(3.5) Strange Pictures comes with ready-made lore surrounding the author, who is (apparently, I haven’t looked too deep into this so don’t take my wor(3.5) Strange Pictures comes with ready-made lore surrounding the author, who is (apparently, I haven’t looked too deep into this so don’t take my word for it) an anonymous YouTuber whose face and voice are always disguised. Each chapter features a separate story accompanied by a drawing which, if studied carefully, reveals something about the mystery that connects them all. If this seems an odd gimmick to build a book around, it’s explained by the further detail that Uketsu is (again, apparently) well-known for creating these ‘sketch mysteries’.
In the first story, two students discuss a weird old blog they’ve found, one with a chilling final entry. At this point, the vibe is distinctly creepy; Strange Pictures has more of a horror feel at the beginning, then slowly transforms into a whodunnit. It’s straightforwardly written – plain style, a lot of repetition – it reminded me more than anything of Chris Priestley’s Tales of Terror series for children. That said, it works: the mystery of the blog, especially, is gripping, and it all comes together successfully at the end.
I received an advance review copy of Strange Pictures from the publisher through NetGalley....more
I was instantly mesmerised by the opening chapter of Old Soul, in which a teacher finds he has something very unusual in common with a woman he meets I was instantly mesmerised by the opening chapter of Old Soul, in which a teacher finds he has something very unusual in common with a woman he meets on a trip to Osaka. From this first scene onwards, this book is utterly compelling. It switches between a continuing narrative – titled ‘Badlands’ – and a series of testimonies that almost act as self-contained short stories. The latter are connected by the presence of Jake, the teacher from the first chapter, who goes all over the world in search of them. Together, these entwined narratives slowly paint a picture of the character at the book’s heart: a woman who takes on many guises, an immortal, the ‘old soul’ of the title, a dangerous and unknowable creature. In spite of all that, this isn’t a story with a clear-cut villain. As I read, I frequently found my sympathies shifting.
There are definite similarities to Barker’s earlier novel The Incarnations, which also follows a centuries-old character with many different faces, but this is clearly the superior product – slicker and impeccably paced, so unbearably tense I was constantly tempted to skip ahead because I just needed to find out where it was going next. (I tended to enjoy the testimonies most, but ‘Badlands’ is electric with suspense, like a taut wire pulled through the middle of the book.) It reminded me of The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, or even a supernatural version of Liz Nugent’s Skin Deep. I already want to read it again.
I received an advance review copy of Old Soul from the publisher through NetGalley....more
Journal entries tell the story of a tumultuous season in a mystery world. This chapbook weaves together strange events with backstories for each of itJournal entries tell the story of a tumultuous season in a mystery world. This chapbook weaves together strange events with backstories for each of its character, telling a lot of story in a small number of pages. Enjoyed the creative names for months (Meltwater, Stillwind, Amberlight)....more
Read that Rob Savage is directing an adaptation of this, then discovered the ebook was free to read on Kindle. It’s a solid graphic novel about a lostRead that Rob Savage is directing an adaptation of this, then discovered the ebook was free to read on Kindle. It’s a solid graphic novel about a lost film. Didn’t really do what I want a lost film narrative to do – it’s too fixed to a single location, the film itself doesn’t seem interesting enough to warrant the reputation it has in-story – but a decent way to pass half an hour. ...more
Camilla Bruce’s fifth novel is a light-hearted supernatural confection about a conniving woman’s battle of wits with her wily nieces. Clara Woods is aCamilla Bruce’s fifth novel is a light-hearted supernatural confection about a conniving woman’s battle of wits with her wily nieces. Clara Woods is a social-climbing, diamond-loving widow who’s quietly delighted when her wealthier half-brother dies, leaving her in charge of his daughters. She assumes their fortune will now be hers, but it turns out to be locked away until they’re older – plus the girls are rather savvier than anticipated, and come with strange and unexpected abilities (Lily can sense people’s true emotions; Violet can talk to the dead). This wasn’t the creepy gothic novel I was expecting, but rather a horror-comedy – more The Canterville Ghost than The Turn of the Screw – and the joke wears thin after a while. While Aunt Clara is cartoonish in her villainy, the girls are so dull and smug that I found myself rooting for Clara anyway (at least she’s entertaining), and the ghosts’ antics are repetitive. Once the setup is established, which happens early on, there’s only so much that can be done with it. The ending is a letdown too; I was hoping for a ghoulish twist. Good as undemanding fun, a bit disappointing as a spooky season pick, and not a patch on Bruce’s You Let Me In.
