Dave's Anatomy: My History As a Writer, #33: The Horror Zine, "The Chamber"

I had published in The Horror Zine (an award-winning ezine I highly recommend) before (and I recommend that particular journal highly). I've said several times, I'm not real big on horror and find it difficult to write. I always stray into the habits of literary fiction—slow character development, more inner conflict, plot focused on philosophical or ethical questions—rather than following Stephen King's advice and writing on one of the three levels of horror:  mayhem, horror, and terror.  Now and then, however, a story is able to bridge the gap, and "The Chamber," with some editing help from the Horror Zine's editor, made it into this very fine, high-rated horror magazine.

If you haven't read King's formula, found in his book on horror writing, Danse Macabre, his sketch of what he believes are the different kinds of horror writing goes like this:  Level 1 is mayhem:  slasher stuff, blood and guts, people dismembered—well, you get the idea; Level 2 is horror:  something  or someone—a monster, a predatory animal, a serial killer—is chasing you—you know what is after you and it's something scary; Level 3 is terror:  something horrific is happening, something is trying to get you, but you're not sure what it is or what you can do to get away from it or what it will do to you, though you know it will not be pleasant.  In King's formulation, terror is the best kind of writing, followed by horror, then by mayhem. The final quote he gives on the topic is memorable:  “I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.”

The story I came up with for The Horror Zine was "The Chamber"—a bit more on the terror side, or at least I like to think so. Talaith, a girl living in rural ancient Greece is suffering, with her family and everyone else in her village, through a famine. Rain has not come and food is scarce. One day as she kneads bread, she remembers than in ancient times the villagers offered human sacrifices—usually an unmarried girl—to appease the gods and bring rain. She shudders at the thought. But even she contemplates this, a delegation from the village appears at the door of her family's house. She knows why they have come.

Talaith

Victims are killed by being sealed in what is called The Chamber, a room in the Temple of Artemis that, when wax is put around the edges of the door, is airtight. The sacrificial virgin suffocates.

Talaith is sullen and tells Modthryth, the priestess, who is preparing Talaith and enjoying her helplessness, that she doesn't want to die, the matter is not fair, and she thinks that if the goddess Artemis is above human beings and expects humans to behaved morally, the goddess would behave morally herself and not demand the life of an innocent girl. The priestess rebukes her and says she has absorbed heretical thoughts from Pythius, her brother, who has studied with the philosopher Heraclitus and has new ideas. Still, she is quiet. No use in fighting. No use in blaspheming or cursing the priestess. She is sealed in The Chamber.

She feels the air begin to thin and then feels her lungs ache as the oxygen in the room is used up. Just as she is about to die, she looks up at a thin ceramic portrait of the goddess. It is glowing. She fears at first, but then realizes it is glowing because the moon is shining through it. Just then it shatters. Pythius has come and broken the window at the deserted temple and saved his sister.

He wants them to run away, but Talaith has an idea. She tells him to leave, uses a shard of broken clay to cut her dress so it is above her knees, and unties her hair. She waits. As she waits, she hears the rain begin to fall.

When the villagers come to retrieve her body, she steps out of The Chamber. Her short skirt and loose hair make her look like the Goddess Artemis. Everyone, including Modthryth, gapes at her. She says the goddess appeared, spoke to her, and made her the new priestess of the temple. And Talaith has some plans and thinks of the changes she will make as the new priestess. She will stop the sacrifices and she will appoint her brother to teach the children of the village a new way of thinking.

Her ruse works. The people proclaim her Artemis's messenger. Even the sadistic priestess bows down to her. As the rain falls, she goes home with her family, the danger at an end, the prospect of change a certainty.

I hoped I at least achieved a bit of terror in this. The creepy idea of slowly suffocating, the fear that she might have blasphemed and Artemis might appear to drag her down to hell, go through the girl's mind as she waits to die. For all horror writers, terror is something to shoot for—or horror or mayhem. We're not proud.

You can read "The Chamber" by clicking here. The way the story is set up, you'll have to scroll down just a bit. The story was reprinted in the Horror Zine's 2011 anthology, What Fears Become (also highly recommended). 

For a Christmas gift for adult readers or fantasy lovers, get a copy of ShadowCity. For additional titles that will make great gifts for horror, fantasy, and paranormal readers, check out my Writer's Page.