In We Are Where The Nightmares Go, he has assembled 10 short horror stories that cover the territory of fear from Virginia to Iraq to Australia, that whipsaw back and forth between the classic and the very modern. He has ghost stories and supernatural thrillers, a gore-porn short-short with a surprising, gentle twist ... 'The Town That Wasn't Anymore' is what Cargill calls it. Not the best title, but apt. Kind of. It's modern horror, slow to unfold, absolutely supernatural but anchored enough in the details that it feels ... I don't know. Possible? Like a story you hear from a local when your car breaks down in a small town that doesn't show up on any maps ... Every ghost story is immortal. That's why we love them. Every ghost story ever can be twisted, repurposed, recycled and built into something else because, really, every ghost story is just a story of regret. And Cargill gets that. He understands that a bad decision is what happens before the story starts and peace is what comes when it's done. In the middle is the change, the comeuppance, the duty, the sacrifice. In between is where the soul comes clean. All the blood and monsters are just window dressing.
In the best stories, Cargill puts atypical narrators in moral dilemmas, from a veteran punishing sinners in the afterlife for a chance at redemption to a suicide bomber recruited to mark one-million people for death. The final novella, set in the world of Dreams and Shadows (2013), will please that novel’s fans with more about the origin of its character, Colby. Cargill’s rich language, excellent ear for dialogue, and gritty yet fantastical settings are on display here.
This collection...is filled with the darkest of dark fantasy. With one exception, the stories are horror with a supernatural or magic realism bent ... Aficionados of supernatural horror and fantasy with extremely dark surprises will thrill at every chill.
Not all of the tales work ... But Cargill has a gift for haunting imagery as well as exuberant gore, and most of his horror has a beating heart, albeit a bloody one. His fans will be thrilled by this strong collection.
