Shadows Over Innsmouth - Book Review

Shadows Over Innsmouth
edited by Stephen Jones

Innsmouth, that isolated New England fishing village where “the vast huddle of sagging gambrel roofs and peaked gables conveyed with offensive clearness the idea of wormy decay.” A desolate place where the bulging, watery eyes of the residents stared from misshapen skulls, and a musty stench blended hideously with the town’s fishy odour. This is the setting of one of H. P. Lovecraft’s most famous tales, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, where hideous chants echo from Devil Reef and the Hall of Dagon.

Under the unblinking eye of World Fantasy Award-winning editor Stephen Jones, sixteen of the finest modern authors contribute stories to the canon of Cthulu. (Synopsis from back of book)

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I’ve read so many Lovecraftian stories now, enjoyed Cthulu mythos based books, movies and games, and am very familiar with the ideas and iconic elements of Lovecraft’s creation, but oddly, until this collection, I’d never actually read one of the original Lovecraft stories. This collection begins with The Shadow Over Innsmouth, which was pretty much exactly what I expected. The story is a slow starter, perhaps a little rambling in places, but with a great sense of atmosphere and, of course, a fantastically realised setting.

The other stories in the collection are all the works of other authors, all within the Cthulu mythos and with a connection to Innsmouth and to the events of the original Lovecraft story. The modern writers here are all men and all British, the former fact a bit disappointing and the latter just odd. Innsmouth itself is in America, and these stories are mostly set in America too, many in the Innsmouth area, and a few in Britain and Ireland (with one very notable exception set in Romania). The stories that break away from Innsmouth add a bit of variety, but it’s a shame that we don’t see the effect of these sinister events on more different places and cultures, and the arms of the cult of Dagon creeping over the world. There are only so many identical sleepy American towns and seaside British villages that a reader can take...

These stories, on the whole, offer exactly what you might expect from a collection of Lovecraftian stories. This is one of the strengths of the collection, but, unfortunately, I think for me it was also the main problem. I wanted to see a bit more of the unexpected. After a while, the horror and the creepy aspect of the stories begins to wear very thin as you realise that the plots and the tone of the stories mirror each other very strongly. The book continues at the same semi-religiously-paranoid pitch for large chunks, which is perfectly spot-on-Lovecraftian, but to the extent that I began to feel a little sorry for the fish-creatures and found myself taking their side a bit. Probably not the intended reaction, and not the fault of any one story, but the effect of the anthology as a whole. I understand that this collection is supposed to celebrate the original story, but I do think it’s possible to do that without having so many stories that are so similar to it. I wanted to be surprised and amazed. I wanted to see the authors really make the Lovecraftian elements their own.

This is why certain stories really stood out for me, the ones that take the familiar ideas and play with them, twist them a little, or use the atmosphere of the original story in a very different setting. These stories were Only the End of the World Again, by Neil Gaiman, and A Quarter to Three, by Kim Newman, which use a more playful attitude to give us a fresh look at Innsmouth and the kinds of people involved in the weirdness there, Down to the Boots, by D. F. Lewis, which offers a different perspective from the other stories, and The Homecoming, by Nicholas Royle, which I thought was a fantastic story and very clever in its use of the same paranoid atmosphere of the original, but applied to very different circumstances. Part of the horror for the narrator in A Shadow Over Innsmouth seems to come from a Victorian-like fear of the foreign ‘infiltrating’ society, having something of a similar feel to certain chapters in Dracula. The Homecoming uses this idea in very interesting ways, as we see citizens of a post-dictatorship Romania in constant fear of each other, and of what kinds of people may have infiltrated their world, and of a form of evil that appears to be immortal – one wave of fish-things may be defeated, but paranoia and cruelty never die. This story was so unexpected and yet made so much sense, and it was definitely my favourite of the anthology.

