A Pinhole of Light

A Pinhole of Light

“A Pinhole of Light”
The Dark Issue 42
Eds. Sean Wallace, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
November 1, 2018
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Praise 

“It’s a gorgeously written story, one which melds aspects of magical realism and a southern gothic flavour to beautiful and immersive effect. Ultimately, it’s a story about obsession, love, loss, and sorrow, and would work just as well as an even longer piece; indeed, the level of detail and wealth of invented mythology virtually demand this.”

–Sam Tomaino, This Is Horror

“A well-crafted, touching tale. Day’s photographic metaphor interestingly includes the consequences of the digital age.”

–Paula Guran, Locus Magazine

 

First Lines

Waiting

Like this life, the afterlife is unfair. A woman dies at twenty-nine and leaves her infant daughter behind. Eight years later she is still trapped on the other side. When I’m in my happiest frame of mind, I imagine Veronica searching for my darkroom each time I turn on the blood-red light. In my darkest moments, I know I’m failing her. She still hasn’t arrived.

I’m an experienced photographer. I should be able to do better.

Forget ghost stories and the spiritual emanations reported at places like Gettysburg and Edinburgh Castle. Forget death’s cricket song: the sound that slips across no matter what we living humans do. True paths between this world and the next appeared less than two hundred years ago when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce developed the first photograph.

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