Strange Fruit and the Slender Man

by Bryan W. Alaspa

A Terrifying Novella of 23,000 words Chicago, 1957. Two sisters, the Haines sisters, have gone missing and the entire city is in an uproar. As word of their disappearance spreads across the country, two police detectives are assigned the arduous tasks of finding them alive, or bringing their bodies home. However, as the two hardened cops begin to investigate, they soon find that things are not as cut and dried as they thought. This is not a simple kidnapping. Something ancient, primal and utterly terrifying is at work here and nothing that they have ever known will ever be the same again. Something has lured them into a terrifying trap that will destroy their minds, take their souls, and leave the rest of the world baffled.

140 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2013

About the author

I was born in the fine year of 1971 in Park Ridge, IL. I am a life long Chicago resident and I love the city. I spent a few years in St. Louis, as well. I knew I wanted to write from the time I sat down at my mom's electric typewriter in the 3rd grade. Now I do write. I write freelance and articles for online news sources. I write horror, thrillers and detective novels. I also write non-fiction in true crime and history genres. I publish my fiction myself as an indie publisher and write and have found an audience for my work among ebook fans. I publish for Kindle, Nook and other tablets and devices at Smashwords.com. My non-fiction is usually published in print, but that may soon change as ebooks become more and more of the norm.

Reviews

[Angela]

“He ain't human. He's not even a good copy of a human. No face and he's too tall and he has those scary limbs and he does things to yer head.”

“Strange Fruit and the Slender Man” by Brian Alaspa gets 3 out of 5 stars!

This is my second experience with a novel or novella about Slender Man. This is a short, but interesting view on the viral “myth” about how they come to be as well as why they pick children.

The story begins in the late 1950s with two detectives set to find the missing Haines sisters. There wasn’t any particular reason these girls were “chosen” nor does the author dig into why the Slender Man kills the children as this aspect points in the “unknown” direction. The two detectives are “chosen” by the Slender Man by way of stalking and interacting through the mind by driving them mad. Alaspa brings a different direction on how the Slender Man becomes / exists as readers see how the detectives begin to question their sanity and the physical toll the Slender Man ensues on both of them. The only information missing is why these 2 men were selected or what aspects were attractive to the Slender Man. In addition, the comparison / use of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” was not necessary as this song was written in protest against inhumanity of racism describing horrific lynchings. In my opinion, this wasn’t a proper description for how the children were murdered by this entity.

Overall, the Alaspa’s perspective on the continuing existence of the Slender Man was refreshing but lacked further details.

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