El circo del miedo (The Circus of Fear)

# Catalog Note

El Circo del Miedo (The Circus of Fear) by Curtis Garland is a horror-crime narrative set in Greybull, Wyoming during a winter snowstorm. The story opens as a traveling circus concludes its engagement in the small logging town. After closing her tavern for the night, Brenda, the middle-aged female proprietor, discovers wet footprints leading from her unlocked back door—evidence of an intruder. A figure emerges from the shadows wearing a grotesque white clown mask beneath a black tunic. The masked assailant violently attacks Brenda, brutally overpowering her resistance. After sexually assaulting her, the attacker retrieves an axe and decapitates her with a single blow. The narrative concludes with the killer's silent, demonic laughter as the victim's body convulses in death. The story combines elements of slasher horror with circus/carnival imagery, focusing on graphic depictions of violence.