DARK MINDS took you from the trenches of World War One to Post-Apocalypse America, from the war-torn streets of Berlin to the streets where you live in a collection of twelve stories of dark fiction...
DARKER MINDS took you to the darkest recesses of the human mind, bringing you thirteen terrifying tales of madness, delusion and psychological horror...
DARKEST MINDS will take you places you don't want to go, a journey into a world of nightmares where your worst fears become reality. The darkest of places...
Dark Minds Press will soon be announcing their submission guidelines for their third anthology of dark fiction. Keep checking here for details.
Where Furnaces Burn is a collection of stories by Joel Lane and is published by PS Publishing. There are twenty six stories in the book, all told in first person narrative and chronicle case studies of a policeman (enigmatically anonymous) working in the West Midlands. It's a stunning collection and is at the same time possibly the bleakest thing I've ever read.
The stories within these covers will take you to some very dark places and, in many instances will leave you there, many of the stories in here are open-ended, lack resolution, anyone looking for straightforward procedurals with neatly tied off denouments are going to be seriously disappointed. However, anyone looking for beautifully written prose examining the darkest reaches of human nature are going to revel in the goods on display here.
The first person narration turns this collection into more of an extended stream of consciousness. There's much abyss gazing here and, because the abyss does so much more than simply gaze back, the narrator becomes the most unreliable of his kind, casting a massive air of ambiguity over what he is describing.
The theme of decay runs throughout this collection, urban decay, the decay of society, the decay of the individual. The smell of rotten buildings is mentioned in many of the stories, descriptions of patches of mould and damp are rife, all serving to create an atmosphere of desolation, the external environment reflecting the inner turmoil of the narrator. It's a long dark night of the soul and there are very few moments of lightness, the only humour present the in-joke of having two PCs named McMahon and Bestwick.
There's horror here aplenty, a supernatural aspect to the cases and the concept of a gradual descent into Hell with contact being made via arcane rituals, damaged individuals and portals appearing amidst decaying buildings. "There was no room for the unknown" the narrator tells us in the opening story, trying to explain why he chose the police as a career. The phrase reads as naive on first encounter, on completion of the book its irony is profound. Where Furnaces Burn is a demanding read, disturbing and utterly bleak. The writing is superb though, poetic even (my favourite line compares a hole in the floor to "an infected wound in an old man's foot") and is as effective in describing the breakdown of the narrator's relationships as the supernatural entities and forces he comes up against.
Highly recommended.
Little Star is the latest novel from "Sweden's answer to Stephen King" (as the Daily Mail calls him, a comparison just dripping with originality) John Ajvide Lindqvist. It's a follow up to his last novel Harbour which is a book I loved (I actually felt sad when I finished it because I was enjoying the experience of reading it so much) so I was looking forward to reading this very much. There's a definite style to Lindqvist's writing, one I find very similar to another of my favourite writers John Irving, a matter of fact, and yet at the same time quite arch telling of the story. There's a real sense of being "told" the story as you read it.
In keeping with this style, the novel begins almost as a fairy tale with a foundling child being discovered in a forest. The decision of Lennart, a musician who makes the discovery, to take the child home and keep the it a secret has profound implications for himself and his family. What follows is a grim fairy tale indeed.
There are many themes running through this novel, the notion of chance, and how small events and decisions can have massive, life changing effects is a constant throughout the six hundred and odd pages. The whole notion of identity is explored, and the development of character and personality (the young girl, who will come to be known as Theres, is exposed to video nasties at an early age and this, coupled with her "parents"' tactic of convincing her the outside world is a dangerous place full of monsters, is a major contributing force to what leads to the horrors that unfold, creating a skewed notion of what reality is).
The brainwashing that occurs in Theres' early life is another major theme of the book and Lindqvist takes it and runs, turning the book into a devastating satire on the cult of celebrity, and in particular the manufactured reality of pop-idol shows. Despite having no discernible personality (having never been allowed to develop one), Theres becomes a celebrity and even attracts a cult following, in particular a group of teenage girls who hang on her every word and who will do anything for her...
