The reveal: what's in the box

[Andre Jute]

The problem about horror stories is that they're a race for the bottom of the pit of incredulity. James Everington has a good article on it.

http://jameseverington.blogspot.com/2...

James essentially asks for methods to avoid the every-bigger-monster syndrome.

My own answer is that if the writer is skilled enough, it doesn't matter if the monster is the size of a pinhead.

In The Survivor a short story the horror is the point where it dawns on the reader that cannibalism is not the main horror in the story but a red herring, that I've turned being eaten alive into a love story.

In High Fidelity, one of the Two Shorts, the story is about a pet electrocuting itself on an open element electrostatic loudspeaker.

I get away with it because neither point is explicitly stated, and the electrocution isn't even onstage.

How do you get away with it?

[K.A.]

Disguise them as something ordinary?

[Amos]

Monsters need love too.

[James]

Thanks Andre, glad you liked the blog post.

I have The Survivor in my to read list, sounds a premise that's right up my street.