Loam

Disorder collection

By: Scott Heim

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

Length: 1 hr and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

When three siblings return to their hometown for their estranged father’s funeral, burying the ghosts of the past proves to be impossible in this chilling story by the author of Mysterious Skin.

Forty years ago, triplets Miriam, Louise, and Edward were swept up in a case of rural mass hysteria. Coerced into fabricating unspeakable lies about their first-grade teacher and her adult son, they were complicit in destroying two lives. Ever since, they have believed they are being followed by a presence still seeking retribution for their childhood sins. Unless their guilty consciences are conjuring as many monsters as their innocent minds once did.

Loam is part of Disorder, a collection of six short stories of living nightmares, chilling visions, and uncanny imagination that explore a world losing its balance in terrifying ways. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single disorienting sitting.

©2019 Scott Heim (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Intriging

It was a little creepy and I wish It had went into more detail. It was a great Story though. I enjoyed it.

A creepy, short read.

A creepy, short read. I read this right before going to bed and I know I’m going to regret it.

Wanted to hear more !

What a great story ! One to be heard around camp fires in the fall. Yes, you know where it’s going, but it’s interesting none the less.

The Other Victims of Satanic Panic

My only quibble with the Satanic Panic of this story is that it would have occurred in the early-to-mid 1970s, when the actual railroading occurred fifteen years later.

But the story is solid. If narrator Jeff Cummings can't quite do women's voices, he does keep each character distinct. Much more importantly, he carries the emotional weight of each and every word, and that's what kept me on the edge of my seat for an hour and fifteen minutes.

If the resolution isn't pat, if there are loose threads remaining, it is apt for the story.

Interesting and creepy

This story asks what might have happened to the children at the center of the “satanic panic” events as they became adults. How might it shape a life to carry unresolved guilt about something one did as a child? What if the consequences were far beyond your control?

And what can a community’s collective hysteria and guilt will into being?

It’s an interesting place to begin a story. And this story has such rich characters, it’s too bad it’s so short. As much as I love short fiction, this feels like the author has so much more to say. I’d love to see this grow into a novel.

For those worried about “animal abuse:” it’s in regard to an allegation about an event that didn’t happen, and it isn’t told in any detail. It’s not graphic, and it’s not the main focus of the story.

More!

This needs to be a book! I was hooked from the start. All the elements of good a mystery, spooky supernatural, conspiracy and “someone done wrong”..or were they? So many directions this story could go. Liked the characters already, I want to go on their journey of scary discovery. Perfect narration. Darn it, I want more!

Wow…this one got me

I’m not sure what made this so creepy…there were so many subtle moving parts: the triplets in mourning…kinda, the car trip, the stop at the antique shot and the find there, the teacher and her son, the witch-hunt, the funeral….maybe the truth that was there or not there. This is the kind of dark creepy that I love…very well told.

Spooky

I really enjoyed this story! It was pretty creepy, but I can appreciate that kind of thing. The story was tied up pretty well in the end, which is pretty important to me. This is definitely the best one in the short story collection.

Loam

A compelling,disturbingly spooky take well written from the points of view of triplets, who at age 6 are coerced and manipulated by their parents as well as law enforcement to tell horrific lies about their childhood.

What the heck

It was good and then it just ends. Literally just ends! I am very disappointed.