I received an advance review copy of At the Bottom of the Garden from the publisher through Edelweiss....more
(Review written January 2018.) It's make-or-break time for thirtyish couple Nick and Hannah. They're discontented, always bickering; Hannah has been m(Review written January 2018.) It's make-or-break time for thirtyish couple Nick and Hannah. They're discontented, always bickering; Hannah has been made redundant, and while Nick isn't sure how he feels about getting married, Hannah wants nothing more. It takes an almost-breakup for Nick to realise he can't live without Hannah. He's so grateful to get her back that not only does he propose, he agrees to move with her from New York City to Dutchess County, further upstate, so she can take on a new job: caretaker of the Wright Historic House. This small museum was once home to a writer, Edmund Wright, and his family. The tragic death of Wright's youngest son led him to dabble in occult practices, and local rumours say the building is haunted.
At first, the couple are blissfully happy. The move out of NYC invigorates their relationship; living in the museum is cosy and charming, a whimsical adventure. But after a while, cracks begin to show. Hannah starts behaving erratically, and Nick worries about her mental health. One night, she insists she can hear voices in the empty house. She barely sleeps; spends hours going through old paperwork in a cluttered office. Nick discovers she has stopped taking the medication prescribed ever since a nervous breakdown in her early twenties, and shortly afterwards, she goes missing. The aftermath sends Nick into a spiral of depression, confusion and guilt. What happened to Hannah? And what does it have to do with Wright's experiments in spiritualism?
I just tore through this one – it's so readable, as smooth as caramel and totally compelling. It's not really a ghost story, but there's always the promise of strangeness just around the corner. Dolnick makes his protagonists incredibly likeable yet makes sure the reader is aware something – the true nature of what's going on? – is out of their reach. The way Nick tells his story, with careful trepidation, assigning retrospective significance to certain incidents, only adds further layers of intrigue. If you're looking for a proper supernatural tale, look elsewhere; while there is horror here, it is (mostly) of the more existential kind. However, it's no less effective for that.
I received an advance review copy of The Ghost Notebooks from the publisher through NetGalley....more
(Review written November 2016.) Many of these stories have similar features: ponderous beginnings – through which you must slog to get to the good stu(Review written November 2016.) Many of these stories have similar features: ponderous beginnings – through which you must slog to get to the good stuff – and sudden endings, cutting them short just as they've become interesting. One of them actually ends in the middle of a sentence. 'The Room in the Tower', 'Mrs Amworth' and 'The Man Who Went Too Far' are worth seeking out; the rest, sadly, feel like filler. It seems this is often the way with collections of ghost stories by authors who wrote them but weren't best known for them (see also E. Nesbit's Horror Stories).
Spinach A brother and sister work as mediums, each claiming to have the power to channel a spirit guide. When one of their best clients encourages them to holiday in her seaside cottage, they head off, only to find that the previous tenant is still very much there... in spirit. This doesn't go the way you might think – the siblings really do seem to be able to channel ghosts, and their communication with this one is successful, though it leads to a macabre discovery. I liked the depiction of these characters, and the dialogue is sharply observed and amusing, but the story doesn't have a proper ending. As an opening to the collection, I enjoyed 'Spinach', but it adjusted my expectations: rather than fully-formed ghost stories, I assumed the rest of the collection would be made up of similar witty scenes.
In the Tube A more traditional ghost story, using the familiar 'storytelling' framing device: a first-person narrator hears a spooky tale from an acquaintance. The acquaintance has been haunted by visions of a man, both before and after his demise by suicide. Again, the story ends abruptly. Contrary to my aforementioned expectations, it isn't especially witty, and doesn't seem likely to stick in my memory for long.
The Man Who Went Too Far A lovely atmosphere in this, with description that really captures the beguiling magic of its rural setting. Two old friends meet after several years' separation, but Darcy is alarmed and intrigued to see that Frank has the appearance of a man fifteen years younger. His explanation is that he has adopted a way of life that brings him closer to nature, ridding himself of all pain and suffering (or proximity to it). However, it's not hard to guess from the title how this is going to pan out. In the end, the story seems to read as a cautionary tale about the dangers of eschewing Christianity.
