Best New Horror #26

CLINT SMITH lives in the Midwest, along with his wife and two children. He is the author of the short story collection Ghouljaw and Other Stories (Hippocampus Press) and the novella When It’s Time For Dead Things To Die (Dunhams Manor Press). His story ‘The Fall of Tomlinson Hall; or The Ballad of the Butcher’s Cart’ recently appeared in the Mythic Indy anthology (Second Story Press), while ‘Animalhouse’ is included in the inaugural issue of Nightscript.

“The delicate skeleton of this story emerged in the early, rookie-era role as stepfather to a precocious young boy,” explains the author, “and began to ossify during the latter stages of my wife’s pregnancy with our daughter.

“‘Dirt on Vicky’ was one of the first stories that encapsulated a number of my recurring obsessions in a single piece: the craft of tale-telling (in forms of fiction and busybody hearsay), the distortion of memory, the spiderweb-damage of adultery, and, of course, the unshakable presence of The House—a repetitive setting which looms black and jagged along the backcountry of my mental landscape.”