The Mourner's Cradle: A Widow's Journey
by Tommy B. Smith
Genre:
Horror
Horror
The tale of a widow's harrowing journey through grief and peril into the
cold remnants of a dead world.
cold remnants of a dead world.
Damon Sharpe had in part found victory, he believed, in his battle to
unearth a truth obscured by time.
By autumn, he was dead, leaving to his wife Anne a house of
unfulfilled wishes, remnants, and the key to the enigma of his
obsession, the Mourner’s Cradle.
A journey through grief and peril delivers
Anne Sharpe from her home in St. Charles to the faraway skeletons of
a long-dead civilization where she will find the desperate answers
she seeks…or die trying.
Because I write horror and dark fiction, you’ll see a lot of unpleasantness and conflict surface in the stories. I’ve had more than my share of interesting experiences with others in the past, and while many were interesting, they aren’t always experiences I would revisit.
So the question arises: if I could spend time with a character from my book, The Mourner’s Cradle, who would it be? Furthermore, what would we do?
This could be tricky.
The answer might surprise some people. Not many talk about the character of Tabby Reinhart from The Mourner’s Cradle, I’ve noticed, but because I know her so well, I think we might be able to share a drink.
Tabby is a contrary element to The Mourner’s Cradle’s maelstrom. I wouldn’t find it so easy to relax around a character like Anne Sharpe.
Anne isn’t always appreciative of Tabby’s role, readers may find. Those who look deeper may notice a contrast between Tabby’s actions and Anne’s perspective of their friendship.
What did you edit out of this book?
My new book, The Mourner’s Cradle, ends on a certain note which might have gone otherwise.
To elaborate, the book originally had an additional chapter at its end. Ultimately, I found the work stronger minus this addition, and withdrawing it ended the book on a very different note.
I’ve heard it mentioned that whether a story has a happy or unhappy ending depends on where you end the story.
I’ll divulge no spoilers for those who haven’t read the book, but I will say that ending it on this note, the one you’ll see in the book, held far more of an impact to me.
That other chapter, for those who might wonder, was a chapter of aftermath. While it might have fleshed out a certain aspect of the world in The Mourner’s Cradle, by the end, I judged the story more powerful without it.
Tommy B. Smith is a writer of dark fiction, author of The Mourner's Cradle,
Poisonous, and the short story collection Pieces of Chaos, as well as
works appearing in numerous magazines and anthologies throughout the
years. His presence currently infests Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he
resides with his wife and cats.
Poisonous, and the short story collection Pieces of Chaos, as well as
works appearing in numerous magazines and anthologies throughout the
years. His presence currently infests Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he
resides with his wife and cats.
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