Mrs Amworth A very enjoyable vampire story set in an otherwise sleepy, picturesque village. It doesn't exactly offer a new take on the genre but, even so, I'd probably say this is my favourite of the collection so far.
(The above reviews were written separately as part of a review-in-progress, each one completed after I finished the story. At this point, however, I got a bit fed up and resolved to finish the rest off in one go. I also remembered why I don't usually do this: because it ends up taking me a month to read a sub-200-page book.)
The other five stories are a similarly uneven bunch. The best of the lot is 'The Room in the Tower', in which a man finds a recurring dream appearing to come true, and is menaced by a diabolical painting; it's by far the most successful at conjuring up a genuine sense of dread and terror. The story that follows it, 'The Bus-Conductor', is both unremarkable and far too similar to 'In the Tube'. There are two stories about gigantic evil slugs (!), which makes this sound like a MUCH more exciting book than it is. And the last one is about poor put-upon caterpillars taking revenge on a couple of obnoxious caterpillar-taunting fops. At least that's how I read it. ...more
I loved Newman’s Municipal Gothic so much that I bought and started reading this new collection immediately after finishing it. There’s definitelyI loved Newman’s Municipal Gothic so much that I bought and started reading this new collection immediately after finishing it. There’s definitely more of a folk horror flavour to Intervals of Darkness. Things rise up from the earth, or the sea: an ancient skull in ‘Poor Ned’s Head’, a pair of antlers in ‘The Horns in the Earth’. Echoes of history reverberate through ‘Second Homes’ and ‘Tales from the Levels: ‘Remembrance’’; rural communities reject and/or terrorise outsiders in ‘Night of the Fox’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’.
At the same time, the book continues and reinforces the political slant evident in Newman’s first collection. This is most apparent in two stories I can’t help but think of as a pair, ‘British Chemicals’ and ‘Industrial Byproducts’. In ‘Chemicals’, company directors discuss a factory worker’s mysterious death; though they acknowledge a strange presence on the factory floor, they ultimately decline to award his family compensation, adding a final indignity to a lifetime of exploitation. Strange elements notwithstanding, ‘Byproducts’ really feels like more of a realist, miserabilist story, in which a working-class couple struggle to maintain optimism in the face of the daily grind. The effects of decades of work manifest in unusual physical ways, but really the point is that these shining, beautiful people are ground down to nothing by the simple act of trying to survive.
I loved ‘The Horns in the Earth’, in which a cynical writer visits a series of council estates, hoping to find a topic for a book. He ends up being haunted (and somewhat oblivious about it) after digging a pair of antlers out of an old rubbish heap. ‘Winter Wonderland’, charting a doomed family outing to a Christmas theme park, is excellent, and so cinematic it feels like a ready-made basis for a film. I also enjoyed the Aickmanesque ‘Night of the Fox’, and ‘Competing Theories with Regards to the Origins of the Ghost of Totterdown Lock’ with its multitude of voices.
Overall, I didn’t fall as hard for this book as I did for Municipal Gothic – maybe it wasn’t the best idea to read the books back-to-back, but I was just so excited to discover a new writer to add to my collection of favourites. Although I’d recommend Municipal Gothic first, Intervals of Darkness is well worth a look if you’re interested in modern British horror....more
First things first: I had no idea that Elizabeth Hand’s ‘Near Zennor’ – literally my favourite short story of all time – would appear in this anthologFirst things first: I had no idea that Elizabeth Hand’s ‘Near Zennor’ – literally my favourite short story of all time – would appear in this anthology. For anyone thinking of buying Bound in Blood, Hand’s story is an absolute masterpiece that is worth the price of the book on its own. I wrote about it in my review of her collection Errantry, and there’s not much I can add to that, but again: it’s a masterpiece.
Yet its inclusion means I find Bound in Blood more difficult to review, overall, than I might otherwise. For me, ‘Near Zennor’ is such a standout it makes even the good stories here look mediocre by comparison. That’s not to say that it’s a bad collection, just your typical mixed bag. As with something like Darkness Beckons, I found this to be such a mixture of styles and subgenres of horror that I inevitably found myself skipping over some of the stories. As a result, I’m not sure I can assign a single rating to it.
