“Just After Sunset“

by Stephen King

Format: Hardback, 353 pages.

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2008.

Anyone who has ever read “On Writing” by Stephen King (and if you haven’t I would heartily recommend it) will know that he is as interested in the craft and tradition of the story as he is in the pursuit of best sellers. In the illuminating introduction to this collection he outlines how short stories were important in his formative years, not least because they paid the bills. After years of writing longer (sometimes very long!) stories he no longer  produced as much short work as before, indeed he “no longer knew how to write short stories”.

His editing of the 2006 best American Short Stories collection was the spark that relit that particular flame and this collection is the result of King writing again in “the old way”. Of course for fans of the omnipotent deity that is King the very notion that he has self-doubts about writing is somewhat difficult to grasp but clearly being one of the biggest selling writers in history isn’t enough for Mr King. He needs and wants to get behind the sales figures to produce something fresh, has he succeeded, read on.

This is King’s fifth short story collection and is made up of 13 stories of varying lengths. One thing that will be apparent to regular King connoisseurs is the setting of many of these stories, moving from the traditional Maine locations to Florida (King now spends part of the year in each state). Also many of these stories are occupied by a certain aura of age and subsequent deterioration of mind and body. Diseases and death are frequent visitors to these pages.

Stylistically they vary tremendously from jokey horror to morbid despair but as always with King his characters remain at the forefront. Time and time again you find yourself reacting to these characters after only having met them for a few paragraphs. For many writers, believable characters, even in a long form piece of writing can be a problem, but Kings characters leap of the page as they speak, bringing the story alive with them, this coupled with the rich and varied settings means the stories are easy to read but retain an engagement with the reader, you find yourself immersed in the characters and their predicaments.

That’s all very well, I hear you ask, but what about the stories, are they any good. Only one story in this collection “Stationary Bike” disappointed me, the others ranged from very good to outstanding. Highlights for me were “A Very Tight Place” which starts slowly but evolves into a truly gruesome conclusion, “The Cat From Hell” I never did trust cats and “The Gingerbread Girl” which has a slasher chase sequence to rival any Hollywood Blockbuster. Other stories were merely very good such as “Harvey’s Dream”, “Ayana” and “Mute” but for me one story stands out head and shoulders above the rest - “N”.

“N” to me summarises King’s qualities perfectly in its 52 pages. Rich characters, detailed settings, believable plot and that unidentifiable quality that invokes both Lovecraft and Machen. That sense that there is something beyond our world, that link to various mythologies, alternative histories and the occult. The best Horror stories ever written have it and “N” has it, a truly outstanding story.

So King doesn’t take the easy route and churn out another formulaic novel instead he reconnects with his past and in the process seems to have reconnected with the very tradition of the horror story, and he has drawn on that tradition, not by copying it but by allowing it to infuse into these stories. There are many who would dismiss King because he is popular and successful and therefore can’t possibly be a true artist. Well I disagree, this collection shows an artist who has learned and perfected his craft but who continues to test and push himself and it is us who benefit.

Rating 4 out of 5

“The Black Veil & Other Tales Of Supernatural Sleuths“

Edited By Mark Valentine

Format :Paperback, 256 pages.

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 2008

Ah, the credit crunch, and in the words of Private Fraser  “Were a’ doomed” (Dads Army reference there for all the youngsters reading). Wait though, even though you might not be able to afford the latest hardback blockbuster (or other less important items like food) do not despair, Wordsworth editions are here to supplement your reading pleasure with their unfeasibly cheap “Tales Of Mystery & The Supernatural” collection. So pull your wing-back armchair a little closer to the roaring fire, slip on your smoking jacket, light up your pipe and ignore the wind and rain rattling against the windows and instead enjoy some good old fashioned supernatural stories.

The Black Veil & Other Tales Of Supernatural Sleuths (to give it it’s full snappy title) is a collection of supernatural stories with a loose connection to crime and mystery. Now, since I am not a particular fan of Sherlock Holmes and others of that ilk I didn’t particularly relish the prospect of a set of tales in that tradition. Thankfully these tales are all firmly of the supernatural tradition with only a loose affiliation to sleuthdom.