That "anything" turns out to be the devastating finale to the book. It's controversial (so much so I'm surprised the Daily Mail were happy to praise the book) and horrifying. But then there are many controversial and horrifying things happening in this novel, made all the more so by the aforementioned style of writing. I for one will never be able to listen to Abba's Thank You For The Music in quite the same way again.
I loved Little Star though not in the same way that I loved Harbour. It's quirky, and leaves a lot of stuff open-ended and unanswered, and parts of it are disturbing to read, not because they're exploitative but because they are genuinely disturbing things that are happening. Yes, it's an allegory but the message is woven into beautiful prose that will keep you turning the pages.
Habit is the debut novel from Stephen McGeagh and is published by Salt Publishing. First novels can be a hit-or-miss affair sometimes (and are the subject of an excellent article by Nicholas Royle - who has himself had work published by Salt - which can be found here) but on the whole I've been impressed with recent (and not so recent, retrospective viewings of) examples I've come across. Notable examples have been Adam Nevill's Banquet For the Damned and Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box both of which I compare favourably with what I think is the best debut horror novel ever, Clive Barker's The Damnation Game.
I became aware of Habit by way of an online recommendation by Gary McMahon. If he was blown away by the darkness and bleakness of the book then it was one I certainly had to experience for myself, to see if I would be equally as impressed.
Impressed is an understatement. Habit is a short novel but it wasn't just the word count which made me read it in one sitting, the narrative and, more importantly, the writing itself meant I couldn't put it down until I'd finished the whole thing. Another favourite first novel of mine is Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting and there are similarities between Habit and that novel in terms of the characters inhabiting them but they also share an amazing narrative voice (or voices in the case of Trainspotting...), both are written with great style and confidence, both have distinctive prose that makes them something very special indeed. Habit is a clever title, and fits the novel beautifully. It describes the existence of Michael, the first person narrator of the book whose life revolves around trips to collect benefit and the pub, the latter with his friend and sister. It's also an obvious reference to drug use and addiction, a theme the book moves into in its second half, although not in the way that might be expected.
Despite its brevity, Habit manages to cram a lot in. It's a post modern dream in that it blends genres, and does so seamlessly. From gritty, urban realism the story segues into horror, (and I mean proper horror) but it's testament to the skill of the writer that this transition in no way feels clunky, gimmicky or somehow tacked on. The events that unfold seem like an entirely natural progression from the narrative that preceded it. Habit is dark, bleak and uncompromising. There aren't many (or any...) likeable characters in it and many horrible things happen within its pages.
I loved it.
On the basis of this first novel, Stephen McGeagh is destined for great things. I for one am looking forward very much to his next publication. Habit will take you to places you really don't want to go to but trust me, stick with it, the journey is absolutely worth it.
Ah yes, Christmas, a time of giving, a time of goodwill to all men, a time of tradition... A dinner of turkey, the giving of presents, the blowing-off of porch roofs... (Okay, the last one may not be a tradition as such but it certainly played a big part in my festivities this time round). Tradition it was though to tell scary stories at this time of year, preferably around a roaring fire with a glass of brandy in hand, a practice whose motivations and origins are discussed by Johnny Mains in the introduction to the latest offering from Dark Musings' favourite publisher Spectral Press, the beautifully produced collection of stories that is The 13 Ghosts of Christmas.
It's a good title for a book (and which sits above a striking bit of cover artwork from Vincent Shaw-Morton which perfectly captures the essence of ghostly yuletide tales) but, if I'm being pedantic, isn't an entirely accurate description of the contents. There are thirteen stories here for sure, but they're not all about ghosts. Is this a problem? Of course not, only the worst of pedants so far up their own fundament would take issue with this. I actually think this a strength of the book, not too long ago I reacquainted myself with the collected stories of both Charles Dickens and M.R. James. I enjoyed the experience immensely but I have to admit that towards the end it was a case of oh, another ghost story... Variety is the spice of life and there's plenty of that in here, all of the highest quality.
The collection is book-ended by two stories that are actually about ghosts. John Costello's An Odd Number at Table opens the collection and ticks another box for the pedants being set, as it is, at Christmas. I liked the story, it's a strong opener for the book, but felt the revelation, when it came, wasn't that much of a revelation and the story's coda I found creepy, but not for the reasons you might expect...
