Brian Evenson is one of our most celebrated writers of literary horror. Raised a Mormon, he became a professor at BYU but left and asked to be excommunicated from the Church when it objected to the subject matter of his writings and he also found himself disillusioned by its failure to deal with sexual abuse scandals effectively. But his numerous stories and novels retain a thrilling moral core.

Reading his story Evo Havel, or listening--it seems appropriate he's a past winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, because it is almost a riff on The Lottery (not to mention Logan's Run). A city has long depended on its bordering forest for the stuff of life. But over time it has become less careful about not damaging the woods and has also turned it into a medium for euthanising the elderly:

What do I need to tell you of the forest before I begin? Since you are not from our city, I do not know what you already know.

We have enjoyed a long friendship, for lack of a better word, with the forest. We foraged there, but did so with care. There were, true, portions of forest that over the years we destroyed, razing whole hectares of ground to make way for our roads, our houses, our farms. We also inadvertently, carelessly, burned down many hectares more. But these were exceptions rather than the rule: nobody should be judged by the exception. Consider them just the momentarily slights of a thoughtless friend. No, for the most part we honored the forest, preserved it.

And what did the forest offer us in return? It provided berries and mushrooms for food, animal skins for clothing, wood to build our shelters and to warm us. It healed us, nurtured us, kept us alive.

Or at least it did so in the past. More recently, no.

But that, no doubt, is why you have written to me.

• • • •

For many years, we had a practice. We would care for our elderly until they were moribund, and then they were taken into hospice. They would wait there a day, a week, perhaps more, and then a delegation would arrive. Elo Havel, they might begin—or with whatever name the individual possessed—you have been chosen to commune with nature. Then they would turn to another individual, say his name, and tell him he had been chosen as well. Eventually the delegation would lead or carry one or several individuals out into the forest. They would be left in a designated place, a certain grove. From there, waving and smiling, they would watch the delegation depart. They were happy to be left there. Their friend, the forest, they trusted would take care of them.

One day they were in the city and the next they were in the forest, and once left in the forest they were never seen again. Never a trace of them, never a sign.

They always went willingly. The forest was their friend. To go into the forest when death approached was the order of things. We had taken from the forest, and now the forest took us in return.

• • • •

And then one day something changed.

The something is that the forest becomes a far less peaceful place to go to die.Degrading it physically and spiritually turns out to have made it hostile.

The author explained the genesis of the story in an interview, Author Spotlight: Brian Evenson (Tyhitia Green, Jan. 2020, Issue 88, Nightmare):

When I was twelve my father was one of a small group of physicists using mathematical models as a means of understanding the unexpected dieback of ‘ohi‘a trees in Hawaii, where we lived for a year. I remember him talking about it as he was working on it, and it was one of the first moments I remember beginning to actively think about our connection to the world around us. That same year, when my parents were out one evening, I watched the movie Day of the Animals when it aired on TV. It’s a bad B movie, but it did suggest to me the idea that something that humans did (in this case, depleting the ozone layer) could end up having a massive effect on other species, and that they could come after humans for revenge, and it terrified me.

Then, earlier this year, I glanced at the beginning of one of my father’s ‘ohi‘a papers, which starts “By means of a very general model system, the possibility of interdependent dying, as contrasted to individual, random dying, in large areas of forest is investigated.” That phrase, “interdependent dying,” stuck with me. I began to think of it not just between trees but as interdependence across species, and that led to this story.

It's not easy to entertain while conveying such big ideas but Mr. Evenson does so effortlessly here. He makes the case against euthanasia better than any essay can hope to.

(Reviewed:08-Sep-24)

Grade: (A+) Orrin C. Judd

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Brian Evenson Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Brian Evenson
    -AUTHOR SITE: brianevenson.com
    -FACULTY PAGE: Brian Evenson (Faculty, School of Critical Studies, MFA Creative Writing Program, Call Arts)
    -ENTRY: Brian Evenson (Mapping Literary Utah)
    -ENTRY: Evenson, Brian (Encyclopedia of Science Fiction)
    -ENTRY: Brian Evenson (TV Tropes)
    -INDEX: Brian Evenson (Electric Lit)
    -FELLOWSHIP: Brian Evenson (Guggenheim Foundation)
    -ENTRY: Brian Evenson (Internet Speculative Fiction Database)
    -INDEX: Brian Evenson (Reactor)
    -INDEX: Brian Evenson (LitHub)
    -INDEX: Brian Evenson (Los Angeles Review of Books)
    -INDEX: Brian Evenson (Free Speculative Fiction Online)
    -STORY: Elo Havel (Brian Evenson, January 2020, Nightmare)
    -AUDIO STORY: Brian Evenson | Elo Havel (Nightmare, 15 January 2020)
    -INTERVIEW: Author Spotlight: Brian Evenson (Tyhitia Green, Jan. 2020, Issue 88, Nightmare)