What we have are 16 stories ranging from old to modern covering the full gamut of ghostliness. Souls get disturbed, pentacles drawn and revenge taken in a variety of styles. Mostly, however, the stories are in the Victorian ghost story tradition, MR James doesn’t appear but his presence is felt throughout.

Standout stories for me included “The Gateway Of The Monster” by William Hope Hodgson, “The Story of Sevens Hall” by E&H Heron, “The Black Veil” by AF Kidd and “Like Clockwork” by RB Russell. A few of the stories particularly in the middle section were not to my taste but the good greatly outweigh the bad. It’s also worth noting that the last few stories are by modern authors including Mary-Anne Allen, Rosalie Parker and Mark Valentine (who as well as contributing and editing also provides an excellent introduction) so even those with a penchant for the modern are well catered for in this collection.

All in all an excellent collection so see you through the current crisis, why invest in dodgy banks, hedge funds and stock markets, instead make an investment in some classic fiction which is guaranteed to pay dividends.

Rating 3 out of 5

“The Colorado Kid“

by Stephen King

Format: Hardback, 179pages

Publisher: PS Publishing, 2007.

Originally published in 2005 as part of the hard case crime series, an attempt to recreate the pulp crime novel in a cheap paperback format, this review is of the rather less cheap but immaculately produced PS Publishing illustrated version.

Hang on, I hear you cry, did you say crime, well yes dear reader, this book contains absolutely no horror, superstition, ghosts, or mental torture, having said that it contains many of the other hallmarks of Mr. Kings writing style.

Those familiar with the writings of Mr King will instantly feel at home with the characters. The three main characters are a couple of weather-beaten local newspaper men and their young (female) prodigy. Typical of King these characters come alive through speech and although they are never described we have no problem picturing these guys. Also present is Kings favourite setting, small town Maine, more specifically a seaport town in Maine, so far so familiar but after that it’s all about the story.

The newspapermen are recounting unsolved mysteries to their young assistant, one of which is the tale of the Colarado kid. Found dead on a beach, this is the tale of how the reporters put together the likely chain of events which led to his death. Frequently testing their young assistant with questions and hypothesis they outline the story of the mystery but here is the books major gamble, the mystery remains very much a mystery, there is no dramatic twist, no obvious whodunnit, not even a bizarre conclusion, indeed no conclusion at all. King explains the rationale behind this in the lengthy and interesting afterword and I can see exactly why he has chosen this path.

As a reader I enjoyed the telling of the tale, as a King fan I enjoyed the style and characters but I can’t pretend the ending didn’t disappoint, maybe one day we will get a sequel or a full blown novel explaining how and where but currently all we are left to ask is Why? Thankfully, as I said, Kings afterword explains the why but readers should be prepared not just for a step out of Kings usual territory but for a story without an ending, a bit like real life perhaps. Final word goes to PS Publishing for the quality of this book, it’s colour plates are fantastic, and everything from typeface to paper thickness exudes quality.

Rating 3 out of 5

“Fragile Things“

by Neil Gaiman

Format: Paperback, 440 pages

Published by Headline Review, 2006.

Neil Gaiman need no introduction from me, rapidly becoming a bit of a national institution (probably the only form of institution you would want to become) thanks to the success of Hollywood movies like Stardust, Beowulf, Mirrormask and the  forthcoming Coraline. Of course this follows on from his conquering of the comic world with the Stardust sequence and…oh yeah he has written a couple of books as well!

Perhaps Gaiman’s most remarkable feature is his incredible talent for mimicry, the Mike Yarwood of authors (one for the teenagers there) he can seemingly write convincingly in any style and genre he chooses. This leads to a remarkably diverse collection of short stories and I can almost guarantee there will be something here for everyone.

“Fragile Things” contains 28 pieces of writing ranging from poetry to novella, there is even a short story crammed into the excellent introduction. Stylistically they range from MR James ghost stories , Conan Doyle meets Lovecraft (A Study In Emerald), surrealist tales (October in the Chair, Sunbird) to the dark/urban fantasy that Gaiman is perhaps best known for (The Monarch Of The Glen).

