 Gruesome Hollywood horror which forgets the ‘Me Too’ movement In recent years Scottish horror legend has been on a fine run of form with The House of a Hundred Whispers (2020) and the supernatural crime trilogy which stars London detectives Jerry Pardoe and Jamila Patel, opening with Ghost Virus (2018). Whilst most authors who have been in the horror game since the mid-1970s might be thinking of slowing down and pulling out the pipe, slippers and whiskey bottle, Masterton remains as prolific as ever releasing two books in 2022, The Soul Stealer and next October The House at Phantom Park. After so many years writing horror I am constantly amazed he can dream up such outlandish plots, and although his latest is unlikely to be rated alongside his best work it was a very easy to read page-turner aimed at those who enjoy trashy horror. I sped through this romp over a couple of easy reading days, eating up the near 400-pages with little lull in the ridiculous, often sleazy, action. Masterton’s longevity comes from the fact that he has the ability to both dish out crazy plots and seamlessly move between the various subgenres, ranging from haunted houses, body horror, police procedurals and everything else in between. The Soul Stealer finds the great Scotsman in solid b-movie territory and if this was published in the eighties, an era it harks back to, trash horror film merchants such as Fred Olen Ray would have been queueing up to direct it, with his famous Scream Queen actresses taking centre stage and bearing the flesh. The action opens with main character Trinity Fox (sounds like a porn star name!) receiving a phone call from an old school friend whom she has not seen in a while, then plans to meet her. Trinity’s home circumstances is also pretty tough, after the recent death of her mother she has to look after her two younger siblings, whilst holding down a cleaning job, meantime their father disappears into the bottle. After arriving at the bar where she has arranged to meet Margo, realising her friend is in the restroom follows her in, only to find her alight in flames and burning to death. When the police arrive, she is told it was a probable suicide and although she finds this unlikely takes the LAPD for their word. Shortly after the incident Trinity meets part-time private investigator Nemo Frisby, another main character, who also suspects foul play and the pair double up to continue their investigation, even though they are warned off by other shifty characters. Trinity and Nemo (she is half his age) make a very entertaining buddy act which takes them to the super rich of Hollywood (the story is set in LA) whilst her personal family problems are never too far in the background, with both her siblings Rosa and Buddy also appearing in some of the subplots. It was just as well Trinity and Nemo made a fun detective duo as plenty of the other characters in The Soul Stealer are sheer filth and will have you wanting to have a bath to wash their stench from your skin. Although it is my no means Masterton’s most violent book, some scenes are very strong featuring tongues being cut out, children being burned alive and one guy being forced to eat his own testicles immediately after removal. The sexual violence is also unpleasant and rather gloating, featuring date rape and worse, including a woman being raped by a scorpion monster demon. If this type of horror is not your thing, then stay well aware from The Soul Stealer which is built around fast pace and shocking over-the-top set pieces rather than scares or tension. If this novel is anything to go by then the ‘Me Too’ movement in America, in which Hollywood was the king of sleaze, either never happened or was totally ignored by the men in the seat of power. Putting a supernatural and very sleazy spin on the infamous ‘casting couch’ scenario will not be everybody’s cut of tea and some readers may feel it makes light of serious topics regarding women’s self-empowerment. However, in the end of the day this is exploitation horror and if you are after something more serious then look elsewhere, especially if you are of a sensitive disposition as the violence is hard-hitting and particularly unrelenting on women. You will have to suspend your disbelief for large parts of the story, which is built around Native American mythology (a tribe from the California area). I am not sure whether any of this was based on fact (I think the tribe ‘Tongva’ was real) and I wonder how living descendants of the tribe will take Masterton’s portrayal of them in this story. However, you could argue they are just as exploited in this novel as their race was in actual history. The second Native American story strand was totally bizarre, the ability to make others think you are somebody else (a bit like Clint Eastwood for example!) and was put to cool use by the highly unorthodox investigative duo. Although I raced through The Soul Stealer I could not help feeling that some of the plot was a mere excuse to link together very gory scenes and some of the most explicit sequences failed to have the impact something built around atmosphere might have had. Although the characters were sketchily drawn and could have done with more detail hardcore fans of Masterton should still lap up this latest release. However, if you have never tried him before he has much stronger novels than this to get you started in his vast and impressive back catalogue. Tony Jones The Soul Stealer |
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the heart and soul of horror fiction reviews
The Sea Change & Other Stories by Helen Grant (review by Rebecca Rowland)
In “Grauer Hans,” a mother routinely sings the same lullaby to her young daughter each evening without fail. After, the child lies awake in her bed, and a small man knocks at her window in a plea to be asked inside. Creepily, “it never worried me that the window was so high above the street, my room being on the third storey of the house; I never wondered how he got there, or how he got away afterwards.” The girl soon learns who the man is: “a bogey, a monster, a demon. A leprous grey all over, he could slide invisibly through the night shadows, slither unseen through the camouflaging masses of cobwebs under the eaves, and tap the glass like diamonds.” Part nostalgia-campfire yarn, part terrifying fairy tale, this opening story sets the mood of Helen Grant’s The Sea Change and Other Stories: one of skulking dread and growing paranoia.
