Black Static 38 is dedicated to Joel Lane and opens with a heartfelt tribute from Nicholas Royle which, as is only right and fitting, concentrates on Joel's writing, illuminating his character through the words he left us. Stephen Volk's consistently entertaining column is pretty heartfelt too, a plea for art for art's sake echoing - depending on your own cultural experiences, Theophile Gautier, Edgar Allan Poe, Metro Goldwyn Mayer or 10CC - and the freedom for story-tellers to write what they want - need - to rather than what market forces dictate they should. There are similar themes in Linda Rucker's Blood Pudding which bemoans the curse of branding and the sometimes detrimental effect this can have on "horror".
The fiction begins with Andrew Hook's A Knot of Toads. Of all the stories Andrew has contributed to Black Static this is my favourite and is my pick for the best of this issue. It's a thought-provoking take on the themes of fate and destiny which raises more questions than it answers (always a good thing in my opinion). It's told in first person (as are five of the six stories in this issue) which adds to the uncertainty and ambiguity, the narrator himself unsure as to whether he is in control or being controlled, whether his actions - and their outcomes - are predestined or all down to himself. I loved the themes contained in this story and my only criticisms are technical ones; an unfortunate typo suggested one of the characters lived in Wales rather than the Lake District, there's no railway line to Keswick (other than the disused one that's now a path) and no local would use the phrase "Lake Windermere" - as every quiz aficionado knows, there's only one "lake" in the Lake District - all the others are Meres or Waters. Minor quibbles though, and probably (actually, definitely) more an indication of my own pedantry.
Tim Waggoner's The Last Fear is a tight little story about night fears and paranoia. Waking in the night, the protagonist makes the decision to open "The Door", the one which plagues his dreams, dreams in which he has to hurriedly lock it against unseen assailants. What he discovers beyond "The Door" provides just the right amount of ambiguity to make it a well written and entertaining - if not entirely original - story. Passion Play is Malcolm Devlin's first published story - and a very impressive first it is too. It tells of a police reconstruction of the last reported movements of a missing girl and is cleverly structured with impressive use of flashbacks. The missing girl is Cathy and it's the narrator of the story who is playing her in the reconstruction. The two had been friends and one of the flashbacks describes their discovery of images of the "Cross-Hatch Man" in the Stations of the Cross in their local church. There's a lot going on in this story but it all pulls together brilliantly. There's religious imagery, a real/imaginary monster and themes of identity and perception. It's an incredibly assured piece of writing and I look forward to more from the author. The Hanging Tree by Maura McHugh is first person narrative number four and tells of the malign influence of the eponymous tree which has a history of suicide attached to it. The narrator was born beneath the tree at the moment her mother discovers the body of her father hanging from it and there are hints throughout that some kind of connection was made at that point with the tree - or something associated with it - influencing and directing her life from then on. Passchendaele is an appropriate title, and theme for a story given the centenary of the commencement of the first world war and I have to say, given my own obsession with that particular period in history, I was very much looking forward to reading it. I have to say the story wasn't what I was expecting but that in no way affected my appreciation of it. I liked it very much. The main character is Hewson, a museum curator, visiting the Ypres area in preparation for a new exhibition. Whilst there, he begins to experience strange phenomena, sights and sounds that suggest the landscape around him is haunted - and with its history how could it not be? It's a subtle, atmospheric and poignant story that beautifully captures the horror and waste of the Great War.
The last story is John Grant's His Artist Wife. It's the longest story in the issue and is cleverly constructed to tell a story within a story within a story. There's murder and infidelity in this tale of a pulp-fiction writer working on his latest novel based on the wedding-night disappearance of a composer's wife. There's much life imitating art (or art imitating life) in a twisty, turny story of admittedly unreliable narration. I enjoyed it pretty much until the ending which didn't so much surprise as disappoint me. Black Static continues to be the flagship publication for literary horror and it's always with much anticipation I await the next issue. You can (and should) buy it here.
