Sarah and her brother Johnny return to their childhood home, scene of bad experiences and memories. They hope to dispel these spectres and personal hauntings once and for all and move on. Little do they know there may be something else haunting the building...

In such a short amount of space and what at first appears to be just another 'return to the family house that was haunted' type of story, Lily Childs quickly makes it apparent that this is no mere pastiche or treading of old ground. Such is the assuredness of the writing, that we are immediately drawn into the world that these two characters inhabit.

Just when I felt I was able to predict the story, each turn takes it off in a subtly different direction. In fact, there is one paragraph in the story for which I was completely unprepared for. It sketches the fact that Sarah and Johnny were separated while young and only recently reunited due to Johnny's efforts. In just a couple of swift lines, Lily was able to pierce my heart with emotion and brought a pricking of tears to my eyes.

It's all handled in a deft manner and unfolds clearly and concisely, with the action in the present allowing the past to reassert itself, so we are given a deeper and clearer picture of just what happened to these two children even as they are in turn, given answers to long hidden mysteries.

It ends on a poignant and tragic note, but one which feels wholly necessary in light of what has gone before. This is a very well written short story, which manages to both chill and move, something all too rare inn the field of horror. Can't wait until the next story from this author.to edit.

After reading Gary McMahon's The Night Just Got Darker, the above quote from Graeme Joyce immediately sprang to mind. As that is all we really are, we live and we die. If we are lucky enough to have made an impression, good or bad, on those who we have met, then our story will continue.  But what if our story wasn't really our story to tell?  What if our story was constantly being rewritten, edited and published by a mysterious writer, desperately trying to hold back the darkness, shaping our world so the very worst of human nature is held in check.    

In essence  that is what this latest offering from Gary McMahon is about.  I say in essence as this is not a merely a simple tale, it is a multilayered story that deals the breakdown of relationships, blame, the futile quest for control of ones life from outside influences, and the fact that despite what we do we are doomed from birth.  

Expertly, written with an emotional depth that stabs straight to the heart, The Night Just Got Darker  is  deeply moving story, almost as bleak and nihilistic as anything Gary has previously written, it is clear that this is a very personal tale to him.  I cannot help but feel that Gary is the mysterious writer of the story.  A writer who with every story he writes gets ever more scarred both emotionally and physically.  

There are some weighty issues presented in this story, and Gary cleverly doesn't tie these all up in happy ending full of resolutions.  The story like life is never has all the answers.  

The Night Just Got Darker  is one of those stories that reviewers both love and dread.  We love it as it allows for a review that states the more we talk about what happens the more we will lessen the power of the story. It is also one that fills us with dread as we sit here wondering how to write a review that makes you go and buy it. 

So take my word for it this is a book that you really should read, it is raw, emotional and deeply moving.  A powerful fairy tale for an urban generation.  

The Chapbook will be released from KnightWatch Press

PURCHASE A COPY HERE    (Just scroll down for the book)

Published as a signed limited edition by Pendragon Press, here we have a very interesting piece of work. Mark West pens a short tale that's steeped in 70's and 80's chase films, yet retains a character all of its own.

One fateful night, David is at a party he'd much prefer to be absent from. Through a mutual friend, he offers Natalie a lift home. Elsewhere, a gang of drugged up 'hoodies' are cruising about in a souped up sports car. Their initial activities are obnoxious but relatively harmless, but it's clear that things are about to escalate. These two parties are on a violent collision course and it's anyone's guess who will survive the night...

It seems like a lifetime ago since  I first heard about this book.  I was lucky enough to be one of the first people in the know, and ever since then  I have been  intrigued, and excited.  I loved the premise of the book, a load of comedians and stand up comics tackling my most beloved of genres.  A brilliant concept, when you consider that in my opinion both horror and comedy come from the same dark pit in our minds and soul.  A part that loves to be shocked, look at some of the best comedy out there. It's shocking, it makes you uncomfortable, and it also makes you ever so slightly embarrassed for liking it.  You think to yourself "I shouldn't be laughing at it".  It's a surprise that no one has come up with it before.   

Comedy, probably more so than fiction, is something that is more susceptible  to suffering from personal taste. There are authors that you don't like, but you can see the merit in their work.  But when it comes to comedy you either like them or you hate them.  Would this rub off on the comedians writing? Would my personal taste, and my personal dislike for one of the comics in this book sway my judgement of the overall quality and appeal of the book?

Anthologies are a funny beast, not all of the stories will appeal to everyone, we all have different tastes and different feelings as to what makes for a good story. With this in mind it is important that the editor of an anthology knows his stuff. Especially when, such as is the case with this book, not all of the writers are seasoned authors.  I would imagine that writing a short story is a world away from writing a stand up routine.  It is clear that Johnny Mains and Robin Ince know this as there is a good ratio of seasoned writers in there. People like Charlie Higson, Reece Shearsmith and Matthew Holness stand in the line up like a rallying call.  

