Hello everyone. I write to you with wonderful weekend news.
This week, The Strand Magazine has published a new short story by Raymond Chandler. New? Well, it’s an old Raymond Chandler story, but never-before-seen.
The story is called “Nightmare” and it’s written from Chandler’s own perspective. He sits in a cell on death row, having been accused of a crime he cannot remember committing. I’d say it’s the closest thing he wrote to ‘horror”; at the very least, as the title suggests, it’s something of a fever dream.
“In this unsettling piece, Chandler recounts a dream with the tension and atmosphere of his greatest fiction, a glimpse into the private imagination of the man who defined American noir,” said The Strand’s Managing Editor Andrew F. Gulli. “Preserved in the archive of his secretary Jean Vounder-Davis and later sold at Doyle Auctions, the manuscript has been authenticated and now appears in print for the first time with the permission of the Chandler Estate.”
He continued,
“To heighten its effect, we have paired Chandler’s words with a graphic adaptation that brings his nightmare vividly to life on the page. After careful review and consultation with the estate, we believe Nightmare has never before been published.”
The Strand purchased Nightmare from the Doyle’s auction sale, last year.