When I was twelve my father was one of a small group of physicists using mathematical models as a means of understanding the unexpected dieback of ‘ohi‘a trees in Hawaii, where we lived for a year. I remember him talking about it as he was working on it, and it was one of the first moments I remember beginning to actively think about our connection to the world around us. That same year, when my parents were out one evening, I watched the movie Day of the Animals when it aired on TV. It’s a bad B movie, but it did suggest to me the idea that something that humans did (in this case, depleting the ozone layer) could end up having a massive effect on other species, and that they could come after humans for revenge, and it terrified me.

Then, earlier this year, I glanced at the beginning of one of my father’s ‘ohi‘a papers, which starts “By means of a very general model system, the possibility of interdependent dying, as contrasted to individual, random dying, in large areas of forest is investigated.” That phrase, “interdependent dying,” stuck with me. I began to think of it not just between trees but as interdependence across species, and that led to this story.

    -STORY: Windeye (Brian Evenson, October 9, 2009, PEN America)
    -AUDIO STORY: "Windeye" by Brian Evanson (Cygnus)
    -STORY: A Collapse of Horses (Brian Evenson, February/March, The American Reader)
    -AUDIO STORY: A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson (Bedtime Scaries)
    -STORY: Solution: As climate change wreaks havoc on the earth and the fate of humanity grows dire, a scientist makes a plan to save humanity that would shame the devil. (Brian Evenson, September 16, 2020, Reactor)
    -VIDEO LECTURE: Brian Evenson - A.P.E.X. Speaker (Southern Utah University, 10/29/2020)
    -AUDIO STORY: Killing Cats (Brian Evenson)
    -STORY: X by Brian Evenson: What is a person? AN INTRODUCTION BY ANN VANDERMEER (ElectricLit, 9/21/16)
    -INTERVIEW: The Sublime Horror of Choice: Brian Evenson interviews author Paul Tremblay ( Brian EvensonJune 30, 2018, LA Review of Books)
    -STORY: Lost Pages from The Open Curtain (Brian Evenson)
    -REVIEW: of Victor LaValle’s The Changeling (Brian Evenson, BookForum)
    -
    -STORY: "The Shimmering Wall" from THE GLASSY BURNING FLOOR OF HELL by Brian Evenson, recommended by Mona Awad (Electric Lit)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: The Violent and Unforgettable World of Brian Catling: The Vorrh and The Erstwhile are fantasy at its best (Brian Evenson, 5/04/17, Electric Lit)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: Turning the Ordinary into Something Extraordinary: Roger Lewinter is a writer to be reckoned with, and a testament to the importance of literature that takes risks (Brian Evenson, 2/02/17, Electric Lit)
    -ESSAY: End Times Exit Strategy: Fractals, Philosophy, and Ultimate Frisbee in David Hollander’s “Anthropica”: Brian Evenson dives into David Hollander’s “Anthropica” and finds it “precise, dense, and evocative.” (Brian Evenson, November 10, 2020, LA Review of Books)
    -ESSAY: Past and Pastiche in Howard A. Rodman’s “The Great Eastern”: Brian Evenson finds Howard A. Rodman’s sprawling, engaging novel "The Great Eastern" “a kind of return to what adventurous literature used to be.” (Brian Evenson, July 15, 2019, LA Review of Books)
    -ESSAY: Blending Fantasy and Sci-Fi in Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow of the Torturer (Brian Evenson, August 3, 2021, Reactor)
    -ESSAY: What Makes an Unreliable Narrator: “Severian’s” Voice in Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun (Brian Evenson, December 8, 2021, Reactor)
    -ESSAY: Ann Quin: Understated, Tragic Innovator of the British Novel: Brian Evenson Looks at Quin's Second Novel, Three (Brian Evenson, November 19, 2020, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: "When Religion Encourages Abuse: Writing Father of Lies." (Brian Evenson, October 8, 1998, The Event)
    -ESSAY: Immobility: The Fake Book that Became Real (Brian Evenson, 4/02/12, Tor)
    -ESSAY: Robert Coover and Fairy Tales (Brian Evenson, Big Other)