None of the stories in the collection were bad. To See the Sea, by Michael Marshall Smith, and Daoine Domhain, by Peter Tremayne, were, for me, particularly good examples of that heavy sense of foreboding and lurking evil that are so iconic to the Cthulu mythos. It’s just that I did get a little tired of reading one after another. I’d recommend reading a story every now and then, when you’re in the mood for something Cthulicious, rather than reading it all in one go like I did. There is plenty to enjoy here for the hardcore Lovecraft fans, but, ultimately, a little disappointing for me.


Thank you to Titan Books for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Edge Lit 2 - Convention Report

On Saturday I hopped on the bus to Derby for Edge Lit 2, a one-day science fiction, fantasy and horror convention. This is an extremely convenient con for me, as I only live in Nottingham, about 30 minutes away on the bus (a bus, I should add, that had AIR CONDITIONING, unlike the actual convention venue)

I had such a great time. Edge Lit is easily my favourite of the conventions I’ve been to so far. It’s small and intimate, and though all cons have been very friendly to me, this is even more so. And, despite the lack of air con, which may have just unluckily not been working on that day, it really is a great venue. It’s open, has a lovely cafe and patio area, two big cinema rooms that are good for panels and talks, and plenty of restaurants around. And I have a soft spot for Derby anyway, as I used to live there.

As always, it was lovely to see so many people again, and for the first time ever, I actually introduced some people to each other! Woohoo, I’m not the newbie anymore! I also met wonderful new people, and have added even more authors and books to my neverending To Read shelf! On such a hot day, it was so nice to be able to relax with a drink with such a great group of people.

The panels I went to were all good, and I particularly enjoyed the discussion about Urban Fantasy and what makes it so popular. I also loved the raffle, which really has to be experienced! Well done to the raffle hosts, Sarah Pinborough and Conrad Williams, for making it so fun.

Congrats to Adele Wearing, K.A. Laity and Fox Spirit on the launch of Noir Carnival, and to all involved with Spacewitch, which also launched at Edge Lit. Spacewitch is a site that exists as a catalogue of several independent publishers’ books, a place to buy them and discuss them, and to discover more from the authors, editors and artists involved. There are four publishers on there so far – Fox Spirit, Jurassic London, Newcon Press, and Clarion Publishing – and more will follow. It sounds really interesting, and the website looks really good too. Check it out here.

And finally, I didn’t manage to stay for the quiz last year, so was pleased to make it this year, and had a lot of fun contributing virtually nothing while laughing at Emma and Pete Newman’s joke answers.

I’m already looking forward to the next event, and I’m definitely going to make Edge Lit one of my must-go-to cons! Thanks to the organisers, volunteers, and everyone who made it a wonderful day.

Revisiting The Witches - A Guest Post from James Everington

Today I'm welcoming author James Everington to the blog, to tell us a little about what inspires his writing. James writes dark, supernatural fiction, and is the author of four short story collections, as well as one of the creators of the Penny Dreadnought anthologies. His latest collection, Falling Over, is out now from Infinity Plus.

Over to James!

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So.

This was meant to be a simple blog post about inspiration; specifically, one in a series of guest blog posts about the key inspirations behind the stories in my new collection of short stories, Falling Over. This was meant to be about The Witches by Roald Dahl. (That was how I originally pitched the piece to Vicky, anyway – sorry Vicky!)

But instead I found myself writing something different, something about childhood, and memory, and time… but still about inspiration, hopefully.

I’d not read Roald Dahl’s The Witches for over twenty-years, but nevertheless I found that some of the scenes from it were constantly in my head whilst I was writing a story called The Time Of Their Lives. I guess anyone reading the story will see the same obvious similarities just as I did – it’s a story from the point of view of a child who is spending a holiday bored in a creepy hotel. Like The Witches, the story is about a child’s fear of adults, and what those adults might really look like, in certain lights…

Because here’s the thing: I decided to reread The Witches before writing this blog post and… it was nothing like I’d remembered. It was nothing like the scenes in my head that had somehow inspired me.

