Four brand new Ronal Malfi novellas interconnected by a book theme
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Ghostwritten by Ronald Malfi
​Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books (UK) (4 Oct. 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1789099595
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1789099591

A Book Review by Tony Jones

Ronald Malfi continues his outstanding literary purple patch with Titan Books and his third stellar release in as many years. He follows the two excellent best horror thrillers Come With Me (2021) and Black Mouth (2022) with Ghostwritten, which consists of four novellas loosely interconnected by the theme of books. Serious students of Malfi will realise that this subject is nothing new to this author and a previous novella Mr Cables (2020) would have fitted within this collection like a glove. However, Malfi is on such a rich creative run one can fully understand why he did not wish to revisit a novella which had been published twice before. But if you have never previously come across it definitely check it out after reading this as it’s a beauty.


The four stories are standalone pieces and although there is a minor crossover of names here and there they could be read in any order. One of the blurbs notes that “the written word has never had sharper teeth…” and that nicely sums up what these unpredictable and fantastical 450-pages hold, a collection which has no weak links and one in which readers will undoubtedly argue over which is their favourite. Ultimately though it was exceedingly difficult to separate them (and there is no point) as the quality was exceptionally high, with a quote the blurb “books can be deadly” the common denominator.


The collection opens in style with The Skin of Her Teeth, featuring a cursed novel which eventually drives people to their deaths. Gloria Grossman is a book agent whose client Davis McElroy has been commissioned to write the film script of an extraordinarily successful horror novel and she begins to get jumpy when nothing is heard from McElroy and she decides to head out to his remote writing retreat. She discovers a dishevelled mess, rambling incoherently about how the book he is scripting is dangerous and that he has it nailed down in a box. Things get stranger and stranger until the meeting between McElroy and the original novelist John Fish when events begin to go really haywire. This was a sly opening section to the collection, where Dollar signs are never far away with Gloria keen to protect her investment. Cursed books are nothing new, but it is nice to bring the trusty trope kicking and screaming into the world of the 21st Century


The second instalment The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride is an entirely different beast from its predecessor in which two lowlife gangsters are hired to transport what they are told is a book in a locked briefcase to a remote destination. They are given extremely specific instructions on exactly where to go (and it’s not the quickest or most sensible route) but the most important rule to follow is whatever goes down; do not open the briefcase! We’ve all seen Joe Dante’s Gremlins and so these dumb rules are there are to be broken. The story is built around the fact that the brothers Danny and Tommy Drake are not getting on and loose cannon Tommy is desperate to see what is in the briefcase. What follows is one of the weirdest and wackiest road trips I have come across in a while as the pair head into very dark otherworldly territory. This story was blessed with a couple of very unsettling scenes, when the brothers are being seemingly stalked and another when they stop off in a deserted town and things just do not add up. The banter between the long-suffering Danny and his idiot brother Tommy was great fun, but remember, whatever happens do not open the briefcase! Yeah, right.


This Book Belongs to Olo was a cool play on the creepy kid tale mashed up with The Babadook. From the strange opening you will realise a treat lies ahead; a kid arrives at the local park wearing unfashionable clothes and an out-of-season Halloween mask and invites everybody there to his birthday party the following week. The locals recognise him as the odd kid who lives in the big house on the hill and mercilessly rib him, but many of them decide to go to his party anyway as they think he is rich. We quickly realise that this lonely child is incredibly bright but lacks social skills and is neglected by his author mother and stepfather whilst being looked after by his childminder. The build-up leads the reader to the party and the rather strange pop-up book which Olo has created and features some very cool scenes from within the book. Olo will quickly put your teeth on edge in a tale which smoothly blends police procedural, childhood bullying, loneliness, and neglect before heading into dark fantasy and the unsettling contents of his wonderfully sinister and deadly book.


