– Richard Thomas –

WARNING: Full spoilers for Hereditary and graphic images are included in this article. 

It takes a special type of fear to evoke laughter. This is a lesson that took time for me to learn. When I first saw Ari Aster’s magnificent, innards-shreddingly-frightening film Hereditary in theatres, I became increasingly annoyed by brief outbursts of laughter from audience members during the final twenty minutes of the film. As Annie’s headless body sailed up and into the glowing treehouse, gliding unhindered as if drawn by spectral wires, giggles erupted. It wasn’t until months later, on a second viewing, that I understood these reactions. There’s something about the way Hereditary handles its storytelling that, once tension explodes into action, incites a fear so intense, so discomforting, and so sinister in its unfamiliarity as to be inexpressible by a scream. We scream because fear has made silence impossible. We laugh because screaming no longer…

Because of the way Rich Duncan and I divided the intros to these posts completely randomly and with little thought, I’m delighted that one of mine turned to be this author. Richard Thomas is a guy whose work I’ve been covering literally since the beginning, and he’s been a dedicated supporter, helping me to gain access to books that I didn’t then have the “street cred” to have earned yet. But Richard apparently had some faith in me and lent me a hand that helped me to get the ball rolling. There are two things in this overview of his story “Ring of Fire” that should make you sit up and take notice. One of them is making a reader like a bad person, and the other is magical realism. As to the first, he’s a fucking master of it. His protagonist in Disintegration was a very bad man who…

We’re at the halfway point in our ongoing series chronicling the stories in Cutting Block Books’ upcoming anthology, The Seven Deadliest. So far we’ve been lucky enough to host John C. Foster, Bracken MacLeod, and Kasey Lansdale and share their insights into what inspired their stories. Today we welcome Brian Kirk to Ink Heist and he talks about the way he uses Envy in his story, “Chisel and Stone”. If you’re unfamiliar with Brian’s work, definitely seek out his two novels We are Monsters and Will Haunt You. He has a bold, imaginative writing style and utilizes psychological horror to stretch the boundaries of what we come to expect from horror fiction. In his article, Brian talks about the different facets of envy and what can happen when a good deed is born out of something sinister. Be sure to keep coming back to Ink Heist in the coming weeks…

We’re excited to continue our ongoing coverage of The Seven Deadliest by welcoming Kasey Lansdale to Ink Heist! Kasey is a multi-talented creative who has achieved success in just about every artistic medium you can think of. She’s an accomplished recording artist, author, editor, and actress. “The Companion – the story she co-wrote with her father and brother – is also set to be adapted for the upcoming season of Creepshow. In addition to all of that, she also started The East Texas Songwriter’s Workshop, which she still hosts. Simply put, Kasey has a superhuman work ethic and if you aren’t following her various projects already, you’re missing out. In her article, Kasey talks about the urban legend that inspired her story and also the way women are perceived and how that shaped the tone of “Cap Diamant.” Be sure to keep coming back to Ink Heist in the coming…

Ink Heist is hosting a giveaway over on Twitter that you’re going to want to get in on. In partnership with the Cutting Block Books imprint from Farolight Publishing, we’re happy to offer you the chance to win one of two copies of the new anthology, The Seven Deadliest, coming May 7th and featuring sins from John C. Foster, Bracken MacLeod, Kasey Lansdale, Brian Kirk, Rena Mason, Richard Thomas, and John F.D. Taff. These fantastic authors were tasked with writing stories to the prompts of the biblical 7 Deadly Sins and they came through in spades.

Head on over to the Ink Heist Twitter feed to enter now, and tell all your friends about it too!