(Folk Tale) Sal, the country witch, took a razorback hog as her familiar and named him Rawhead. Sal was a good witch, but then Rawhead disappeared. Simple, but effective.
(5,800 words)
Rating: 4,
Recommended
"Razorback," by Ursula Vernon, appeared in the January 2016 issue of Apex Magazine (Issue 80), published January 5, 2016.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: A nice retelling of the Raw Head and Bloody Bones ghost story. The author updates this tale of love, and death, and revenge, rationalizes it a bit, and makes Sal pay a heavy price for her vengeance. The ending brings a tear to our eyes.
Con: The result lies halfway between a fantasy tale and a ghost story. There's no tension and no foreshadowing.
Con: The result lies halfway between a fantasy tale and a ghost story. There's no tension and no foreshadowing.
Another good one from Ursula Vernon! I enjoyed reading the folktale it's based on too. Fun to recognize the details that were included in the retelling.
ReplyDeleteWhen I can identify a source for a story (or even a big influence) I always try to give a link to it. I've read about five or six stories/books in the past year just because interesting stories made heavy reference to them.
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