With that said, Lucie McKnight Hardy’s ‘Broken Back Man’ is excellent: a barman is spooked when a customer reminds him of childhood night terrors; it’s truly atmospheric and creepy. As a non-enjoyer of cosmic horror, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Charlie Higson’s ‘From the Sea’, an ingenious and funny reinvention of Lovecraft that reminded me of Lynne Truss’s Cat Out of Hell. Other highlights were A.G. Slatter’s enjoyably gothic ‘Bell, Book and Lamp’; Robert Shearman’s odd, original ‘Beneath the Diaphragm, the Gut Itself’; and Alison Moore’s ‘The House Witch’, a typical Moore combination of mundanity and the weird....more
(3.5) I haven’t read anything from PS Publishing for a while, and when I went to browse their recent releases, this – a new novella from the author of(3.5) I haven’t read anything from PS Publishing for a while, and when I went to browse their recent releases, this – a new novella from the author of The Ghost Sequences – caught my eye. Grackle follows master’s student Andi as she travels to the ‘famously haunted town’ of Drakesburg on a research trip. With her sister reluctant to join in, she ends up with fellow student Emanuelle in tow. And it’s Emanuelle who tells her the story of Grackle, a piece of folklore she’s never heard before... and a story that, thereafter, seems to haunt her all over Drakesburg.
Grackle is not as good as the strongest stories in Sequences; for my money, ‘The Nag Bride’ is a more successful treatment of some of the themes also found here (grief, family ties, folklore). I liked the investigation elements best, and would have preferred more clue-chasing, less abstract stuff. It has bags of atmosphere, though, and the kind of evocative description that makes it easy to imagine a film adaptation. ...more
Issue 4 is bookended by two of the best stories to have ever appeared in this zine. Guan Un’s ‘Feel the Burn’ collects emails from an increasingly belIssue 4 is bookended by two of the best stories to have ever appeared in this zine. Guan Un’s ‘Feel the Burn’ collects emails from an increasingly belligerent gym owner as he tries to get around the problem of a giant spider in the cardio room; it’s perfectly realised and very funny. Kay Hanifen’s lost-documents story, ‘The Lost Park of Max Westgate’, is terrific and terrifying: a billionaire plans a theme park filled with human-animal hybrids, and its head scientist’s journal tells the sorry tale of how it all went hideously wrong (think ‘Abandoned by Disney’ by way of The Island of Dr. Moreau). I also enjoyed ‘Which World Ending Nightmare Are You?’ by Susan Taitel, in which a BuzzFeed quiz gets Lovecraftian, and Sara Omer’s cult story through penpal letters, ‘We See Red’. The prize for most original concept goes to Annika Barranti Klein’s ‘Transmissions from a Dying Whale’, a librarian’s log of the 1,000+ days she spends alone in the ‘World Library’... which is inside a whale. As ever, a highly recommended anthology overall!...more
In pandemic-era New York City, 24-year-old Cora’s world is torn apart when her older sister Delilah is killed right in front of her. It seems to be a In pandemic-era New York City, 24-year-old Cora’s world is torn apart when her older sister Delilah is killed right in front of her. It seems to be a racially motivated attack: Cora and Delilah are Chinese, and Cora swears she heard the attacker whisper the words ‘bat eater’. In the aftermath, a numb Cora becomes a crime scene cleaner. Her assignments reveal a disturbing trend: increasingly large numbers of crime scenes involve brutal killings of East Asian women. And they also involve bats. If that’s not bad enough, Cora thinks she’s being haunted by a hungry ghost.
Right from the start, Bat Eater is a gory rollercoaster of a story: as the first chapter immediately signals, Baker is gleefully unafraid to kill her darlings. The narrative never sits still, hopping and skipping between social commentary, cinematically vivid horror and a sort of lopsided coming-of-age story, with a likeable heroine in Cora. I raced through it – it’s difficult not to. And quite a few developments surprised me.