The final entry The Story was probably my favourite and had the most scope to be developed into a full novel, it also finished a tad prematurely, but I’m probably only saying that because I thought it was great. It was just beginning to truly motor when it abruptly concluded! If you are in your forties or fifties you might remember the Fighting Fantasy adventure books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone which started with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain back in 1982 and spawned a host of sequels. There were also extremely basic text driven adventures on the early home computers, with very limited vocabulary, around the same time. The Story is built around an online version of one of these choose-your-own adventure game which spirals into an uncanny reality where the players have to make genuine life or death choices. It all starts intriguingly slowly though and you will have great fun joining the dots; the police ask Grady to identify the body of an old friend and work colleague, Taryn, who he had not seen for several months. The podcaster and journalist, who specialised in the unexplained, left unanswered questions into why she committed suicide and Grady begins to investigate. This was an outstanding web of lies to get sucked into and beautifully structured with The Story seemingly out of reach to Grady. Until it wasn’t.


Ronald Malfi is a terrific horror novelist and his edge is just as sharp at novella length fiction also, even if the collection lacked genuine scares it was beautifully crafted and a pleasure to read. Should you not have come across his shorter fiction previously I also highly recommend his short story collection We Should Have Left Well Enough Alone.


Tony Jones

Darling by Mercedes M Yardley  
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Black Spot Books (23 Aug. 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 270 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1645481190
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1645481195

A Book Review by: Mark Walker

Darling has its demons. Cherry LaRouche escaped the claws of Darling, Louisiana at sixteen. When she is forced to return after her mother's death, Cherry and her children move back into her childhood home where the walls whisper and something sinister skitters across the roof at night. While Cherry tries to settle back into a town where evil spreads like infection, the bodies of several murdered children turn up. When Cherry's own daughter goes missing, she is forced to confront the true monsters of Darling.


If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Only for Cherry, inheriting her childhood home when she is at the point of eviction from her current dive is an offer she cannot refuse. However, her memories of childhood with a strict, over-bearing mother and a house full of ghosts and things that go bump in the night, make her wish she had any other choice than to return to Darling, the town she grew up in. The place is also full of reminders of E, the man she ran away with, but who ditched her and his disabled son as soon as things got tough.

Coming back to Darling is a last resort and one fraught with trouble as Cherry must face the demons of her past; E’s brother, Mordachi, always held a candle for her, as did Runner another local boy. The local bitch wastes no time falling back into past habits and an old friend throws guilt into the mix as she laments Cherry abandoning her all those years ago.

Throw in her childhood home, which may or may not be haunted, and you really do not have a recipe for happiness.

Despite the underlying darkness that hangs over Darling, when her daughter Daisy goes missing, the town comes together to help Cherry search for her. But, as the days pass by, her hope fades. Darling’s rotten heart has infected Cherry’s life, like it has the lives of so many who never had the chance to try and escape like she did. Although, on the surface, the town rallies behind Cherry, once that surface veneer is scratched, old wounds open, old tensions bubble up and the town explodes in a finale of madness and terror that will leave it, and everyone, changed forever.

In Darling, Mercedes M. Yardley explores the relationships and tensions of a small town, highlighting both the good and the bad. While Cherry is initially welcomed, her presence also causes friction amongst old friends and rekindles old jealousies. Cherry was sure that there was something rotten in Darling as a child, which is why she could not wait to leave, but returning has convinced her. Her childhood home is a living, breathing entity, closing in on Cherry and tainting everything it touches. It tormented her mother, and it torments Cherry, a character in its own right. Many of the people in Darling sense something is wrong, that the town and Cherry’s house are not “right” but Cherry was the only one who had the chance to leave, but even she has been unable to escape completely.

Darling is paced well and does not waste any time getting into the plot proper after Cherry returns and her daughter goes missing. Mercedes skilfully fleshes out all her characters and the backstories that have shaped their lives, slowly filling in the gaps and presenting each as distinct and unique. Cherry’s children are more than simple identikit kids, shoe-horned in to simply serve as plot devices, their characteristics nicely informing Cherry’s and fleshing her out even more. She is a single mother fighting for her children, and the reader is made to care for her and pray that she gets the ending she deserves.

