12/08/2025 Authors Note Series: WISHBONE by Candace Nola
- Candace Nola
- 10 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Since we just passed the Thanksgiving holiday, I was reminded of this brutal little tale that I wrote just about two years ago, about another Thanksgiving holiday, long ago.
Lisa Vasquez invited me to an anthology, VIXENS OF HORROR: VINTAGE EDITION, she was putting together of feminine rage, and I had this idea just pop into my head almost fully formed. Oddly enough, the only major thought I had to put into it was the array of kill scenes, because, well, I am known as an extreme author, so naturally, I had to deliver on that. I’m fairly certain that my delivery, as well as the story, was well received.
I set my story in the 50s, an era that weirdly enough is fondly remembered as America’s ‘heyday’, which is disturbing all by itself. Women were little more than servants, some more so than others; thought of property rather than individuals, expected to serve their husband, or father, or whatever male ran their household until they were married. And God forbid if you were not married by a certain age, being called a spinster at the tough old age of thirty, and worse yet, not even able to buy a house, or a car, or open a bank account without the permission of your closest male relative.
The story follows one such woman, Judith, as she prepares Thanksgiving dinner for her husbands’ family. Judith had always been a more forward-thinking woman and even as a young girl was often incensed at how things were for her mother, and later on, as a teen, even more infuriated when she came to understand that it was going to be that way for her as well. As young love would have, along came a handsome fella, wooed her just enough to wow her, and then bit by bit, the rose-colored glasses came off as each year passed and the handsome fella turned into the cold, self-serving bastard that now ruled Judith’s every move.
But after years of abuse, years of her spirit being crushed, years of absolute rage festering in an empty womb where new life had never been nurtured to fruition, Judith is about to serve a Thanksgiving dinner no one will forget. At least, no one that survives, if they survive. Judith is a woman on fire, pure rage ready to explode and a wishbone ripe for the picking.
It’s a short but explosive story, full of pain, and suffering, and rage. I did have fun with kill scenes, but beyond the gore, there is a soul-shattering story here.
You can check it out at the link below and be sure to enjoy the many other great stories in this incredible volume, curated by The Unsaintly Queen, Lisa Vasquez.
Pick it up here:
VIXENS OF HORROR: VINTAGE EDITION