In the title story, my favorite of the line-up, a woman heads out to sea with plans to explore a shipwreck with an old friend when the boat’s sonar picks up a strange object along the ocean bottom. As they take a detour to explore the mysterious entity, the two find themselves standing in the middle of a very odd construction, and one of them experiences a sudden, nagging suspicion: “Call me superstitious if you like, but I reckon most divers have times and places when they know it isn’t right—you’re not meant to be in the water that day. And on top of that—well, I had a peculiar sensation of being watched.” The divers cannot further investigate, however, as eerily, the narrator’s oxygen tank depletes much faster than normal, forcing the two to the surface. What follows is a slowly-building claustrophobic horror on par with the films of Sphere and The Thing with imagery that stays with the reader long after the story is done. In her notes at the close of the collection, Grant reminisces about her own experience with scuba diving, and her attention to detail in the story and resulting verisimilitude is evident.
In “Self Catering,” the shortest of the seven stories in Grant’s collection, Edward Larkin is goaded into booking a vacation following an irritating co-worker’s constant jabbing. Larkin serendipitously steps into travel agent Cornelius Von Teufel’s office, where he peruses a number of horror-themed holidays but settles upon the company’s offering for their most “valued customers”: a special getaway “a hundred percent guaranteed to be haunted.” This ironic entry is a fun little ditty to break up the more serious, lengthier pieces and a nice palate-cleanser before tackling the remaining storylines.
The final entry, “The Calvary at Banská Bystrica,” is also the longest of the tales, but it is well worth the investment for connoisseurs of classic gothic literature. Akin to Robert Walton’s frame story in Shelley’s Frankenstein, the narrator shares a drink with a dear friend who then proceeds to tell him of his missing brother and his subsequent pursuit of the sibling whose last correspondence announced his plans to marry a woman whose appearance is only discernable through a hand-drawn sketch included with the news. The journey draws him deeper into the mystery through a series of subtly peculiar landmarks: “The niche contained only a small gilded bracket in the shape of a cherub’s head, upon which some object or statue had evidently resided in the past…The blind eyes stared out obliviously. I laid an exploratory finger on the glass; it was cool, one spot of coldness in the seething heat of the afternoon. Staring in I could see that a spider had begun to spin a web from the cherub’s cheek to the corner of the niche. It was an ugly thought, the jointed legs of the spider moving over the childish contours of the face.”
The gestalt of The Sea Change and Other Stories is one of modern gothic, literary horror. Readers who fancy their chills quick and dirty will likely be disappointed, but it is obvious that Grant exhibits a gift for language and story-telling. The scares are visceral if not slow-building, and fans of Shirley Jackson and Robert Louis Stevenson will be over the moon with a new favorite author to add to their library arsenal.
In the title story, my favorite of the line-up, a woman heads out to sea with plans to explore a shipwreck with an old friend when the boat’s sonar picks up a strange object along the ocean bottom. As they take a detour to explore the mysterious entity, the two find themselves standing in the middle of a very odd construction, and one of them experiences a sudden, nagging suspicion: “Call me superstitious if you like, but I reckon most divers have times and places when they know it isn’t right—you’re not meant to be in the water that day. And on top of that—well, I had a peculiar sensation of being watched.” The divers cannot further investigate, however, as eerily, the narrator’s oxygen tank depletes much faster than normal, forcing the two to the surface. What follows is a slowly-building claustrophobic horror on par with the films of Sphere and The Thing with imagery that stays with the reader long after the story is done. In her notes at the close of the collection, Grant reminisces about her own experience with scuba diving, and her attention to detail in the story and resulting verisimilitude is evident.
In “Self Catering,” the shortest of the seven stories in Grant’s collection, Edward Larkin is goaded into booking a vacation following an irritating co-worker’s constant jabbing. Larkin serendipitously steps into travel agent Cornelius Von Teufel’s office, where he peruses a number of horror-themed holidays but settles upon the company’s offering for their most “valued customers”: a special getaway “a hundred percent guaranteed to be haunted.” This ironic entry is a fun little ditty to break up the more serious, lengthier pieces and a nice palate-cleanser before tackling the remaining storylines.
The final entry, “The Calvary at Banská Bystrica,” is also the longest of the tales, but it is well worth the investment for connoisseurs of classic gothic literature. Akin to Robert Walton’s frame story in Shelley’s Frankenstein, the narrator shares a drink with a dear friend who then proceeds to tell him of his missing brother and his subsequent pursuit of the sibling whose last correspondence announced his plans to marry a woman whose appearance is only discernable through a hand-drawn sketch included with the news. The journey draws him deeper into the mystery through a series of subtly peculiar landmarks: “The niche contained only a small gilded bracket in the shape of a cherub’s head, upon which some object or statue had evidently resided in the past…The blind eyes stared out obliviously. I laid an exploratory finger on the glass; it was cool, one spot of coldness in the seething heat of the afternoon. Staring in I could see that a spider had begun to spin a web from the cherub’s cheek to the corner of the niche. It was an ugly thought, the jointed legs of the spider moving over the childish contours of the face.”
The gestalt of The Sea Change and Other Stories is one of modern gothic, literary horror. Readers who fancy their chills quick and dirty will likely be disappointed, but it is obvious that Grant exhibits a gift for language and story-telling. The scares are visceral if not slow-building, and fans of Shirley Jackson and Robert Louis Stevenson will be over the moon with a new favorite author to add to their library arsenal.
