Inside the suitcase is an antique gramophone, and the music it plays is unlike anything they’ve heard before. A chanting voice speaks to them in strange words, evoking visions of a dark, frozen land. It’s a voice that makes them sick with addiction, and it continues chanting in their heads even when the record stops playing.
Charlie sets out to solve the mystery of the unholy music and how to turn it off forever. But the urge to listen grows stronger, and the more it plays, the more the aural virus spreads, until people begin to vanish . . . feeding an apparition that seeks immortality.
This was a short and spooky read. I had actually heard of these auctions before. I think I saw it on some reality show my husband may have been watching. People bid on abandoned or unclaimed property, forgotten or left behind by their owners or sometimes just lost by baggage handlers. You never know what is inside or what you've won until you open it later. Charlie and Joey are pals who live in the same run down apartment building and attend these auctions together. Occasionally they make some money off their finds, but more often than not the suitcases and their contents just pile up in their messy apartments. After one such auction, they open an antique gramophone and some strange looking homemade records. The music is horrible and the chanting is quite unnerving, but the more they listen, the more they feel compelled to keep listening. Charlie takes a record to someone who may be able to decipher what the chanting is saying, but Joey stays holed up in his apartment with the gramophone and other records, and the more he listens the more he begins to change. Even though Charlie is a good person with a big heart, he does have a habit of being late and a bit absent minded so I'm not sure I would want to count on him in a situation where time is of the essence. Just ask his girlfriend who has often been left waiting for him, or the neighbors in his building who can hear the chanting coming from Joey's apartment and are now compelled to keep listening.
As a reader who loves both horror and historical fiction I found this ominous tale to be right up my alley.
4 out of 5 stars
I received a complimentary copy for review.
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About the author
ERIC J. GUIGNARD is a writer and editor of dark and speculative fiction, operating from the shadowy outskirts of Los Angeles, where he also runs the small press, Dark Moon Books. He’s twice won the Bram Stoker Award (the highest literary award of horror fiction), been a finalist for the International Thriller Writers Award, and a multi-nominee of the Pushcart Prize.
He has over one hundred stories and non-fiction author credits appearing in publications around the world. As editor, Eric’s published multiple fiction anthologies, including his most recent, Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and Hot Rod Horror , and A World of Horror , a showcase of international horror short fiction.
He currently publishes the acclaimed series of author primers created to champion modern masters of the dark and macabre, Exploring Dark Short Fiction ( Vol. I: Steve Rasnic Tem ; Vol. II: Kaaron Warren ; Vol. III: Nisi Shawl ; Vol. IV: Jeffrey Ford ; Vol. V: Han Song ; Vol. VI: Ramsey Campbell).
Also through SourceBooks he curates the new series, The Horror Writers Association Presents: Haunted Library of Horror Classics with co-editor Leslie S. Klinger.
His latest books are his novel, Doorways to the Deadeye and short story collection, That Which Grows Wild through Cemetery Dance.
Outside the glamorous and jet-setting world of indie fiction, Eric’s a technical writer and college professor, and he stumbles home each day to a wife, children, dogs, and a terrarium filled with mischievous beetles. Visit Eric at: www.ericjguignard.com, his blog: ericjguignard.blogspot.com, or Twitter: @ericjguignard.
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