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The Chair
A psychological, dark fiction novella on the borderlands of horror and magic realism, inspired by a true story. After a bloody car crash, self-involved Alan is struggling with survivor guilt and a dishabilitating phobia about chairs. When his girlfriend recommends facing his fears head on, he does so, and his fears look right back.
102 pages, Paperback
Published April 27, 2017
About the author
Dean Clayton Edwards
3 books19 followers"... a writer who has tremendous ability and tremendous potential. One to watch. - SJ"
http://deanclaytonedwards.weebly.com for free books and offers, upcoming projects, weird/paranormal fiction and info on dreams.
I enjoy writing paranormal fiction with dark fantasy and horror elements. I also write non-fiction on dreams and dreaming.
I live and write in the South of France with my incredible wife and two amazing children.
http://deanclaytonedwards.weebly.com for free books and offers, upcoming projects, weird/paranormal fiction and info on dreams.
I enjoy writing paranormal fiction with dark fantasy and horror elements. I also write non-fiction on dreams and dreaming.
I live and write in the South of France with my incredible wife and two amazing children.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 15, 2019
Okay, I admit that the premise seems preposterous—a dude has an irrational fear of chairs—and I’m very curious how it could be “inspired by a true story,” but this little horror gem that initially seemed so absurd quickly snagged me with its sense of claustrophobic dread and suspense, and once snagged, I read it straight through in a sitting.
Having interviewed the author, Dean Clayton Edwards, I now know that achieving this tone was his intent from the beginning: “This is exactly what I was going for and often try to do,” he wrote me. “A story that sounds ridiculous, but done with ‘a straight face.’”
A straight face indeed—with not even one wink. This understated, droll, matter-of-fact little book starts from its cockeyed premise and never wavers, proceeding with a realism that shades into surrealism and finally into horror. Like another modern writer of horror, Stephen King, Clayton’s story unfolds not in some dreary Gothic castle, but in the mundane setting of offices, apartments, movie theaters and streets—not of King’s Maine, but of contemporary London. The protagonist works in a typical cube farm office setting and is just beginning a fairly innocuous office romance as the story begins.
I don’t want to give too much away, but Edwards juxtaposes the quotidian, day-to-day rituals of work, commuting, housekeeping, eating, sleeping and dating with a mounting sense that all is not what it seems to be. The flirtatiousness and excitement of the fledgling relationship is a nice counterbalance to the anxiety and mounting sense of looming disaster experienced by the protagonist and the reader.
In that sense, the book puts me in mind of Henry James, who in addition to his novels of social realism, was also a master of psychological dread and horror, whose ghosts were, perhaps or perhaps not, projections of a character’s state of mind, and at the very least not always what they seemed to be.
I’m getting far afield now, but do yourself a favor in celebration of Goodreads’ Mystery and Thriller Week. Buy this book and sit down and enjoy it—just not in a chair.
Having interviewed the author, Dean Clayton Edwards, I now know that achieving this tone was his intent from the beginning: “This is exactly what I was going for and often try to do,” he wrote me. “A story that sounds ridiculous, but done with ‘a straight face.’”
A straight face indeed—with not even one wink. This understated, droll, matter-of-fact little book starts from its cockeyed premise and never wavers, proceeding with a realism that shades into surrealism and finally into horror. Like another modern writer of horror, Stephen King, Clayton’s story unfolds not in some dreary Gothic castle, but in the mundane setting of offices, apartments, movie theaters and streets—not of King’s Maine, but of contemporary London. The protagonist works in a typical cube farm office setting and is just beginning a fairly innocuous office romance as the story begins.
I don’t want to give too much away, but Edwards juxtaposes the quotidian, day-to-day rituals of work, commuting, housekeeping, eating, sleeping and dating with a mounting sense that all is not what it seems to be. The flirtatiousness and excitement of the fledgling relationship is a nice counterbalance to the anxiety and mounting sense of looming disaster experienced by the protagonist and the reader.
In that sense, the book puts me in mind of Henry James, who in addition to his novels of social realism, was also a master of psychological dread and horror, whose ghosts were, perhaps or perhaps not, projections of a character’s state of mind, and at the very least not always what they seemed to be.
I’m getting far afield now, but do yourself a favor in celebration of Goodreads’ Mystery and Thriller Week. Buy this book and sit down and enjoy it—just not in a chair.
February 7, 2018
This book is beautifully written. The story is gripping, original and surprising!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews