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Husks, a novella
As he chased after the fleeting echo of his dead wife's laughter, some part of him drained away, leaving a dried husk in its place...
Hank Moreland has been wandering for days, an aimless drifter running out of food and water, running out of reasons to live. The only thing that keeps him going is a promise he made long ago to his wife before she died: he would carry on, despite her absence.
With his last remaining energy, Hank stumbles onto an isolated farmhouse where he meets a kindly old man and a younger woman. Ollie and Margo welcome him and begin to nurse him back to health.
Margo's healing attentions include a soft humming that seems to inspire vivid dreams of his long-dead wife. At night, those visions make Hank happier than he's been in a long time. But what effect will the dreams have on his waking hours...?
Hank Moreland has been wandering for days, an aimless drifter running out of food and water, running out of reasons to live. The only thing that keeps him going is a promise he made long ago to his wife before she died: he would carry on, despite her absence.
With his last remaining energy, Hank stumbles onto an isolated farmhouse where he meets a kindly old man and a younger woman. Ollie and Margo welcome him and begin to nurse him back to health.
Margo's healing attentions include a soft humming that seems to inspire vivid dreams of his long-dead wife. At night, those visions make Hank happier than he's been in a long time. But what effect will the dreams have on his waking hours...?
100 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2024
6 people want to read
About the author
Glen R. Krisch
35 books520 followersA native of the Chicago suburbs, Glen Krisch hopes to add to his list of ghosts he's witnessed (two), as well as develop his rather pedestrian telekinetic and precognitive skills.
His novels include Amazon Bestseller WHERE DARKNESS DWELLS, THE NIGHTMARE WITHIN, NOTHING LASTING, ARKADIUM RISING, ECHOES OF VIOLENCE, and LITTLE WHISPERS.
His novels include Amazon Bestseller WHERE DARKNESS DWELLS, THE NIGHTMARE WITHIN, NOTHING LASTING, ARKADIUM RISING, ECHOES OF VIOLENCE, and LITTLE WHISPERS.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 27, 2025
I had this one laying around for a while, a signed hardcover from Cemetery Dance that I snagged for free (still kinda proud of that, not gonna lie). Finally sat down with it, and I’m glad I did.
It’s short, yeah, but sometimes the best punches land quick. Glen Krisch’s writing style really worked for me, smooth, sharp, and surprisingly emotional. I went in expecting just another creepy little novella, and instead I found myself touched in ways I wasn’t ready for. Not weepy-touched, but that quiet “damn, that actually got to me” kind of way.
Definitely glad I cracked this one open. Made me realize I need to check out more from Krisch, because if he can pull that much out of such a short read, I can only imagine what he does when he’s got more room to run.
It’s short, yeah, but sometimes the best punches land quick. Glen Krisch’s writing style really worked for me, smooth, sharp, and surprisingly emotional. I went in expecting just another creepy little novella, and instead I found myself touched in ways I wasn’t ready for. Not weepy-touched, but that quiet “damn, that actually got to me” kind of way.
Definitely glad I cracked this one open. Made me realize I need to check out more from Krisch, because if he can pull that much out of such a short read, I can only imagine what he does when he’s got more room to run.
September 17, 2025
A neat little story here.
April 6, 2025
This is one of the shortest stories I have read in a long time. It seems like there is no beginning and no end. There was so much more the author could have done with this story. I was kept interested just because I needed more information. Unfortunately, I didn’t get it.
April 18, 2025
Husks is a novella that I think really could have benefited from being a more fleshed out story. Its protagonist is Hank, a down-on-his-luck Depression-era man, a hobo if you will, wandering the arid plains of Oklahoma. He comes across a farmhouse (more of a shack, really) just as he is about to collapse for the final time. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is about to undergo another life crisis.
The residents of the shack, Ollie and Margo, nurse him back to health. But are they doing it for altruistic or selfish reasons? Their relationship is ambiguous until the end of the story, and even then the reasoning behind Ollie’s presence is never fully explained. Again, there is a lot of backstory that feels missing to me.
The “husk” metaphor exemplifies what the negative aspects of life can do to a person. We can be doing everything right and then things out of our control can slap us down. Do we react by giving up, or by doing as Hank’s wife requested of him and… live . This metaphor also alludes to the downside of acquiescing to the temptations of the story’s antagonist.