I mean obviously, it is set in a creepy hotel and it is from a kid’s point of view; that was all the same. And some of the delightfully horrible details were just as I remembered – particularly the different ways to recognise witches: the toeless feet, the hairless heads, the blue spit. (This part of the book, incidentally, seemed a brilliant refutation of that hoary old “Show Don’t Tell” rule. Dahl tells us things about witches, and because what he has to tell us is so repulsively interesting, we love it. “Show Don’t Tell” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and never trust a rule about writing that isn’t even obeying itself. But anyway, that’s a whooooole other blog post.)

But the feel of the book, the tone and texture of it, was completely different. It was lighter and fluffier and more whimsical. Although there are some creepy moments (and Dahl’s witches themselves are typically inspired and grotesque creations) I found myself smiling my way through it. And really, what was I expecting – it’s a kid’s book, right?

So what happened? How come what I remembered, and so blithely claimed was an influence in the story notes at the back of Falling Over, didn’t actually seem to exist?

I guess growing up happened.

I read it as a kid, at an age when obviously I wouldn’t have been able to handle the horrors of a Stephen King or a Clive Barker. Dahl has pitched the fear at the exact level that a kid of my age, and upbringing, and sensibility, could take without being so completely petrified that I’d never sleep (or buy a Roald Dahl book) again. So I remembered it being a book that was as creepy as it was possible to be, and because I never reread it, a buried and younger part of me still believed that to be the case all these years later. And good as it was, there was no way The Witches was going to match my memory of it. It’s like if you ever revisit your school as an adult – how small it seems!

I don’t regret rereading The Witches - it is a brilliant book, full of flashes and humour and childhood fears perfectly realised. But I can’t help but feel it’s replaced something else that was there, something more unexamined and personal, that I’d built up in my head over the years, every time my thoughts turned to The Witches. What’s replaced it is a newfound respect for an author who must surely be one of the greatest children’s authors ever - what a lucky generation we were. But I don’t know if it would be much use to me if I was writing The Time Of Their Lives now; despite being from the point of view of a child it really isn’t a children’s story.

Of course, I might be being overly pessimistic. It wouldn't be the first time. After all, who really understands inspiration? One thing that has become clear from writing this piece is that it's certainly not me. Maybe The Witches just needs to find its own place, its own level amongst all the other stories in my head, and maybe one day the real, Roald Dahl version of The Witches will be a jumping off point for another creepy tale for me to tell.

And if that ever happens, I promise I'll come back and write the blog post for Vicky that she originally signed up for!

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Falling Over is published by Infinity Plus and is out now. Ten stories of unease, fear and the weird.

"Good writing gives off fumes, the sort that induce dark visions, and Everington’s elegant, sophisticated prose is a potent brew. Imbibe at your own risk." - Robert Dunbar, author of The Pines and Martyrs & Monsters.

Find out more at Scattershot Writing.

The Eternity Cure - Book Review

Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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(Note - this review contains slight spoilers for things that are revealed in the first chapters of the book. As such, they are not really spoilery spoilers, but if you don't want any information about the plot before reading this, then perhaps stay away. I will sum up for you instead - this is a fantastic book and certainly a must-read if you enjoyed the first!)

I was a little worried about this book, though I’m not entirely sure why. I loved The Immortal Rules, but I suppose I thought this one would surely have trouble living up to it, or that it might start moving into predictable patterns. I really shouldn’t have worried, because Julie Kagawa knows exactly what she’s doing. This is a fantastic, well-paced and exciting story, with wonderful characters and just the right amounts of romance, horror, action, and slightly black humour. It’s even better than The Immortal Rules, and I couldn’t put it down!

The book begins with Allie trying to track down Kanin, and spends quite a lot of time recapping events from the first book. I actually find this kind of recapping a bit frustrating when it’s mixed in with new events, as it means that you can’t skip it if you still remember the first book clearly. Still, I know a lot of people prefer to have this, and it doesn’t take long to push through. Then we are straight in on the action, as Allie creeps into Washington DC and breaks into a vampire base in the Capitol building (I think... if I have my DC layout right in my head!). Then it’s to the subway tunnels which are seething with rabids, and I am absolutely convinced that Julie Kagawa is a Fallout 3 fan. After this, we go back to New Covington, for more sewer-crawling and a new kind of zombie menace.

