Thank God for the small press, they’re doing a great job of keeping horror alive (or undead..?) for those of us who love the genre. Trips to Waterstones or Smiths can be fairly dispiriting when you look at the Horror section – if they even have one – a couple of shelves if you’re lucky, dominated by King and Koontz with very little else on show. Not that I have anything against King and Koontz (well, not King anyway…) but being spoilt for choice generally isn’t a problem you’ll encounter there.
A terrible state of affairs? Well, maybe. For anyone dreaming of making a living as a writer, horror probably isn’t the way to go but I think the small press set-up has a lot of advantages, not least of which being that they’re run by enthusiasts – people who love horror, care deeply about it and want to see quality work published. And that’s the key word – quality – both in terms of the physical product itself and also the writing contained within. Look at the Spectral Press chapbooks – they truly are things of beauty.
Given that I’m involved in a small press I’m obviously going to be biased but I think as a general principle it’s the small independents in any field who reliably produce the quality stuff, and I’m happy that horror writing is in such good hands.
Won’t be giving up the day job any time soon though…
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Monday, 4 July 2011
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Black Static #23
A pretty strong issue I think, with more good than bad in the curate's egg that Black Static often is.
Time Keeping by V.H. Leslie is a story I enjoyed more than her previous submission "Ulterior Design" which I thought was a pretty run of the mill "Descent Into Madness" story which telegraphed its intentions right from the off and used some pretty unsubtle metaphors. Howard eithyer really is a guardian of time or simply a sociopath/psychopath with an obsessive compulsion that serves to provide a framework for his life. Interaction with the real world (in the shape of Helen) can only lead to disaster as the balance of his world is changed and so it proves. The story is divided into 12 "chapters" in the same way a clock face is divided into 12 hours and the text is littered with temporal metaphors and phrases. I think there's more style than substance here - and I'm not sure if the break in chronology just before the climax is necessary, or works that well.
Hail by Daniel Kaysen. I liked this very much, mainly because it's a story that made me think. It's an enigmatic piece that doesn't give much away, even on second reading. At one point the narrator tells a Salvation Army volunteer "I am dead", his reply is "Have you got somewhere to go, though?" I'm guessing that's the crux of the story right there.
Electric Dreams by Carole Johnstone is my favourite story in this collection. Aside from appropriating the name of a song for its title - something I have a penchant for myself - it's a story with a great concept behind it. It put me in mind of the Wim Wenders film "Wings of Desire", although a much darker variation on the theme of angels watching over humanity and assisting in their hour of need.
The Harvesting of Jackson Cade by Robert Davies is probably the most entertaining story in this issue. A descent into madness - or possibly despair would be more accurate - it's suitably gross and provides plenty of wince-inducing moments.
For Their Own Ends by Joel Lane is a short piece that presents a kafka-esque vision of the NHS through the eyes of a heart attack victim. Heavy on allegory it probably loses something as a story in its own right to the message it's trying to get across. I work in the NHS and actually read this story whilst waiting to see a consultant for an appointment so a double whammy for me. Subtle it aint. Pertinent it is.
Time Keeping by V.H. Leslie is a story I enjoyed more than her previous submission "Ulterior Design" which I thought was a pretty run of the mill "Descent Into Madness" story which telegraphed its intentions right from the off and used some pretty unsubtle metaphors. Howard eithyer really is a guardian of time or simply a sociopath/psychopath with an obsessive compulsion that serves to provide a framework for his life. Interaction with the real world (in the shape of Helen) can only lead to disaster as the balance of his world is changed and so it proves. The story is divided into 12 "chapters" in the same way a clock face is divided into 12 hours and the text is littered with temporal metaphors and phrases. I think there's more style than substance here - and I'm not sure if the break in chronology just before the climax is necessary, or works that well.
Hail by Daniel Kaysen. I liked this very much, mainly because it's a story that made me think. It's an enigmatic piece that doesn't give much away, even on second reading. At one point the narrator tells a Salvation Army volunteer "I am dead", his reply is "Have you got somewhere to go, though?" I'm guessing that's the crux of the story right there.
Electric Dreams by Carole Johnstone is my favourite story in this collection. Aside from appropriating the name of a song for its title - something I have a penchant for myself - it's a story with a great concept behind it. It put me in mind of the Wim Wenders film "Wings of Desire", although a much darker variation on the theme of angels watching over humanity and assisting in their hour of need.
The Harvesting of Jackson Cade by Robert Davies is probably the most entertaining story in this issue. A descent into madness - or possibly despair would be more accurate - it's suitably gross and provides plenty of wince-inducing moments.
For Their Own Ends by Joel Lane is a short piece that presents a kafka-esque vision of the NHS through the eyes of a heart attack victim. Heavy on allegory it probably loses something as a story in its own right to the message it's trying to get across. I work in the NHS and actually read this story whilst waiting to see a consultant for an appointment so a double whammy for me. Subtle it aint. Pertinent it is.
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