'Sticks' – Karl Edward Wagner

Have you ever bought a whole anthology, just for one story that you can't find anywhere else? That's exactly what I did with the 'Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos' collection which appears to be the only place (that I've heard of anyway) where you can find a copy of Karl Edward Wagner's 'Sticks'. I've read a few of Wagner's 'Kane' books but never really found any of his horror fiction to check out, at least not only recently when I had a little disposable income to, erm... dispose of.

If you follow the right people on Twitter, sooner or later you will see the conversation turn to short fiction which inevitably leads to the statement that 'Sticks' is one of the best (if not the best) horror short stories that you will ever find. Now, in my world that kind of talk sounds suspiciously like a challenge to me so of course I went out, found a copy of 'Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos' and read 'Sticks' straight away. And you know what? I think they might be right...

Colin Leverett is looking for a little inspiration, for his artwork, and thinks he might just have found it in the oddly bound sticks that he finds on his walk one day. Those sticks lead him to a lot more though as a terrifying encounter, in a nearby ruined house, will cast a long shadow over the rest of his life and lead him to a fearful end...

I've read a couple of Lovecraft anthologies and to be honest, wasn't expecting much more from 'Sticks' than I'd got from any one of the stories in those collections. A nice little slice of cosmic horror, all done in the tradition of the man himself. On the surface, 'Sticks' comes across as just that but as you read, it becomes a lot more. You can see Lovecraft in 'Sticks' (as you should) but at the same time, you can see Wagner there as well, the same kind of snarl to the writing that I've seen in his fantasy work. 'Sticks', quite simply, is a hybrid piece that not only does its terrifying job but really piles on the nihilism at the same time. If you're not being scared by the emergence of cults that delight in mankind's insignificance in the cosmos, you're faced with the knowledge that the real world doesn't care about you; you're insignificant either way. 'Sticks' is a bleak read but that just shows Wagner right at the very top of his game and that makes it an amazing read all at the same time.

There's an awful lot to be said for the way Wagner structures his work here as well. A real masterclass of drawing the reader in and then drawing the tension out to breaking point until he decides that it's time to hit you with a jump scare that is near terrifying in its simplicity. While you know how the story has to end it's the why that gives us the real twist and to see Leverett's unwitting complicity in... Well, you need to read that for yourself.

'Sticks' hits every target it aims for and is a horror short story that I would recommend to everyone; except if you're easily unsettled that is, this is a story that will stick in your mind for a long time after you've read it.