You will have to read for yourself to find out whether she does or not but, whatever happens, you can be sure you are in for a good time. I did have a fairly good idea about who had taken Daisy, but there are still plenty of surprises along the way and a couple of things I didn’t expect – enough to make me question my predictions on more than one occasion. Although small towns have been comprehensively explored in many films and books over the years, Darling is a great addition to the collection and, while it uses some of the usual tropes, it is different and compelling enough to make it a complimentary addition to the annals, rather than a lazy copy.
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Darling is another book I may not have heard about or read if not for working with Ginger Nuts, and I am glad I came across it. It is not overtly scary or spooky, but it explores the relationships and dynamics of small towns which, ultimately, can be scarier than any ghosts or demons.

A definite recommendation and temptation into Mercedes’ world.

Throw Me to the Wolves (Cry Wolf) 
by Lindy Ryan  & Christopher Brooks 
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Black Spot Books (24 May 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1645481174
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1645481171

A Book Review by Jim Mcleod 

Werewolves have never had the same amount of coverage in the horror fiction world; for every book featuring a werewolf, there are a hundred books with a zombie or a vampire rampaging through the pages. I have never quite understood why this is the case; most readers would also be hard pushed to name their definitive werewolf novel, which never seems to be the problem for fans of their brethren. Even the Twilight effect appears to have passed our hairy friends by. Of course, this is from a pure horror stance; I haven't delved into the paranormal romance world, and I'm sorry, I never will, but quite why this has happened has I wish I knew, as the werewolf is rife for thoughtful exploration of the human condition, who here has never wished that they lose all control and rip out the throats of those who get on their nerves. I know I do!


Throw Me to the Wolves by Lindy Ryan and Christopher Brooks mixes witches and werewolves into an entertaining urban fantasy, stroke horror novel (god, don't you hate labels) that successfully pulls together a lot of well-used tropes and situations into a fresh and thrilling take on the sadly underused werewolf novel.  


Reading the synopsis, you might be forgiven that you are about to enter the sparkly world of a Twilight clone, but don't worry, as the only thing that sparkles here is Ryan and Brooks' prose and clever use of narrative structure.  


The basic plot summary is that ten years ago, a witch turned Britta Orchid into a werewolf while murdering the rest of Britta's family. After a local cop finds the witch's remains, Britta is drawn back to her hometown, where she battles the angry ghost of her brother and unruly werewolf packs. This old friend hates wolves but doesn't realise that Britta is one and a mysterious force that seems to be pushing things along in the background, to discover the truth of her past and what it means to be a werewolf.  


Now some of you might be thinking, OK, that sounds more like a paranormal romance. It's not for me, but don't worry; the authors keep this book far enough into the realms of horror and suppress most of the kissy, kissy stuff to ensure that even die-hard horror fans will get a kick out of this book.  


It was a joy to have not only a female protagonist driving this story but having one that was both comfortable with who she is and knowing that she is one of the most dangerous characters in the book, the sly confidence that Britta exudes throughout the book was a breath of fresh air. There is no clutching of pearls, or would that be dog balls, or fretful wringing of paws over who she is, although I did enjoy how the authors tackled how you fall in love when you are a supernatural immortal creature theme within the book.  


The novel goes to great lengths with the minor details and scene-setting; it is here where the only problem I have with the book lies. While the minor descriptive details are handled well, the more significant "world-building" details felt lacking. A better sense of place and time and the mechanics of the world of Throw Me to the Wolves would have lifted this book from being a very good read into an exceptional one. Things such as is the existence of witches and werewolves are common knowledge, or do they hide in the shadows, and what about other supernatural creatures? Some of the reactions to the characters revealing themselves to be more than human felt out of character for the rules of location that the authors had created. Doing this would have given the novel a more cohesive feel rather than, at times, just feeling that they had dropped these magical creatures into a police procedural. However, this is the first in a series of novels, so the authors will hopefully address this issue in future books. This is a minor point, and outwith this, Throw Me to the Wolves is an excellent entry into the world of Britta.  


Having said that, the opening chapter is a fantastic example of setting the scene and the mode; the tone of the writing here perfectly matches the languid mood of the Louisiana setting.  


The authors must also be applauded for not taking a straightforward approach to the narrative structure, with hints of Memento; this fractured approach to the narrative keeps the reader on their toes and is used effectively to keep the momentum of the story flowing with great enthusiasm.  


