On the HahaFiction shelf
Horrorstör
Something is damaging the merchandise at a Cleveland furniture superstore after closing. Amy, Ruth Anne and their manager Basil agree to stay overnight to find the culprit. Their shift takes them beyond stockroom trouble into a violent haunting.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Something strange is happening at the ORSK furniture store in Cleveland.”Read the full description at Publisher description, Quirk Books
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What makes it funny?
Basil praises Amy as a loyal, reliable recruit for the overnight job. When she presses him, he admits that a succession of other employees turned him down, including one with an online auction to watch.
The comedy at work
Basil uses corporate encouragement to sell an undesirable shift; Amy answers with sarcasm and practical demands. The satire extends to the store's controlled routes and repetitive work, which acquire a more sinister purpose as the night progresses.
Try this if…
The appeal includes caustic exchanges between retail workers and the visual jokes of a book designed as a furniture catalog. Readers who enjoy workplace satire inside a ghost story get both on the page.
Good to know
The illustrated products grow more threatening as the story develops. So does the violence: brutal punishment and self-inflicted death are part of the horror beyond the comic opening.
A few distinguishing details
- Furniture-catalog design becomes part of the haunting
- Corporate pep talks meet an employee's practical skepticism
More funny horror
Sources & further reading
- Horrorstor | Quirk Books
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