Review – Tales From The Smoking Room, edited by Benedict J Jones and VC Jones

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This anthology from Hand of Danjou press is exactly what the title suggests: a collection of macabre and startling stories from the brandy and cigar-smoke ambience of a Victorian-era gentlemen’s club.

It contains 7 tales, most of which are 1st person and favour an appropriately traditional style of storytelling, often finding the narrator lounging in a leather armchair of the smoking room, the witching hour upon him…

Tales from the smoking room

The opening tale is Stephen Bacon’s “The Strangled Garden”. This features a country garden walled-off after the unexplained disappearance of a child, grown into an impenetrable tangle of vines and lurking darkness. The baleful atmosphere and period language are faultless – the work of a very meticulous writer – and the inevitable adventure into the garden builds to a classic finale.

“Room Three” by Matthew Crossman is a very dark, downbeat story of madness and a family curse, and also contains the single most creepy and disturbing line of dialogue in this anthology. I may have actually shuddered.

Matthew Harding uses a tried and tested trope with “Iron Ape”: the discovery of a scientific artefact that goes hideously awry. But it’s an intelligent story, evocatively told, and the mechanical monstrosity of the title has a palpable presence of violent power even before the threat is actually unleashed.

“The Decent Thing” by V.C. Jones is a single-page flash piece that leads nicely into “Parlour Games” by Mike Chinn. Here, a sinister Russian brings the after-dinner entertainment to a smoking room familiar with illusion and grand-guignol, but not quite expecting the terrors that will arrive when the clock chimes midnight.

The second flash piece is “Serendipity” by Trudi Topham, a gruesome but light-hearted Vault of Horror style story of graverobbery and reanimation. Finally, the proceedings are closed with”A Game of Billiards” by Craig Herbertson. This is an engaging and neat finale regarding a colonial-era love-squabble that concludes with brutal retribution.

While the quality of the stories is good, “Tales from the Smoking Room” is clearly published from a home printer and would’ve been improved by keener editing. There are several errors and the font is strangely peppered with gaps and too small for A4, but for £2 (Yes, that’s £2) it’s tremendous value for money. Light your cigar, have the butler pour you a large glass of port, and enjoy.

Review – “Phantasy Moste Grotesk” by Felicity Dowker

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Maybe it’s because I’m British, but recently so many great stories have fallen into my lap that I’ve had nothing to moan about, and I’ve kinda missed it.groteskI thought the opportunity might come with this little chapbook from Corpulent Insanity Press, purchased on a whim simply because I liked the title and cover. But it wasn’t to be.

Phantasy Moste Grotesk is an exceptional novella, a colourful and emotive horror tale that rubs its hands gleefully whenever you pull a face in distaste.

It follows the tale of Josh, whose evening with a takeaway pizza and a book is upset by the arrival of a ghastly, black-eyed kid at his front door. Along with his troubled ex-girlfiriend, he visits a circus tent that has mysteriously sprung up in a nearby playing field: a sinister carnival that promises monsters moste grotesk and phantastique.

That we certainly get. The tale is a claustrophobic descent, just as notable for the emotional destruction that ensues as well as the twisted attractions within the big top’s yellow canvas walls. I think the carnival theme can be precarious ground for horror and dark fantasy writers. There’s a danger of unoriginality and cliché, and because the opportunity is there to really let the imagination go, there’s a risk of exposing oneself as not being able to pull the punches when the golden chance has presented itself.

Felicity Dowker’s story avoids these pitfalls with a sneer. There’s some vividly sick images that cling in the memory (the ferris wheel is stunning), but more important is the way some of the horrors entwine with the characters and the deeply personal anguish of their plight. This chapbook seems to give an actual taste of madness, not just somebody’s guess as to what it might be like.

I’ve no complaints. It begins with a wheel-spin, slows to let you get your breath back, then slowly accelerates, faster and faster until by the climax, you’re clinging to the pages, appalled and intrigued in equal measures.

If you’ve missed out, then keep your eye out for Felicity Dowker. I hope, actually I’m sure, that we’ll be seeing a lot more of her deliciously sour prose in the future.

