Specters and Spells

The spooky encounters and strange incantations in this collection of flash fiction and short stories are bites from a rich and poisoned cake. Specters rage on snowy nights. Witches brew vengeance. Death comes to the cracked window. Odd children and flawed women defy the darkness. These sixteen eerie, very short tales remind us of the dark magic lurking all around us.

Shorter is better when it comes to horror. The 'unity of effect' Poe demanded is easier to preserve in a short tale that can be read in one sitting, when intrusions from the real world can't spoil the spooky mood and atmosphere. In Patricia Flaherty Pagan's 'Specters and Spells, ' the stories are short indeed-mostly flash and microfiction-and the mood is spectral, though never gory. These tales of ghostly revenge, otherworldly visitors, and magical revelations evoke the slow-burn chill of classic horror by Edith Wharton and Shirley Jackson, scaring by suggestion. Some standout pieces test the edges of genre: the 80s-teen-flick-turned-dark vibe of 'Friends Forever, ' the disquieting haunted hotel of 'Wraith of Pyeongchang, ' and the feminist magical realism of 'Gather the Ashes of Imperfect Women.'

-Kathryn Kulpa, award-winning writer and senior flash fiction editor of Cleaver Magazine