Julie Kagawa is very good at writing action, and she doesn’t hold back on the scares and gore as far as vampires and zombies and zombie-vampires (and vampire-zombies?) are concerned. The first book had quite a unique genre-mixing feel to it, and this one continues that while adding even more to the mix. The story is fast-paced, only pausing now and again for a quick breath before diving into more chases and fights. It’s an intense book, the stakes (no pun intended) are ramped up from the first book, and I was really caught up in everything that was happening. This is definite edge-of-your-seat stuff.

The book has a fun story and great action, but it’s really the characters that make it so fantastic. Allie is as awesome as ever (though it’s a shame she appears to be in ‘lone girl position’ this book), Zeke continues to surprise me, Kanin was actually better than I remembered him, and the addition of Jackal back into the mix is unexpectedly perfect. Jackal adds a lovely note of black humour into the story, and it’s almost enough to make me forget that he killed some people Allie cared about in the first book. Almost. The dynamic between Jackal, Allie and Zeke is great, and I really liked how the various relationships between them developed. I’m curious to see what will happen with Jackal in the next book, as the ties between them all have become very complicated now. Sarren is also a wonderful villain; a little cheesy and larger than life, perhaps, but ideal for this kind of story. Plus, another video game reference? Or do I just see these everywhere now?

One thing that continued to delight me about the book was the way in which the author didn’t stick to clichéd or expected patterns in the romance. For instance, there is a moment where I was convinced that Allie was going to tell Zeke she doesn’t love him, in order to protect him. That’s something I find particularly annoying in stories, as it feels like a cheap and unrealistic way to create drama, another example being ‘inexplicable secret-keeping’. Refreshingly, this book never does either of those things, and the romance is both believable and touching. Characters always act honestly, and their relationships with each other, romantic and otherwise, feel completely real. The romance itself also doesn’t dominate the story but progresses naturally within it, which works very well.

The Eternity Cure is an exciting story with fantastic characters, elements of horror, fantasy and black humour, and a touching romance. It also has a particularly good end and one heck of a cliffhanger. I can’t wait for the third book!


Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


 

What Makes You Die - Book Review

What Makes You Die
by Tom Piccirilli

To see more is to find oblivion...

Tommy Pic’s hallucinations come and go and leave sticky notes for him during his bipolar swings. Coming out of a blackout in an unfamiliar psychiatric ward, Tommy Pic awakes to his missing childhood love, his dead brother, his alive family, and a message from his agent that his latest screenplay may yet be his ticket back to Hollywood fame and fortune. If only he could remember writing it.

Searching out the hallucinations that will write Acts 2 and 3 of the screenplay that will oust Zypho as his best-known work, Tommy goes chasing his kidnapped childhood love, a witch from the magic shop, the komodo dragon he tried to cut out of his gut on Christmas Eve.

...This is what makes you die. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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What Makes You Die is a strange book. It’s one of those stories that’s hard to say what it’s actually about. It’s about ghosts, witches, a prehistoric monster living inside a person, and a mysterious self-writing script. It’s about loss, the disappearance of a young girl, mental illness, and a failing writing career. It’s about all those things and yet it’s not really about any of them.

Tommy Pic is a desperate character who seems to be drifting in and out of sanity on the edge of nervous breakdown. He sees the ghosts of his dead family members and friends everywhere, and there is a pre-historic komodo dragon living in his intestines. At points it is very hard to tell just what is part of his extreme paranoia and what might be a real vision, or whether everything is completely in his head. Reality and the fantastical are blurred so much in the story that symbols and metaphor have a very real life of their own, and trying to decide exactly what’s real and what isn’t would probably be missing the point.

