Oh, But Her Beautiful Eyes

The Dead Inside cover by Gemma Amor

FEATURED IN: The Dead Inside: An Anthology of Identity Horror from Dark Dispatch

  • Publication date: February 2022
  • Editor: Laurel Hightower & Sandra Ruttan
  • Foreword: Donyae Coles
  • Cover Art: Gemma Amor

ABOUT OH, BUT HER BEAUTIFUL EYES

The story of how far one woman will go to make her lover forget the past, even if she loses herself in the process

MORE INFO

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Our identity is the essence of who we are … But what if our identity is threatened? What if our family members or partners reject our identity? What if educators and employers push us to conform to their prejudices or expectations for us? When we twist, contort, bleed, unravel, and die on the vine—what becomes of the pieces that remain? How much can we cut before there’s nothing left?Through the pages of The Dead Inside, some of the best horror writers of our era examine the forces that can threaten our identity, exposing the ways identity horror threatens our well-being, our dreams, our very existence.

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

  • Featuring stories and poems by:S. H. Cooper, M. Lopes da Silva, Paul Michael Anderson, K. P. Kulski, Robert Bagnall, Belicia Rhea, Eric Raglin, Robert Stahl, Sarah Jackson, Daniel Barnett, R.J. Joseph, Sam Kyung Yoo, A. K. Dennis, Ali Seay, Michelle Cadiz, Joe Koch, Jaecyn Boné, Avra Margariti, Michelle Mellon, Evelyn Freeling, Katie Young, Marcus Woodman, Sarah Wu, Elle Turpitt, Renee Cronley, Mary Rajotte, Patrick Tumblety, Roxie Voorhees, Tabatha Wood, and Scott J. Moses

AN EXCERPT


The burial mound is loose and soft and the earth easy to move so I scrape it away with my bare hands.

Across my skin, her voice is a whispered veil of words unspoken, unearthed hurts that neither time nor separation have tempered. I dig deep enough to tamp the disquiet, stopping when my fingernails scrape across something solid.

Forcing the lid open is burdensome, but using all my strength, I manage to pry it wide. Dirt shifts and falls inside, sullying the velvet lining and staining her shroud. Seeing her in this way only compels me to continue. And the hour is getting late. You’ll be home soon.

© MARY RAJOTTE

READER REVIEWS

Oh, But Her Beautiful Eyes – Mary Rajotte – our protagonist is living under the shadow of her partners dead wife, so she decides to act. Creepy and unsettling.
– Ross Jeffery

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Dead Inside is a horror anthology that tackles the sensitive subject of identity. Never have I read an anthology that so profoundly affected a part of my heart. I am secure in my identity, I know who I am, what I am meant to do in terms of my career, and how I project myself to others. However, I have close friends who aren’t secure in their identities. They struggle to accept their sexuality, and their gender, they deserve to feel this inner peace without persecution. It very rarely plays out this way and this anthology examines the horror of both the human psyche and the hurt it can inflict on itself and others.
– Yvonne@The Coy Caterpillar Reads

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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