Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back

It is easy to see why this story won the Bram Stoker. It is a gem from a master. Devastating in its bleakness as it shows not only the desolated land left by a nuclear apocalypse but also the blighted landscape of the hearts and souls of those left behind to do perhaps nothing more than prolong the moment of their death. The first to die clearly are the lucky ones because what do the survivors do to fill the void of those who are gone? To make this disturbing story all the more unsettling the final evil facing mankind takes a form of beauty.

This is a chilling apocalyptic horror story from Lansdale, originally published in 1986. It has the type of power that his best work does. Even as you squirm from the gruesomeness of it all, there is a beautiful forlornness to it all, and the ending will stay with you a long time. And you probably won't look at flowers the same way again either.

This is a short story published as a Kindle edition (free when I got it) as a teaser for other Lansdale books now being released as eBooks.

The scenario starts off pretty standardly: scientists emerge from underground fortress after nuclear war. It’s not a zombie story. I’m glad, because I inevitably compare post-apocalyptic zombie stories to Night of the Coment. What the scientists face is a whole nuther ball of wax. This one gets kudos not because the horror and dread is all that great (I didn’t really feel it) but for being a creative way to make something disturbing.

Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back by Joe R. Lansdale: This very morbid short story is told by the main character’s journal which he refers to in his writings as Mr. Journal. The journal writer and his wife are alone trying to survive in a lighthouse in a post-apocalyptic world after a nuclear holocaust. His wife hates him because she blames him for the death of their daughter. Lansdale describes their painful existence in his usual detailed and ruthless manner. This story won a Bram Stoker award and I highly recommend it.

Il dopobomba è terrificante. E tua figlia è rimasta fuori dal rifugio e tua moglie ti incolpa e anneghi nel rimorso.
L'unico modo per farti toccare ancora dalla madre di tua figlia è permetterle di farti un tatuaggio sulla schiena. Doloroso.
E fin qui sarebbe fantascienza, poi l'horror fa capolino e assume una delle forme più delicate in natura.

One of my all-time favorites! Not to be missed.