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And At My Back I Always Hear
From World Fantasy Award-winning author Scott Nicolay comes And at My Back I Always Hear, a new collection of eight tales of the macabre and the uncanny.
“[Nicolay’s] perspective is always outsider-identified, entirely concerned with characters who refuse to settle, both literally and figuratively; his protagonists often hover on a knife’s edge, caught in some sadly inescapable moment of realization. They’ve failed and been failed, left discarded amongst the wreckage of systemic inequity. And now that they have nothing left to cling to, their inner eye pops open, suddenly able to see the darkness lurking inherent in every crevice, the emptiness revolving inside every atom.”
—from the introduction by Gemma Files
Cover Art by David Verba
Cover Design by Michaela Waltz
“[Nicolay’s] perspective is always outsider-identified, entirely concerned with characters who refuse to settle, both literally and figuratively; his protagonists often hover on a knife’s edge, caught in some sadly inescapable moment of realization. They’ve failed and been failed, left discarded amongst the wreckage of systemic inequity. And now that they have nothing left to cling to, their inner eye pops open, suddenly able to see the darkness lurking inherent in every crevice, the emptiness revolving inside every atom.”
—from the introduction by Gemma Files
Cover Art by David Verba
Cover Design by Michaela Waltz
384 pages, Paperback
Published April 26, 2022
5 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 30, 2023
There is nothing greater to me than discovering an author you've never heard of, who writes this damned well. These weird fiction novellas are intricate, detailed, whole little worlds, and yet told with so few characters in each story. I read the whole collection in one day, and I think even if it had 200 or even 300 more pages, I still would have read this in one day. It's that engaging.
August 19, 2022
Scott Nicolay uses words not like blunt instruments, but a scapel.
Tenebriondae is where a hobo enters a world of ligottiesqe nightmare.
Noctuidae. A hike into the mountains turns into a game of survival for a woman between two types of monsters. One worse than the other.
The Croaker. Local legend up there with Ramsey Campbell’s Macintosh Willy or Clive Barkers The Forbidden but with Mr. Nicolay’s creative twist. The past catches up to us, not just psychologically but physically.
After. A survival story of a battered housewife on the run to her Jersey home after hurricane Sandy and the unlikely (or otherworldly) occupant that inhabits it. Scott Nicolay takes a devastating time when Sandy hit the Northeastern United States and weaves a tale to make it seem like you are there in the aftermath.
lók’aa’ch’égai mountain journal
The land writes itself if you just hold the pen. I see a Joe Pulver influence here in this epistolary told tale.
The Anodizing Line. Picture if J.D. Salinger wrote a Weird Tale and you will have an inkling of what this is like. Short on context and no questions answered, but high on chills and weirdness.
The Green Eye A short fantastic treat with an anecdote into the past and creation of this story that is a coming of age sort of tale.
The Always Rising of the Night is a novella where New Age cultism meets Cosmic Horror.
Mr. Nicolay is paving a new way into the Weird Tale and it is best to follow him. You will like where it leads.
Tenebriondae is where a hobo enters a world of ligottiesqe nightmare.
Noctuidae. A hike into the mountains turns into a game of survival for a woman between two types of monsters. One worse than the other.
The Croaker. Local legend up there with Ramsey Campbell’s Macintosh Willy or Clive Barkers The Forbidden but with Mr. Nicolay’s creative twist. The past catches up to us, not just psychologically but physically.
After. A survival story of a battered housewife on the run to her Jersey home after hurricane Sandy and the unlikely (or otherworldly) occupant that inhabits it. Scott Nicolay takes a devastating time when Sandy hit the Northeastern United States and weaves a tale to make it seem like you are there in the aftermath.
lók’aa’ch’égai mountain journal
The land writes itself if you just hold the pen. I see a Joe Pulver influence here in this epistolary told tale.
The Anodizing Line. Picture if J.D. Salinger wrote a Weird Tale and you will have an inkling of what this is like. Short on context and no questions answered, but high on chills and weirdness.
The Green Eye A short fantastic treat with an anecdote into the past and creation of this story that is a coming of age sort of tale.
The Always Rising of the Night is a novella where New Age cultism meets Cosmic Horror.
Mr. Nicolay is paving a new way into the Weird Tale and it is best to follow him. You will like where it leads.
June 5, 2022
Only two stories in, and I am completely and utterly hooked. All the vital elements that I strive for and love as a writer and as a reader––immediately engaging and exciting narrative, powerful and authentic physicality, beautiful and strongly-crafted sentences where the craft never gets in the way, and a startling strangeness that feels discovered, never manufactured or borrowed––are fully and full-bloodedly alive in these stories. Whenever I have to put this book down to work or to sleep (which, let me tell you, is not easy), I literally can't wait to get back to these pages again. Gwendolyn Brooks once said, "If there is a book you want to read, you must write it." Great advice, but to that I'd add, "Let Scott Nicolay write it."
