“The Family Plot” was the first novel I had read by Cherie Priest in a few years, so I was happy enough to reacquaint myself with her work. Her 2009 steampunk classic “Boneshaker” is still probably her best known novel, but she is a pretty diverse writer, moving from science fiction, urban fantasy, the supernatural to various types of thrillers. I’m not sure whether “The Family Plot” is her first straight ghost story, if it is, then it is a very accomplished effort. Priest has around nineteen novels in her back catalogue and is obviously very comfortable in taking her writing in a fresh direction. I am reviewing the American hardback version whose cover has a vaguely paranormal romance feel to it, however, there isn’t much of that in the novel, except a small part in the back story and so it should appeal to anyone.

 
Matthew Bartlett  is a strange man. Let me rephrase that, he's a very nice man with strange ideas.  Unsettling ideas that squiggle and squirm. That reek of sweat and soured milk and thick lung blood and barn wood.  Don't let his sweet face fool you, somewhere in that head are scary things. Very scary things.

If you were lucky enough to read his debut collection Gateways To Abomination , or any of his chap books  The Witch-cult In Western  Massachusetts , Rangel or  Anne Gare's Rare Book and Ephemera Catalogue, then you are familiar with what he does.  In fact, most of those things appear in this volume, in one way or another.  Bartlett is a visionary. He actually reinvented the wheel here, with his idea of a collection.  His stories are woven into intricate quilts of passage and prose, stitched through catalog entry or radio editorial, want ads and personal  ads. Black and white pictures. You get an entire world between the covers.  It's not a pretty one.

We once again visit the town of Leeds, a two-faced burg with one face being  the typical smallish town/city full of history and charm--yet the other is a twisted visage of shadow and evil. That face whispers of walking talking goats and shambling cadavers, vile things that hatch from eggs and that skittle  across the barn roof. Of churches that offer absolutely no sanctuary against any of these things.  And we are given a running commentary by way of the otherworldly frequency occupied by WXXT, a radio station of and for the damned and marked.

The fractured world we glimpse here is terrifying. It's an ever shifting kaleidoscope of nightmare fuel and spiritual uncertainty.  Of trepidation and retaliation.  It is both the torch-bearing mob and the monster it pursues.  If I am to sum it up as simply as I possibly can. It is genius. Dark and oily stain-leaving genius.

 
The first (and until this book arrived) only example of Jeffrey Ford 's work I had encountered was a very strange and amazingly unique tale in an anthology called Creatures.  It was an update on the happenings on Dr. Moreau's island.  It was wild.   I have since obtained a few of his older works. When I saw he had a new collection on the horizon, I reached out about obtaining a review copy and the wish was granted.

A Natural History of Hell is most likely covered under the "weird fiction" overcoat.  His premises and narratives are quite unusual and often times darkly humorous.  The collection opens with "The Blameless,"  wherein a suburban couple are invited to the exorcism of a neighbor's daughter.  it's quite an event-there are snacks and drinks and small talk until the exorcist arrives and starts removing demons.  This story is followed by my favorite, "Word Doll." A writer (also named Jeffrey Ford) investigates a closed down roadside attraction and hears a tale about the pacifying and healing nature of words and distraction. But not all healing is scar -free and not all the stories children conjure are whimsy.  This one is brilliant.

"The Angel Seems" is a toothy tale about a village held under the thumb of a creature claiming to be an angel.  "Mount Chary Galore" offers back-woodsy folk tale and natural magic and a communicative severed head in a jar. "Blood Drive" is a meditation on the gun issue, you wish it was more exaggerated than it actually is.  "A Terror" is a wonderful period drama that concerns Emily Dickinson and a weary world traveler, Death.

"Rocket ship To Hell" exposes writers and readers being as they are while "The Fairy Enterprise" delivers the story of a businessman who longs to craft fairies on demand. "The Last triangle" is an excursion into  modern sorcery. "The Thyme Fiend" is one of the best things in here.  A wonderful almost Coming-of-Age tale about an ill boy living in Ohio, in 1915. he sees the dead and becomes a deputy to their quest for closure.  If it sounds familiar in premise, it is but let me tell you, Ford's prose and rich characters elevate this above anything else.
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There are a few tales I didn't shine a light on, they are good stories too, but I have to leave some surprises, right?  Ford writes with a clear voice and a focal prowess that is exhilarating.  His ideas are fresh and the populace of his tales well rendered and relatable.  A great writer giving us great stories.
 
A Natural History of Hell is available from Small beer Press .

I've read a lot of work by some great authors lately, much of it as bleak and dark as it gets, some viscerally, brutally violent. But none could be said to be as dark as Charlee Jacob's Season of the Witch, and very few could be said to be as viciously bloody or horrific. Jacob is an author who never pulls her punches, willing to take risks and push boundaries that other authors shy away from and, where a lesser author might stumble, she pulls it off admirably. Think Edward Lee with the gloves off and you’ll have an inkling of what I’m talking about.

When is a zombie novel not a zombie novel?  That's a question that horror fans have been arguing over since the undead first crawled out the grave.  It is a matter that has thrown up some great debate over the years.  Personally, I'm of the opinion that it doesn't matter, the only real issue is "is it a good book?"  ​