Those Forgotten Places
FEATURED IN: Autumn Noir, an Unsettling Reads anthology
- Publication date: October 2021
- Editor: H. Dair Brown, Robin Knabel
ABOUT THOSE FORGOTTEN PLACES
In the one-stoplight town of Boone, Nevada, Jake Withers takes an unforgiveable measure to keep his old town from fading into nothing.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
The slide from Summer into Fall can sneak up on you, like footsteps keeping pace until they speed up and overtake you. We invited fellow writers and poets to create original pieces that would sweep us up in stories and poems about the other, moodier season of change. We received a cornucopia of work that skews toward the gritty, the atmospheric, the strangely, dangerously beguiling. Some of the stories in this collection unfold their mysteries as gently as a wisp of chimney smoke. Others bring the heart-thumping thrills of an end-of-summer storm. Each of them brought their works to life with language as vibrant as Fall foliage and dialogue as crisp as Autumn air.
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
- Brandon Barrows | Dean Blanchard | Oisin Breen | H. Dair Brown | Matthew Chabin | JM Connors | Kat Devitt | Peter DiChellis | Dustin Engstrom | Wendy Harrison | April Kelly | V.S. Kemanis | Robin Knabel | Matthew Kresal | Bethany Maines | Bob McNeil | Vashele Nino | Elif Offner | Mary Rajotte | Stephen Rogers | Rikki Santer | Nathan Squiers | Teresa Trent | Lamont Turner | Bev Vincent | W.E. Wertenberger
AN EXCERPT
© MARY RAJOTTE
The van rumbles over gopher holes and crumbling rock until it slows to a crawl on what’s left of Main Street. Stooped in arrested decay, gaunt buildings, sun-bleached and wind-scraped, pitch broken joints toward one another for comfort. Silhouetted against the parched plateau, they look like any wrong breeze will blow them into a pile of matchsticks. The door on the church house is open, exposing her drab floorboards to an onslaught of windswept sand the color of camel suede. Jake’s shoulders slump a little to see her rafters hang limp, too weary to hold themselves up.
READER REVIEWS
The folks over at Unsettling Reads have provided us with another collection of short stories, this time moving from horror, sci-fi, and fantasy into the genres of crime, mystery, suspense, and thriller. I’m happy to say that I enjoyed this collection even more than the previous one. Autumn Noir is divided into three parts, each representing a theme inspired by the words of some of the greats. All in all, Autumn Noir showcases Dair and Robin’s talents, not just with their own writing, but as curators for fantastic stories. This was a great read that I would recommend for anyone who loves short stories. Especially if you love crime and thriller stories, check this anthology out.
A fantastic anthology of stories that will “get under your skin”, as co-editor, Robin Knabel states in the book. Some of the stories made me smile, others sent chills down my spine, and still others kept me guessing about the outcome. A delightful read, especially this time of year.
– Kathryn Lane
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