Throw Me to the Wolves is a strong entry in a new series of supernatural fiction; despite a very slight misstep with the mechanics of the novel's world, it is still an excellent read that brings a much needed new bite to the werewolf novel.  ​

Hooked by A.C. Wise  

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books (12 July 2022)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1789096839
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1789096835

A Book Review by Tony Jones

James Hook is vividly brought to life in a refreshing spin on the Peter Pan story


I am the last person you might expect to pick up AC Wise’s Hooked, which develops the Peter Pan mythology from the point of view of the dastardly Captain Hook. On most days I swerve modern-day twists of established classics of yesteryear, but when a review copy arrived unannounced on my doorstep I decided upon an impromptu trip to Neverland. I had never read the JM Barrie original, and my knowledge of Pan and Hook does not extend beyond the classic Disney cartoon and the 1991 Spielberg film Hook, where Dustin Hoffman hammed it up as the pirate. However, you do not need any more detail than this basic knowledge to enjoy and have a full understanding of the rather bleak, but compelling, Hooked.


Hooked is also a sequel of sorts to Wendy, Darling (2021) which is set some years after the events of Peter Pan and concerns Pan stealing Wendy Darling’s daughter (Jane) and whisking her to Neverland. As Jane is a major character in Hooked there are plenty of references to what went on in Wendy, Darling, but I did not feel I needed to have read the original to enjoy Wise’s second novel. Wendy is also a character in Hooked and her reflections on her time in Neverland were fascinating, in hindsight realising Pan either used her as a surrogate mother/sister who did all the cooking and cleaning and was not fully allowed to participate in the adventures. Even though the book is principally about James Hook, it does also give a clever feminist perspective with both mother and daughter still struggling to accept their role in Pan’s world Neverland in which the whim of one person was a queer type of dictatorship.


Although Peter Pan is barely in Hooked his shadow dominates proceedings and as I have not read the Barrie original I am unsure whether the author ever alluded to a dark side (I doubt it) and this book is all about the darkness. Pan (as James Hook always referred to him) controlled Neverland with an iron fist and was a spiteful nasty child (or demon?) who enjoyed inflicting cruelty and using everybody else in Neverland as pawns in his never-ending battles with the pirate. The characters in the story have not truly recovered from their dealings with Pan, Hook in particular who we first meet in 1939, is still missing a hand and a foot. He disappears into the bottle to forget, but realises redemption might be possible, but only if he returns to the magical land he once escaped vowing never to return.


The story is predominately set in London in 1939, with a drunk James Hook coming to believe that a slither of Neverland magic may have filtered into our world after there is a murder. Realising something is amiss, he seeks out Wendy Darling and they immediately recognise each other, Wendy’s daughter Jane enters the fray after her roommate is murdered in the same manner. Jane is studying to be a doctor and struggles is a male dominated profession and is looked down upon by her peers. She also remembers her earlier run in with Pan from the previous novel, in which the boy mistook her for her mother. What happens next takes the three closer to Neverland and a reconciliation with what went before and the darkness which surrounds it.


Hooked was a literary and melancholic character driven fantasy read which explores themes of grief, survivor’s guilt and the struggle to leave the past behind. James Hook’s pain pours all over the pages and whilst the standard caricature is of a pirate who is forced to walk his own plank, this book goes considerably deeper and vividly portrays a man caught within a never-ending trap. What might it be like to be murdered millions of times (and brought back to life) by Pan only to be killed again with a vague sense of déjà vu of having been there before? It is made clear that even though Pan and Hook fought for an eternity, the pirate never as much as scratched the boy. For him it was like playing a rigged computer game which was impossible to win. Interestingly, there is also a subtle developing LGBTQ+ storyline with this character, which is strongly connected to his overwhelming pain.


The story convincingly flips back in time, picking up both Darling women and Hook around the period he escaped through a hole in the sky (more computer game similarities?) The recreation of Neverland was also beautifully drawn, however, returning as adults the group see the place in a much more sinister and unsettling light. On another level Hooked examines the masculinity of the original story and although it never exactly says what Pan is, he is far from the free magical presence in the Barrie original. For a book I did not expect to take to I found Hooked both moving and compelling, with the tragic figure of James Hook being vividly brought to life and the pantomime villain we are all familiar being nicely side-lined by AC Wise in this stylish and vibrant semi-reimagining of a timeless story.