    -ESSAY: Chaotic Matter: Eugene England's "The Dawning of a Brighter Day" (Brian Evenson, Dialogue)[pdf]
    -STORY: Mother (Brian Evenson, July 23, 2021, The Baffler)
    -STORY: Four Reports (Brian Evenson, Summer 2017, Western Humanities Review))
    -STORY: The Installation (Brian Evenson, Winter 2002-2003, Paris Review)
    -STORY: The Bedtime Story That Keeps Him Awake: The title story from GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT by Brian Evenson, recommended by Eric LaRocca (Electric Lit, 9/09/24)
    -PODCAST: Brian Evenson (BSS #309) (The Bat Segundo Show, September 23, 2009)
    -PODCAST: Interview - Brian Evenson - The Warren (PKDheads Podcast, 6 November 2021)
    -PODCAST: Brian Evenson (Beyond the Zero, 21 July 2022)
    -PODCAST: 388. Brian Evenson Interview (Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, 22 November 2019)
    -PODCAST: author Brian Evenson (Beginnings with Andy Beckerman, 16 August 2018)
    -PODCAST: Ep. 142: Windeye by Brian Evenson (Elder Sign, 7 March 2023)
    -PODCAST: 51 – Brian Evenson and Little Potted Nightmares (Talking Scared, 10 August 2021)
    -PODCAST: Brian Evenson, Author of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Cursed Morsels, 9 August 2021)
    -PODCAST: INTERVIEW – A Chat with Brian Evenson, Horror Author (Incarnation Read, 24 June 2021)
    -PODCAST: Bonus: Brian Evenson talks about genre-busting fiction (ReReading Wolfe, 30 September 2021)
    -PODCAST: 114-Brian Evenson, horror writer (Udda Ting, 6 November 2020)
    -INTERVIEW: Brian Evenson On his new story collection, writing, recommendations, and inspirationsn (Lou Pendergrast, More2Read)
    -VIDEO INTERVIEW: A Conversation with Brian Evenson (Marc Lowe, May 9/10, 2024)
    -INTERVIEW: From Adorno to Rob Zombie: A Conversation with Brian Evenson (Michael J. Sanders, The Spectacle)
    -INTERVIEW: Brian Evenson (Giovan Alonzi, June 19, 2019, Full Stop)
    -INTERVIEW: Author Spotlight: Brian Evenson (Jennifer Konieczny, Dec. 2012 (Issue 31), Lightspeed)
    -INTERVIEW: Interview: Brian Evenson and the Weird: "Fiction can disorient and make things that should feel ordinary seem odd" (Matthew Treon, July 2012, Weird Fiction Review)
    -INTERVIEW: Slant to Reality | An Interview with Brian Evenson (Gabino Iglesias, 8/24/21, Southwest Review)
    -INTERVIEW: Brian Evenson: Strange (But Never Gratuitous) (Locus, May 26, 2010)
    -INTERVIEW: Interview with Brian Evenson (J. W. McCormack, August 2016, The White Review)
    -INTERVIEW: An Interview with Brian Evenson (intermultiversal, a series of interviews by Gareth Jelley, 9/04/2021)
    -INTERVIEW: Interview with BRIAN EVENSON (Civilian Reader, June 22, 2016)
    -INTERVIEW: Your Favorite Author's Favorite Author: Brian Evenson on Franz Kafka (an interview by Patrick Barb, Shortwave)
    -INTERVIEW: TC Review & Interview: Brian Evenson quietly leads literary horror into the 21st century with new fiction collection A COLLAPSE OF HORSES (Cosmicomicon, July 15, 2016)
    -INTERVIEW: 5×5: Brian Evenson (Hayden Bennett, January 15th, 2015, Believer)
    -INTERVIEW: Brian Evenson on Drawing Fiction from a Stone (Brian Evenson, 10/22/20, Nightfire)
    -INTERVIEW: Night Time Logic with Brian Evenson (Daniel Braum, March 27, 2024, Cemetery Dance: Night Time Logic)
    -INTERVIEW: A Kind of Kinship in Pain: An Interview with Brian Evenson (Gauraa Shekhar, October 16, 2020, Maudlin House)
    -PROFILE: The Dark Fiction of an Ex-Mormon Writer (Adrian Van Young, February 10, 2016, The New Yorker)
    -INTERVIEW: Brian Evenson (Ben Marcus, Web del Sol)
    -INTERVIEW: That Life as I Knew It Could Collapse: An Interview with Brian Evenson: Andrew Blevins interviews novelist and short story writer Brian Evenson. (Andrew Blevins, October 8, 2019, Los Angeles Review of Books)
    -AUDIO INTERVIEW: Brian Evenson : A Collapse of Horses (Between the Covers Podcast, Jul 22, 2024)
    -INTERVIEW: Interview: Brian Evenson and the Weird:: "Fiction can disorient and make things that should feel ordinary seem odd (Matthew Treon, 7/31/12, Weird Fiction Review)
    -INTERVIEW: “Investigating the Nature of Reality”: An Interview with Brian Evenson (Patrick Cline, June 28, 2017, Sonora Review)