July 3, 2022
This was a fun collection of eight weird tales. Nicolay pays homage to several other writers, including Laird Barron (The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All), Geoffrey Household (Dance of the Dwarfs), and H.F. Arnold ("The Night Wire"). I'd read two of these stories ("Noctuidae" and "The Croaker") before, but it was nice to see them in a larger collection. All the stories are atmospheric, paranoid, unsettling, and unpredictable. Nicolay grew up in the same central New Jersey town as me and attended the same high school, which explains why half the stories are set in the Garden State. That's worth an extra star from me.
Nicolay has gotten better at characterization since his first collection, particularly with his female characters. Both "Noctuidae" and "after" have believable, well-developed female protagonists.
My three favorite stories in this collection are "Noctuidae," "after," and "The Always Rising of the Night." The dread those stories induce lingers long after reading them. Truly memorable.
Nicolay has gotten better at characterization since his first collection, particularly with his female characters. Both "Noctuidae" and "after" have believable, well-developed female protagonists.
My three favorite stories in this collection are "Noctuidae," "after," and "The Always Rising of the Night." The dread those stories induce lingers long after reading them. Truly memorable.
July 21, 2022
Scott Nicolay's latest book is a treasure trove of eight works, two of which -- " Noctuidae" and "The Croaker" -- I had the pleasure of reading before. These nuanced stories delve deep into often unanswerable, uncomfortable episodes with characters who are not always likable, non-heroic bit players pinned down by strange occurrences there are not always explanations or answers for. These are narratives for and about those people who know the cavalry is not coming. I encourage any reader who trusts one's self and is willing to go past the safety of the tree line into the dark interior landscape of an unrelenting and unsettling imagination, to give this collection a go.
May 22, 2022
Unsettling and thought provoking, the stories in And At My Back I Always Hear are consistently effective and well crafted. I had read the first few stories before, but Nicolay’s writing is a pleasure to revisit. The stories I had not previously read were a pleasure as well, I particularly enjoyed the email epistolary story “lokaachrgai nountaun journal” which had a wonderful hallucinatory and poetic feel. I highly recommend this collection.
March 30, 2024
Its been many years since Scott Nicolay's first collection. This long in coming second collection was certainly worth the wait.
And At My Back I Always Hear contains several previously published pieces as well as some brand new ones.
Among those stories not previously published was, "The Anodizing Line". Taking place during a young man's summer job at a small town factory, this was the star of the collection. Others have called this possibly the best thing Nicolay has written, and while I've not yet read *everything* he's written its definitely among the best stories of his I have read. The realism, quality of writing, characters that easily to identify with or identify analogs of in real life, the creeping dread and strangeness of the employer itself is just...perfect. The more relatable horror of the protagonist's struggle with his implied and later outright stated sexuality as well as the all too real tragedy that later becomes of his life, are more unsettling than any of the Weirdness that ensues. Even the all too common in America horror of a town and its inhabitants so dependent on a single employer and what that can mean in their lives serves to connect this highly readable story to universal reader experiences. I would even say that this story alone would make it worth picking up the collection.
There is an integration of these sorts of commonplace, real world, horrors and monsters throughout most of the collection, in counterpoint to its more esoteric and weird horrors. The train hopping unhoused subject of "Tenebrionidae" has to worry about train bosses, other unhoused folks, food, and infection as well as the possible cultists pursuing him. "after"'s monster plays second fiddle to the specter of domestic abuse, rape, and the tragedy of economic and climate collapse, and ultimately is the only real threat that is resolved in any way. We see some of those same threats, as well as the simple threat that a real, complex, and flawed human being can pose in "Noctuidae". "The Croaker" reminds us of the all too everyday terror that we cannot change the past, or the actions we've taken there, and that somethings in addition to being unchangeable will always haunt us.
The final story in the collection, "The Always Rising of the Night", takes a turn into what at first feels almost like bizarro, but shapes up into a delightful tale that I can't properly characterize. It has its creeping threats, its aura of strangeness, and the sadness that can grow from the relationship parent and child...but despite the unresolved ending (a thing it shares with many of the other stories) it almost feels hopeful. The closure spoken of by its characters was something I felt as a reader, which is fitting for its place here.
The note at the end of "The Green Eye", which was enjoyable in and of itself, does a fantastic job of giving us a window into Nicolay's particular creative process. In particular, it addresses both a flaw I found in his first collection, but was happily absent here. Our protagonists throughout the collection are incredibly diverse in terms of background, current circumstances, gender, sexuality, etc. But in this note Nicolay embraces the fact that he puts much of himself into his characters. However, in this second collection I think he's done a more masterful job of drawing correspondences between himself and his characters, rather than then being simply reflections of him.