Those of you going into Dead Funny expecting a laugh a minute are going to be severly disappointed, this is not a funny book. What it is, is a rather sick and twisted affair, especially thanks to the tale from Shearsmith, (which I'll talk about more later on), mixed in with some rather fine tales of  weird and mystifying encounters. Don't worry though there is some dark twisted humour here just not the sort of jokes you'll be telling your mates down at the pub. There are vampires, mutant spiders, mysterious twins, and  dead dogs a plenty.

It has to be said that Dead Funny is roaring success there are some genuine classic stories here,  two of which really deserve to be on any best of year list. There a lot of great stories,a couple of decent stories,  and only two stories which for me really didn't work.

Here are my personal favourites. 
  
Dog  by Reece Shearsmith has to tie for my favourite story in the anthology.  It distills and captures Reece's magical gift of merging the tragedy, and horror, while slipping in a little twist of the blackest of sly humour.  The story is about revenge, revenge for a brother who has been blinded by the parasite found in dog excrement.  The boy and his brother go on a sick and twisted killing spree in the local park.  Where this story excels is in how Shearsmith manages to keep the reader on the side of the brothers, despite the disgusting and horrifying deeds that they do.  This is not a story that dog lovers, or indeed people who like sweet old ladies should really read, it will chill you to the core.  I also liked how Shearsmith incorporated a time honoured  ending without ever signalling it. 

A View From A Hill: A Christmas Ghost Story  by Stewart Lee, is the other story that ties for my personal favourite in the book.  It is at the other side of the horror spectrum to that of Dog, more akin to a weird tale or a Christmas ghost story from M.R. James.  Starting of with an excerpt from a police charge street, A View from A Hill  takes the reader on a fantastic Christmas story, which sees our protagonist, one Stewart Lee give us an account on his life and the lead up to the events which see him in police custody.  This is an acerbic story, full of wonderful Stewart Lee type rants, where he takes on, among others,  the creator of the 

and Paddy Power.  His accounts of having to create a top twelve most hated list and another magazine article  are heartachingly poignant and laugh out loud. The story almost becomes a battle cry for everything that is shit about the commercialisation of this once great country.  Flitting in and out of the story like a mysterious revenant is the dapper Julien, a sort of Wooster to Lee's working class Jeeves.  

A View From A Hill, is like a militant ghost story, weird and mysterious but with a leftie hook that will leave you rolling around the floor with tears of laughter.  

Sara Pascoe's A Spider Remember  is a one of those stories that literally gets under your skin.  Starting  of as rather sad and heartfelt look into the break down of a relationship, it slowly turns into a tale of paranoia, before turning into one of pure terror.  The strength of this story lies in how Pascoe manages to shift the tone and theme of the story so well in confines of its rather short length. This is a cold story there is no love felt for the narrator, in much the same as she no longer loves her boyfriend.  And when the story takes a left turn into terror, the reader is left scratching their skin and searching for floaters in their eyes. 

Possum by Matthew Holness  is a strange story, it is one of those stories where I'm not 100% certain as to who or what just happened, which is either a fault on my end or the fault of Matthew I just don't know.  Despite having an ending that I didn't fully get, Possum is a triumph of atmosphere.  This is a creepy story, whose protagonist is clearly psychologically damaged, obsessed with his possum puppet created from a real dead possum and the Frankenstein remains of other creatures, this is one disturbing image.  There is a real sense of foreboding dread and terror with in this story.  The story itself sails very close to style over substance, but I think that the man behind the greatest horror writer ever just manages to pull it off to deliver what is the most atmospheric story in the anthology.  

Robin Ince's Most Out Of Character  is an altogether more whimsical affair despite it's themes of cannibalism, loss of identity and  spiral of humanity into a world of sex and violence.  I hear you asking how can this be whimsical, well it all stems from Ince's wonderful lightness of touch, and a wicked sense of humour.  

This story is full of wonderful gems like that.  A vegetarian who wakes up in the middle of eating someones innards is pure genius.  

Rufus Hound's dark and macabre Fixed, is one of the darkest,and when you realise just who the subject matter is about, in your face, two fingers up at them story in the anthology.  Hound has made a bold and brave move with the subject matter, and his execution of the story does it justice.  This could easily have been a comedian being a wise guy, but Hound pulls it off with terrifying aplomb.  

This couldn't be a proper horror anthology without a good old fashioned cozy small village story. It is a good thing that Katy Brand is up for this task.  For Roger is a beautiful, quiet story full of small English charm.  When Roger is woken up by what he thinks is a mouse in the walls he goes into a loft to investigate. Where  he finds a book that will change his life forever. For Roger is one of those stories that works within the remit of this anthology, but is also capable of featuring in a non genre anthology, such is the the way she tackles the story.  There are no chills, other than those that arise from what we know is coming.  Instead we are treated to story about love loss and regret.  A sad tale that never strays into mawkish  territory. 