At times, it can be a bit too glib. There’s such a strong ‘YA author’s first novel for adults’ vibe here that I’d guessed it was exactly that before even knowing if the author has written YA (she has) or if this is her first book for adults (it is). While the plot is exciting and unpredictable, that’s sometimes at the expense of plausibility; there are plot holes here that just wouldn’t fly in a more ‘serious’ book. It’s the kind of story where that will either bother you (and ruin it) or simply not matter because you’re having a good time; thankfully, I was in the latter category.
Also, this book is so perfectly primed to be made into a film, it needs to be optioned right now, if that hasn’t happened already.
I received an advance review copy of Bat Eater from the publisher through NetGalley....more
A fun, fast-paced graphic novel that made for a quick and entertaining read. Newly out as trans, Sammie is invited on a bachelor party trip, where theA fun, fast-paced graphic novel that made for a quick and entertaining read. Newly out as trans, Sammie is invited on a bachelor party trip, where they’re repeatedly misgendered and forced to participate in all sorts of performatively macho activities. But there’s also something distinctly weird about the location, a manmade island where the ‘fun’ includes the chance to hunt your own clone, and an organisation called the Gray Hand are recruiting people into a shady cult-like ‘network’. Boys Weekend is a lot of things – emotional drama, holiday-gone-wrong comedy, Lovecraftian horror – but I thought it all worked, in terms of the story at least. The weak point for me was actually the art. The backdrops seem unfinished, with good ideas for details but shaky execution, and I couldn’t always figure out how characters were meant to be feeling/reacting from how their facial expressions were drawn....more
Dead Letters is an anthology with a brilliant concept which just happens to be weighted towards subgenres I don’t much enjoy. If you prefer monster stDead Letters is an anthology with a brilliant concept which just happens to be weighted towards subgenres I don’t much enjoy. If you prefer monster stories, cosmic horror, action/gore and dark fantasy over ghost stories and subtler shades of weird fiction, you might get more out of this book than I did. Which is to say I didn’t love it, but that’s not a value judgement, just a matter of taste. And of course there are some great stories here, especially ‘Re: The Hand (of god)’ by J.A.W. McCarthy, which uses emails and messages to tell the story of a woman who gets trapped at work... with a severed hand... that keeps getting bigger. How you even come up with an idea as original and strange as this story, I’ll never know. Also really liked ‘Something Cool Behind the Waterfall’ by Nat Reiher (similarly original), ‘Family Dirt’ by Justin Allec, ‘The Second Death’ by Christina Wilder, ‘Echo Chamber’ by Gemma Files and ‘Berkey Family Vacation 1988’ by Jacob Steven Mohr....more
Straight from the ‘made in a lab just for me’ short story universe, this is a ‘lost media’ story with a twist. Stella is a compulsive liar, if a harmlStraight from the ‘made in a lab just for me’ short story universe, this is a ‘lost media’ story with a twist. Stella is a compulsive liar, if a harmless one; she falsifies facts about her life partly to amuse herself, partly to see how people react. So when she asks an old friend if he remembers the fictitious kids’ TV series The Uncle Bob Show, she’s shocked when he not only says yes, but pulls out VHS tapes of old episodes on which they both appeared. Great starting point, well told, just long enough to pack enough detail in without overcomplicating things. A bit like Mister Magic if it was much better and a lot shorter. ...more
I’m planning to reread this later in the year, and will write more then, but for now, I love LOVED it – a stunning spin on ‘dark academia’ tropes, a sI’m planning to reread this later in the year, and will write more then, but for now, I love LOVED it – a stunning spin on ‘dark academia’ tropes, a story that turns itself upside down and shakes everything out. Not only is it a story about privilege and obsession and envy, it gets to the heart of something about why we are so endlessly fascinated by these stories. An instant favourite, to sit next to The Party, The Bellwether Revivals and Engleby....more
I bought this within minutes of learning about its existence. A horror anthology based entirely around doppelgangers, doubles and changelings?! What aI bought this within minutes of learning about its existence. A horror anthology based entirely around doppelgangers, doubles and changelings?! What a great idea! Sadly, it gets off to a bad start: the first story doesn’t so much riff on Taxi Driver as steal from it (there’s taking inspiration from a film, and then there’s lifting some of the best dialogue in cinema history and putting it straight into your story; the latter doesn’t sit right with me). I hoped this would be the low point, but some of the others are even weaker, and the quality level rarely rises above ‘okay but not great’. Only one is truly strong: ‘Who Is That On the Other Side of You?’ by Timothy J Jarvis, which follows two lookalike men on an Antarctic expedition, is compelling and told in an effective format. Other than that... I don’t like being negative about stuff from small presses, but it’s hard to find many redeeming features here....more
Having long been a fan of Mariana Enríquez’s short stories – especially the superb Things We Lost in the Fire, the first of her books to be translatedHaving long been a fan of Mariana Enríquez’s short stories – especially the superb Things We Lost in the Fire, the first of her books to be translated into English – I was excited to get stuck in to this brand-new collection. ‘Face of Disgrace’ is creepy and genuinely disturbing at points; ‘Different Colours Made of Tears’ has good character work and a strong voice; both of them are anchored by original concepts. ‘A Sunny Place for Shady People’ is unexpectedly poignant, ‘A Local Artist’ starts strong and has a well-realised setting. Unfortunately, most of the rest don’t get much better than merely ‘fine’. There’s little here that lives up to Things We Lost in the Fire, or even the earlier, less polished The Dangers of Smoking in Bed.
