Nominies by Ian Duhig

Nominies

Ian Duhig

Sinister, eerie tales of murder, trickery and myth, both modern and ancient. Duhig has an ability to write about awful things amd make them sound beautiful. Reading Nominees evokes being curled up in bed as a kid and hearing Grimm's fairy tales. Makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

Extract

Not recognising the head as mine, our undertaker washed away
the salt and clutches of shellfish, brushed up and combed out
the snaky hair, trimmed to a fringe the red ribbons of the neck
then hung it from a lantern-pole in the churchyard, hoping thus,
he later explained, to discompose the guilty parishoner.

from Mary Hayes

Parallels
  • The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  • The films of Jan Scankmayer (Czech animator)