Nerys Bag by Daniella Ward, is one of those stories that despite the fact that we know what is coming, thanks to the protagonist's encounter with a Ouija board that predicted her future.  It is always hard to keep the suspense flowing when the ending is signaled at the start of the story.  And for the main part Daniella doesn't try to keep the suspense going.  Instead she concentrates on excellent characters and some sharp witty dialogue, all centered around nasty office politics.  It is only in the closing segments of the story that the tension and dread is piled on high and deep.  With a closing chapter that wracks the tension up to the max, Nerys Bag is a rather splendid story. 

There are many other examples of stories which are excellent, special mention must be given to Charlie Higson,and  Al Murray. However as mentioned earlier there are two stories that just didn't work for me.  

The first of which is Phil Jupitus's story Anthemoessa, which  for me was  a huge  disappointment.  The story about a bloke who gets a big promotion at work then goes out on a work's night out, gets drunk, sings some karaoke and takes a lot of cheap coke, then  meets a pair of mysterious twins. Fails to deliver.  The supernatural ending just feels tagged on  and for the life of me I can't figure out why it happens.  It is almost as though he thought "shit this story doesn't fit the guidelines. I better staple some weird shit onto it"

Halloween by Tim key is piece of flash fiction.  I've never been a fan of flash fiction, it always feels like a hastily written piece of homework that has been scribbled together on the bus to school.  And when the footnote of this story is almost as long as the story itself I just can't rate the story.  

So there we have it, the highs and lows of Dead Funny.  As a whole this is  an excellent book that, apart from two missteps, hits the spot like a seasoned pro. It is also a very important book for horror.  We are all aware of just how little horror fiction is represented in the mainstream world.  Dead Funny is hopefully the book that has the best chance of propelling horror fiction back into the face of the general public. It is a good thing that this book is of such high quality.  I would hate that Joe Blogs would pick up this book and think that horror was terrible after reading it.  And for that Johnny Mains and Robin Ince should be very proud.  (So who was the comedian I really don't like, well that would be telling.)

Published as part of Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing’s One-Night Stands series of digital chapbooks, we have Anthony Cowin’s The Brittle Birds, the tale of Mathieu, who lies sickly in bed while being terrorised by the tiny malevolent creatures of the title. He flits between the present and memory as these microscopic flocks of countless creatures peck, scratch and burrow their way towards him, causing dissolution in everything they touch…

Cowin has created a very interesting concept here, the idea that all illness and decay is caused by The Brittle Birds, a metaphor (or, in the context of the story, entirely real) for entropy, disease and death. As Mathieu lies helpless in respite, he falls back into memories of first contact with these creatures (real or no, it stems from a childhood prank played on him by his brother, Dominic, which results in injury). There is also the mysterious figure of Hohokw, some kind of bird-related deity or harbinger, who proceeds to injure Mathieu’s eye, allowing the first of the Brittle Birds to take up residence. From this moment, Mathieu is haunted by these creatures, seeing them in every incidence of damage, in each bout of illness – they are the world’s decay.

Cowin's prose is effusive and fulsome, almost overwhelmingly so at first and I did find it a slight barrier in the first few paragraphs. But to me, reading (and writing) is about challenging yourself and once I found the flow of the story, it rattled along fine. Each sentence is carefully crafted and filled with delightful word and meanings. It serves as a (necessary) distraction from the stark reality (or otherwise) of the central creation and its inherent horror. You are delighted with the wonderful words and it's only seconds later that the true meaning clicks in. This is sustained right to the very end of the story, which is apocalyptic, melancholic and heartfelt in equal measure.

Reviewed by Paul M. Feeny 

Paul M. Feeney 

Paul M. Feeney has been watching horror films since he was a young, impressionable boy and before the lunatic hysteria reached his parent's censorship. This transferred to the written word when he was sixteen and read his first Stephen King book. He hasn't looked back since (except to check over his shoulder that there aren't any monsters following...).

The past few years have seen him turn his hand to the writing of his own fiction, in the arena of horror and the supernatural. He expects to be published soon, wit fame and riches following soon after...

Blog: paul-feeney.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.feeney.50

This has to be one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time.

Dr Bond, a doctor in Victorian England, is asked by the police to look into the Jack the Ripper killings. As more bodies appear on the streets of London, it becomes clear to Bond that there are two murders at work and that, as horrific as Jack may be, the Thames Torso Killer is far worse. With some unlikely and unexpected allies, he sets out to track down the killer to protect not only London but also the people he loves. Throw in a growing opium habit and some supernatural shenanigans, and you have yourself one hell of a read.