Category: Creative Nonfiction

Andrew Farkas: “The Great Indoorsman, Part the First,” a serialized essay

“Look at it, Hastings. Not a building insight. Not a restaurant, not a theatre, not anart gallery. A wasteland.” —Hercule Poirot in“The Adventure of the Clapham Cook” The Great Indoorsman PART THE FIRST From A Philosophy of the Indoors—The Sublime: I often find myself in awe of the grandeur of the Indoors … An excerpt…
Essay: “If you really wanted to hear the news, you would take a walk through the city” by Tameca L Coleman

If you really wanted to hear the news, you would take a walk through the city I’ve taken a pause on my walk, distracted with all the things I’m carrying: my messenger bag, which keeps slipping off of my right shoulder, two bags of things from Target I didn’t really mean to buy, and a…
“Cults, Monsters, and Strange Rites” for Haunted Passages: On The Void and the Cosmic by Sean Oscar

Previously, I discussed a film described by some as ‘Lovecraftian’. I rejected this designation, observing that ‘for a text to be truly Lovecraftian, it requires more than cults and monsters and strange religious practices—it requires existential dread’. Here, I shall discuss a film that does meet this designation, and I shall explain why. But, further…
“Halloween Memories: The Dark,” a short memoir by Scott Cole, author of Triple Axe, for Haunted Passages

I was twelve. We had just moved to a new town that August, and I hadn’t yet made any real close friends in the short time we’d been there. Two Halloweens earlier, when I was ten, we’d just moved to a different new town. That year, I made plans to go trick or treating with…
“Election Night, Missouri, 2016,” a flash essay by Brad Aaron Modlin

All day, rats had bolted through my body. I spilt my coffee. I couldn’t hold a pen. To an old friend, a pre-Missouri one, I wrote: I wish we still lived in the same town, so I could bump into you on the sidewalk, and you would tell me everything will be okay. Come night,…
“Cthulhu Doesn’t Hate You” for Haunted Passages: Sean Oscar’s Critical Analysis of Apostle, the 2018 Netflix orginal film directed by Gareth Evans

Apostle follows Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) on the hunt for his sister, Jennifer (Elen Rhys). He is told that she has joined a religious community living on a remote Welsh island. The community practice a form of goddess worship, led by the self-declared prophet Malcolm Howe (Michael Sheen). Thomas, a former preacher who lost his…
“In Darkness,” a Haunted Passages horror memoir by Craig Wallwork, author of Gory Hole: A Horror Triple Bill

Horror has been with me from a very early age. I found several copies of The House of Hammer comics in my parent’s bedroom when I was around seven years old. I would sit in the bathroom reading titles such as Shandor: Demon Stalker and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, their paper scented with cigarette smoke…
“The Good Folk” a Haunted Passages nonfiction essay by Carrie Laben

It was one of the most grueling scenes of my novel to write. A mother confronts the supernatural family horror that has possessed her child, driving it out with cries of “No! She’s my daughter! Not yours!” as the little girl’s sister looks on. It sounds heroic, doesn’t it? In most stories, it would be.…
“My Day with the Donald,” a modern American tall tale by Jeff Cuffee

The dead visit me in dreams, and sometimes speak with me. People have said it’s because of my heritage, that I’m African American and Native American, and that has something to do with it. I’m not so sure. In fact, I believe that most of us dream of the dearly and not-so dearly departed and…