The Sea Change: & Other Stories
by Helen Grant
"Till human voices wake us, and we drown." - T. S. Eliot
In her first collection, award-winning author Helen Grant plumbs the depths of the uncanny: Ten fathoms down, where the light filtering through the salt water turns everything grey-green, something awaits unwary divers. A self-aggrandising art critic travelling in rural Slovakia finds love with a beauty half his age-and pays the price. In a small German town, a nocturnal visitor preys upon children; there is a way to keep it off-but the ritual must be perfect. A rock climber dares to scale a local crag with a diabolical reputation, and makes a shocking discovery at the top. In each of these seven tales, unpleasantries and grotesqueries abound-and Grant reminds us with each one that there can be fates even worse than death.
In her first collection, award-winning author Helen Grant plumbs the depths of the uncanny: Ten fathoms down, where the light filtering through the salt water turns everything grey-green, something awaits unwary divers. A self-aggrandising art critic travelling in rural Slovakia finds love with a beauty half his age-and pays the price. In a small German town, a nocturnal visitor preys upon children; there is a way to keep it off-but the ritual must be perfect. A rock climber dares to scale a local crag with a diabolical reputation, and makes a shocking discovery at the top. In each of these seven tales, unpleasantries and grotesqueries abound-and Grant reminds us with each one that there can be fates even worse than death.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
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THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FICTION REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEW: DON’T GO BACK BY MARK WEST
14/3/2022
Don’t Go Back by mark West – Review by Penny Jones
Don’t Go Back is the newest release by British author Mark West. It’s a fast paced psychological thriller, which grabs the reader by the throat and refuses to let go.
Set over two timelines the story follows our protagonist Beth Parker as she returns to her childhood home of Seagrave, a quintessential British seaside town, following the sudden death of her childhood friend Kate.
Beth hasn’t seen Kate since that summer, the summer before she left for university when she thought she’d left Seagrave behind her for good. Now married and trying for a baby, Beth wants nothing more that to put her past behind her and forget about that terrible summer, but there is someone from her past that is keen to remind her that there is a good reason you don’t go back.
Mark West has found a perfect balance between plot and character in Don’t Go Back. I tend to be a bit squeamish with thrillers, as I dislike graphic torture scenes and gratuitous violence for no reason but the sake of it; but this is something that Mark has not had to rely on in his writing. His ability to ramp up the suspense and terror is never overshadowed by schlock tactics; and a simple turn of phrase by a character can chill your blood, as your mind fills in, in advance just what horror is about to unfold.
With well-rounded characters Mark makes you feel real compassion for them, whilst at the same time loathing them. With a story that is so frighteningly realistic, you can’t help but feel empathy for his characters.
An ideal holiday read, I can see Don’t Go Back being this years must buy blockbuster.
DON'T GO BACK: An absolutely gripping psychological suspense thriller by Mark West
A captivating thriller about a woman whose past suddenly catches up with her
When Beth receives news that a once-close friend has died, after years away she reluctantly returns to the seaside town where she grew up.
Beth becomes increasingly unsettled as she attends the funeral, encounters people from her past, and visits her teenage haunts.
She is forced to take herself back to the awful summer when she left for good. Yet it is not just memories that are resurfacing, but simmering resentments.
Someone else hasn’t quite so readily put their past behind them, and unwittingly Beth will become the key to their catharsis.
As she puts two and two together, the question is: whatever possessed her to return?
DON’T GO BACK is a truly nail-biting read that will appeal to fans of Claire McGowan, Vanessa Garbin, Teresa Driscoll, Linwood Barclay and Anna Willett.
This is the best book you’ll read all year!
Mark West lives in Northamptonshire with his wife Alison and their son Matthew. Since discovering the horror small press in 1998 he has published over eighty short stories, two novels, a novelette, a chapbook, two collections and six novellas (one of which, Drive, was nominated for a British Fantasy Award). His debut mainstream thriller, Don’t Go Back, was recently published by The Book Folks.
Away from writing, he enjoys reading, walking, watching films and playing Dudeball with his son.
He can be contacted through his website at www.markwest.org.uk and is also on Twitter as @MarkEWest
When Beth receives news that a once-close friend has died, after years away she reluctantly returns to the seaside town where she grew up.
Beth becomes increasingly unsettled as she attends the funeral, encounters people from her past, and visits her teenage haunts.
She is forced to take herself back to the awful summer when she left for good. Yet it is not just memories that are resurfacing, but simmering resentments.
Someone else hasn’t quite so readily put their past behind them, and unwittingly Beth will become the key to their catharsis.
As she puts two and two together, the question is: whatever possessed her to return?
DON’T GO BACK is a truly nail-biting read that will appeal to fans of Claire McGowan, Vanessa Garbin, Teresa Driscoll, Linwood Barclay and Anna Willett.
This is the best book you’ll read all year!
Mark West lives in Northamptonshire with his wife Alison and their son Matthew. Since discovering the horror small press in 1998 he has published over eighty short stories, two novels, a novelette, a chapbook, two collections and six novellas (one of which, Drive, was nominated for a British Fantasy Award). His debut mainstream thriller, Don’t Go Back, was recently published by The Book Folks.