Tony Jones

These Long Teeth of the Night by Alexander Zelenyj 
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fourth Horseman Press (22 Feb. 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 430 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0988392216
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0988392212

A Book Review by Tony Jones 

    Brilliant career spanning ‘best of’ collection which defies categorisation


If you intend to take a wild punt on one short story specialist you have never previously read in the near future then I strongly suggest you choose Alexander Zelenyj. This creative and highly original Canadian author has spent the last twenty years writing short fiction and has had several collections already published, including Experiments at 3 Billion A.M (2009) and Blacker Against the Deep Dark (2018) which I previously reviewed and was greatly impressed. He has been published by a wide range of independent and literary presses, including Eibonvale Press and Fourth Horseman Press, who between them have been responsible for a decent percentage of his work.


These Long Teeth of the Night features twenty-eight of Zelenyj’s favourite or most personal (rather than ‘best’) stories from the last twenty years and has been released by Fourth Horseman Press, a long-term home for his unique genre-defying style. I would wager Zelenyj to be a significantly bigger name if his fiction were easier to categorise. But it is not. In fact, it is impossible to pigeonhole and I imagine the author likes it this way and is happy to grace the literary shadows rather than the limelight. That is not to say he does not write about traditional horror story topics, but it is his perspective which makes his voice so distinct, for example A Valley for Dorothy concerns a bounty hunter sent to kill a demon (at first glance a very traditional story), but the story veers from a potentially all action tale into a more introverted and painful family drama.


Books should not be defined by genre, but we try to do it anyway and Zelenyj’s fiction is best described as slipstream which is a style of fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries between science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. This type of literature is not particularly commercial and often drops under the radar and Zelenyj is an absolute master craftsman at this style. A sizable number of his stories are noticeably short (maybe 3000-5000 words) and for 80-90% of the tale the characters might be living very normal lives before something inexplicable happens, which often goes unexplained. Poppy, The Girl Of My Dreams, And The Alien Invasion I Can Detect Like Radar Through My Braces is a notable example of this, with two girls reading a diary of a neighbour and realising the world might soon end. The Bloodmilk People is another terrific illustration of this style, a bookshop clerk discovers a gross bloody mess in the bathroom and puts it down to a difficult day, until a young man comes over and bizarrely explains why he deliberately left the gross deposit. Neither is Zelenyj particularly interested in twist or surprise endings as many short story specialists often enjoy, but The Bloodmilk People does have a killer last line!


Zelenyj’s fiction often asks questions but rarely provides answers, some readers might find this frustrating, but if you take his stories to be melancholic snapshots of quiet moments in time most work beautifully. Literary ambiguity threads through stories which combine horror with fantasy, mythology, comedy, sex, historical settings, various wars, science fiction and magical realism. A deep sense, often quite beautiful, of sadness is often laced throughout the tales, a few of which I had to read more than once to genuinely appreciate. At 420 pages in length, I would recommend tackling the collection slowly to fully savour the pieces. Zelenyj also provides lovingly and very personal notes before every story which vary in length and provide the inspiration behind them or just how he was feeling at the time. Some stories came easily, others were much harder work to complete and I enjoyed these insights into the thought process immensely.


There were too many terrific stories to mention individually, so firstly I’m going to pick out a few of my favourites, some of which I had read before but enjoyed revisiting. Both Highway of Lost Women and The Priests had little in common except that both were beautifully observed character studies. In the former four young women Alex, Darcy, Billie, Sam discovers a naked line of women standing across the middle of the road whilst driving along a remote highway. The plot then back-flips to how they got there and beautifully taps into the feelings and insecurities of the women before going full circle.  The Priests was a different type of character study and in some ways looked at the failings of man. Pastor Garfield meets a horribly deformed character known as the Priests, who resembles triple cojoined twins and is so ugly he frightens and disgusts everyone he meets. After the Pastor welcomes Priests into his home, the poor unfortunate tells his moving story, calling for tolerance, mercy, and humanity, qualities he rarely sees.