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Lost Soldiers is the final story in the book and is an extremely atmospheric piece which makes good use of its Lincolnshire location (and weather). It's a good story but I felt the slightly jokey style of the narrator detracted a little from the overall scariness of the piece.
The spirit of M.R. James is most apparent in All that is Living by Nicholas Martin but the story felt a little disjointed, changing the character point of view midway through.
The story that most closely adheres to the tradition of the Christmas ghost story is William Meikle's Carnacki: A Cold Christmas in Chelsea. William was one of my "finds" of last year and I enjoyed this reincarnation of William Hope Hodgson's character as much as I did his Dark Melodies collection. It's an atmospheric story, well told, with a nice, traditional feel to it.
All the stories in this collection are of a high quality, there's no filler here - I enjoyed all of them. I fear Richard Farren Barber's Where The Stones Lie may have suffered somewhat by my having just read the latest Spectral chapbook The Way of the Leaves which arrived alongside my copy of 13 Ghosts as there are similarities between the stories. It's a cracking tale though, atmospheric, scary and moving.
The stand-out stories for me were firstly Thana Niveau's And May All your Christmases, a story whose premise is profoundly scary (although non-ghostly!) and which contains a curious typo which somehow escaped the ominous squint of Mr Marshall Jones.
Gary McMahon's Ritualism is another great piece of writing from the ever-consistent King of Bleak. Again, it's not a ghost story but is deeply scary nonetheless, creating a new urban myth and confirming everyone's worst fears about gangs of kids hanging around on street corners.
My favourite story in the collection though is Martin Roberts' Now and Then. It's also the shortest story in there but is stylishly written and structured, sad and scary. It worked for me. The 13 Ghosts of Christmas is yet another impressive addition to the Spectral back catalogue. Kudos to Simon Marshall Jones for reanimating this tradition (here's hoping bear-baiting and witch hunts aren't next on his list) and I wish him every success with future editions, hopefully it'll be a tradition that continues long into the future.
With a couple of exceptions I've enjoyed everything I've read this year so it wasn't a straightforward decision working out which were my favourite works of fiction of 2012. The bulk of my reading was short stories so it seems appropriate to start with that format for this review.
Choosing the single best story I read this year was the most difficult decision considering the size of the field of competitors. Before proclaiming the "winner" (there are no awards associated with this, simply my undying appreciation) there are a couple of honourable mentions to be made, two of which come from the pen of Gary McMahon, a great writer who has proven over the last few years that quantity and quality are not necessarily inversely proportional to each other, in his case quite the opposite applies. The first is in his collection Tales of The Weak and The Wounded and is Diving Deep, the second from the recently released To Usher, The Dead and is The Good, Light People - both stories transcended the words on the page, addressed profound issues in a way that left me breathless, moved in a way that I couldn't quite put my finger on, absolutely the best way to be moved. Stephen Bacon's Daddy Giggles was a superbly written story that addressed its dark subject matter in a non-expoitative way and which brought home the tragedy and horror in a suupremely effective way. My favourite individual story of the year though has to be Ray Cluley's Night Fishing from Shadows and Tall Trees 3. I waxed lyrical about the story in an earlier review here and can say that I'm still as impressed by the story now as I was then.
With respect to single author collections, kudos again to Gary McMahon's Tales of The Weak and The Wounded which I think is his best collection since How To Make Monsters, and a nod of appreciation to Conrad Williams' Born With Teeth, an astounding collection of literary horror stories where I gained as much pleasure from the writing itself as the plots and narratives. My favourite collection however -and the single most enjoyable reading experience of the year, has to be Stephen Bacon's stunning debut collection Peel Back The Sky. My full review is here and I once more urge you to buy this book which displays the considerable talents of a writer who is destined for great things. Visions Fading Fast was edited by Gary McMahon and was a collection of novellas that displayed how effective a medium it can be. Standout for me was Nathan Ballingrud's Wild Acre, another story where the tone and writing transcended the words on the page. Spectral Press goes from strength to strength, their line of Spectral Visions novellas have so far been of the highest quality and until very recently, John Llewellyn Probert's The Nine Deaths of Dr Valentine was top of the list for my favourite novella of 2012.