Away from writing, he enjoys reading, walking, watching films and playing Dudeball with his son.
He can be contacted through his website at www.markwest.org.uk and is also on Twitter as @MarkEWest
Penny Jones
Penny Jones knew she was a writer when she started to talk about herself in the third person (her family knew when Santa bought her a typewriter for Christmas when she was three). Penny’s debut collection “Suffer Little Children” published by Black Shuck Books was shortlisted for the 2020 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer, and her short story “Dendrochronology” published by Hersham Horror was shortlisted for the 2020 British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.
She loves reading and will read pretty much anything you put in front of her, but her favourite authors are Stephen King, Shirley Jackson and John Wyndham. In fact Penny only got into writing to buy books, when she realised that there wasn’t that much money in writing she stayed for the cake.
She loves reading and will read pretty much anything you put in front of her, but her favourite authors are Stephen King, Shirley Jackson and John Wyndham. In fact Penny only got into writing to buy books, when she realised that there wasn’t that much money in writing she stayed for the cake.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
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the heart and soul of horror fiction reviews
Publisher: Welbeck
Release date: Nov 2021
Length: 386 pages
Release date: Nov 2021
Length: 386 pages
The hook: A new supernatural novel about a sinister mindfulness app with fatal consequences
The Blurb: Desperate journalist Nick Bishop takes a job profiling new mindfulness app, Clarity. Relaxing meditations are mixed with haunting ‘sleep songs’ where a woman’s voice sings users into a deep sleep.
Then the nightmares begin.
Vivid and chilling, they feature a dead woman who calls Nick by name, whispering guidance – or are they threats?
Soon, he can’t escape her voice. And that’s when he makes a terrifying discovery: no one involved with Clarity has any interest in his article. Their interest is in him.
Because whilst he may not have any memory of it, he’s one of twenty people who have heard this sinister song before, and the only one who is still alive...
Amazon:
https://smarturl.it/h9a7ra
Author’s website:
https://michaelkoryta.com
Trigger warnings: night terrors and sleep disorders
The Blurb: Desperate journalist Nick Bishop takes a job profiling new mindfulness app, Clarity. Relaxing meditations are mixed with haunting ‘sleep songs’ where a woman’s voice sings users into a deep sleep.
Then the nightmares begin.
Vivid and chilling, they feature a dead woman who calls Nick by name, whispering guidance – or are they threats?
Soon, he can’t escape her voice. And that’s when he makes a terrifying discovery: no one involved with Clarity has any interest in his article. Their interest is in him.
Because whilst he may not have any memory of it, he’s one of twenty people who have heard this sinister song before, and the only one who is still alive...
Amazon:
https://smarturl.it/h9a7ra
Author’s website:
https://michaelkoryta.com
Trigger warnings: night terrors and sleep disorders
The Review:
Last year, Scott Carson’s first horror novel The Chill, blew me away. (A small aside, Scott Carson is the alter ego of the hit thriller writer Michael Koryta). The Chill was my favourite read of last year and reminded me of the best of 1980s and 90s commercial horror, like King, Koonz or McCammon at their best. Written in that unselfconscious, non-ironic register, The Chill took me on a wild supernatural ride where I cared deeply about what happened to the characters.
And so it was that as soon as I put down that novel, I immediately pre-ordered Where They Wait. You could say I’m a fan; but after only one book, you could also say, Where They Wait had a lot to live up to. The question is, did it?
As the blurb indicates, we follow hard up journalist Nick Bishop’s return home, hopefully briefly, to take a well-paid but pretty shitty gig writing a profile for his Alma Mater’s alumni magazine. This is quite the comedown for a once hard hitting war journalist, but he needs the cash, and it would be an opportunity to see his invalid mother. So far, so typical. But even here, Carson starts us with a sense of unease. Things aren’t right with Nick, in a way. He can’t put a finger on himself. This is something Where They Wait does so well. It takes familiar tropes and subtly twists them, so that they have a sense of familiarity but also a freshness that makes the story come alive.
The story’s hook is the deadly app. This alone gives the book a contemporary twist. It’s hard not to feel manipulated by tech companies and their algorithms. And if you think you’re not, you are probably the biggest mark in the room. Carson, however, doesn’t re-tread the same territory of the subtly dystopian novel like The Circle, which was way ahead of the curve on the mass manipulation of social media. Instead, Where They Wait is in far more personal territory – the horror writer’s true playground. What could be more personal than sleep and your dreams, when we are at are most venerable? And everyone must sleep at in the end.
In regard to the app, our protagonist Nick expresses nothing but cynicism at the start. For example, there is some brilliant dialogue between Nick and his old friend Pat, who offers him the gig. Come home and interview yet another ‘next big thing’ tech millionaire about his ‘next big thing’ app-platform-code, whatever. I was laughing out loud at the dryness of the humour of the ‘Oh God, seriously, another geek with a keyboard and a talent for coding who we are supposed to think is a genius?’ One of my pet hates are tech millionaires who made all their money from a data scraping, psychologically manipulating, democracy undermining app, who then have a come to Jesus moment and realises the world isn’t just zeros and ones and there is this thing called ethics. Then they quit their jobs—with all that money, remember—and now see it as their messianic duty to geek-splain why this is unethical, but with the patina of ‘I’ve just discovered all this stuff about society.’ No one seems to have the heart to tell them there are library sections full of social science and philosophy on this. If they’d read a little by of Marshal McLuhan or, heck, Curren and Seaton’s theories on power and the media, which the rest of us were reading as undergraduates in the 90s, they might realise they’ve nothing new to tell us, and they should shut the [expletive] up and get on with fixing the mess they made. Alas! Anyway, Carson captures this eye roll at tech perfectly.