Tommy is coping with depression, with a hole that the loss of his father has left inside him, with feelings of inadequacy and despair brought on by a failing writing career, and with the ongoing mystery of what really happened to a girl – a friend he loved – who disappeared in his childhood. When he stumbles across a Wicca shop next to his agent’s office, he becomes involved with a young witch. She sees his ghosts, and the dragon in his gut, and is determined to help him. What ensues is very odd, but leads Tommy through a path of recovery and self-discovery, or perhaps re-self-discovery, to gain a sense of purpose again. It’s clever and entertaining, and will certainly leave you with a lot to think about at the end.

The book is very well written, with a poetic and almost noir-like style, and Tommy’s character is completely honest, right down to the obviously self-destructive behaviour. He can be frustrating at points, and extremely self-obsessed at others, but his story is always compelling. He’s spiralling into insanity but at the same time is capable of some sharp observations about the world and the people in it, making him a fascinating character to see through the eyes of. I also really enjoyed the humour in the book; it was knowing and sometimes a little dark, and it complemented the plot very well. There were some points where the pacing seemed slightly off to me, and occasional sections where the plot seemed to wander off to the side a little unnecessarily, which I thought could have been tightened up a bit. These were only small niggles, however.

Nothing is ever really quite what it seems in the story, leaving the reader to interpret much of what happens according to their own reading. I found what I thought was quite a glaring inconsistency in Tommy’s mother’s account of Kathy Lark’s disappearance (she says that Tommy was with her when she vanished but later seems to contradict herself when Tommy makes an unwelcome accusation). What exactly did happen there? Suggestions of Tommy’s loose grip on reality, a disturbing cover-up, a missed plot hole, or something else? I think I’m leaning towards the first, but with this kind of book it’s very hard to tell, and the story actually benefits from its unanswered questions anyway.

It would be very hard to pin this into a specific genre. Its supernatural elements are clearly metaphors – in fact, the whole story and the concept of the mysteriously written script can be seen as one larger metaphor – but it would be far too simplistic to say that this is all it is. I think it’s enjoyable on several levels, with a strong central character and interesting themes. It reminded me more of short stories than novels that I have read, having that short story quality of feeling like being part of something larger, of being about more than itself, of strong character-focus, and of defying traditional story structure as well as genre. It’s also a very short book, a novella really, and I think it was exactly the right length for the story being told.

This is a very interesting book that blurs supernatural elements, metaphor and reality, creating a surreal and engaging character-focussed tale about a man emerging from depression to find a sense of purpose and belonging once again. Incorporating elements of fantasy, horror, crime and noir, I think it could appeal to fans of many different genres. It might leave the reader with a lot of questions at the end, so for those who like straight, non-confusing narratives, this is probably best avoided. For others, there is a lot to think about and to love in this unique, well-written and surprising book.


Thank you to Apex Book Company for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fragile Things - Book Review

Neil Gaiman’s second collection of short fiction, a dazzling book of short stories from one of modern fiction's greatest and most imaginative writers. These stories will dazzle your senses, haunt your imagination and move you to the very depths of your soul. This extraordinary book reveals one of the world's most gifted storytellers at the height of his powers. (From Amazon UK. Click here for Fragile Things on Goodreads.)

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If you’re looking for somewhere to start with short stories, or if you already love short stories and are searching for something new to read, this is a fantastic choice. It’s fair to say that Neil Gaiman is an incredibly popular author, but I’ve actually found his longer books a bit hit-and-miss for me. Some are wonderful (The Graveyard Book is a must read), while others I wasn’t so keen on. Neil Gaiman’s shorts, however, I love. I should clarify... I love his short stories, though I’m sure he has very nice summer wear. I’m betting they’re knee-length and black, featuring a pattern of whimsical dancing skeletons in top-hats. Which, oddly, is not that far off being a description of his short stories as well.