Demons and Devilry is the latest in the Pentanth series from Hersham Horror and contains five stories edited by Stuart Young on the subject of, well... demons and stuff. Does the spirit of Dennis Wheatley live on? - (quite possibly, inside the body of Iain Duncan Smith it could be argued) - the stories in this anthology may go some way to answering that. It's the fourth in the series and I can't help thinking the publishers missed a trick here by not waiting for another mini anthology to hit the presses before this one so it could be the fifth in the series thereby opening up the possibilities of much fun and games around the whole Pentagram/Pentanth thing. I digress, however.
The anthology begins with Peter Mark May's The Abhorrent Man. The story begins in the Carthage of 146BC during the sacking of the city by the Romans. Amidst the mayhem, a demon is released in an underground temple. The narrative then jumps forward to the 1920s whereupon an archaeological dig unearths the temple with drastic consequences.
There's a lot going on in this story - quite possibly too much for it's relatively short running length. Cramming so much in results in a lot of telling rather than showing and because of this, many of the scenes lack a sense of atmosphere. The author has obviously done his research, and it shows, but much of it seemed shoe-horned in and it's unfortunate that one of the characters quotes a temperature in degrees Celsius some twenty years or so before the scale was introduced. The Abhorrent Man isn't a bad story, it's actually a very good one - unfortunately it's been crammed into too few words and has suffered accordingly.
There's plenty of atmosphere in the second story however, Thana Niveau's Little Devils. It cleverly uses children as the protagonists, allowing their innocence and naivete to take them deep into some very dark places that adults would naturally avoid. Exploring a building site, they discover dead rats and bones scattered around the remains of a fire. Then things get a lot worse... The imagery associated with devil worship is well known, perhaps even cliched, but it's put to very good use in the story's conclusion, providing some genuine shudders and making this the strongest of the five tales.
Next up is The Devil in the Details - a nice pun of a title as might be expected from its author John Llewellyn Probert. And a very proberty tale it is too, exhibiting all the hallmarks of the author's distinctive style. Beginning with an almost cinematic description of a house on the Welsh coast (you can imagine the long helicopter tracking shot with a sinister voice-over as you read it) it's a darkly humorous piece about the less than successful attempts of Maxwell Chantry to summon Lucifer himself, aided and abetted by a sinister surgeon with a penchant for torture. I liked it a lot, laughing out loud on a few occasions and enjoyed the twist in the tail.
David Williamson's The Scryer takes some old horror tropes (or cliches if you're being cynical) and does... well... not much with them really other than to place them in a fairly mundane story. There aren't too many surprises in this tale of Dan, who, upon inheriting a big old house in the country, discovers a book made from human skin and a mirror. You can probably guess what's going to happen, and unfortunately you'll probably be right.
Rounding off the collection is Guardian Devil by Stuart Young, a novella no less which transports the reader from an S&M club to the Kabbalah's Tree of Life and back again, gaining enlightenment on the way. It was an experience for me as I've never been to either of those places and hopefully this vicarious experience of them will be the closest I come. Much like the opening story of the collection, there's a lot going on here and I echo my criticisms of The Abhorrent Man here, suggesting that there may be too much going on. Stuart has obviously done his research as well but I can only assume that he was somehow possessed by the malevolent spirit of Dan Simmons who forced him to Write All Of It Down. There are vast tracts of kabbalistic theory here and unfortunately they sometimes take you out of the story, interrupting the flow. It's all fascinating stuff, and makes for some startling imagery and set-pieces but it's a lot to take on board when all you really want is a scary story about demons. (Somewhat contrarily, I would have preferred that the connections to Cable St and its history mentioned in the story were actually developed a bit more so I guess there's no pleasing some people...) Guardian Devil is pretty strong stuff - definitely not for the delicate flowers out there - and a lot of it is quite shocking. It's a hard hitting, disturbing story which - despite the reservations I've already mentioned - provides a strong conclusion to the collection.
The devil may have the best songs but he doesn't always have the best stories. There's enough in Demons and Devilry however to prove that there's life in the old dog yet.
Still Life is the latest novella in the Spectral Visions series published by Spectral Press and is written by Tim Lebbon, who joins ranks with Gary Fry, John Llewellyn Probert and Stephen Volk who have all produced books of the highest quality. It's another beautifully produced book with an amazing cover image by Jim Burns which illustrates key elements form the plot.