Gladiators in the Sepulchre of Abominations was another monster story and a personal favourite in which a man revisits his destroyed childhood and reflects upon the monster (or was it a god?) his family kept locked in the basement. I found this tale strangely moving and maybe the beast is still out there roaming the Canadian countryside? If I had ever heard the fictional obscure cult band ‘The Deathray Bradburys’ who are the focus of On Tour With The Deathray Bradburys I reckon I would have been a fan, hell, I probably would be wearing their t-shirt! This story is written in a semi-factual informative style, about the disappearance of the mythical band and their most devoted fans. Elopers of Sirius has a vaguely similar theme about the mass suicide of a Jim Jones style cult, with science fiction overtones indicating that it is us that was missing a trick and not the dead.


Numerous inclusions leaned heavily on science fiction and there were two particular standouts. With top billing was Journey To The End Of A Burning Girl an outstanding tale of a new extremely dangerous drug Verntellus which leads to speculation that the substance has a weird transportation property. After digested the user vanishes, leaving behind strange ashen imprints of themselves called signatures, burned into the surface of their last known location. The story is very dark, oozes hopelessness, taking in a number of characters including the police who are all seeking the drug for their own reasons. We Are All Lightless Inside is also well worth a look, in this peculiar story disease can take physical form and soldiers battle an eternal role for mankind’s survival against these living viruses.


I could go on and on about other unsettling, weird treasures lurking within the pages of These Long Teeth of the Night, with Another Light Called 1-47 also hitting the spot, a sad tale of a rocket disappearing into space and its loss felt over the many following years of those left behind. Love in Uncertain Times wonders if there was proof of supernatural life before man and if so how would it impact us? And if you fancy another melancholic tale then Potato Thief Beneath Indifferent Stars features an old guy whose life takes on new meaning when he finds a green creature living in his garden.


If you are looking for slightly off-beat stories that might resonate with you long after completion then These Long Teeth of the Night has much to offer. They often capture unique moments, snapshots of life or individuals trapped within the ripples of otherworldly occurrences. The natural ability to effortlessly flow between genres is a rare literary gift and few are more skilled at this art than Alexander Zelenyj.


Tony Jones

The Knock-Knock Man by Russell Mardell 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ RedDoor Press (10 May 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1915194016
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915194015

A Book Review by Jim Mcleod 

Settled in the 9th century by seafaring Scandinavian explorers, Iceland sits alone just below the Arctic Circle amid the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, its imposing, glaciated, volcanic shores having evolved from one of the poorest areas in Europe into one of the most technologically advanced, peaceable and ecologically friendly nations on Earth. Yet in spite of its modern reputation as a marvel of renewable energy and beloved tourist destination, Iceland retains a crucial mystique. The average American's knowledge of the island has less to do with its Viking-era sagas and eddas than with its quirky cultural oddities--Björk, the Icelandic Phallological Museum, Keeping Up With The Kattarshians, svið (Google it at the risk of losing your appetite)--but to simply accept Iceland as a place of cute eccentricities is to ignore its shadowy legacy. Poised at the pinnacle of the world, Iceland is steeped in both mythic and literal darkness; at the summer solstice the midnight sun never sets, but as the steady march toward winter advances, light dies, day by day, hour by hour, until all that remains is the night.

Best known for her continuing Nocturnal series of Young Adult vampire novels (Nocturnal Blood, Nocturnal Farm and Nocturnal Salvation, with a fourth installment on the way), Icelandic horror author Villimey Mist delves dauntlessly into that same blackened nightscape of her remote native isle with St. Rooster Books' release of As The Night Devours Us, a feverishly fearsome fifteen-story compendium of some of the finest terror fare in recent literary memory.

'A Mother's Job,' the volume's introductory tale, sets the tome's tone when a woman seeking to protect her daughter during a zombie apocalypse performs the grimmest of maternal duties. The Icelandic reverence for nature comes into conflict with a group of disrespectful American travelers at 'The Moss Covered Volcano', just as a father's deranged actions initiated in the name of his daughter infuses 'Hope' with harrowing, heart-wrenching power. A young woman disturbed by dolls finds her fears justified in unexpected ways when searching for a missing friend in 'The Doll Museum', while the frenetic action of 'Split' serves as a pulse-pounding escape into the treacherous world of espionage.

