Face the Demon

In 1994, a small Nashville literary journal titled Face the Demon became the very first journal to accept one of my works of short fiction, “Night Remedy,” for publication. I was still in college at the time and had recently written a small article about a related Nashville entertainment venue for the Middle Tennessee State University student newspaper Sidelines.

Unfortunately, I cannot recall more details about how I discovered Face the Demon. Nor do I know what happened to the journal or its founder, although you can apparently still borrow or view copies of the journal in some libraries. I do recall the wonderful review of “Night Remedy” that the journal’s editor, David Magdalene, penned on that issue’s back cover:

I’m still trying to make up my mind…as to whether when James Hanback sat down to write NIGHT REMEDY, he had a definite allegory in mind or that his intent was entertainment…. In any event, I feel as though he succeeded on both levels, giving us a smirking scare at the same time that he makes a droll yet apt comment upon what Hunter Thompson calls, “our generation of swine,”…

By any standards, “Night Remedy” was far from a great work of literature. However, it’s always held a place of high esteem in my heart for being the first success of my many attempts to sell my short fiction. If I recall, my payment for “Night Remedy” was five contributor’s copies. I still have two of them.