Review – Nemonymous #9: Cern Zoo edited by DF Lewis

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The latest in editor D.F. Lewis’s Nemonymous anthology series, in which the authors are listed but not attached to the particular stories, is a cauldron of interesting ideas. Whether sf, fantasy or just plain strange, the 24 literary stories should provide something of interest to anybody with a love of the written word.N9This volume being loosely themed around the title Cern Zoo, we have several tales featuring animals (of the real, the supernatural and the fantastic) and several references to CERN and the Large Hadron Collider. But what really brings this anthology together is colourful imagination and crisp writing.

There are 2 tales set in British pubs – “Artis Eterne” and “City of Fashion” – both of which bring an extraordinary establishment to life. From the spooky, silent man propping up the bar in the former, to the claggy, dripping walls and clasutrophobic heat of the latter, these are memorable settings, animated by the weird and wonderful people who frequent them.

Of the title-themed stories “Mellie’s Zoo” is an evocative and convincing journey into a dusty, abandoned zoo through the eyes of young girl and the childhood monsters that lurk within the rusty cages, herself and possibly us all.

“Window to the Soul” depicts an uneasy future in which neuro-technology offers tremendous reward but with ultimately depressing consequences.

“Salmon Widow” is a rich and very human tale about an elderly lady and her visits to a quaint country retreat. Ghosts, memories and longing collide in a tale full of strong characters and powerful imagery.

In the excellent “Turn the Crank” – more of a traditional horror piece – buskers and entertainers find their high-street routines shattered by the arrival of a creaky old organ-grinder and his creepy, stuffed monkey.

Also worthy of special mention is “Devourer of Dreams”, a dark and unsettling story about a boy’s discovery of an exotic monstrosity owned by his father, and the terrible price that can come with the promise of success. It’s a serious theme tackled by a gruesome imagination.

That’s only a fraction of what’s on offer, and all the nemonymous authors involved have brought something worthy to the feast. Many can be read at face value or should you choose to, enjoyed for their satire and metaphor. This is an intelligent anthology devoid of cheap thrills, but the scattering of flash throughout is nicely arranged to bring humour and a pleasant diversion from the heavier stories.

Cern Zoo is a banquet. A cornucopia of flavour and texture, of many courses and layers. Just beware of the cockroaches lurking in the salad.

Review – “The Golem” by Edward Lee

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I picked up this book hoping for some gory, supernatural fun, and that I certainly found, but a lot more besides.

It follows the story of Seth and Judy, a middle aged couple fresh out of rehab and escaping the darkness of their pasts by relocating to an old farmhouse on the quiet Maryland coast.GolemBut their peace is short-lived thanks to corrupt cops, drug dealers, and a local Jewish history of occult slaughter that appears to involve the reanimation of corpses into terrifying, murderous rape-machines of lore known as Golems.

The book switches between the present and the 1880s, nicely filling in the history and origins of the troubled town as we go along. While the first half is more gently paced, with enough intrigue and interesting characters – both pleasant and vile – to keep the interest from waning, the second half suddenly explodes. After that, the novel doesn’t pause for breath as everybody is sucked down into gruesome nightmare, and the conclusion is unexpected and wonderfully dark.

The Golem has plenty of Lee trademarks. I expected bodies to be torn asunder, swathes of blood, skulls, imaginative violence and nasty behaviour, and wasn’t disappointed. This is Ed Lee after all.  But despite all the supernatural brutality, it was Judy’s achingly human story that kept me glued to the pages. Despite the horrors that surround her, she has to battle personal demons and is trapped in a descent that is convincing and tragically inevitable.

There’s a few typos on the editing side, but other than that, it’s a very accomplished novel from a master of no-holds-barred fiction. Genre fans will devour it.

Review – “Zombie Punter” by Zoe E. Whitten

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This short novel hooked me from the off.A couple of friends who’ve long-discussed what they’d do in the event of a zombie apocalypse find their techniques put to the test when they awake in the middle of a new age of undead carnage. This tale has plenty of genre tropes that are pleasingly delivered, some great fights and interesting new ideas on zombie science.

The relationship of the two friends is convincing, developing with a few surprises, and the author tackles issue such as religion, revenge, sexuality and survival with a wise and experienced voice. Throw in plenty of grisly action and a sense of humour, and you’ve got a very entertaining way to spend an hour or so.