There are all kinds of stories and poems in Fragile Things, ranging in atmosphere and subject matter. Identity, love and loss, storytelling, and, as you might expect, fragility, are all themes running through the collection. There are stories and poems about magic, ghosts, monsters, aliens, vampires, curses, zombies, and fairies, to name only a few, and many of these take turns and approaches that you might not expect. Most of the stories and poems in the book can also be read on several levels; they are very rarely just about what is literally happening on the page. They are all very clever, and some demand more than one reading. For fans of American Gods, there is also a longer story featuring Shadow, the main character of that novel.

Most of the content leans towards dark fantasy or horror, though there is nothing that I found really gruesome or too frightening. Instead, many of the stories are creepy or enchanting, sometimes both, in a way that lingers long after the telling has finished. All of them have that signature Gaiman subtlety in dealing with magic; the supernatural and the fantastical are shown to exist alongside our modern world, sometimes in the most mundane places, and in several of the stories the supernatural is also used as a metaphor for aspects of the human condition. This is particularly the case with the zombie story ‘Bitter Grounds’, which was one of my favourites in the collection. If the book carries one message throughout all the stories and poems, it is of the power and importance of telling stories, how stories can affect people, and how creating them and passing them down is a large part of what makes us human.

Stories and poems that really stood out for me included ‘October in the Chair’, ‘Closing Time’, ‘Bitter Grounds’, ‘Locks’, ‘The Problem of Susan’, ‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’ and ‘Sunbird’. ‘A Study in Emerald’ is also a great concept for a story, but I wish that it had been longer and developed further. This also goes for a few other stories, and there were one or two that I found a bit dull. But really, most of the pieces in this collection are very good, and all worth reading, and because they are so open to interpretation in different ways, I think every reader’s favourites are likely to be different.

Fragile Things is an extremely strong collection that can be enjoyed by both new readers and long-standing fans of Neil Gaiman’s work.

The Veil - Book Review

Hell is What Haunts us. Something is not right in the picturesque Yorkshire village of Henchcombe. Terrible things walk the streets each time a thick mist sweeps down off the moor.

Not monsters or beasts but the villagers’ deepest, darkest terrors. The things that haunt them in the dead of night. Broken hearts and betrayals. Missed opportunities and old regrets. Lives lost to bitter hatred.

It’s up to a small group of villagers to come to the rescue of Henchcombe. They face a journey deep underground to a place none of them could have imagined. This is a dark place. A place of misery and pain. This is the Veil. (synopsis from Goodreads)

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The Veil begins as something very like a classic ghost story. There’s a sleepy village with a lot of history, interesting characters who carry around their own metaphorical ghosts as well as physical ones, a stranger to the town digging up the past, and a vicar-exorcist with his own slightly odd methods. The story has a slow start, introducing all the main characters and, importantly, the village, which is almost like another character itself.

The Immortal Rules - Book Review

The Immortal Rules, by Julie Kagawa: In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Until the night Allie herself is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters. Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for. (Slightly edited synopsis from Goodreads)

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This book is actually built on a similar concept to another book I’ve just read – Vampire Hunter D. It is dystopia combined with vampires, a future in which the human race has been severely depleted and vampires have taken over. In Vampire Hunter D it was nuclear war; in this it’s a virus that’s wiped out most of the Earth’s population. Whereas in Vampire Hunter D, enough time has passed that humans have fought back, in this the vamps are very much in control, though there are suggestions of human resistance. The vampires pen the remaining humans into strictly policed cities where they are treated like farm animals – kept alive to donate blood at regular intervals, as we keep animals to give us milk and eggs.

Vampire Hunter D - Book Review

Vampire Hunter D, by Hideyuki Kikuchi: 12,090 A.D. It is a dark time for the world. Humanity is just crawling out from under three hundred years of domination by the race of vampires known as the Nobility. The war against the vampires has taken its toll; cities lie in ruin, the countryside is fragmented into small villages and fiefdoms that still struggle against nightly raids by the fallen vampires - and the remnants of their genetically manufactured demons and werewolves. Every village wants a Hunter - one of the warriors who have pledged their laser guns and their swords to the eradication of the Nobility. But some Hunters are better than others, and some bring their own kind of danger with them. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I’ve watched the anime film of Vampire Hunter D, and was intrigued to see what the book’s like. As January is vampire month for the Paranormal Challenge, I thought this seemed like a good time to give it a try.

From Dark Places - Book Review

From Dark Places is a short story collection by Emma Newman. The stories are mostly very short (three or four pages, usually), and deal with the darker, bizarre side of human nature. These are all character-focussed, subtle, yet deeply moving stories, and often quite funny too, exploring where the magical meets the ordinary, and where supernatural horror connects with the horror of the human mind.

The stories are beautifully written. Emma Newman seems to have a touch for capturing all the little things people do that make them human, their vulnerabilities and quirks, their grief and their humour. All her characters feel completely real and believable, and it is these characters that really drive the stories. The author delivers the messages and the horror within the stories with just the right tone, subtly yet insistently, and with a very good feel for pacing. About two lines in, I was hooked every time. The stories grab hard, and do not let go until the end.

Poison - Book Review

Poison, by Chris Wooding, is the story of a sixteen year old girl called Poison whose sister is stolen by phaeries. Poison, unwilling to accept her sister’s disappearance or the changeling left in her place, sets out to find the Phaerie Lord and demand her sister’s return. Poison soon finds herself pitted against weird and terrifying fairytale creatures. When she faces the mysterious figure of the Hierophant, the most powerful of the Lords, she finds herself in a fight to control her own fate, as well as the future of all humanity.

Edge Lit - Convention Report

Edge Lit is a new convention for writers and fans of SF&F and horror, held in Derby (UK) and run by Alex Davis. This year’s Edge Lit took place yesterday, on Saturday 14th July at The QUAD, Derby.

With all kinds of authors and publishing professionals present, eleven different panels and talks, seven workshops, and fourteen author readings, Edge Lit was a packed and exciting day. Unfortunately, one of the guests of honour, Geoff Ryman, couldn’t make it, but Graham Joyce stepped in and gave a very interesting Question and Answer session.

Polluto - This issue's 'Editor's Choice'!

Congratulations to Gio Clairval and Erin Stocks for their mesmerising tale of witchcraft, witchtrials, demons, and the love of one rope for one woman...

‘Hempish Love’ is this issue’s ‘Editor’s Choice’ story! We were impressed and enchanted by this tale’s unique narrator and original idea, as well as the authors’ confident, rich and vivid storytelling. Here’s a sneak peek (full story can be read in Polluto #9 ¾: Witchfinders vs The Evil Red).

I never wanted to be an executioner. My maker twisted me with habile hands, and as though it weren't enough, he twisted me some more until I became the perfect tool for the cruellest tasks. Maybe, if a fair woman had caressed me, singing words of love, I would have grown into something peaceful, I would have held flowers or led white foals to the water. Instead, here I am, hanging from a hook in this windowless chamber, ready to imprison wrists and shake limbs until my victims confess imaginary deeds. After thirty years spent performing the strappado, I wish my body unravelled, but when I appear to be tired my master strokes me with beeswax to soothe me, and I am like new: the perfect rope to extort false confessions.

Oh, yes, I wanted to die, my dear Polletto, until I saw the female of my dreams. I spied her first this morning as I hung from my ring fixed to the ceiling: a Dominican friar called Guido burst into the forensic vicar's adjacent office, towing Gostanza behind him.

He said, "Vicar, this woman slaughtered a new-born babe!"

The magistrate looked up from his codex. "Do you have proof of this, Fra' Guido?"

The good Dominican bowed. "Early this morning, I was walking across the Piazzetta Del Casseto when Gostanza came out of a house, her hands overflowing with rue and vervain, baskets dangling from her forearms. The incense of moscata walnut and pumpkin clung to her hair unbound and flowing like a young girl's mane despite grey streaks. I offered aid, and she allowed me to relieve her of two baskets.

"'Was that Mona Astrea's abode?' I asked. As I balanced the baskets, bottles clinked together with ill-fated chimes. 'How went the birth?'

"'It went well.' But a frown creased Gostanza's features. At the moment, I did not understand why, but a suspicion gnawed at my heart. I yanked a bottle out and unstoppered it. I was right, vicar! Concoctions smelling like oil of bartram, crushed cloves, madreselva and betonica herbs . . . all ingredients used for unholy spells!

"Then the devilish woman flipped open the lid of the third basket. 'Accept this offer to quench your hunger,' she said in a sly tone. 'Duck baked with prunes in tuber oil.'

"The aroma of roast bird tickled my nostrils. No sooner had she placed a palatable morsel between my lips than my senses fled. When I regained consciousness, I was alone in a mossy alley, slumped against a wall. I stumbled back to Mona Astrea's house, following a worrisome inspiration.

"Astrea lounged upstairs, her belly slack with recent birth. The maga Gostanza, lips and hands stained red, leaned over a cradle. Inside it, a babe, pale and still. She had killed it!

"I suffered kicks and scratches," the friar concluded, "as I dragged Gostanza out of Astrea's abode and up the hill to this Palazzo."

The accused's eyes shone like little suns. Dried blood marred the corners of her mouth.

Upon hearing the friar's words, the soldiers who stood in the audience hall grimaced, whereas I died to taste such a woman—one of the evilest suspects ever. You see, Polletto, I've always wanted to torment an accused that had actually done something bad.

Guido bowed again, and from my vantage I noticed sweat beading on the friar's forehead. Now, the sweating could have been caused by the unseasonable heat, couldn't it?

The forensic vicar then sent for the inquisitor of Florence, Dionigi da Costacciaro. When the brown-robed Franciscan arrived, my master the executioner brought the accused before him, in this same chamber, my home. I was yanked from my perch, and laced twice around the witch's delicate wrist bones. My braided cords shivered in ecstasy. I wondered whether Guido's accusations were grounded indeed, for her skin had the texture of guilt.

Read more in this issue of Polluto.

Polluto - Blood, Sex and Witchcraft, and The Evil Red

Polluto issue 9 ¾: Witchfinders vs The Evil Red is now out! This was a particularly fun theme that has inspired all kinds of stories, with some completely unexpected interpretations. There is, of course, the Evil Red as communism, socialism, authoritarianism, secret police, and the welfare state. And, as usual, no Polluto author ever deals with a subject in familiar ways. A socialist paradise fuelled by severed pinkies? An alien drug that will end all war by instigating mass colour-blindness? There is guaranteed to be something new here to surprise any reader. There is witchcraft and magic, not to mention monsters and the undead. There is evil, fear, scapegoating, and denial. The Evil Red lurks in the darkest corners as well as boldly taking over the world.

Interestingly, one of the unifying ideas that connects many of these stories is the idea of powerful, and in particular sexually dominant, women. This is appropriate on several levels, as this is the ‘witchfinders’ issue (and what has scared men throughout the ages more than dominant women?) as well as the evil red (blood, sex, desire, passion). And our ‘witchy’ women are joined by a whole host of unexpected companions. Professor Dingleberry and his walking house, topped with its red coxcomb; vampiric ‘colour-eaters’ that feed on red; a man slowly disintegrating into numbers, thoughts and digital streams; a clay man rising from a river of blood; a libido-zapped librarian contemplating drawings found on Mars; and a bloodthirsty priestess controlled by her malevolent red chainsaw. And many more wait inside Polluto’s red-streaked pages.

Beginning with Cris O’Connor’s unique spin on the Wizard of Oz story, complete with Dorothy’s blood-soaked ruby slippers, and ending on Richard Thomas’ captivating and heartbreaking story of a haunted man in a broken world, Polluto issue 9 ¾ bewitches the reader from start to finish.

Next post... this issue’s ‘Editor’s Choice’ story!