This week I returned to Nightmare Magazine, which I only learned about last week; it seems to have a really excellent selection of dark short fiction, so I’m stoked to add the site to my rotation! I decided on the just-published “The Night Princes” by Megan Arkenberg. You can read the story first here…

“The Night Princes” is a multilayered piece of fiction, with a woman telling a long, winding story to three children. (Are they her children? As far as I could tell, this bit remains unclear.) As the woman spins the tale, the story shifts between multiple characters—Death and her own three children—with occasional interjections from the real world. The structure and pacing gave the piece a fairytale-like quality, the tone at times almost bordering on the mythological. It’s a quiet piece that I could see reading again (not at all nightmarish, despite its publisher), and the story wraps up with an ambiguous ending that suits the whole work well. I really enjoyed this story, and could definitely see reading more from this author.

A small aside—if you haven’t seen the book trailer for Specter yet, check it out! Specter debuts July 7th (just one month away!!!!!), and is available for preorder at all major retailers.

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