The remarkable thing about Gaiman is that no matter how much he bases his style on someone else’s he still manages to retain a completely unique take on the genre he is writing in and so keeps his stories fresh and unique. Of course with such a rich and diverse selection of styles there are always going to be some that resonate more fully than others. For me the outstanding star of the show is the American Gods novella “Monarch Of The Glen”, a story which captures the otherworldly properties of the peoples and places in the far north-west of Scotland, drawing from various myths and cultures all in a concise, entertaining tale. There are plenty of other highlights but it would be pointless of me to list them all, for one thing your list would almost certainly be different, that’s the joy of a Gaiman short story collection, you get quality and quantity.

For more info on Neil’s most recent work his website is excellent, detailed and entertaining in it’s own right (you can find it here). For a teenage perspective on Coraline check out Dragonfly’s site here.

Rating 4 out of 5

“Redress”

by Adele Hartley

Format: Paperback, 320 pages

Publisher: Burning House, 2007

I first encountered Adele Hartley through her editorial work on the excellent “Read By Dawn”, short story horror collection (review here ) but she is clearly an accomplished author in her own write (to misquote Mr Lennon).

This is her first book and falls somewhere between thriller and horror containing elements of both but never becoming a generic write by numbers affair. The story starts of gorily enough however as we are introduced to our main protagonist (Skirving), we then follow the life of Cassie McCullen, a single woman, trying to get her life together but all the time being watched by Skirving.

So the start and finish of this book are pure horror the middle much more about relationships and for me (with not much in common with young single women!) this was the weaker section. It was also clear from the start that we were on a railroad ride to hell and that the conclusion could be seen coming from early on. This didn’t really spoil the journey, it just made it a little less exciting.

The quality of writing is excellent for a first novel, the characters are rich and the horror well described, I did feel the plot was somewhat unfinished, maybe a sequel (or prequel) is on the cards. Enjoyable as a psychological thriller and an impressive debut I look forward to reading more from Adele Hartley in the future.

Rating 3 out of 5

“Catacombs and Photographs”

by Brandy Schwan

Format: Paperback, 43 pages

Publisher: Apex Publications, 2008.

Catacombs and Photographs is Brandy Schwan’s second collection of poetry, following on from her previous collection “Grim Trixter”. Appropriately enough this collection is due to be published on 31st October which you may have noticed is Halloween/Samhain, a date which invokes the mysteries of the supernatural and mysterious otherworlds, a world which seems to suit the equally mysterious Brandy Schwan.

Mostly written in the comfort of her favourite writing tree, Brandy has created a dark and mysterious collection of poems, at times rich with historical influences, at others very unique and personal. As with all poetry the emotions invoked will vary for each person and will change with time but Brandy’s craft as a wordsmith and her unique outlook shine through. At times fiercely personal at others comically horrific, these are never less than thought provoking.

I can’t say they all resonated with me to the same extent, some I found a touch brash, others a touch too personal (for her not me) and some were just beyond me (that says more about my lack of intellect than Brandy’s writing). What I can say is that this collection was a unique and enjoyable experience, metaphors overlaid with illusions wrapped up in enigma’s, serial killers abound, nightmares evoked. Only two problems, its short, and the font used for titling is bizarre and at time unreadable but these are not Brandy’s fault her art (and soul) shine through regardless. To order any of Brandy Schwan’s work checkout the Apex website here or Brandy’s myspace site here.

Rating 3 out of 5

“The Twilight Hour - Celtic Visions From The Past”

by Simon Marsden

Format: Hardback, 128 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown. 2003

If you are a fan of the horror genre (and if your not you may be on the wrong blog!) then I am sure you will be familiar with the work of Simon Marsden. There is a good chance you may never have heard of him but you will know his work. Sir Simon Marsden is the foremost photographer of gothic, fantastic and supernatural places in the UK (probably the world) and his work has adorned book, magazine and even album (that’s CD kids) covers for the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Phil Rickman and the delightful pop combo Cradle Of Filth.

This collection brings together some of Marsden’s iconic photography with extracts from classic celtic supernatural literature from the likes of Arthur Machen, W.B.Yeats, Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe. What makes Marsden’s style unique is his preference to shoot on black and white infra-red film, followed by hours of post processing in a darkroom. This creates a unique atmosphere in his photography, producing a grainy, black and white image where vegetation is rendered in pale (almost white) tones and the blue sky takes on a dramatic dark and brooding appearance.

