Short Story Wednesday: The Box (Throwback)
Welcome to Short Story Wednesday, a new weekly(ish) feature here on Through a Glass, Darkly where I share some of my own short fiction and/or recommend short stories from around the Substack fiction community.
I’m actually on the fence about whether I want to keep this as a weekly feature. For one thing, I haven’t had time recently for either reading or writing short stories. And for another, I have this stubborn tendency to start feeling overwhelmed, then manage to get some things off my plate to create more margin in my life, and then immediately turn around and fill that margin back up with something else — and I think this Wednesday posting scheme is one of those something elses that is shooting my efforts to avoid overwhelm and burnout in the foot.
So I’m thinking, going forward, of scrapping the idea of making this a regular weekly feature, but instead keeping it as an occasional bonus when I have things of a short story nature to share.
Anyway. I did read one excellent four-part horror serial in the last couple of weeks that I think you’ll enjoy, which I’ll share below.
As for my own work, I’d like to invite new readers (and those who missed it the first time) to read The Box, a brief flirtation with straight-up urban fantasy. If you’re enjoying my Sons of God series, then I think you’ll like Keely Brewster, who is Mae’s partner in crime, so to speak, in my short story duology Women’s Work, where this story first appeared.
Short Story: The Box
The box sat on the dinette table, a silent threat to everything Keely Brewster had worked so hard to achieve. She sat and regarded it as she sipped her chamomile tea. The tea was supposed to help her feel calm, but it wasn’t doing the trick. A shot of bourbon might activate the calming effect, but unfortunately Keely had given up alcohol. As was typical of much of her life, her timing in this sucked.
And now for the recommendations…
Like I said, I’ve only got one recommendation this week, a nice, quiet horror serial in four parts by
. You can read all four parts here:
I’ll see you Friday with an exciting announcement!
Such an unexpected brightening of my day! Thank you so much for reading, and especially enjoying it enough to share here. So appreciative right now 🥹🖤