Guest Author: Rhys Hickmott
Presenting the fiction of: Nathan Slake
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Now, the Champion series:
A Piece Of Slake - By Rhys Hickmott
Due to Substack's insistence on flooding it's users with notes and political slop, it is hard to find fiction pages on substack let alone those of high quality. However, I have found some premium prose on the page of Nathan Slake
Slake is an author known for his abundance of short stories posted to Substack. Most of his stories are from the first person perspective and narrate an event that happened to the main character.
He writes in numerous other styles, however, from what I've read, first person horror is his bread and butter.
A common title formula with his work is the Dr Strangelove formula. Title: Or (insert descriptive sentence) and they often serve to benefit the story in ways titles rarely do, that is especially the case for one of the stories I will be discussing.
Slake has a lot of work to his name so here are my three recommendations for starting with Slake:
At The Window:
This was my first experience with Slake's work and it certainly serves as a good introduction to his style.
When you read At The Window it's the kind of story that is just realistic enough to be believable. If it was posted on a paranormal forum rather than a fiction substack, the theories would be spreading like wildfire.
Slake plays it completely straight, which is something many authors struggle to do. The urge to indulge, to put something outlandish in there, it's too much to bear for most, but not for Slake
If there's anything you should read from Nathan Slake, it's At The Window
The Watcher:
This tale is extremely similar to At The Window. It is a first person account of a young man who has an encounter with a supernatural gallows.
Also like At The Window it has a stream of consciousness style to it. The Narrator goes from describing the noose to detailing the thoughts of the ants that are swarming his body on the floor.
It is a narrative that has a sense of Lovecraft to it. You're given this scenario that is simultaneously mundane yet monstrous and the rest of the narrative serves as a reflection on what happened.
Mise-En-Scene:
Out of the three stories I've selected, this one is the wild card. This is due to the fact that it is a third person narrative rather than first person.
It is also a wild card in the fact that it contains numerous twists and turns that keep the reader guessing and asking "Just what is going on here?" The twists are so good that I am not going to go into the depths of the plot. The only clue I'll give is that the title is more literal than you may think.
Out of all his works this is the most "conventional" however, that does not mean the work lacks in the strange charm all Slake's work has.
In conclusion, Slake is a writer with a solid talent and is always a fun read. He is humble and artistic in the descriptions of his stories and despite their brevity and lack of large scale plot, they always leave you thinking more profoundly than you were prior to reading.
A little about me:
I am Rhys Hickmott and I am a Welsh teen author who will soon be going to university.
I've always wanted to be a storyteller but it's only in recent years that I found literature to be my medium, despite my stories sounding more like comics or movies.
I have published numerous pieces of fiction over the past few months including:
Usurper - A story about four American soldiers in a Middle Eastern country who seek shelter after committing a war crime
Underman's Amulet - A brutal Western heist story about the dissolution of an outlaw gang and the petty meaningless of violence
From Franco & From Grenier - Two zombie apocalypse stories told from the diaries of survivors. Based on the videogame Project Zomboid
Henchman's Homelife - A story about a supervillain's henchman whose life is ruined by a change in his homelife
Grant's Last Stand & He Really Thought He Was Somebody - Two stories about members of the same domestic terrorist organisation.
Throughout my work I play with perspective and genre conventions. I hope that as well as reading Slake, you may find time for my works as well.
— Rhys Hickmott
You, too, can champion an author on Substack.
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nice! Slake rocks. and his name is too cool for school. good choices too. and good luck with your writing. i shall have to check it out!
Well this was a lovely post to find in my inbox! Thanks so so so much, Rhys (and Thaddeus)!