Within this collection are some of Marsden’s most famous shots including such magnificent works as Gothic Window, Castle Barnard pg 119, Eccelscreig House pg 69 and Duntulm Castle pg 26. You can see many examples of Simon Marsden’s work at his website here and I would urge everyone to try and get hold of a copy of this book.

The images in this book truly transcend the average illustration and imbue the text with an atmosphere completely in tune with the tone of the stories. Here the Photographs and text work together to create fully formed pieces of art. Marsden’s own experience of the supernatural means he is not purely working at a technical level here but is truly exploring “another dimension - a spirit world”. As an aspiring amateur photographer I can only stare in awe at the technical and aesthetic skill required to create these images, to succeed on page after page is testament to a truly great artist and one I highly recommend you check out.

Rating 5 out of 5

“The Devils Labyrinth“

by John Saul

Format: Paperback, 332 pages

Publisher: Pan, 2008

Thirty novels in as many years, is productivity not to be sniffed at and John Saul has created his own niche in the horror genre since the publication of “Suffer The Children” in 1977. You can read more details of his most recent novel “Faces Of Fear” at his official website here.

What we have here is John Sauls previous novel, one which treads the murky path of religion where nothing is quite as it seems. This is the story of Ryan McIntyre, a schoolboy who is bullied by his classmates but manages to get a place at the much nicer St Isaac’s Catholic School, well much nicer for the first couple of minutes. It soon becomes apparent that St Isaac’s harbours an undercurrent of evil and a secret labyrinth underground is the place where it hangs out.

A couple of interesting twists keep the plot flowing but there are some uneasy plot devices at work here. Ryan frequently gets visions of his father who was killed in active service in Iraq. Later on we meet some bad Moslem’s, so is the whole thing some kind of anti-Muslim diatribe (the good guy an American soldier’s son, the evil guys radical Islamic terrorists), well it certainly seems that this must have been, at least partly in the back of John Saul’s mind. The muslims get us away from the same old story of Catholic church child abuse which it looks like we are heading for but it does take us into some weird and quite forced plot territory which I am not sure works that well.

Indeed it almost seems like John Saul has changed his original plot  to suit the political climate and it doesn’t really come off, the basic structure is fine it is purely the pointless introduction of the Islamic terrorists and the fallen American hero, neither of which are vital, which serves to unsettle things and leaves the reader with quite a few unanswered questions. The writing, however, is in Saul’s usual tight style and the moments of horror action, well described and edge of the seat stuff. The characters, horror scenes and descriptive parts are all interesting and the book is an easy and entertaining read.

So not a bad book just a strange one, there’s nothing wrong with writers being political (see Ken Macleod’s Execution Channel) but when it appears to be squeezed into a plot just to make some kind of statement I don’t think it does the writer or the reader any favours.

Rating 3 out of 5

“The Whisperer in Darkness: Collected Stories Volume 1“

by H.P. Lovecraft

Format Paperback, 384 pages

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 2007

I have just realised that the coming soon announcement (you know the bit up the top) has had this book titled wrongly for a couple of weeks. Originally I had “The Whisper in The Darkness” then I had “The Whisperer In The Darkness” when in actual fact it is “The Whisper In Darkness” so first of all apologies to old Howard Philips but then I do think his title just sounds…. well odd. Just say it to yourself a couple of times, weird isn’t it, a shining example in fact of Mr Lovecraft’s weird use of language and unique style which makes him such an ambiguous figure in my opinion.

Clearly Lovecraft was a genius, his ideas, his mythos, his visions were all vastly ahead of his time, totally bizarre constructions, and of all of them the Cthulhu stories are some of his most extreme examples. The ambiguity comes in his ability to consistently form these dreamlike visions into a coherent, readable story. When he is good, he is a genius but when he is bad….

This is the first Lovecraft collection put together by Wordsworth Editions in its immensely enjoyable Tales Of Mystery & the Supernatural Series (more details here) and as far as I can see is the cheapest way to get hold of some classic and also rare Lovecraft stories. This collection concentrates on the Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraft’s crowning glory, an entirely made up mythology (or is it!) based on the writings of the Necronomicon and telling tales of races and gods from before and indeed beyond our time and space.