    -INTERVIEW: Because of That Book: An Interview with Brian Evenson on Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Robert Lopez, Fanzine)
    -PROFILE: Journey to Faith's Dark Side Spawned Novel for OSU Writer (Vern Anderson, 10/18/1998, The Oklahoman)
    -INTERVIEW: The Horror Is What We Don’t Yet Know (and Maybe Never Will): Brian Evenson Interviewed: The writer on his new short story collection, creating realistic characters that don't always change, and how fatherhood has impacted his relationship to language. (Bomb, June 25, 2019)
    -PROFILE: Religion of the Pen (Beth Schwartzapfel '01, January 7th, 2010, Brown Alumni Magazine)
    -INTERVIEW: Bookforum talks with Brian Evenson (Michael Miller, 1/21/16, BookForum)
    -INTERVIEW: How Do You Live In A World That’s Not The World You Thought It Was?: An Interview with Brian Evenson (Kyle Minor, 2/11/16, Tin House)
    -INTERVIEW: Mormon Brian Evenson has been reviled by his Church for writing what they feel is sadistic and perverted fiction (Interview by Jason Cowley, July 15, 1997, Times uk)
    -INTERVIEW: EVENSON'S TONGUE: A Conversation with Brian Evenson (Sunstone)
    -PROFILE: The Bad Mormon: BRIAN EVENSON’S VIOLENT AND INVENTIVE FICTION BORROWS AS MUCH FROM THE EUROPEAN AVANT-GARDE AS IT DOES FROM CORMAC MCCARTHY AND HIERONYMUS BOSCH—A SACRILEGIOUS COMBINATION THAT GOT HIM KICKED OUT OF THE MORMON CHURCH (Ben Ehrenreich, 5/01/03, The Believer)
    -INTERVIEW: Interview with Brian Evenson (of Blog, 2/01/09)
    -PROFILE: Professor continues to challenge beliefs despite controversy (The O’Colly, Sep 14, 1998)
    -PROFILE: Ex-LDS author says art, church clash (Elaine Jarvik, 8/12/06, Deseret News)
    -INTERVIEW: Between Terror and Horror: A Q&A with Brian Evenson (Brazos Bookstore)
    -INTERVIEW: Brian Evenson on Samuel Beckett’s Molloy (Colin Winnette, 6/17/14, ElectricLit)
    -INTERVIEW: “What It Would Be Like to Fall”: A Conversation with Brian Evenson (Daniel Miller, January 20, 2016, Heavy Feather Review)
    -INTERVIEW: An Embodied Experience: The Millions Interviews Brian Evenson (Aaron Gwyn, September 30, 2021, The Millions)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: Brian Evenson’s Writing Is as Brutal as It Is Beautiful (Blake Butler, February 5, 2016, Vice)
    -ESSAY: Strange Salvation in "The Brotherhood of Mutilation” (Larry Nolen, Weirdfictionreview.com’s 101 Weird Writers: #6?–?Brian Evenson)
    -CHAPTER: Avenging Angels: The Nephi Archetype and Blood Atonement in Neil LaBute, Brian Evenson, and Levi Peterson, and the Making of the Mormon American Writer (Austin, Michael and Mark T. Decker, Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons on the Page, the Stage and the Screen, 2010)
    -ESSAY: We Seem More Normal: Brian Evenson, Utah Valley, and Mormon Representation in Horror (T.J. Tranchell, June 24, 2019, Cedar Valley Horror Review)
    -ESSAY: Brian Evenson and the Basics of Violence: Literary horror from an excommunicated perspective. (Bill Ryan, Oct 06, 2022, The Bulwark)
    -ESSAY: What Does Literature Feel Like?: From Sensationalism to Sensation: Brian Evenson’s Affecting Texts (Nawelle Lechevalier-Bekadar, Transatlantica)
    -ESSAY: On Brian Evenson’s Introduction to The Complete Gary Lutz (Patty Ortiz, April 2023, Ships of Hagoth)
    -ARCHIVES: “brian evenson” (NPR)
    -ARCHIVES: “evenson” (BookForum)
    -VIDEO ARCHIVES: “brian evenson” (You Tube)
    -INDEX: Brian Evenson 1966- (Internet Archive)
    -REVIEW ARCHIVE: Brian Evenson (Kirkus)
    -REIEW ARCHIVE: Brian Evenson (Publishers Weekly)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson (Ian Mond, Locus)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Vegan Revolution)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (The Reading Experience)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Timothy Day, Propeller Books)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Chris B. Morgan, radiopaper)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (David Peak, BookForum)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Nicholas Russell, Defector)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Georgie Fehringer, Chicago Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell (Wayne Catan, on the Seawall)
