SonnenbarkeReview Corner (it's not really a corner, more a deserted crossroads marked by a sticky wooden post with something horrible hanging from it, but whatever):
"Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories" (ed. Doug Murano and D.Alexander Ward) turned out good. The actual theme of this anthology (horror with elements of transcendent beauty) is kind of bullshit, because an enormous amount of horror fiction has always had these elements, and in fact many of the stories here are considerably more downbeat than your average Datlow /Guran/Stephen Jones fare. So don't buy it for that. But if you treat the theme as just an excuse for a nice mixed anthology of modern famous names, lesser-knowns and a few golden oldies than I think you will be satisfied. The line-up felt fresher than I'm used to these days, and if the editors do go in for croneyism (it's way too early to say) then at least they have different cronies to my usual go-to editors.
Brian Kirk's "Picking Splinters From A Sex Slave" offered something I haven't read for a while, a serial killer/rapist story which offers something new and distinctive. Fiction about the aftermath of such events for the survivors isn't new per se (my favourite ever work in that category is "Caedmon's Song" by Peter Robinson, which was written decades ago) but Kirk has a very engaging narrative voice and a way with detail. The latter skill is a bit of a double-edged sword in this case, because eventually his insistence on making various little then-and-now details match up too closely lends the final pages a bit of an overly neat, punchline vibe (I can't describe it any better without spoiling it, sorry), and this story really deserves better than that. But still a good, memorable effort at tackling the unspeakable.
I also liked Christopher Coake's 'Dominion', an entertaining piece of timeslip horror set in an abandoned mining village, which also takes in themes of rape and domestic violence. Any male authors who are feeling reluctant to tackle subjects like this should take a look at what Coake and Kirk are doing and just have a go. Damien Angelica Walters has another tight, high-impact story about online school bullying, "On The Other Side of the Door, Everything Changes", and overall the first two-thirds of this anthology are strong, though I wish Paul Tremblay had done a little bit more with the choose-your-own-adventure format of "A Haunted House Is A Wheel Upon Which Some Are Broken" as it's a great concept.
Of the scattering of "golden oldies", I'm not really sure why anyone felt the need to excavate Neil Gaiman's "The Problem Of Susan", though watching him bust a nut trying to square the circle of liking CS Lewis with not being a traditional Christian is quite amusing, I suppose. And he knows how to keep it short, which is more than you can say for a lot of writers these days. There's a predictable good Ramsey Campbell story, "The Place of Revelation", but for me the best story in the anthology is Clive Barker's "Coming To Grief". I was really pleased to see this here because I lost my copy of The Dark Descent years ago, and it's really superb. I remember the way Barker treated women like real people felt unusual in those days, and the creep factor and psychological realism are very high here. Hasn't aged a bit, and in fact this story is the most in line with the anthology's theme. I can imagine it being a real help when I am next bereaved.
Finally I was very impressed by CaitlinHackett's cover art, and there's striking and plentiful interior artwork by Luke Spooner. Although the font is officially Too Big, the anthology is good value for money and I will be keeping an eye open for more books by these two.
#DougMurano #DAlexanderWard #CliveBarker #BrianKirk #ChristopherCoake #DamienAngelicaWalters
#CaitlinHackett #HorrorReads #HorrorReview
"Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories" (ed. Doug Murano and D.Alexander Ward) turned out good. The actual theme of this anthology (horror with elements of transcendent beauty) is kind of bullshit, because an enormous amount of horror fiction has always had these elements, and in fact many of the stories here are considerably more downbeat than your average Datlow /Guran/Stephen Jones fare. So don't buy it for that. But if you treat the theme as just an excuse for a nice mixed anthology of modern famous names, lesser-knowns and a few golden oldies than I think you will be satisfied. The line-up felt fresher than I'm used to these days, and if the editors do go in for croneyism (it's way too early to say) then at least they have different cronies to my usual go-to editors.
Brian Kirk's "Picking Splinters From A Sex Slave" offered something I haven't read for a while, a serial killer/rapist story which offers something new and distinctive. Fiction about the aftermath of such events for the survivors isn't new per se (my favourite ever work in that category is "Caedmon's Song" by Peter Robinson, which was written decades ago) but Kirk has a very engaging narrative voice and a way with detail. The latter skill is a bit of a double-edged sword in this case, because eventually his insistence on making various little then-and-now details match up too closely lends the final pages a bit of an overly neat, punchline vibe (I can't describe it any better without spoiling it, sorry), and this story really deserves better than that. But still a good, memorable effort at tackling the unspeakable.
I also liked Christopher Coake's 'Dominion', an entertaining piece of timeslip horror set in an abandoned mining village, which also takes in themes of rape and domestic violence. Any male authors who are feeling reluctant to tackle subjects like this should take a look at what Coake and Kirk are doing and just have a go. Damien Angelica Walters has another tight, high-impact story about online school bullying, "On The Other Side of the Door, Everything Changes", and overall the first two-thirds of this anthology are strong, though I wish Paul Tremblay had done a little bit more with the choose-your-own-adventure format of "A Haunted House Is A Wheel Upon Which Some Are Broken" as it's a great concept.
Of the scattering of "golden oldies", I'm not really sure why anyone felt the need to excavate Neil Gaiman's "The Problem Of Susan", though watching him bust a nut trying to square the circle of liking CS Lewis with not being a traditional Christian is quite amusing, I suppose. And he knows how to keep it short, which is more than you can say for a lot of writers these days. There's a predictable good Ramsey Campbell story, "The Place of Revelation", but for me the best story in the anthology is Clive Barker's "Coming To Grief". I was really pleased to see this here because I lost my copy of The Dark Descent years ago, and it's really superb. I remember the way Barker treated women like real people felt unusual in those days, and the creep factor and psychological realism are very high here. Hasn't aged a bit, and in fact this story is the most in line with the anthology's theme. I can imagine it being a real help when I am next bereaved.
Finally I was very impressed by CaitlinHackett's cover art, and there's striking and plentiful interior artwork by Luke Spooner. Although the font is officially Too Big, the anthology is good value for money and I will be keeping an eye open for more books by these two.
#DougMurano #DAlexanderWard #CliveBarker #BrianKirk #ChristopherCoake #DamienAngelicaWalters
#CaitlinHackett #HorrorReads #HorrorReview