And quite a plot it is too. Epic in fact, and it's to Tim Lebbon's credit that he can create the world in which the story takes place, and convey all the detail the reader requires in a format as short as a novella. It's a vignette really, a glimpse into a much bigger story, but it works very effectively indeed.
An invasion by "The Enemy" (and I love the fact that no other detail is given in the book about them) has left a subjugated population, corralled into settlements and living under martial law. One result of the war - and an idea I absolutely loved - is the "Road of Souls", a road made up of the remains of those killed in battle (and illustrated on the cover). It's a great concept and reminiscent of the roads constructed by the Nazis from Jewish headstones in the concentration camps during the second world war. That echoing of concentration camps is also apparent in the description of life in the settlements, most notably in the characters of the "Finks", collaborators very similar to the kapos of the camps.
Where there's subjugation, so there is resistance and it's this that provides the main narrative thrust, centering in on Jenni, whose reluctance to become involved is overcome by - well, that would possibly give too much away, suffice to say that it provides one interpretation of the book's title. Still Life is an immensely satisfying read and a fine addition to the Spectral Visions stable.
Ghosts is a collection of sixteen stories and one poem from Paul Kane, drawn from his back catalogue and based on the theme of, well, ghosts. The suitably atmospheric cover is by Les Edwards and it is, of course, another beautifully produced book.
It's a strong collection of stories, written in clear, precise prose - there aren't too many stylish flourishes here, this is straightforward story-telling. With so many stories, there's always the risk of it being a hit and miss affair and I did feel that was the case here, with one or two of the stories veering too far into sentimentality. It's difficult in these post-modern times to make a ghost story scary and the tale that probably best achieves this is Homeland which uses the haunted house trope to good effect.
The stand out stories for me were Kindred Spirits and The Suicide Room for the concepts behind them and Wind Chimes which is a nicely atmospheric tale with a twist. A DVD of the short film made form this story is also included.
Dickens provides the starting point for two of the stories in the collection. Humbuggered is an updated version of A Christmas Carol which didn't quite work for me, whereas Signals was my favourite story in the book. The story it references is The Signalman - which just happens to be my favourite Dickens ghost story. (And which is definitely the best of the BBC's adaptations). I was a little apprehensive starting Signals - a high risk of sacrilege and all that - but actually really enjoyed this clever sequel to the original. Ghosts is the first in Spectral's Collections series and provides a strong start to what will hopefully be a long line to come.
I mentioned in my review of last year that I thought the novella was probably the best format for horror stories and - whilst I stand by that view (all these weeks later!) - I have to add the caveat that sometimes the themes and ideas imagined by the author demand a longer form so that they can be developed adequately. In the same way that some short stories outstay their welcome, so a novella can seem rushed, with too much crammed in. Such was the case with William Meikle's latest work Broken Sigil published by the ever impressive Dark Fuse.
Whilst this may seem critical or even negative, it's actually an indication of how much I enjoyed the book - I was literally left wanting more. It's a high concept story and the concept is an excellent one, one which I feel could easily be expanded into a full-length novel.
The story's protagonist is Joe Connors, a policeman working in the Internal Affairs Division whose latest investigation involves an "officer down" situation where one cop has killed another. The dead man is Joe's ex-partner and had at one time been his best friend, the reason for the breakdown in their relationship something which provides the basis for what happens when the investigation takes a step away from mundane reality and into something much more esoteric...
There's a distinct noir feel to the narrative, told as it is in first person and the dead partner scenario is a subtle nod towards The Maltese Falcon. As the story progresses, that novel (and film) becomes ever more significant.
To say to much about what Connors discovers in the house where the shooting took place would be to spoil the story but that's where the high-concept stuff I alluded to before really comes into its own. It's a highly imaginative premise and one which is delivered consumately (albeit too quickly...) Yes, Broken Sigil can be read as a police procedural with some supernatural overtones but there's so much more to it than that. It's a story of love and loss, of grief and obsession, of life after - or perhaps more accurately alongside - death and the lengths people will go to to cheat it. It's also a warning to be careful what you wish for and that some things are best left alone...