Back to the novel. But Nick, ever the good journalist (and friend to Pat) plays along. The fun starts when Nick, who never remembers his dreams, agrees to try the sleep app, and it works so well, he’s hooked. We’re only a few chapters in and from here on the novel slowly turns the screw.
Nick is too good a journalist to just write a puff piece, and he wants to know more about the app. Here, Carson introduces the first touches of creepiness, along with a mystery of just how the trick is done. Nick digs and, as he does, the mystery deepens, and the dread grows along with the uncanny effects of the Clarity app.
What we effectively have is a technological twist on the ghost story, one which I didn’t think would play out the way it did. I can’t say more without spoiling the surprise.
Nick’s past, his genius mother now in a home after a devastating stroke, the family cabin by the lake, his old high school crush, the small university town he grew up in, and the Clarity app all combine to simmer in a pot-boiling horror, that combines the old with the new and ties together in surprising but satisfying ways.
If I had one gripe, it would be the two antagonist characters (the two we know are real) could have had a little more depth. This is really a small gripe, and there is a revelation at the end that explains a lot more about one of those character’s motivation. Really, I’m just trying to add a little balance to a review of a book I so thoroughly enjoyed.
Carson’s prose is crisp and fast moving but peppered with wry observations and evocative turns of phrase. The characters are beautifully drawn, which was one of the things I most enjoyed about The Chill as well. Carson gives the impression of a writer who is a skilful artisan of his craft, who feels no need to show off. However, the final two pages were stunningly poetic and profound. These pages delivered both an ethical lesson and a completion to the protagonist’s character arc, which were simply masterful.
Bottom line: Where They Wait is a tense and haunting page-turner, with crisp prose, wonderful characterisation and a cool modern twist on the ghost story. Compulsive reading.
Last year, Scott Carson’s first horror novel The Chill, blew me away. (A small aside, Scott Carson is the alter ego of the hit thriller writer Michael Koryta). The Chill was my favourite read of last year and reminded me of the best of 1980s and 90s commercial horror, like King, Koonz or McCammon at their best. Written in that unselfconscious, non-ironic register, The Chill took me on a wild supernatural ride where I cared deeply about what happened to the characters.
And so it was that as soon as I put down that novel, I immediately pre-ordered Where They Wait. You could say I’m a fan; but after only one book, you could also say, Where They Wait had a lot to live up to. The question is, did it?
As the blurb indicates, we follow hard up journalist Nick Bishop’s return home, hopefully briefly, to take a well-paid but pretty shitty gig writing a profile for his Alma Mater’s alumni magazine. This is quite the comedown for a once hard hitting war journalist, but he needs the cash, and it would be an opportunity to see his invalid mother. So far, so typical. But even here, Carson starts us with a sense of unease. Things aren’t right with Nick, in a way. He can’t put a finger on himself. This is something Where They Wait does so well. It takes familiar tropes and subtly twists them, so that they have a sense of familiarity but also a freshness that makes the story come alive.
The story’s hook is the deadly app. This alone gives the book a contemporary twist. It’s hard not to feel manipulated by tech companies and their algorithms. And if you think you’re not, you are probably the biggest mark in the room. Carson, however, doesn’t re-tread the same territory of the subtly dystopian novel like The Circle, which was way ahead of the curve on the mass manipulation of social media. Instead, Where They Wait is in far more personal territory – the horror writer’s true playground. What could be more personal than sleep and your dreams, when we are at are most venerable? And everyone must sleep at in the end.
In regard to the app, our protagonist Nick expresses nothing but cynicism at the start. For example, there is some brilliant dialogue between Nick and his old friend Pat, who offers him the gig. Come home and interview yet another ‘next big thing’ tech millionaire about his ‘next big thing’ app-platform-code, whatever. I was laughing out loud at the dryness of the humour of the ‘Oh God, seriously, another geek with a keyboard and a talent for coding who we are supposed to think is a genius?’ One of my pet hates are tech millionaires who made all their money from a data scraping, psychologically manipulating, democracy undermining app, who then have a come to Jesus moment and realises the world isn’t just zeros and ones and there is this thing called ethics. Then they quit their jobs—with all that money, remember—and now see it as their messianic duty to geek-splain why this is unethical, but with the patina of ‘I’ve just discovered all this stuff about society.’ No one seems to have the heart to tell them there are library sections full of social science and philosophy on this. If they’d read a little by of Marshal McLuhan or, heck, Curren and Seaton’s theories on power and the media, which the rest of us were reading as undergraduates in the 90s, they might realise they’ve nothing new to tell us, and they should shut the [expletive] up and get on with fixing the mess they made. Alas! Anyway, Carson captures this eye roll at tech perfectly.
Back to the novel. But Nick, ever the good journalist (and friend to Pat) plays along. The fun starts when Nick, who never remembers his dreams, agrees to try the sleep app, and it works so well, he’s hooked. We’re only a few chapters in and from here on the novel slowly turns the screw.
