My nightmarish tale of digital evil ‘The Liminal Lure’ appeared in The Chamber Magazine of contemporary dark fiction in May 2021. The story focuses on a teacher of English trying to make a flight reservation to return to his job in the Middle East. What seems like a straightforward online task is turned into a maddening, bewildering Sisyphean quest which leads nowhere but to dead ends. At first it simply appears that a dud chatbot and inefficient customer service call queue system are to blame, until it slowly becomes clear that there is a deliberate purpose and sinister agenda behind the technology’s failings.
The story includes a dream (or nightmare?) cameo from one of the twentieth century’s most enigmatic and original writers.