A classic horror tale from the master himself, featuring two gay men on a road trip through eastern Europe, realising that their short relationship is already coming to an end largely because of their opposite personalities. “In Italy the sermon had been on the way the Communists had exploited the peasant vote. Now, in Yugoslavia, Judd had really warmed to his theme, and Mick was just about ready to take a hammer to his self-opinionated head.”
Despite this, the men find brief respite in their sexual connection, though their happiness is short-lived. Barker—who came out late in life—deftly leads the tale away from the literary mountain and plunges it deep into a horrifying, speculative valley. The foreshadowing throughout the piece creates a sense of eerie, rural dread, and makes the tale worth reading over and over again.
First published in Books of Blood Volume 1, Sphere Books, 1984
A Personal Anthology 