Zoe E Whitten

Holiday Reading

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It’s been a long while since I did any book shopping, but here’s some very nice looking additions to my TBR pile…

Edward Lee – The Golem

Conrad Williams – One

Thomas Ligotti – Teatro Grottesco

DF Lewis – Weirdmonger

Robert E. Howard – The Complete Chronicles of Conan

Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Gary Fry – The Impelled and other Headtrips

John Lewellyn Probert – The Faculty of Terror

Anon – The Book with No Name

Anon – The Eye of the Moon

John Ajvide Lindqvist – Let the Right One In

Richard Laymon – Savage

Carlton Mellick III – Adolf in Wonderland

There’s something very reassuring about a bedside table creaking with quality genre books. May they live up to their lurid red fonts and creepy covers. Reviews will follow people…

I’ll just check my emails…

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… and suddenly the evening has disappeared in a clickathon of message boards, random links that caught the eye, stories, youtube, i-tunes…

Dave Gorman summed it up nicely, after sitting at his computer to crack on with page 1 of his novel:

“Unfortunately, my computer is connected to the internet. The internet is everything in the whole wide world ever. Now I don’t know about you, but I find everything in the whole wide world ever a little bit distracting.”

It’s funny because it’s true. I’ve taken to writing on my creaky old desktop, which  isn’t connected to the internet, and it’s amazing how much more constructive work gets done.

Review – Black Static #10

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As ever, this excellent magazine from TTA press is the product of keen editorial eyes.Static 10The selection of book/film reviews and genre articles are tight and informed. Amongst other things, Christopher Fowler talks about B-movies, Stephen Volk discusses Amicus films and the state of modern horror, and there’s a Q&A with Thomas Ligotti. Oh, and congratulations to Allyson Bird for a positive review of her brilliant collection “Bull Running For Girls”

The fiction selected for Black Static is always impressive. Christopher Fowler starts with a jazz-infused tale of voodoo set in post-katrina New Orleans. The traditional tropes of such a story are given such colour that they  intrude from the page in a blaze of seamless storytelling.

“The Chair” by Gary McMahon is a short, open-ended tale about a troubled young boy, his disturbed mother and missing father. It bears all the trademarks of the author’s work I have grown to love; a bleak atmosphere, pathos and prose to savour.

“Washer Woman” by Scott Lambridis is a vivid tale of war in which a miserable group of soldiers encounter a village peasant woman who appears to be some kind of assistant of death. The sense of place is impressive and ultimately rather depressing, but it rescued me from losing any sense of enjoyment by the traditional supernatural.

Maura McHugh’s “Vic” concerns a sickly young boy confined to his room and the nightmares that normalcy might conceal. The tragic humanity and immediate empathy makes the tale strong, something that most of Black Static’s stories achieve.

“Beacuse Your Blood Is Darker Than Mine” by James Cooper is a very dark ride, so vivid is the POV of a young girl we follow through a traumatic series of events populated by the chilling, almost carnivalesque members of her family.

The  last story, “Eastlick” by Shannon Page, finishes the fiction very nicely: an adolescent coming of age story with a sting in the tail.

The writing is slick and faultless throughout, and while the stories may be less concrete and conclusive than some tastes may prefer, they have sharp narrative voice, genuine feeling and a nightmarish quality that is seldom captured so well.

Recommended.

Back on top of submissions

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I’ve not had much writing news to report recently, but I’ve finally managed to polish a couple of new stories and get them submitted along with a few other older ones that had been sitting forlorn and previously rejected in my stash.

Also, a 15,000 word novella I recently completed titled “Iron Maiden” (after the best metal band in the world) is currently being read for an interesting project. More news on that when I have it.

Fingers crossed and on with a new story.

Jeff Carlson – Plague Year

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The latest in a string of apocalypse novels on my TBR pile.

plague year

A nanotechnology designed to cure cancer runs amok and wipes out most of the world’s population. As the nanos destruct at altitude, the survivors are scattered atop mountains and hope seems to lie with some scientists aboard the international space station in orbit.

An uninspiring cover hides a well-told tale that begins rather slowly, padding out the characters and background , and at one point I almost lost interest, but it gathers speed towards a taut and unputdownable finale.

It’s an interesting take on the end of the world and the way the survivors descend into greed, deception and fear is believable and chilling, carried by some fantastic action and haunting and original scenes of armageddon.

Fans of the genre will be glad they stuck with it.