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The Crawl Space

Joyce Carol Oates

First published September 2016
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

Synopsis

A widow cannot be free of memory and feels drawn back to the house where she lived with her husband; relics of the past take her into a basement crawl space where she is trapped in her mind.

Notes

This story is barely, if at all, supernatural; the sinister force that draws its main character into the past's trap is probably entirely memory, only metaphorically a ghostly haunting.

Awards

YearAwardCategoryStatus
2016 Bram Stoker Award Superior Achievement in Short Fiction Winner

Publications (5)

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
September 2016 Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September-October 2016 Dell Magazines MAGAZINE 20
June 2017 Dis Mem Ber and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense Head of Zeus Collection 49
June 2017 Dis Mem Ber and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense The Mysterious Press Collection 49
June 2017 Dis Mem Ber and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense The Mysterious Press Collection
January 2018 Dis Mem Ber and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense Head of Zeus Collection |2