That was until a week or so ago when Mike O'Driscoll's TTA Press novella Eyepennies came through the letterbox. This is an outstanding piece of writing. To describe it as a contemplation of life, death and music kinda works but this is so much more. It's beautifully written and the non-linear structure reflects perfectly the confusion within the narrator's mind. It's as near perfect a piece of writing I've read, intensely disturbing and yet somehow moving. Read it if you possibly can.
The decision on my favourite novel was a close run thing too. That man McMahon crops up yet again but I'm sneakily disqualifying his two Concrete Grove novels as they're part of a trilogy that kicked off in 2011. That said, Silent Voices and Beyond Here Lies Nothing are wonderful books, excellent on their own merits but the trilogy as a whole truly deserves to be called a classic. Runner up for best novel - though only just - is Adam Nevill's Last Days. This is quite possibly the scariest book I've ever read. Hardened as I am to horror stories (or so I like to think) after 30 odd years of reading them, this book still manged to scare the shit out of me. My review is here. (Pigs will fly, I thought, before a book manages to scare me again).
The best novel of the year in my opinion however, is Simon Bestwick's tour de force of horror The Faceless. This book pressed so many of my buttons it was scary. Actually it was scary, bloody scary. Great writing, great story. My review is here.
It's been a good year for horror. Although it may still be struggling for acceptance in the "mainstream" the quality of the writing produced by the many small (and medium-sized) presses is second to none. Despite the onslaught of e-books, many publishers are still producing high quality products (hard copies if you will), notably Pendragon Press and the aforementioned Spectral Press. The chapbook is making a bit of a comeback, another pleasing development. (My personal favourite of 2012 being Mark West's What Gets Left Behind - Mark's another writer I hope is destined for great things next year).
Here's to an even better 2013.
Merry Christmas!
To Usher, The Dead is a beautifully produced book from Pendragon Press and is a collection of stories from Gary McMahon featuring his character Thomas Usher, the conflicted hero of the novels Pretty Little Dead Things and Dead Bad Things.
The stories, fourteen in all, take place prior to the events that unfold in the two novels, a kind of "Usher, the early years" if you will, and provide a back-story for the character, tracing his development and charting the changes he undergoes as his psychic abilities uncover the dark truths hidden behind the veneer of reality. It's true abyss-staring stuff here and yes, as the stories progress, the abyss does a lot of staring back...
The opening story Late Runners is really quite benign, especially when compared with some of the stories that follow, a gentle story that is sad yet touching and introduces Usher's abilities as a benign force.
There are some traditional ghost stories in here, Reflections, for example that deals with a mirror that may, or may not be haunted, and there's a welcome nod to the Banshee in Even The Wind Fears but as the book progresses the darker elements begin to appear and as it draws to a conclusion it's obvious that Usher regards his gift as more of a curse than a blessing.
There's an absolute belter of a story in this very strong collection. The Good, Light People is one of those stories that leave me with goosebumps when I've finished reading them. It wasn't till I'd finished the book that I saw that there were notes on each of the stories and that Gary himself thinks this is the best story he's ever written. It could well be. It's profound and disturbing, addressing the issue of faith in a thought-provoking and utterly terrifying way. It's a turning point too in Usher's progression, ending on an epiphany of sorts, one which will define his life from here on in. To Usher, The Dead is another fine collection of stories from Gary McMahon. I loved the two novels, put them on a par with the Concrete Grove trilogy, and these stories are a wonderful addition to those two books, adding to the character of Usher and introducing the themes and ideas that are brought to fruition in the novels.
A few typos aside (and a TOC that seems to gone somewhat awry with its page numbers) this is a beautifully produced book (I particularly like the black page marker). The stories date back to 2005 but this collection as a whole reinforces the fact that Gary McMahon is consistently one of the best, if not the best writers of contemporary horror fiction around.
Absolutely, thoroughly recommended.
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