    -REVIEW: of The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson (Between Sound and Space: ECM Records and Beyond)
    -REVIEW: of Open Curtain (dead End Follies)
    -REVIEW: of Open Curtain (Artistic Preaching)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson (Adrian Van Young, LA Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World: In “Song for the Unraveling of the World,” Brian Evenson renders the world as a place of infinite and paralyzing delusion. (Nathan Scott McNamara, LA Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (zack Graham, Epiphanzine)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Intersections in the Darkest Visions)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Jean Huets, Kenyon Review)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Ben Murphy, Chicago Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Gabino Iglesias, NPR)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Shane Douglas Keene, Ink Heist)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Gregory Ariail, BWR)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Gary K. Wolfe, Locus)
    -REVIEW : of Song for the Unraveling of the World (John Domini, Brooklyn Rail)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Daniel Trussoni, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW : of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Clara Scott, Michigan Daily)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Nell Keep, Booklist)
    -REVIEW : of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Kirkus)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (Publishers Weekly
    -REVIEW : of Song for the Unraveling of the World (KEVIN CANFIELD, Minnesota Star Tribune)
    -REVIEW: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (SL Edwards, Weird Whispers)
    -REVIEW ARCHIVE: of Song for the Unraveling of the World (BookMarks)
    -REVIEW: of A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson (Julia Elliott, LA Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of A Collapse of Horses (Bradley Bazzle, Colorado Review)
    -REVIEW: of A Copllapse of Horses (Karen Munro, LA Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of A Copllapse of Horses (Michael Shattuck, JMWW)
    -REVIEW: of A Copllapse of Horses (Ben Murphy, Carolina Quarterly)
    -REVIEW: of Last Days by Brian Evenson (Clyde Umney, Umney’s Alley)
    -REVIEW: of Last Days (Randy Harris, Mosaic)
    -REVIEW: of Last Days (Christopher O’Halloran, Howl Society)
    -REVIEW: of Last Days (shikgekuni)
    -REVIEW: of Last Days (The Plutonian)
    -REVIEW: of Last Days (Blake Butler, HTML Giant)
    -REVIEW: of Last Days (Fantasy Book Critic)
    -REVIEW: of The Warren by Brian Evenson (Nathan Robinson, 15 Bytes)
    -REVIEW: of The Warren (Steve Stred)
    -REVIEW: of The Warren (David Agranoff, The Vegan Revolution)
    -REVIEW: of The Warren (Joshua Chaplinsky, Lit Reactor)
    -REVIEW: of The Warren (Bob Pastorella, This is Horror)
    -REVIEW: of Immobility by Brian Evenson (Fantasy Book Critic)
    -REVIEW: of Immobility (Brian Schaub, NPR)
    -REVIEW: of Father of Lies by Brian Evenson (Xandra Coe, Rain Taxi)
    -REVIEW: of Father of Lies (Evangeline Abhy, Medium)
    -REVIEW: of Father of Lies (George Dunn, fanFiAddict)
    -REVIEW: of Father of Lies (Karl Wolff, NY Journal of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Fugue State by Brian Evenson (Ceridwen Dovey, BookForum)
    -REVIEW: of Fugue State: Stories (Keith Johnson, Jacket)
    -REVIEW: of Sisters by Brian Evenson (earth and Skye)
    -REVIEW: of McSweeney’s 71: The Monstrous and the Terrible, Brian Evenson, ed. (Arley Sorg, Lightspeed)
    -REVIEW of REPORTS by Brian Evenson (Alyssa Greene, Western Humanities Review)
    -REVIEW: of Click by Brian Evenson (winnieramler, SFF Reviews)
    -REVIEW: of Altmann's Tongue by Brian Evenson (Dead End Follies)
    -REVIEW: of Altmann's Tongue (Michael Austin, Dawning of a Brighter Day)

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