I really did want more from Broken Sigil, the concept behind it is intriguing as well as entertaining and I was sorry when it came to an end. It's a great read and I highly recommend it.
Playing somewhat fast and loose with the whole concept of tradition, here is my traditional look back at the last twelve months to highlight the pieces of writing that I've enjoyed the most and to choose those I regard as the best. It's a purely personal view of course, there's no nominations process, no voting - the stories, novels and novellas I've decided on are simply the ones that have - to be slightly wanky - had the most profound effect on me, the ones that have moved me the most. I've read a lot this year but haven't come close to reading everything that the horror genre has had to offer so these "awards" are obviously chosen from that cohort of dark fiction I have had the time to read.
The writing world has suffered some great losses during 2013, a roll-call that is depressingly long. Of those great names who have left us, two in particular had the most impact on me. James Herbert was my introduction to horror. Reading The Survivor opened the door to a world I've spent a great deal of time in ever since. It terrified me at the time but left me wanting more. I re-read it this year and found it just as effective, recognising many of the set-pieces and realising that they had lodged in my subconscious all this time. It's a shame that his final book was so awful but it's the early Herbert I'll remember, The Rats, The Fog, The Dark...
Iain Banks was another literary hero of mine, producing darkly humorous, literary novels alongside high concept science fiction. The Wasp Factory was a stunning first novel and I still regard The Crow Road as a masterpiece. His final novel, The Quarry, was pretty much quintessential Banks; friends gathering at a remote house, getting stoned and drunk and discovering dark secrets from their past. The fact that one of the characters is dying from cancer made the work almost unbearably poignant.
And then, as the year was drawing to a close, Joel Lane died. I never met Joel, never knew him but some of those who did have posted incredibly moving and heartfelt tributes to him which have given an indication of how special a person he was. I knew only his writing but the strength of his convictions, his politics were all too apparent within those poetic words. And it's the words by which he, and all the other writers who have passed away this year will be remembered - that is their legacy.
It was Joel's Where Furnaces Burn that consumed much of my reading time in February, and which somehow made that bleakest of months seem even bleaker... It's an incredible collection of stories that take the reader to the dark side and which, on many occasions, leave them right there. It deservedly won the World Fantasy Award this year and is amongst my favourite single author collections of 2013.
This category has been one of the hardest to decide a "best of" as the standard has been incredibly high with many contenders to choose from. Honourable mentions go to James Everington's Falling Over, Gary Fry's Shades of Nothingness, Simon Bestwick's The Condemned, Stephen Volk's Monsters in the Heart and Nathan Ballingrud's North American Lake Monsters. The latter, in particular, merged the mundanities of real life with the supernatural elements to brilliant effect, each story a character study (often of deeply broken people) that shed light on the human condition. Those qualities were also displayed in my actual pick for best single author collection, Michael Kelly's Scratching the Surface. I loved this book, literally didn't want to put it down, eager to start the next story. The horrors within are subtle but beautifully realised, the stories emotional and profound.
Multi-author collections have been more of a hit-and-miss affair this year but that's the nature of the beast - it's rare to find a collection where every story floats your boat. The Terror Tales series from Gray Friar have re-attained the high standard of the first volume set in the Lake District with their London collection and I look forward to seeing what delights Terror Tales of the Seaside will bring. Shadows & Tall Trees maintains its consistently high standard and Crystal Lake Publishing have produced a couple of commendable themed anthologies with For the Night is Dark and Fear the Reaper. In terms of the collections that have most impressed me however, runners-up prizes go to Hersham Horror's Anatomy of Death and Penman Press's Ill at Ease 2. (There's a link between those two publications but no prizes for working out what it is). The collection that most impressed me in 2013 however, on the basis that the standard across all the stories was, in my opinion, the highest is The Unspoken edited by William Meikle. It's a fine collection (and for a good cause) with the highlights for me the stories by Simon Kurt Unsworth and Gary McMahon.
