(Editor’s note: SHORT SHOTS is a column where I review short stories from horror anthologies, collections, and zines.)
Legendary extreme horror author Edward Lee says that the short story “‘Giggly’ kicked my ass. Outstanding job! I need therapy now.”
If the author of The Bighead and Header needs therapy after reading “Giggly,” then what will the rest of us need?
“Giggly” is the centerpiece of the three-story collection titled Sweet, Sour, & Spicy by Bridgett Nelson. Nelson’s debut collection, A Bouquet of Viscera, earned two Splatterpunk Award nominations this year. She’ll likely score at least two more nominations next year with Sweet, Sour, & Spicy. The collection has 43 ratings on Amazon and is averaging 4.3 stars (out of 5) as I write this review.
“Giggly” is a doozy of depravity, so much so, I can’t even share the opening sentence because it’s simply too extreme for the PG-13 sensibilities of my website.
You’d think I’d be prepared for “Giggly” after reading Nelson’s Splatterpunk Award-nominated short story “Jinx.” Like “Jinx,” “Giggly” goes for the throat (and the gag reflex) from the get-go. It’s now patently obvious that Nelson doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase “warm up the audience.” Thank goodness she’s not a comedian.
“Giggly” opens with a serial killer (“nude and erect”) as he’s about to eat one of the most disgusting meals imaginable. The killer is a man who enjoys torturing and murdering beautiful women, and Nelson gives him plenty of pages to play with his victims.
After the first six disturbing paragraphs, “Giggly” allows you to take a breath as we are introduced to a female psychiatrist listening to her patient talk about an innocuous date. The rest of the story alternates between scenes with the serial killer and with the psychiatrist.
I foolishly thought the opening scene was going to be the most gruesome. Boy, was I wrong. The serial killer’s next kill easily tops it as he uses a Gigli saw on his victim. A Gigli saw, by the way, is a flexible wire used by surgeons for bone cutting.
I assume this is probably the point where Mr. Lee started to consider therapy. This first protracted kill is cold and cruel and difficult to stomach. It’s next-level extreme. I’m talking Gonzalez, Ketchum, and Lee levels of extreme.
And I’m only 20 percent into the story, folks, so you know there’s plenty more, including another murder punctuated by one of the most revolting postmortem actions I’ve ever read in a horror story.
Yet despite the supreme savagery of the serial killer’s actions, Nelson manages to keep the story grounded with her cinematic style of writing while also delivering a shocking twist at the end. It’s a well-earned bombshell because throughout “Giggly” Nelson uses one of the most clever gambits I’ve witnessed by an author. And it worked to perfection.
Fortunately, I don’t think I’ll have to Google “therapists near me” after reading “Giggly,” because I’ve read enough Bryan Smith novels to handle even the most extreme horror. But I definitely had to watch a few episodes of Wings, my favorite sitcom of the ‘90s, to clear that image of the Gigli saw from my brain.
The Official Website of Horror and Fantasy Writer Lionel Ray Green 
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