Nick is too good a journalist to just write a puff piece, and he wants to know more about the app. Here, Carson introduces the first touches of creepiness, along with a mystery of just how the trick is done. Nick digs and, as he does, the mystery deepens, and the dread grows along with the uncanny effects of the Clarity app.
What we effectively have is a technological twist on the ghost story, one which I didn’t think would play out the way it did. I can’t say more without spoiling the surprise.
Nick’s past, his genius mother now in a home after a devastating stroke, the family cabin by the lake, his old high school crush, the small university town he grew up in, and the Clarity app all combine to simmer in a pot-boiling horror, that combines the old with the new and ties together in surprising but satisfying ways.
If I had one gripe, it would be the two antagonist characters (the two we know are real) could have had a little more depth. This is really a small gripe, and there is a revelation at the end that explains a lot more about one of those character’s motivation. Really, I’m just trying to add a little balance to a review of a book I so thoroughly enjoyed.
Carson’s prose is crisp and fast moving but peppered with wry observations and evocative turns of phrase. The characters are beautifully drawn, which was one of the things I most enjoyed about The Chill as well. Carson gives the impression of a writer who is a skilful artisan of his craft, who feels no need to show off. However, the final two pages were stunningly poetic and profound. These pages delivered both an ethical lesson and a completion to the protagonist’s character arc, which were simply masterful.
Bottom line: Where They Wait is a tense and haunting page-turner, with crisp prose, wonderful characterisation and a cool modern twist on the ghost story. Compulsive reading.
Where They Wait: The most compulsive and creepy psychological thriller of 2021
by Scott Carson
'Horror has a new name and it’s Scott Carson’ Michael Connelly
'Wow!' Stephen King on The Chill___________
A desperate journalist looking for work.
A new mindfulness app that promises deep sleep.
A dead woman's voice heard during app-induced nightmares.
___________
Desperate journalist Nick Bishop takes a job profiling new mindfulness app, Clarity. Relaxing meditations are mixed with haunting 'sleep songs' where a woman's voice sings users into a deep sleep.
Then the nightmares begin.
Vivid and chilling, they feature a dead woman who calls Nick by name, whispering guidance – or are they threats?
Soon, he can't escape her voice. And that's when he makes a terrifying discovery: no one involved with Clarity has any interest in his article. Their interest is in him.
Because whilst he may not have any memory of it, he's one of twenty people who have heard this sinister song before, and the only one who is still alive...
'Wow!' Stephen King on The Chill___________
A desperate journalist looking for work.
A new mindfulness app that promises deep sleep.
A dead woman's voice heard during app-induced nightmares.
___________
Desperate journalist Nick Bishop takes a job profiling new mindfulness app, Clarity. Relaxing meditations are mixed with haunting 'sleep songs' where a woman's voice sings users into a deep sleep.
Then the nightmares begin.
Vivid and chilling, they feature a dead woman who calls Nick by name, whispering guidance – or are they threats?
Soon, he can't escape her voice. And that's when he makes a terrifying discovery: no one involved with Clarity has any interest in his article. Their interest is in him.
Because whilst he may not have any memory of it, he's one of twenty people who have heard this sinister song before, and the only one who is still alive...
Reviewed by Dan Soule
Dan is a horror author. Find his books Neolithica, Witchopper, The Ash and more online. You can get two free collections of Dan’s previously published short stories on his website https://dansoule.com. Connect with him on social media @writerdansoule.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
 | |
the heart and soul of horror fiction reviews
Growing up in Dieu-le-Sauveur, my friends and I told stories about ghosts—the Starving Man, the Sleeping Girl, and the House at the End of the Street. The summer I was twelve, I saw my first ghost for real. That was the summer my little brother Gen disappeared.
Every once in a while, I come across a short story collection that sticks with me for a long time. Sometimes a single story is seared into my brain, and sometimes it is the entire collection that haunts me. THE GHOST SEQUENCES is one of the latter. Wise’s stories have a lived-in feel that is difficult to accomplish in short fiction; when I finished a story it felt like I had miraculously lived in that world for the length of a novel.
The stories in the collection are primarily curated from the author’s large selection of existing short fiction (from such illustrious publications as Uncanny Magazine, The Dark, and Tor.com), although one story (“The Nag Bride”) is original to the collection.
“How the Trick is Done”
This first story in the collection tells the tale of a magician and his assistants (past and present) and is reminiscent of Christopher Priest’s The Prestige. Though one of the less horror-leaning stories in the collection, “How the Trick is Done” does involve ghosts and real-life magic, and is delightfully atmospheric.
“The Stories We Tell About Ghosts”
This second story was possibly the scariest. It tells the story of a group of kids using a new augmented reality phone app in which you collect ghosts (think a creepy Pokémon Go). This story made me switch from reading the book before bed to reading it first thing in the morning, hoping the imagery would fade before I next tried to sleep.
“The Last Sailing of the ‘Henry Charles Morgan’ in Six Pieces of Scrimshaw (1841)”
The story is a set of descriptions of six increasingly disturbing pieces of scrimshaw (engravings on bone) that describe the odd happenings on an old ship. While I enjoyed the cleverly experimental format of this story, it didn’t hit home for me on an emotional level because of the narrative distance.
