By Her Hand, She Draws You Down

Author: Douglas Smith
Length: 50 page(s)
Written: Oct 2011
Sales Rank: -
Views: 333

Aurora Award Finalist | Best New Horror Selection.

Cath, a beautiful young sidewalk artist, is driven by a mysterious hunger that feeds from the portraits she draws of her victims. Joe loves Cath still, but as Cath’s hunger grows, so does Joe’s fear--fear that one day she may draw him down.

*** Now an award-winning independent film ***

Note: includes an afterword by the author and excerpts from many of his other stories

REVIEWS

"The best of the bunch…a haunting variant on the vampire legend with an understated and brutal ending." —Publishers Weekly

“Highlights among the stories include Douglas Smith's delightfully creepy ‘By Her Hand, She Draws You Down,’ about a young woman who is driven by a mysterious hunger to sketch people and steal their life force as her horrified lover looks on.” —Booklist

"I was reminded of the tone of some of Harlan Ellison’s best work…where many of the protagonists seemed to be the unwitting victims of dark, irrational forces.” —The Fix

“...a title that rules. ...psychic vampirism, creepy street performers, the horrors of small coastal towns. And Smith took the story somewhere that surprised me. The twist is sustained.” —Jay Lake, Tangent Online

"A wonderful, creepy and suspenseful tale of a boardwalk portrait artist who struggles with a powerful dark hunger, and the man who, through loving her, must come to grips with his own inner demons." —Rainbow Dragon Recommends

“...examines vampirism from an unusual and genuinely horrifying angle.” —SF Site Review

"Well done and with a nice twist…" —Fantasy Book Critic

"Haunting passages and scenes..." —Strange Horizons

“...a chilling, weird tale of an artist with a great hunger.” —The Haunted Weblog

“Familiar subjects...dealt with in an original form and with a final turn that will surprise you.” — Bibliopolis

About the Author

Douglas Smith
Member since: Mar 2011
Publications on XinXii:  24

"Doug Smith is, quite simply, the finest short-story writer Canada has ever produced in the science fiction and fantasy genres, and he's also the most prolific. His stories are a treasure trove of riches that will touch your heart while making you think." —Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids

"One of Canada's most original writers of speculative fiction." — Library Journal

Doug is an award-winning Canadian author of speculative fiction, whose stories have appeared in over a hundred professional magazines and anthologies and twenty-four languages around the world, including InterZone, Amazing Stories, Cicada, Baen's Universe, Weird Tales, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Postscripts, On Spec, and The Third Alternative, as well as anthologies from Penguin/Roc, DAW, and others.

His newest collection, Chimerascope, including an Aurora winner, a Best New Horror selection, and nine Aurora finalists, is available from ChiZine Publications. His first collection of short fiction, Impossibilia, is available from the award-winning UK press, PS Publishing. A complete list of Doug's published fiction is available here along with reviews of his stories.

Doug was a finalist for the international John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, and has twice won the Canadian Aurora Award. He's been an Aurora finalist seventeen times and has several honourable mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. You can check out a complete list of his award history here.

An independent film based on his story "By Her Hand, She Draws You Down" toured festivals in 2010, winning several awards. Doug recently completed his first novel, based on his award-winning short story, "Spirit Dance."

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