The Whimper of Whipped Dogs by Harlan Ellison

A young woman, recently moved to New York, witnesses the brutal murder of a woman in the street from her window. Twenty-five other people witness the attack and do nothing. Beth sees a malevolent face form in the fog over the scene. She feels guilt over having done nothing for the murdered woman. Later she becomes involved in a sexual relationship with one of the other witnesses, Ray, but falls out with him and this ends. Ray tries to tell her that it is natural not to care about strangers in New York, that is the effect the city has on you. Beth is then attacked in her home one night by a burglar and almost dies, but at the last moment sees the malevolent face in the fog again and realises that it is a new god and Ray was trying to recruit her as a worshipper of this god. Beth gives in and accepts the god as her own, at which point it plucks her attacker away and tears him apart. Ray returns to hold her and Beth realises how good it feels not to be afraid.

Stylistically this story uses simple language and quite short paragraphs. There is little, if any, use of simile or metaphor. Ellison uses quite detailed descriptions of characters actions and I think this is particularly effective during the two attacks described to create a feeling of horror. The story structure is quite simple with little dialogue and this I found less effective as the characters and scenario never really engaged my interest. However, the overall idea of a new god of urban violence was interesting and the description of it as a demonic face among the fog was solid.

Overall I’m not sure this is really the sort of thing I’d be interested in writing myself, but it was good enough to make me want to read more of Ellison’s stories and see if there are any that are more to my taste stylistically.