“Harvest Song, Gathering Song”
This story took longer to get into than the others (possibly due to the large cast of characters), but the pay-off was excellent in the end. The story is about a ragtag crew of ex-military soldiers collected for unknown reasons and sent to the Arctic to retrieve a mysterious substance. More of a creepy sci-fi story than outright horror.
“The Secret of Flight”
I had a bit of trouble following the story in “The Secret of Flight” as it was told through a series of letters, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera, but the through line (about a playwright, a theatre, and ghosts) was still effective.
“Crossing”
A gorgeous coming-of-age story about a girl who longs to swim across the English Channel, but with the added element of a possible mermaid. Sweet, with a strong literary feel, and just a hint of darkness.
“How to Host a Haunted House Murder Mystery Party”
I’m not generally a big fan of list stories, but Wise pulls off the format well. As the name suggests, this story is a series of instructions on how to host a murder mystery party—but, of course, the murders are real. While it sounds like a tongue-in-cheek premise, the result is quite creepy.
“In the End, It Always Turns Out the Same”
A spoof on Scooby Doo which, once again, sounds like it would be tongue-in-cheek but Wise somehow manages to make it quite disturbing—and entertaining.
“Exhalation #10”
Of all the stories, this one felt the most cinematic. It deals with snuff films and a serial killer, but also relationships and the emotional weight we carry for others. A complex story with so much depth—very disturbing, but extremely well done.
“Excerpts from a Film (1942 – 1987)”
Another story involving films and theaters and ghosts from the past, this story felt like it could easily encompass an entire novel. A story about Hollywood starlets and “disposable” girls. Great social commentary with unnerving hints of the supernatural.
“Lesser Creek: A Love Story, A Ghost Story”
As the title suggests, this is both a ghost story and a love story. Two ghosts compete to see how many souls from a small town they can harvest over the summer. More beautiful and atmospheric than scary—a very satisfying read.
“I Dress My Lover in Yellow”
Another story that is cleverly comprised of a series of documents, this time about a creepy painting. But it has another level of story layered on top with comments that are written on the documents, and the past begins repeating in the present.
“The Nag Bride”
The sole story written exclusively for the collection, but also probably my favorite. It tells the story of childhood friends now grown up and living in a grandparent’s old farmhouse. The local legends tell of a “Nag Bride”—a kind of horse/woman ghost who haunts the area, and who seems to be interfering with the friends’ lives. So atmospheric and creepy, and so suggestive of a larger world I felt like I was in the middle of a novel just a few pages in. An excellent piece of short fiction.
“Tekeli-Li, They Cry”
I find this story less memorable than the others, perhaps because if its reminiscent of “Harvest Song, Gathering Song” earlier in the collection (similar setting, another large cast of characters). It also reminded me somewhat of “A Place Further Than the Universe,” an anime where the main character adventures to Antarctica because she thinks her dead mother is calling to her.
“The Men from Narrow Houses”
Bizarre and creepy, and difficult to describe. The kind of story you have no idea what is happening, but you stick with it because you just can’t look away, and then it finally makes sense and you’re rewarded richly for having stuck with it. It involves death and magicians and had some vibes that reminded me of the 1998 film Dark City.
“The Ghost Sequences”
Another cleverly formatted story, this one about an artist collective creating multi-media art for a gallery exhibition and things turn weird and disturbing. A bit confusing at times, but ultimately quite satisfying and a suitable final story for the collection.
Overall, I highly recommend THE GHOST SEQUENCES to lovers of horror and dark fiction, but also to those who enjoy general short stories. Wise plays with her craft and formatting, suiting the structure to the story being told, and has such a way with prose it is impossible not to be drawn into her worlds.
Did I mention it also has a killer cover? Because, yeah, it has an absolutely stunning cover.
By Amber Logan
Every once in a while, I come across a short story collection that sticks with me for a long time. Sometimes a single story is seared into my brain, and sometimes it is the entire collection that haunts me. THE GHOST SEQUENCES is one of the latter. Wise’s stories have a lived-in feel that is difficult to accomplish in short fiction; when I finished a story it felt like I had miraculously lived in that world for the length of a novel.
The stories in the collection are primarily curated from the author’s large selection of existing short fiction (from such illustrious publications as Uncanny Magazine, The Dark, and Tor.com), although one story (“The Nag Bride”) is original to the collection.
“How the Trick is Done”
This first story in the collection tells the tale of a magician and his assistants (past and present) and is reminiscent of Christopher Priest’s The Prestige. Though one of the less horror-leaning stories in the collection, “How the Trick is Done” does involve ghosts and real-life magic, and is delightfully atmospheric.
“The Stories We Tell About Ghosts”
This second story was possibly the scariest. It tells the story of a group of kids using a new augmented reality phone app in which you collect ghosts (think a creepy Pokémon Go). This story made me switch from reading the book before bed to reading it first thing in the morning, hoping the imagery would fade before I next tried to sleep.
“The Last Sailing of the ‘Henry Charles Morgan’ in Six Pieces of Scrimshaw (1841)”
The story is a set of descriptions of six increasingly disturbing pieces of scrimshaw (engravings on bone) that describe the odd happenings on an old ship. While I enjoyed the cleverly experimental format of this story, it didn’t hit home for me on an emotional level because of the narrative distance.
