- Selected by Gaynor Jones
To my shame I only discovered Shearman’s short fiction a couple of years ago as part of a horror fiction course, but ‘horror’ doesn’t even begin to describe his work. I’ve never read pieces so disturbing, or so utterly affecting. The ‘ghosts’ that haunt the edges of this particular festive story are varied and many – the eerie balloon friends, the stable family members trapped in stasis between life and death, and even the lost Christmas traditions of ‘the old times.’ If that sounds like an odd mix, then it is, and I haven’t even mentioned the disappointing return of Jesus Christ or the snow that burns your skin on landing. I highly recommend seeking out this incredibly dark alternative Christmas tale.
Collected in We All Hear Stories In The Dark Volume III, 2020
You can read Gaynor Jones’s own Personal Anthology and other contributions here
A Personal Anthology 