The Moonlit Fields: Preface / Synopsis

Slipstream is a term that came into existence from the cyberpunk writer Bruce Sterling in July 1989, although Slipstream fiction has been around longer than that. He was trying to describe a type of writing style that was not exactly mainstream but primarily found in science fiction at the time. It was on the sidelines with darker, unique elements that generally do not always make sense. He described it as “Think M. C. Escher, and you have a graphic equivalent.” So why not Slipstream Horror? A series of interconnected stories to tell a greater story and not lose the reader. Not too short, not too long, not too hard to grasp: we live in an era of shortened attention spans. No one can compete with the internet.

Aimee Bender wrote a short story called The Healer, and I dare to say it is both elegant and exquisite; it is an excellent example of Slipstream Fantasy.

Looking for inspiration, I rested upon the Myth and Legend of Lain Iwakura, and from this came an idea for my Slipstream Horror novel: The Moonlit Fields: In The Lands Where The Rare Flowers Grow. Technically speaking for the astute reader, Sterling’s definition for Slipstream is met because it is horror which will be strange; whether Horton’s definition of the effect and process is met will be judged by the reader, and I will do the best I ever did:

This novel will have a kind of writing to make you feel very weird and afraid at the same time, the way a graveyard of Reverence can make you feel: you discern between an Encounter and an Experience, the Essence and the Essential, the You and the Other.

The world of the Living and the world of the Dead are dual fold in accordance with our dual fold attitude toward each: thus all actual Life must be Encounter, all actual Relation must be Essence, and all that is actually You must be You and not the Other.

This is understandable because it is just horror, after all. Scary tales about blessed friendship, rare flowers, and sacrosanct graveyards: the world winks at dishonesty.

Hold fast and steel yourself because there is nothing Odd about the food, nectar, and seeds from the rare plants in these stories unless it is consumed: the world wishes to be deceived, so let it be deceived.

And the rare flowers? Oh, You might be the Odd one. Then again, You might not be. Flowers are pretty and dainty with nectar and pollen. But a graveyard is neither neat nor simple. It is preferable to forget while journeying unaware to a Secret Place that is neither here nor there, yet everywhere and nowhere. But never forget You are a wayward Soul beset on all sides by the Others.

This is Slipstream Horror and You will feel very strange.

© Copyright Pending 2026

The Healer, by Aimee Bender, is in her book The Girl in the Flammable Skirt