At surface level, Husks is a vampire tale, but the mythos is never fully explored. It is clear this story does not employ the standard vampire mythos, but rather something more akin to what is seen in the Lifeforce film. However, besides just taking from their victims, these vampires can also, seemingly selflessly, give back if they choose to do so. So, is the vampire really the antagonist here? Or is it merely presenting a choice to be accepted or refused? Is Hank his own antagonist in this story, or is the vampire providing something worth the tradeoff? I guess we get to decide that.
Accepting the central vampire premise of the story, there are still some plot elements that hindered its verisimilitude for me:
• There is an oasis amidst those arid plains of Oklahoma full of fruits and vegetables, and even a water source at its base. All of it just beyond the ridge of the hill beside the farmhouse. Yet, somehow Ollie and Margo are the only ones to know of its existence. Other locals in the area seem oblivious to it.
• There is a situation where a local wants to see Ollie but is always being given excuses why it can’t happen, which he accepts. Once it is understood who this local is, it is hard to believe he would have allowed anything to prevent him from seeing Ollie.
• Hank undergoes some extreme mood changes that seem out of character. Again, maybe if we knew more of his backstory, it would make more sense.
There are places in Husks where the prose can seem a little clunky: “He couldn’t live when his life had been waylaid by a single moment in his life.” But there are also reminiscences of Hank meeting and courting his wife that are quite nice. I felt these were the best parts of the story.
Husks is a short story with a lot of potential that just isn’t given enough time to bloom. I would have liked to know more about the vampire mythos deployed here. Who are they? Where did they come from? How many of them are there? Why is one residing in an isolated shack in the Oklahoma plains? I would have liked to know more about Hank. How did he come to find himself a wayward traveler in this parched midwestern landscape? What is his final outcome? Where would the story have led if allowed to continue beyond the final scene? We must fill in those blanks ourselves.
The residents of the shack, Ollie and Margo, nurse him back to health. But are they doing it for altruistic or selfish reasons? Their relationship is ambiguous until the end of the story, and even then the reasoning behind Ollie’s presence is never fully explained. Again, there is a lot of backstory that feels missing to me.
The “husk” metaphor exemplifies what the negative aspects of life can do to a person. We can be doing everything right and then things out of our control can slap us down. Do we react by giving up, or by doing as Hank’s wife requested of him and… live . This metaphor also alludes to the downside of acquiescing to the temptations of the story’s antagonist.
At surface level, Husks is a vampire tale, but the mythos is never fully explored. It is clear this story does not employ the standard vampire mythos, but rather something more akin to what is seen in the Lifeforce film. However, besides just taking from their victims, these vampires can also, seemingly selflessly, give back if they choose to do so. So, is the vampire really the antagonist here? Or is it merely presenting a choice to be accepted or refused? Is Hank his own antagonist in this story, or is the vampire providing something worth the tradeoff? I guess we get to decide that.
Accepting the central vampire premise of the story, there are still some plot elements that hindered its verisimilitude for me:
• There is an oasis amidst those arid plains of Oklahoma full of fruits and vegetables, and even a water source at its base. All of it just beyond the ridge of the hill beside the farmhouse. Yet, somehow Ollie and Margo are the only ones to know of its existence. Other locals in the area seem oblivious to it.
• There is a situation where a local wants to see Ollie but is always being given excuses why it can’t happen, which he accepts. Once it is understood who this local is, it is hard to believe he would have allowed anything to prevent him from seeing Ollie.
• Hank undergoes some extreme mood changes that seem out of character. Again, maybe if we knew more of his backstory, it would make more sense.
There are places in Husks where the prose can seem a little clunky: “He couldn’t live when his life had been waylaid by a single moment in his life.” But there are also reminiscences of Hank meeting and courting his wife that are quite nice. I felt these were the best parts of the story.
Husks is a short story with a lot of potential that just isn’t given enough time to bloom. I would have liked to know more about the vampire mythos deployed here. Who are they? Where did they come from? How many of them are there? Why is one residing in an isolated shack in the Oklahoma plains? I would have liked to know more about Hank. How did he come to find himself a wayward traveler in this parched midwestern landscape? What is his final outcome? Where would the story have led if allowed to continue beyond the final scene? We must fill in those blanks ourselves.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews