The debut issue of Jamais Vu: Journal of the Strange Among the Familiar was recently released, and it includes my short story, “Video Nasties”. The issue includes a lot of great short stories, poems, reviews, and articles. It also features an ongoing column from Mr. Harlan Ellison himself.
My short story, “Video Nasties”, is inspired by the James Bulger case that haunted many people back in the ’90s. In case you aren’t aware of what happened, two 10 year-old boys abducted, tortured, and murdered a toddler. It is a very haunting story, and it stayed with me for a long time. The only way I found myself able to deal with it was by writing a short story and draining all my emotions into it.
Jamais Vu #1 has earned a few great reviews so far, many of them directly referencing my story. Check out some of these snippets…
“Max Booth III’s story brings us firmly back to reality. It’s brilliant. Relentless. Flashes of video games and movies that we’ve all seen and played before provide a bleak backdrop to this story of two bored kids who take their entertainment too far. Also fertile ground for the essays that accompany the story. The language is unpretentious and very much how I imagine a pair of teenage boys would talk and interact. You knew what was coming. You hoped it wouldn’t. But he took us there, and he wouldn’t let us blink.”
“‘Video Nasties’ by Max Booth III is a disquieting short story about casual violence and the root causes. So topical is the story that it is accompanied by two thought-provoking essays debating the role of media as the catalyst for a proliferation of violence.”
And finally, the magazine’s editor, Paul Anderson, recently wrote up a lengthy Facebook post about why exactly he decided to accept my story for the issue. Fellow horror authors, pay attention now. What Anderson says here is essential for almost any horror story, not just mine:
“Max, very early on in the submission process, messaged me about possibly submitting. He wanted to check because of the wording of our guidelines and he didn’t want to be in the wrong (tip for writers: do this. If guidelines say, for examples, zombies are an incredibly hard sell, you might not want to send a zombie story or, at the very least, query the editor. There ARE dumb questions–if we’re being honest–but querying saves both you and the editor a lot of time and frustration). At this point, I’d just come off my duties as Acquisition Editor for Post Mortem Press–which was basically my test drive for this job, sorta–and had read and recommended we accept his novel TOXICITY.
TOXICITY is a dark comedy.
The story Max asked me about, and submitted, is not.
He told me, prior, that it was inspired by the Bulger (not Whitey) case–which, we all remember, was the infamous Mercyside case of two ten-year-olds torturing and murdering a toddler.
He asked if it was okay to send in.
I, admittedly reluctantly, said yes. Send it in. I have a child, a small daughter, and my tastes have changed since she was born.
“Video Nasties” is roughly 2,800 words and it’s hard to read. Incredibly hard. You would not think that a person who came up with the outlandishness of something like TOXICITY–you’ll be able to get it soon, gentle reader, and you’ll want to–could come up with this.
If you have child, it’s difficult to read. Even if you don’t, it’s difficult. My wife refused to read it. It is not outwardly graphic–the majority of the violence is, for lack of a better term, out of frame–but the subject matter is disturbing. No kidding–for as brutal and reminiscent of Jack Ketchum it might be, it’s only a tenth as brutal as the inspiration. Max actually softened a lot of things.
So, why’d I accept it? Why was it one of the first pieces I had in my mental Table of Contents as I began sifting through the maybes?
Because–as much as it disturbed me, as much as it made me want to cling to my daughter, as much as it made me want to shut my eyes and look away…I thought it was Important, with initial capitals.
Horror is not about just the grossout. It’s not just about the tension of the rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born. Horror is the visceral reaction to what disturbs us, what unnerves us, what makes us shut our eyes and want to turn away. And NOTHING is more horrifying than what we can do to one another. Horror is about the alien nature of the other–the other person. The outsider. That’s what can make it literature. That’s what can make it important.
Max not only harnessed that, but utilized it to fully push it in another thematic direction. If it were just about the brutality of humans to other humans, “Video Nasties” would be B-grade Ketchum. I am no fan of torture-porn and aspiring writers take note: you send me that and 100% of the time you will be rejected.
But this isn’t torture-porn by any stretch of one’s logical thinking. He put his guts on this thing and forced us to examine–not the action, but the WHY of the action, and the sometimes ridiculously frustrating fact that the WHY may forever be beyond our grasp, and we can only hang on to scapegoats and pale superficial things in substitute.
I read and re-read Max’s story as we inched towards publication with Issue 1. The story didn’t get any easier.
And that’s a good thing.
I can tell you to buy Issue 1 for many reasons–not the least of which that it keeps me in a job; c’mon, people, I got a kid to feed, here–but one of the foremost reasons is because of Max, who does his job right and makes us think.
Pay attention.
This is important.”
Jamais Vu #1 is now available in both paperback and ebook. I recommend you get your copy today. This is a magazine you do not want to miss. Check out the table of contents and see for yourself:
POETRY
“The Moors” – Marge Simon
2. “Death of the Crossing Guard” – Bruce Boston
3. “Eventually, You Become Immune” – Stephanie Wytovich
4. “Procrastination’s Joy” – Matt Moore
NONFICTION – ARTICLES
1. “I Had a Thought Today…” Harlan Ellison
2. “The Strange & Uncanny In DOCTOR WHO” – Paul F. Cockburn
3. “The Medium As the Mirror” – Lydia Peever*
4. “Twisting Our Values: Culture & the Medium That Shapes It” – KT Jayne*
* Articles 3 and 4 are a point-counterpoint special to this issue.
NONFICTION – FILM REVIEWS
1. “Only God Forgives” – Jessica Dwyer
2. “Antiviral” – Adam Shaftoe
3. “Spider Baby” – William D. Carl
NONFICTION – BOOK REVIEWS
1. “Dark Roads: Selected Long Poems – 1971-2012″ by Bruce Boston – Mary A. Turzillo
2. “The Last Revelation of Gla’aki” by Ramsey Campbell – Andrew J. Wilson
3. “Song of Kali” by Dan Simmons – Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
FICTION
1. “Photo Captions” – Gary Braunbeck
2. “Another Friendly Day In the Antique Trade” – Adam-Troy Castro
3. “Shiva” – Cameron Suey
4. “Bait” – Michael Kelly
5. “The Hydra Wife” – Sandra Odell
6. “Another Pleasant Valley Sunday” – by Jessica McHugh
7. “Video Nasties” – Max Booth III
As well as comics by Kenneth W. Cain and Jon Towers!