The choice of best individual short story was a difficult one too. Shorts are the majority of what I read so the pool from which to choose was a pretty deep one. Highlights, in no particular order, were Stephen Volk's A Paper Tissue from Monsters in the Heart (which also included the amazing After the Ape though I had read that before) and Stephen Bacon's Apports in Black Static - the magazine in which Ralph Robert Moore's All Your Faces Drown in my Syringe - an incredibly dark story that does exactly what good horror fiction should - disturb. A late entry, so to speak, it almost took the crown for my favourite short of 2013 but, after much consideration, that particular "honour" goes to The Fox by Conrad Williams, one of the chapbooks produced by This is Horror. Laden with metaphor, it's a disturbing tale of karma showcasing the immense skill of one of the best writers of literary horror there is.
It's been a pretty good year for novels too though these have taken up less of my reading time than other formats. Early in the year I enjoyed Alden Bell's follow up to The Reapers are the Angels, Exit Kingdom. It's basically the zombie apocalypse as written by Cormac McCarthy but it's hugely enjoyable stuff and, in my opinion, superior to Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy. Gary Fry produced a mind-boggling piece of psychological horror with Conjure House and (hot off the press, I only finished it last night) Gary McMahon rounded off the year nicely (or not so nicely, if you know what I mean) with another classy piece of writing in The Bones of You. Adam Nevill punched all of creep-out buttons in House of Small Shadows, wrapping up the imagery in a clever plot in a novel that was more subtle, but no less scary than last year's Last Days.
Stephen King produced two novels this year; Doctor Sleep, the long-awaited sequel to The Shining which made up for its lack of scariness with a tense and exciting narrative and some typically wonderfully drawn characters and Joyland which I probably enjoyed more, a crime novel that created a wonderful sense of nostalgia and plenty of emotion in its short (for King at least) length.
My favourite novel of 2013, however, was a hugely entertaining Stephen King novel that wasn't actually written by him. Joe Hill's NOS4R2 was a glorious tribute to the author's father but so much else besides. The King references worked but didn't hinder the plot which was a clever amalgam of the Dracula story, super-hero mythology and a whole host of other influences besides. It could have gone horribly wrong, but it didn't and the end result is a (cliche alert!) roller-coaster of a book that never lets up, even creeping into the notes on the typeface at the end of the book...
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the novella is the perfect format for horror. Avoiding the problems of having to maintain atmosphere and tone over a huge word count, it still gives enough room for character and plot development. 2013 has been a vintage year for the novella and has provided the most difficult of all these choices as to year's best.
I love reading the books of William Meikle and John Llewellyn Probert knowing that I'm pretty much guaranteed to be entertained by what I encounter within those pages but both authors have provided something a little different this year in some very impressive novellas. Willie's Clockwork Dolls is a lot darker than usual, a philosophical story examining fate, destiny and our place in the universe whilst John's Differently There was an elegiac, personal piece of writing examining mortality and the choices and decisions we make. I loved them both.
Simon Bestwick spoilt us with a collection of six novellas in The Condemned. All were of the highest standard but the stand-out for me was The Schoolhouse, a powerfully written piece in which the style and form perfectly capture the descent into madness of the story's protagonist.
Spectral Press continued their tradition of producing fine fiction with Stephen Volk's Whitstable. The book has been widely lauded - and justly so - it's a beautifully written tribute to Peter Cushing that combines biographical detail with an intensely moving storyline.
The novella that most impressed me in 2013 did so because it did exactly what I want from a horror story. It disturbed me. The plot itself is scary enough but it's the questions it raises in the reader's mind, the air of paranoia, of not knowing what's real and what isn't that has stayed with me, and which still affects me now, so long after having read it. My choice of the best novella of 2013 is Gary McMahon's Nightsiders .
A vintage year? Time will tell but it was a bloody good one in terms of the quality of writing on display. A sad year too, for many reasons including the passing away of another hero of mine, someone whose skill and artistry had a profound influence on me - most effectively in this scene. Merry Christmas, and here's to a great 2014.
