 "you will get a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that you aren't the only one who found those quaint villages populated by the likes of Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb to be way creepier than they let on. " What is weird fiction, and when does weird fiction morph in horror fiction? That's a question that has been bouncing around my head for a good few weeks since finishing Only the Broken Remain, the new collection of short stories from Dan Coxon. While none of the stories would be classed as a horror by the more traditional or dyed in the wool horror reviewer, there is no overt horror here, no scenes of graphic violence, no classic monsters stalking you through the pages, hell there isn't even a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, square-jawed hero to save the day. Instead, you have a collection of stories that exist in the liminal areas between the genre worlds. Worlds where the mundane becomes menacing, where sadness, loneliness and despair breed stories that will crush your soul with the elegant heartache, don't come into this anthology looking for a happy ending, that's just not going to happen. Despite its lack of "horror" this collection more than any other I've read this year left me feeling emotionally beaten up. When describing Coxon's writing, words such as dreamlike, ambiguous, sadness, cryptic and enigmatic immediately spring to mind, the stories presented here are designed to make you think and ponder on the narratives presented. Even the most basic of stories in terms of the intent and delivery of the message, are layered in such a way that while you may initially think you have gotten everything from the story as you read it, it will live inside your head pushing away at your grey matter reveal hidden depths and meanings that you missed when you first read it. The opening story "Stanislav in Foxtown" is one such story on the surface it's a simple tale of a man befriending a group of urban foxes, who in return help him take a step up the ladder of life. It is perhaps the happiest story in the collection, but remember happiness is relative and the parallels between the urban decay of the town, and the mutual malice that takeaway owner has for the foxes and his immigrant worker. It is a simple but effective opener for what is to come with the rest of the collection. Coxon injects a strong sense of mystery and mysticism into the disenchanted world of Foxtown. Some of us dream about running away to the circus, something I've never fully understood, who would want to live in a cramped caravan surrounded by animal smells and clowns. In "Roll up, Roll Up" Robbie doesn't necessarily run away to the circus, the circus came to him. And in proper horror terms, the circus is just as chilling and frightening as your worst nightmares could ever imagine. And yet there is a small glimmer of hope here, while Robbie's role in the circus is revealed, we realise that he has finally found his place in the world, and a family to belong to. "Roll up, Roll Up" reads like a mash-up between Freaks and Cabal, with Coxon blending the terror elicited by Freaks with the sense of wonder and belonging of Cabal, while still maintaining its own identity as a short story. "Only the Broken Remain" is a genuinely terrifying take on the haunted house trope. Coxon elicits an all-encompassing sense of claustrophobic fear as we witness what seems to be a descent into madness from our broken protagonist. Like many of the stories here, there is a powerful sense of poignancy and sadness that envelopes the narrative. There is a lot to digest in here, its a classic example of a story that is open to many interpretations, is the house haunted, or is the haunting a manifestation of the broken life of the protagonist? Many of the tales also involve characters finally becoming accepting of themselves and finding release in numerous ways, "Feather and Twine" is one such story, a captivating story of a broken man finally seeing an escape from the banalities of life and world that doesn't understand him after a chance encounter with a fantastical creature. "Miriam is Not at Her Desk", wow what can you say about this headscratcher of a story, bursting with metaphor this is a story that is perfect for a book group, I'm not sure I fully understood it, beyond a woman disappearing in a unique way after robbing her company of a fortune. However, this is a fantastic tale that wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Black Mirror, with its hypnotic narrative evoking the dreamlike magic of aboriginal Australia. "Baddavine" is a killer folk horror tale, and if I were forced to name my favourite story in this excellent collection, it would have to be this one. At its heart this is a simple tale, a creature is haunting the woods, and the locals don't like it, it hasn't done anything, it hasn't killed anyone, but its nightly cries are too much for the narrow minded insular locals, and they set out to hunt it down and kill it. It has been close to four weeks since I read this story, and even now, I am filled with a deep sense of sadness whenever I think about the sheer heartbreaking narrative. Right from the first paragraph, Coxon makes it clear that this is going to be a story filled with dread, but that dread soon turns to abject horror as the locals devolve into brutal animals looking to kill a lost and forlorn creature. The scenes between Baddavine and the mob, are genuinely chilling, you can feel Baddavine's fear and anguish right in the centre of your soul, bringing forth a sadness that is only matched by your anger at the mob mentality of the village folk fearful of something that isn't like them. "Static Ritual" co-written with Dan Carpenter uses a fractured timescale of events to create a paranoia filled reductive narrative where the world is always on instant replay. Where a mysterious videotape sends the protagonist down a path of obsessive behaviour, The final two stories I'm going to highlight, bring a little welcome light relief to the otherwise dark theme of this collection. "No One's Child" is a gleefully macabre tale of a WW2 evacuee being sent out to a stately country house where she clashes with the stern matriarch of the household. A chance encounter with a creature living in the depths of the house brings an opportunity for her to climbs the ranks of the house and get revenge on the matriarch. However, sometimes the status quo is better than the alternative. Mixing Three Kids and It with Basket Case, "No One's Child" revels in the dark humour presented here. "All the Letters in his Van" pushes the envelope of weird fiction to brush up against its crazy bizarro cousin. When a couple gets stuck in a foggy village, everything seems rather pleasant at first, but the arrival of the enigmatic Postman, things take on a much darker hue. Those of us of a certain age will love this nod to classic children's TV, and if you are like me you will get a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that you aren't the only one who found those quaint villages populated by the likes of Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb to be way creepier than they let on. This absurdist tale is a great way to finish off this collection, while many of the stories presented here allow the characters some form a sad release from the horror of their lives "All the Letters in his Van" shows that while we might think there is an escape from it all, we are merely just trapped in the confines of some almighty deitys TV show. Only the Broken Remain, is the perfect anthology for 2020, with many of the stories on offer here resonating with the life that many of us have found ourselves living through this year. We have all been touched by the events in the world at large, and we have all become broken to some degree or other. Only the Broken Remain beautifully reflects the sadness that has grown within us, with its evocative and poetic writing, combined with a powerful use of ambiguity and a profound use of a lack of conclusion to the lives etched into the beating heart of this collection, you will be left with a comforting emptiness inside from knowing that you aren't alone in being broken, battered and bruised. ONLY THE BROKEN REMAIN by Dan Coxon |
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