.

  With desire well established as the catalyst for so much evilness, it seemed only logical to explore the effects of abomination upon desire, while reclaiming and subverting a word that’s been used to justify so much hatred and homophobia in the name of religion in the process. Desire, when distorted to the level of atrocity, can be a thing of horror indeed. Which brings us to the book you now hold in your hands.

  In the first installment of Unspeakable Horror, subtitled From the Shadows of the Closet, the idea of psychological closets and the repression of self was central to the stories that populated it. Here, in this belated follow-up to that collection, the exploration of desire—from the contained and constricted t
o the unrestrained and unrestricted—will take center stage.

  Three of the twenty-three contributors to From the Shadows of the Closet are back for return engagements, including Lee Thomas, Lisa Morton, and Michael Hacker. Mr. Thomas, whose distinct literary voice and uncanny ability to knock a reader on their metaphorical ass with a mere turn of phrase, graces Abominations of Desire with “The Grief Season”, in which the grief of a young widower conjures aberrant sexual desires and a monstrous manifestation of his dearly departed. Ms. Morton, a six-time Bram Stoker Award-winner who’s well established herself as a mainstay in both modern horror anthologies and the non-fiction realm, contributes “Ofrenda”, in which a ghostly encounter in a cemetery on Dia de los Muertos has a transformative effect on a young meth addict. Mr. Hacker, who made his professional writing debut in Shadows of the Closet, returns with the story of a therapist who finds more than she bargained for when she comes to the aid of an ex-girlfriend to help her clean out her cluttered brownstone in “Clearing Clutter”.

  Chad Helder, my co-editor on the first installment, also makes a return appearance with the collection’s sole poetry contribution, which again opens the anthology. He joins me later in the anthology on “Bargain Books”, which first appeared in the (lamentably) now-defunct Icarus, a magazine of gay speculative fiction spearheaded by the venerable Steve Berman of Lethe Press.

  A well-respected figure from the gay-themed historical and romantic fiction arena, Erastes proves that small horrors sometimes deliver the biggest chills with an exquisite fusion of body horror and erotica in her flash-fiction piece, “Fugitive Colours”

  Setting plays an integral part in several of the contributions to Abominations of Desire, in which readers will experience various monstrous physical manifestations of desire. Tom Cardamone frames his sexually-charged tale “Bent on Midnight Frolic” against the Ramble, the historic 36-acre densely-wooded section of New York City’s Central Park that’s as notorious as an underground gay cruising spot as it is for its flora and fauna. Key West folklore and an attic-bound houseguest figure prominently in Brad C. Hodson’s “Tabula Rasa”, a cautionary tale in which infidelity, jealousy, and revenge converge with horrifying results. Similarly, noted mystery writer Greg Herren crafts a Cajun-flavored tale of a legendary creature that prowls the swamps of southern Louisiana in “Rougarou”. Marshall Moore, himself an American expatriate living in Hong Kong—whose contribution here was what editors might call a “happy accident”—brings a strong international feel to “Underground”, where subterranean desires and mythology merge with bloody abandon.

  Helen Marshall’s “Caldera”, an atmospheric tale immersed in Icelandic mythology, was the second to last story I bought for the collection. Having been impressed with Ms. Marshall’s superb poetry collection The Sex Lives of Monsters and captivated by her short story collection Gifts for the One Who Comes After, I knew her highly-stylized writing would complement the evolving tone of Abominations of Desire.

  In my submission guidelines for the anthology, I cautioned prospective contributors that classic monster tropes—namely, zombies, werewolves, and vampires—would be a hard sell unless they had something singular to offer. Bram Stoker Award-winner Norman Prentiss and Martin Rose did just that with their respective contributions, “The Shell” and “Twilighter”. It should be noted that I wanted primarily original stories for this second collection—as seventeen of the twenty tales here are—but Mr. Prentiss’s had such a sense of emotional resonance that I made the allowance to include it here as a reprint. I think readers will be happy that I did.

  Another of the limited reprints found within these pages is the collection’s closer, “a strange form of life” by Laird Barron. Mr. Barron was one of a small handful of invited authors way back when the anthology was first conceived (2010, to be exact). He graciously agreed and sent in the story you’ll find here, then titled “The Hard and the Soft Kiss, in the Dark Room”. During the ensuing five years, as the delays stockpiled, the story subsequently landed in the capable hands of editors Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon and first appeared in their Dark Faith: Invocations anthology (APEX Publications, 2012) and then the following year in editor Steve Berman’s annual year’s-best compilation Wilde Stories 2013: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press, 2013). I’d always intended for “a strange form of life” to close this second installment, and saw no reason why its well-deserved previous publications should alter that plan. Mr. Barron—a two-time winner of the Shirley Jackson Award and frequent nominee for almost everything else—is one of those singular authors whose work transcends genre and should be published and re-published far and wide. It’s just that good. Savvy Barron readers will note that the story is presented here with alternate punctuation—quotes to set off dialogue instead of dashes—to give its appearance within these pages its own unique flavoring.