Menace is the new novella from the prolific Gary Fry and is his latest collaboration with the consistently impressive Dark Fuse. Gary is carving out a niche for himself as a purveyor of quiet, psychological - even philosophical - horror and Menace is another example of this, creating a sense of unease that grows throughout the story as model Jane begins to realise that she may have been selected for a photographic assignment in Whitby for reasons other than her looks.
The photo-shoot is for a book cover, an autobiography of novelist Luke Reacher and it's while she's at the remote location that Jane has a ghostly experience, seeing a group of children who mysteriously disappear when she seeks them out. The appearance of those same children on the final book cover is the first in a series of disturbing events encountered by Jane as she slowly uncovers the truth behind who - and what - Luke Catcher really is.
There's a strong feeling of paranoia running through the book but it's the theme of possession that's the strongest. Jane is pregnant and the knowledge of this adds to the dread the reader feels as the story progresses. There's some ambiguity generated around whether what is happening to Jane is real or just her own grip on reality slowly being eroded although the conclusion of the story is, well... pretty conclusive. And dark. Very dark. Menace is another cracking read from Gary Fry. With perhaps a little more emphasis on the narrative thrust of the story than some of his recent offerings, it still works exceedingly well as an extremely effective psychological chiller.
Ill at Ease was a collection of three stories that was also one of my first reviews. I enjoyed it very much so was pleased to see the follow up collection published recently by Penman Press which contains stories from the three original contributors (Mark West, Stephen Bacon and Neil Williams) joined this time by four new authors.
It's Stephen Bacon who starts off the collection with his story Double Helix. It's a clever title, a reference to the molecular structure of DNA - the genetic material which is altered and mutated to cause cancer, the disease from which the story's protagonist is suffering but also hinting at themes running through the story itself. Stephen describes it as one of the most optimistic stories he's written and it is optimistic, a story of regret but also hope. There's a fantastical element to proceedings but it's the emotional impact that's most profound. It's another classy piece of writing from a writer who's fast becoming a master of subtle, understated horror.
There's a distinct change of tone with the next story, The Shuttle by Shaun Williamson. It's a grim, shocking story about a couple's attempts to start a family inspired by the author's own experiences as described in the notes that accompany this, and all the other stories in the collection. I have to say it didn't quite work for me, I would have preferred a more subtle approach to the subject matter rather than the in-your-face horror that I felt was probably trying a wee bit too hard to shock. Masks is by Robert Mammone and is a story I enjoyed very much. It's cleverly written and constructed, slowly revealing the story beginning with an almost surreal conversation in a funeral parlour and culminating in an atmospheric and gruesome climax in the subway system below Melbourne. One Bad Turn by Val Walmsley uses bullying as the basis of its storyline. It also throws in a touch of ancient evil (here given physical manifestation as a yew tree) to enliven proceedings. It's probably the most "traditional" horror story in the collection and the conclusion is suitably dark and possibly not what you might expect.
Personal fears (and experiences) provide the motivation for Mark West's The Bureau of Lost Children, those fears in this instance centering around every parent's worst nightmare - losing their child. It's a story of two halves, beginning with a routine tale of a trip to a shopping mall. When Scott's son Josh goes missing in a computer games store however, panic sets in and Mark captures those feelings brilliantly. There's a feel of "The Twilight Zone" about the story's conclusion (which is in no way meant as a criticism) and the reason behind the boy's disappearance will have you looking suspiciously at those doors marked "Staff Only" on your next trip to the mall.
It's to be hoped Paradise Lost by Sheri White isn't based on personal experiences. It's the shortest story in the book but its theme is possibly the most epic. How will the world end? With a bang or a whimper? Mankind's demise in this particular tale is gruesome in the extreme - but makes for a hugely entertaining story.
Neil Williams' There Shall We Ever Be is the longest story in the collection and rounds it off in fine style. I think it's my favourite story in the book. It's a slow burner of a story, subtle and beautifully crafted. Its a contemplation of the past, of how history influences the present day. It's a story of childhood fears and memories, of how a notion that a sense of "place" is a real, tangible thing. A wonderfully atmospheric piece of writing, it's a fitting end to a high quality collection of stories. Ill at Ease 2 is highly recommended and you can buy it here and here.