And At My Back I Always Hear contains several previously published pieces as well as some brand new ones.
Among those stories not previously published was, "The Anodizing Line". Taking place during a young man's summer job at a small town factory, this was the star of the collection. Others have called this possibly the best thing Nicolay has written, and while I've not yet read *everything* he's written its definitely among the best stories of his I have read. The realism, quality of writing, characters that easily to identify with or identify analogs of in real life, the creeping dread and strangeness of the employer itself is just...perfect. The more relatable horror of the protagonist's struggle with his implied and later outright stated sexuality as well as the all too real tragedy that later becomes of his life, are more unsettling than any of the Weirdness that ensues. Even the all too common in America horror of a town and its inhabitants so dependent on a single employer and what that can mean in their lives serves to connect this highly readable story to universal reader experiences. I would even say that this story alone would make it worth picking up the collection.
There is an integration of these sorts of commonplace, real world, horrors and monsters throughout most of the collection, in counterpoint to its more esoteric and weird horrors. The train hopping unhoused subject of "Tenebrionidae" has to worry about train bosses, other unhoused folks, food, and infection as well as the possible cultists pursuing him. "after"'s monster plays second fiddle to the specter of domestic abuse, rape, and the tragedy of economic and climate collapse, and ultimately is the only real threat that is resolved in any way. We see some of those same threats, as well as the simple threat that a real, complex, and flawed human being can pose in "Noctuidae". "The Croaker" reminds us of the all too everyday terror that we cannot change the past, or the actions we've taken there, and that somethings in addition to being unchangeable will always haunt us.
The final story in the collection, "The Always Rising of the Night", takes a turn into what at first feels almost like bizarro, but shapes up into a delightful tale that I can't properly characterize. It has its creeping threats, its aura of strangeness, and the sadness that can grow from the relationship parent and child...but despite the unresolved ending (a thing it shares with many of the other stories) it almost feels hopeful. The closure spoken of by its characters was something I felt as a reader, which is fitting for its place here.
The note at the end of "The Green Eye", which was enjoyable in and of itself, does a fantastic job of giving us a window into Nicolay's particular creative process. In particular, it addresses both a flaw I found in his first collection, but was happily absent here. Our protagonists throughout the collection are incredibly diverse in terms of background, current circumstances, gender, sexuality, etc. But in this note Nicolay embraces the fact that he puts much of himself into his characters. However, in this second collection I think he's done a more masterful job of drawing correspondences between himself and his characters, rather than then being simply reflections of him.
July 3, 2022
Nicolay's second collection broadens the field and goes further into the dephts. Years after his first collection, this one shows all traits of the author's selfapplied rules for writing contemporary evolved weird fiction (no Lovecraftian cliches, no common monsters, strong impetus on character and place, noirish palette and concentration on the bottom feeders of modern society), but it proves also that Nicolay still continues to evolve, that his art doesn't stand still. These long tales (novellas mostly), assembled over a course of eight years, are yet more true to the bones which underly the surface of the everyday, are that much more aware of social dead ends and the need of the underestimated and undervalued to empower themselves. This is a writer of genre who stands strong on the frontline of wokeness. If the reader doesn't like that, they will get punched in their bigot face. And the stories are that much stronger for it, without being moralizing (no contradiction here, mind you). The stories: Noctudiae and After have been published in single format before, some of the rest have been included in anthologies, but a good part of the book is brand new. Also it's a full package; about 380 pages in the publisher's, Word Horde's, dense layout style - grand format with average font size and full use of the page. The book is a book, period. The Weird: Nicolay coined the term Weird Renaissance, a demographic increase of writers in the field throughout the last 20 years, of which Nicolay himself is an integral part. Reflected in these tales is not only the personal confrontation with the abyssal, but also with the bigger spectre of Global Weirding, the growing strangeness of environmental phenomena triggered by climate change and the anthropocene in general. Over all, reading Nicolay is mean fun, since his tales are much more rooted in the tangible than this reviewer's theorizing attempt at paying their respect suggests. If you don't know Nicolay, be prepared - if you do know him, you already know you are due for the proper sense of awe.
November 1, 2023
This is my entry for BUT at my Back I always hear, but David Morrell.
I can't add books into Goodreads.
But at my Back I Always Hear
A gripping story about a college professor being stalked by an unbalanced female student who believes he's telepathically sending sexual messages to her.
in Otto Prenzler's Big Book of Ghost Stories, Hoopla.
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/1...
I can't add books into Goodreads.
But at my Back I Always Hear
A gripping story about a college professor being stalked by an unbalanced female student who believes he's telepathically sending sexual messages to her.
in Otto Prenzler's Big Book of Ghost Stories, Hoopla.
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/1...
February 11, 2025
This guy’s one of the best out there. Should be talked about more.
August 9, 2023
Phenomenal stories, one of the best collection I read in quite some time.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews