Not sure if this was a 99p deal or free for a limited period, or who recommended it. Some journalist I am. I know I was already Facebook friends with James prior to reading, and I also know this was my first encounter with his work.

It will not be my last.

The Shelter is a deft exercise in short form storytelling – falling in that twilight zone between short story and novella,  the kind of length that you basically never saw outside an anthology or collection, prior to the rise of the e-book.

A Life to Waste tells the story of Dave, a person who lost all purpose and meaning in his life. He’d spend his days eating and drinking, playing video games and watching horror flicks. He lived with his elderly mother, a mother he abused.

One day, Dave’s world comes crashing down around him when one of his neighbors turns up missing. Her flat is covered in blood and the police soon knock on Dave’s door, asking if he heard or saw anything. Determined to find out what happened to the woman, Dave begins an investigation of his own, which leads to a horrifying discovery.

The teenage years are hard enough for males, what with suddenly raging hormones, faces that look as though they have been rented out as a holiday home to the Spot family, and the scary prospect of having to learn to shave.  For most of us though our teenage years were pretty straightforward.  So just be thankful that you are not Henry Dudlow, a  fifteen and a half year old teenage boy who is also gifted or cursed with the ability to see the demons that walk amongst us.  

What would you do in such a situation?  Would you cower under the covers at night waiting for Armageddon to come, or would you take the fight to them?  

That's the problem that faces poor old Henry.   

The horror of horror is a one trick pony; eliciting reactions of dread, panic, revulsion, all ephemeral, passing in almost the same breath or heartbeat, leaving behind little but an aching emptiness; a silence that begs to be broken. 

Those works which define the genre; which others adore and seek to emulate, generally utilise the tropes, subjects and rhythms of horror to achieve something greater; to make something more of themselves (Clive Barker's Books of Blood, for example, explore any number of concepts not traditionally associated with horror, as do the works of David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Ramsey Campbell). Audiences become suggestible when shaken or disturbed from their assumptions; when exposed to things they've never experienced or imagined before. The best horror knows this and uses it, transcending any bounds or parameters that the genre might impose upon itself. 

I have to admit to having an ulterior motive for picking this one up. As a writer, I'm intrigued by experiments in form, and the notion of 99 horror stories, each written in 99 words, proved to be an irresistible pull. I had two questions going in: could the authors actually pull this off? And if they did, what on earth would it be like to read?