I had the good fortune of being able to illustrate for the new tale in issue #15 of the Lovecraft eZine, ‘In The Tank’ by Scott Nicolay. An uncomfortable, claustrophobic and sad story of divorcee Roger, who just can’t quite connect to anyone, his ex, his son, no job, nothing. Life seems rather dismal, and try as he might to make a connection, and he does try, he continues to push them in the opposite direction. Until he visits a small out-of-the-way place called ‘House of Pets’ and ‘Tropical Fish’. Thinking he can buy his sons affection with a pet fish and fuel the fires of romance with his ex, Roger finds himself sliding down a different path where ‘something’ connects with him instead.
I’ve read a few other short stories from Scott Nicolay and they’ve all delivered. ‘Alligators’ in the first issue of the Laird Barron edited Phantasmagorium from Gorgon Press is excellent, as is “Ana Kai Tangata” from the Aklonomicon and his up-coming story for Strange Aeons Magazine #10 will be sure to surprise. His rural sense of style sucks you into a false sense of security, slowly stacking the odds of fate to play out in horrific ways against the main characters in less than obvious ways.
Pay attention folks, Mr. Nicolay will sneak the ice-cream from your cone before you know it.
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| ‘In The Tank’ illus. by Nick Gucker ©2012 |