Not for the first time, I wonder why the synopsis and marketing of a book doesn’t reflect the actual content of the book. Sunny Place is sold as a collection of macabre stories exploring ‘love, womanhood, LGBTQ counterculture, parenthood and Argentina’s brutal past’. I’m not sure I could locate some of these themes in the book if I tried (did I miss whatever the ‘LGBTQ counterculture’ part was supposed to be?) This is a collection that leans heavily on body horror; it’s really the main theme that runs through most of the stories, so it’s weird this isn’t mentioned anywhere. Body horror is a specific flavour of horror, and while it has been present in Enríquez’s stories before, it’s more prevalent here, and much blunter too. This results in the type of horror story I admire rather than like. I appreciate it takes skill to get under the reader’s skin, to provoke disgust, but I don’t feel pleasantly spooked by these kind of stories, just a bit nauseous.
I’m tempted to wonder if something was lost in translation here – and not just the title (which sounds bizarrely cheesy in English, and strikes entirely the wrong tone for the book). Two of the stories are based on urban legends that are so well-known as to border on cliche; I initially assumed these must be less well-known in Argentina... except I’ve been looking through the reviews in Spanish, and a recurring criticism there is that Enríquez is trying too hard to tailor her style for Western audiences. Finally, to go back to the body horror thing: honestly, I didn’t enjoy the way many of these stories use disability or disease to incite fear. Maybe this has always been a feature of Enríquez’s writing and I haven’t picked up on it enough; maybe there’s just a lot more of it in this book. Either way, I wasn’t comfortable with it.
I received an advance review copy of A Sunny Place for Shady People from the publisher through Edelweiss....more
Carpenter’s debut collection is superb – a welcome addition to the canon of the urban weird. Set across Manchester, London and a few unloved corners oCarpenter’s debut collection is superb – a welcome addition to the canon of the urban weird. Set across Manchester, London and a few unloved corners of England, the book is full of great ideas executed well: ‘Stink Pit’ follows a group of hunt saboteurs who wonder if one of their number might be an undercover cop; in ‘Gods & Kings’, a man finds out his old uni mate has become a neo-Nazi. A few more experimental pieces – like ‘Flotsam’ and ‘Myrmidons’ – I found less effective; the stories here are at their best when tethered to a specific location. Carpenter is great at communicating a sort of authentic griminess that speaks to the reality of living in these places, rather than simply an uncomplicated nostalgia.
Two of the best are Manchester stories. ‘Hunting by the River’, about a man’s search for his missing sister, boasts some incredible creepy details. ‘Beneath the Pavement, the Beach’, with its series of parallel cities, is so ambitious it could easily be expanded into a novel. I’d already read the London-rental-nightmare story ‘Habitual’, which appears in the anthology For Tomorrow, and it fits really well into this collection – in fact, better here than in the anthology. Another favourite, ‘A Visitors Guide to Penge Magic (Annotated)’, is a spellbinding strange story that plays out across the pages of a doubly-annotated historical diary. Read this book if you’ve loved anything by Joel Lane or Gary Budden, The Magnus Archives or the Portals of London blog....more