I saw a copy of Haunted at the Beaches Book City in Toronto. Like any curious reader, I flipped to the short story “Guts.” I had a morbid fascination with what words could have caused crowds to faint, in particular the men.
“Guts” I discovered is about the foibles of masturbation, in particular the kind in which the male species engages. Halfway through the story it became clear to me why the men in the audience were affected. “Guts” unpacks all sorts of unwanted, nasty, mental images. It is the short of story urban legends are made of, a story where things get inappropriately stuck or sucked in graphic detail.
I stood while reading and when I felt a peculiar wobble in my knees and glanced ahead and saw the ominous words “corn and peanuts,” I shut the book. I prefer to be momentarily mortified rather than permanently haunted, thank you very much.
For background:
Here’s my first post on Haunted.