The volume's second half unfolds with 'Skötumóðir', an unusually effective written experiment within the 'found footage' film subgenre that's only one of Mist's many chronicles to explore Iceland's rich folklore. Similarly, the country's fabled Christmastime menace, the Yule Cat, viciously proves to a group of self-centered youths that 'Receiving Is Better Than Giving'. Unforeseen consequences align against a young musician who enlists the aid of a friend to bury the body of a vagrant he accidentally killed in 'Shed The Night's Skin', while the Japan-set 'Kokkuri-san' utilizes Shinto beliefs to realize the retribution sought by a bullied teenager. And a woman battling a demon must prepare the grisliest of haute cuisine to save her children in the tense 'What The Chef Recommends'.

There's an eclectic assembly of horror's myriad subtypes available within these pages; werewolves, devils, sea beasts, the undead, mental illness and a gallery of monsters both human and not spread their maleficence in a multitude of ways. Yet As The Night Devours Us is no simplistic compilation of creature features. Mist's ability extends far beyond that, far beyond even routine splatterpunk blood and guts; her dexterous and kinetic prose is so effective at conveying the intricate spectrum of human experience that each carefully-chosen word lures the reader further into the benighted forest. Her clear vision, deft wit and gift for fully rendering a character's interior state, their motivations, desires and insecurities, cut to the heart of every story and act as a stable center for the presented situations. An impressive and sure-handed use of Iceland's unique mythology, too, elevates As The Night Devours Us above the mire of mediocre horror pretenders. Themes of vengeance abound, as do observations on the bonds of family and the importance of friendship, the perilous disregard for the environment, the abuse of trust and the shattering terror of revelation. And while most collections, like many musical albums, contain at least some filler material, there's nary a dud in Mist's authorial arsenal; every tale strikes its intended target, though five stories deserve acknowledgement for their unabashed supremacy.

For pure shivers, both 'The Rescue' and 'Nails' deliver on the diabolical promise of their premise; in the former, a police detective infiltrating a cult to facilitate a young girl's escape uncovers the shocking truth about the nature of the commune's dreadful deity, while the latter's depiction of a young man's unraveling mind features some of the most hygienically disquieting scenes of mental disintegration ever scribed. A different kind of depraved thought process, that of a serial killer who discovers his latest victim isn't what she seems, is detailed with chillingly realistic effect in 'The Thrill Of The Hunt', while the Viking castaways who survive their sinking longboat struggle to outlast each other as well as the legendary undersea monstrosity, 'Taurmur'.  
           
Many of the selections in As The Night Devours Us would make excellent cinematic adaptations, yet more than any other, it's the volume's culminating entry, 'The Banquet', that earns top accolades as a story strong enough to build a Hollywood franchise upon. Originally released as a stand-alone charity novella, the narrative focuses on Maria, a traumatized sexual assault survivor who is invited by a mysterious organization that gives women the chance to exact revenge upon their attackers. The unrelenting scenario benefits from some of the most excruciating torture scenes yet penned in modern indie horror, but the explicitness here never exploits; indeed, Maria's interior state is so devastated by her rape that the final confrontation becomes nothing less than undiluted spiritual catharsis. With its deep emotional resonance, savage gore and hints at a worldwide clandestine conspiracy, 'The Banquet' rivals such films as Last House On the Left, I Spit On Your Grave, Hostel and Martyrs in its breadth of intensity.   
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Beautiful in its own way but not for the faint of heart, As The Night Devours Us is an all-too-rare example of what can truly be accomplished with short fiction in general and genre fiction in particular. With her flair for creating realistic characters, her unflinching resolve to push boundaries and willingness to explore, Villimey Mist's triumphant work succeeds in shaking the very pillars of contemporary horror, and it's for that reason that I feel compelled to bestow As The Night Devours Us the full 5 (out of 5) on my Fang Scale. A dark and dangerous talent arises. Prepare to be devoured.