Remarkably Lovecraft never managed to write a novel, concentrating instead on the pulp fiction short story market for the likes of Weird tales. Now this is a shame as undoubtedly a novel may have helped raise his profile during his life but on the evidence of this collection and it’s longest piece “The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward” it’s probably just as well, here all of Lovecraft’s flaws come to the fore. His lack of a strong plot, his use of bizarre language (cyclopean, polyphemus, shewn, and my favourite cacodaemoniacal), his inability to write cohesive readable dialogue and his need to cram words onto the page so we get whole pages without a single paragraph break make this story extremely hard work.

Luckily we also get some of his strongest short stories such as “Dagon”, “The Hound” and “The Festival” each of which succeeds either because of the excellent descriptive nature (Dagon) or the use of an intriguing plot (The Hound), The Festival manages to succeed on both levels. “The Nameless City”, “The Call Of Cthulhu” and “The Dunwich Horror” also manage to work as cohesive description driven well plotted stories.

Finally we get two of (in my opinion) Lovecraft’s strongest stories anywhere. ” The Whisper In Darkness” is an excellent example of Lovecraft’s ability to portray a growing paranoia and unease and to infect the reader with a little bit of those feelings in a realistic setting. “At The Mountains Of Madness” also achieves this but manages to up the pace delivering an event led timeline of the MIskatonic Universities expedition to Antartica and their discovery of the presence of other life. Containing magnificently descriptive writing, some characterisation, believable dialogue and a superb backstory this is Lovecraft at his best and is the antithesis of Charles Dexter Ward.

So should you buy it, well of of course you should, £2.99 is a bargain for “At The Mountains Of Madness” alone but with 4 or 5 other excellent stories it becomes almost a required purchase, so Lovecraft remains an enigma wrapped up in a mystery (to misquote Churchill). His inconsistency was perhaps his downfall and the reason why he is not held in the same esteem as many of his peers but he deserves to be widely read as a pioneer in weird and speculative fiction and as a man who created a mythology which is still being used today. A flawed genius sure, but a genius without a doubt.

Rating 4 out of 5

“A Thing Of Unspeakable Horror“

by Sinclair McKay

Format: Paperback, 288 pages

Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd, 2008

Part of my formative experience of the horror genre was stumbling home form a pub in my late teens, slightly merry, past an old graveyard (haunted no doubt) with the clouds scudding across a full moon in order to get home in time to settle down with some cheesy toast and watch the double bill of Hammer films that always seemed to be on (although “The Old Grey Whistle Test”, “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits” also seemed to figure heavily).

Through cider tinted spectacles these films were fantastically gothic, cool enough to be taken seriously, bad enough not to be taken too seriously, perhaps that is why Sinclair McKay’s book resonates with me so much, he seems to be of a roughly similar vintage, too young to see the original cinema versions but around at a time before multichannel TV and DVD’s made everything accessible, all of which made these films jewels to the horror aficionado in a genre starved TV land.

This book traces the rise and fall of the Hammer horror franchise and manages to tie this neatly into a social commentary of Britain. Its remarkable to see Hammer rise during the austerity of the 1950’s with films like “The Curse Of Frankenstein” and “Dracula” to its creative peak in the swinging sixties with “Frankenstein Created Women” and “Dracula Has Risen from The Grave” (given the dubious honour of being the “drunk mans Citizen Kane” until it’s slow and gradual decline in the seventies. From classy gothic horror to sleazy seventies smut, its all here in a rich and enthralling book.

Of interest also, is the interaction between hammer and it’s two main stars, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in what seemed to be an inevitably symbiotic relationship where each needed the other to survive and flourish. Stories abound of budget constraints, set use in repetitive films and battles with the censor. Indeed this last part is perhaps the most fascinating as McKay reflects on the x-certificate movie releases which have been re-released in this modern age as 12’s, surely a reflection on changing morals within our society.

Of course, as the old adage goes, nostalgia is a thing of the past and to many this book may not resonate quite as much and indeed to many Hammer Horror as a franchise will be regarded as a bit of a joke but I think this book succeeds in explaining just how deep Hammer’s roots went and how widespread it’s influences have been. It finishes with an optimistic glimpse of the future as Hammer gears up to release a new series of films on myspace (see the films here or other details here), hopefully then in the future the Hammer name will regain it’s former glory and rightful place as the Dark Prince of horror cinema.

Rating 4 out of 5