THE DEEP ONES: "It Only Comes Out at Night" by Dennis Etchison

"It Only Comes Out at Night" by Dennis Etchison

Discussion begins Jun 9, 2021.

First published in Frights (1976).



ONLINE VERSIONS

https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2014/03/dennis-etchison-it-only-comes-out-at....

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?51211

SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS

The Dark Country
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
The Century's Best Horror Fiction 1951-2000
It Only Comes Out At Night & Other Stories

MISCELLANY

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/grim-hints-and-nervous-portents-on-dennis-et...
https://www.tor.com/2014/06/06/the-short-horror-fiction-of-dennis-etchison/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Etchison
https://monstermikeyaauthor.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/interview-with-dennis-etchi...
https://lisamorton.com/zine/?p=2086
https://tinyurl.com/mee7c2dc

Love that cover illustration. I'll be reading out of The Weird, however.

This is a sort of story that often annoys me, where we're given hardly any insight in the nature of the threat and no conventional resolution, but I thought Etchison carried it off well.

I'm guessing the Arizona tourism board can contain their enthusiasm, though.

That 3rd paragraph in, which consists of one long sentence, always grabs my attention. Very evocative, really good writing.

When I think of Etchison, I always think of fluorescent lighting and late night parking lots. He always stood out from the pack in the 70s and 80s because he had this unnerving knack for making the places I would normally frequent attain a menacing aura that I still sense whenever I go to them.

If you've ever seen the 1973 horror film MESSIAH OF EVIL, you've seen a very close cinematic approximation of the feel in future Etchison tales. Especially the scenes at the gas station, supermarket, and movie theater. Well worth tracking down.

https://vimeo.com/29403739

Etchison was not a name that was even familiar, never mind that I'd not read any work of his. I really liked the story. It's true that everything can be attributed to non-supernatural forces. Maybe that's what makes it a little more menacing to me: I choose to think about the possible supernatural forces at play, so the presentation in such realist and "blank and factual" terms heighten those potentials for me.

I do wonder, though, if I read more of this type of story, would the supernatural potential be eclipsed by what I'd call a "serial killer" or other modern horror themes, which I don't much like.

>5 elenchus:

A lot of the time Etchison chooses to focus on the reaction of lonely, isolated characters to an oppressively nightmarish situation or occurrence that remains enigmatic or even unresolved. If there is a killer, he or she is probably only part of something bigger and even worse, as you'll find in "Daughter of the Golden West". That's not to say that the stories are without their share of grue and trauma. The opening sentence to "The Dead Line" is one that you'll never forget, and the hinted-at physical wrongness of the convenience store workers in "The Late Shift" is truly unsettling.

Double post. LT is being really WEIRD today,

I liked this story a lot, especially the fuzziness of McClay's sensory impressions in his first visit to the rest stop, and how his evaluations of those get revised for the reader.

I found this story very evocative. I've never driven between Flagstaff and San Bernardino much less at night during the summertime.

But I have taken night car trips on highways running through very deserted areas. I'm also of an age to remember that cars of the 1970s were, at least in my memory, often not as comfortable or reliable as the ones today hence McClay's many emergency supplies seem prudent.

I don't know if the whole world of restaurants and hotels catering to the night travelers is Etchison's invention or not. It seems plausible.

I liked the air of desperation at the beginning and wondered at the cause. Is Evvie sick? Have they committed a crime on the road, maybe a murder? But, no, it's just a wearying "vacation".

I rather liked the enigmatic nature of the killers. They seem serial killers of a sort and nothing supernatural. But the "we" in that overheard conversation conflicts with the "It" of the title to further the mystery. And why do they need to get more organized? Because they missed McClay?

The only implausibility I saw, and Etchison acknowledges it with the reference to the highway patrol, is that I find it hard to believe the rest area is not checked on more often.

Of course, in age of smartphones with texting, cameras, and gps, this story would be almost impossible to pull off in a contemporary setting.

I mistakenly read "The Late Shift" (it's the opening story in Dark Forces) instead of this one. I can definitely see the shared sensibility with Messiah of Evil (I was lucky enough to learn about it a few years ago, see online comments bewailing the lack of a decent version available to buy or stream, and then found a remastered DVD available from a French company).

One thing "It Only Comes Out at Night" brought home is how hostile the US environment is compared to the UK, and how much larger of course. And how breakdowns were to be expected (I remember every car my father owned breaking down at least once until his last one, which he must have bought nearly 20 years ago. I don't drive.)

The slow realisation of how long all the cars had been stood (not empty) was particularly evocative, I thought.