  I had the good fortune of working with Stephen Graham Jones on a previous non-fiction anthology project, Butcher Knives and Body Counts: Essays on the Formula, Frights, and Fun of the Slasher Film (Dark Scribe Press, 2011). Jones is, as Laird Barron adeptly characterized a few years back, “his own genre at this point.” No one unfamiliar with Mr. Jones’s work will disagree with that representation after reading “Kissyface”; those us already familiar with his work know that Mr. Barron nails the characterization to the proverbial wall.

  Arguably, Gemma Files and David Nickle both fit that same description. Ms. Files, the award-winning author of The Hexslinger Series (which includes A Book of Tongues, A Rope of Thorns, and A Tree of Bones) and Experimental Film, was another of the writers hand-selected to contribute to this collection. When she first sent me “Lagan”, a nautical nod to desire, I read and re-read it three times to absorb every word and nuance with which she imbues the story. She’s that kind of writer, and “Lagan” is that kind of story. The fact that she generously allowed me to hold the story in a perpetual state of waiting all these years is one for which I’m eternally grateful. Mr. Nickle, another fine writer from among the immensely talented crop of Canadians making their mark on the genre (along with Ms. Marshall, Michael Rowe, and Craig Davidson/Nick Cutter), brings his distinct voice to the collection with “Murder on the Prurient Express”. The title alone is worth the price of a ticket on this hellbound literary train; luckily, the ride is even better.

  Rounding out the collection are Martel Sardina’s “A Soldier’s Mercy”, in which an intergenerational act of compassion has dire consequences when a young hustler offers a Vietnam veteran temporary relief from the ghosts that haunt him; Evan J. Peterson’s “Investment Opportunity”, in which a young acolyte of the metaphysical, blinded by his own carnal desires as he tours a research lab to ascertain its suitability as an investment opportunity for his employer, soon realizes the real cost of the buy-in; and R.B. Payne’s “The Sisterhood”, the tale of cloistered nuns guarding an ancient relic—and a forbidden love—behind the walls of a convent in the French countryside. Finally, included here—think of it as an added bonus tale—is a reprint of “Bargain Books”, a tale co-authored with Chad Helder that was first published in the aforementioned Icarus. This story of a teenage boy’s newfound invisibility—summoned using a spell found in an old book—and how it helps him attain the object of his very adult secret desire was just too perfect a fit with the anthology’s theme not to include.

  With that, I bring the requisite opening remarks to a close. The stage is set, introductions have been made. All that’s left to do is turn the page and begin.

  If you so desire…

  Unspeakable Desire

  Chad Helder

  Dear Reader,

  Don't look now, but

  there's a monster

  in the corner of your eye,

  bigger than a virus,

  but smaller than a speck.

  It pulls your eye

  toward tight denim,

  pulls your eye

  away from the bloody spectacle of Jesus,

 
pulls your eye

  toward the coin-operated slot.

  We know what makes monsters:

  the pressure of repression.

  The abominations of desire

  must crack their shells to molt,

  must wriggle free,

  must peel off smothering bible pages

  like mummy bandages

  to run beneath the weight of a swollen moon,

  just another egg about to crack.

  Dear Reader,

  It’s time to insert your coins.

  The peep show is about to begin.

  Peer through the slot

  and behold the

  denizens of unspeakable desire.

  These ambitious abominations,

  ladies and gentleman,

  have split the skin of constricting cauls,

  have thrown off their crucifying yokes,

  have been practicing their dance moves.

  Yes, they are giddy to entertain you.

  Fugitive Colours

  Erastes

  Most things lessen with time. Time itself for one. There’s something slavishly liberating about being unable to tell time or even notice the change from day to night. The moments merely punctuated by the Chinese water torture of the dripping of a tap I cannot see from here.

  Funny how laughter is hush-muffled by stones that have never heard it before. It’s like they’re on my side. There’s a thought. Perhaps there is only so much horror that can be absorbed—even by granite, and they hunger for more cheerful noises, take them in, swallow them whole.

  I'll show you, listen: You see? The laugh is absorbed as if it never were. Watercolour and pastel tones disappearing into nothing onto damp paper.

  The stones themselves seem to shrink into their mortar, timid graduate witnesses of the art of pain. They don’t want him to come back down today. Me? I’m undecided, but that’s a secret the stones can’t be told.