Irish legend is full of the tales of children taken under the hill, never to return.The thing that isn't whispered is: maybe it would be worse if they came back.In a present-day Australian town, as has happened in so many other towns, a girl disappeared without a trace. The unusual part is that she was later found by a local farmer, wandering in a field. After the happy family reunion, everyone expects the family to be delighted, for everything to go back to normal. But where was little Madrigal...

This is undoubtedly the scariest thing I've ever read. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever forget it.Not only for the extremely gory parts, but because of the feelings and the sorrow that lives in it.I haven't read a lot of changeling stories but this one, wow, it's a slap to the face. A couple of punches to the gut until it leaves you crying on the floor.The writing is beautiful as I've come to expect from the author, and I really have to get my hands on the author other works. Except for The

Dreadful and terse, this novellette is beyond creepy. Loved the "hard iron" at the core of Anne and Mrs. Flynn. A chilling telling of a very old story brought into the modern day.

Angela Slatter is a contemporary author of Gothic and supernatural fiction who often finds inspiration in traditional myths. Her chilling novelette “Finnegan’s Field” is a case in point. It features a little girl who disappears and mysteriously returns to her family, subtly (but horrifyingly) changed, after an unexplained absence of three years. Slatter transposes the Celtic legends of fairies and changelings to present-day Australia and combines them with elements of crime fiction to create an

It's like this.

I loved this short story.In Finnegan’s Field, South Australia (POP. 15,000), the inhabitants had more than enough Irish left in their souls that, despite a century and a half since emigration, they bore these losses with sorrow, yes, but also with more than a little acceptance. A sort of shrug that said, Well, it was bound to happen, wasn’t it? Eire’s soft green sadness with its inherited expectation of grief ran in their veins so they did little more than acquiesce, and they certainly did not s...

Maybe 3.5. Weird. But spooky.

This is a dark faerie changeling novelette, free online at Tor.com. In Finnegan's Field, South Africa, a town where most of the people have Irish ancestry, they've brought their traditions and legends with them to Australia. With them, too, have come darker things: children disappear, are taken in the night, and are never seen again. Until Anna's nine year old daughter Madrigal reappears, three years after she was taken, looking exactly the same. She either does not know or will not tell where s...

“You’re such rich meat; why would we ever give you up?”this story takes the traditional changeling tale and transplants it into an irish enclave in australia, which is like taking a ghost story and dropping it into a shark tank - now you're screwed by nature and the supernatural. sorry, buddy!In Irish lore, when children go under the hill, they don’t come out again.Ever.When children go under the hill, they stay where they’re put.Forever.When children go under the hill, parents, though they pray...

Never take your eyes off your children. Don't let them walk home alone, don't let them walk to the store alone. Your children may never return. Or, if somehow they do, they may not be what they were before they disappeared. When the Irish were transported to the wilds of Australia, something else also made the journey. I read this at night, in the dark, under the covers with a book light. Tor does that to me.Book Season = Winter (question authority)

It was nice but too predictable.

Depressing, but awesome. Freebie at Tor.com. Highly recommended! Five stars!

Finnegan's Field by Angel Slatter is another Tor.com original and, being a Slatter story, how could I not read it? It was horrifying. (Intentionally so.) I will note that at one point, maybe halfway through, I caught myself thinking "Oh, but that's one horror element, the rest of the story doesn't feel that much like horror..." But then I got to the end. This story is definitely horror. Also, if you don't like reading about bad things happening to children, don't read this one. Like, really, don...

A superb story of Irish-Australians finding they've taken more from the old country to their new land than they realised. Centred around a girl who has returned after being missing for three years and the mother who seems to be the only one who sees she is changed, this tale this changeling tale wonderfully addresses the themes of loss, separation, revenge and acceptance. Dark and disturbing, of course.

“Worst day of my life, Annie. Realising she’d not come home from school, then waiting and waiting and saying all the prayers I was ever going to have in me. Making promises to a shite of a God while the men searched high and low, through paddocks and bush, dredged the rivers and dams, turned people’s homes inside out, looking for my little girl. And all those prayers, Annie, all that begging and what did it get me? Nowt. Not even a body to bury.” She puffed, trying to get her breath back; then A...

Opening lines:In Irish lore, when children go under the hill, they don’t come out again.Ever.When children go under the hill, they stay where they’re put.Forever.When children go under the hill, parents, though they pray and search, don’t truly think to see them anymore.Never.You may read online here.

Day 18 in my 24 Days of Shorts Your kind takes your heritage with you, surely as a scent. Other cultures, after a time, blend in with their new environments, but the Irish never really do. They’re always identifiable, no matter how many generations between them and the misty green, no matter how thin the blood becomes; they don’t forget what runs in their veins, that Brigid and Morrígu are their true mothers. You carry it just as you carry your grief; even when you celebrate, you know that sad...

Read hereDescription: “Finnegan’s Field” by Angela Slatter is a dark fantasy novelette about a six year old child who mysteriously disappears for three years, only to return home just as mysteriously — but not quite the same. At least, not to her mother.Opening: In Irish lore, when children go under the hill, they don’t come out again.Ever.When children go under the hill, they stay where they’re put.Forever.When children go under the hill, parents, though they pray and search, don’t truly think

This was very creepy and made me want more! It's a short story, so I'm not going to summarize. It took me about 30 minutes to plow through. If horror or thrillers is your thing you should enjoy this.

Loved this creepy little short story.