“Harvest Song, Gathering Song”
This story took longer to get into than the others (possibly due to the large cast of characters), but the pay-off was excellent in the end. The story is about a ragtag crew of ex-military soldiers collected for unknown reasons and sent to the Arctic to retrieve a mysterious substance. More of a creepy sci-fi story than outright horror.
“The Secret of Flight”
I had a bit of trouble following the story in “The Secret of Flight” as it was told through a series of letters, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera, but the through line (about a playwright, a theatre, and ghosts) was still effective.
“Crossing”
A gorgeous coming-of-age story about a girl who longs to swim across the English Channel, but with the added element of a possible mermaid. Sweet, with a strong literary feel, and just a hint of darkness.
“How to Host a Haunted House Murder Mystery Party”
I’m not generally a big fan of list stories, but Wise pulls off the format well. As the name suggests, this story is a series of instructions on how to host a murder mystery party—but, of course, the murders are real. While it sounds like a tongue-in-cheek premise, the result is quite creepy.
“In the End, It Always Turns Out the Same”
A spoof on Scooby Doo which, once again, sounds like it would be tongue-in-cheek but Wise somehow manages to make it quite disturbing—and entertaining.
“Exhalation #10”
Of all the stories, this one felt the most cinematic. It deals with snuff films and a serial killer, but also relationships and the emotional weight we carry for others. A complex story with so much depth—very disturbing, but extremely well done.
“Excerpts from a Film (1942 – 1987)”
Another story involving films and theaters and ghosts from the past, this story felt like it could easily encompass an entire novel. A story about Hollywood starlets and “disposable” girls. Great social commentary with unnerving hints of the supernatural.
“Lesser Creek: A Love Story, A Ghost Story”
As the title suggests, this is both a ghost story and a love story. Two ghosts compete to see how many souls from a small town they can harvest over the summer. More beautiful and atmospheric than scary—a very satisfying read.
“I Dress My Lover in Yellow”
Another story that is cleverly comprised of a series of documents, this time about a creepy painting. But it has another level of story layered on top with comments that are written on the documents, and the past begins repeating in the present.
“The Nag Bride”
The sole story written exclusively for the collection, but also probably my favorite. It tells the story of childhood friends now grown up and living in a grandparent’s old farmhouse. The local legends tell of a “Nag Bride”—a kind of horse/woman ghost who haunts the area, and who seems to be interfering with the friends’ lives. So atmospheric and creepy, and so suggestive of a larger world I felt like I was in the middle of a novel just a few pages in. An excellent piece of short fiction.
“Tekeli-Li, They Cry”
I find this story less memorable than the others, perhaps because if its reminiscent of “Harvest Song, Gathering Song” earlier in the collection (similar setting, another large cast of characters). It also reminded me somewhat of “A Place Further Than the Universe,” an anime where the main character adventures to Antarctica because she thinks her dead mother is calling to her.
“The Men from Narrow Houses”
Bizarre and creepy, and difficult to describe. The kind of story you have no idea what is happening, but you stick with it because you just can’t look away, and then it finally makes sense and you’re rewarded richly for having stuck with it. It involves death and magicians and had some vibes that reminded me of the 1998 film Dark City.
“The Ghost Sequences”
Another cleverly formatted story, this one about an artist collective creating multi-media art for a gallery exhibition and things turn weird and disturbing. A bit confusing at times, but ultimately quite satisfying and a suitable final story for the collection.
Overall, I highly recommend THE GHOST SEQUENCES to lovers of horror and dark fiction, but also to those who enjoy general short stories. Wise plays with her craft and formatting, suiting the structure to the story being told, and has such a way with prose it is impossible not to be drawn into her worlds.
Did I mention it also has a killer cover? Because, yeah, it has an absolutely stunning cover.
By Amber Logan
The Ghost Sequences
by A.C. Wise
From A.C. Wise, the acclaimed author of Wendy, Darling, comes a brand new collection of horror stories, The Ghost Sequences.
"Fans of Paul Tremblay, Kelly Link, and Seanan McGuire will gravitate to this standout exploration of the supernatural. An essential read for fans of the horrible, shivery, and unsettling."
- Erin Downey Howerton, Booklist, Starred Review
"Wise showcases 16 brilliant stories in this immersive, ghostly collection. With beautiful prose, unique takes, and a broad range of tones and approaches to the horror genre, this is a collection to be savored."
-Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"A haunting is a moment of trauma, infinitely repeated. It extends forward and backward in time. It is the hole grief makes. It is a house built by memory in-between your skin and bones."
A lush and elegant collection of tales - many having appeared in various "Best Of" anthologies - teeming with frightful and tragic events, yet profoundly and intimately human. These chilling tales will engross and enthrall.
For readers of Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, and Angela Carter, this is a must have collection of ghostly tales set to deliver a frisson of terror and glee.
"Fans of Paul Tremblay, Kelly Link, and Seanan McGuire will gravitate to this standout exploration of the supernatural. An essential read for fans of the horrible, shivery, and unsettling."
- Erin Downey Howerton, Booklist, Starred Review
"Wise showcases 16 brilliant stories in this immersive, ghostly collection. With beautiful prose, unique takes, and a broad range of tones and approaches to the horror genre, this is a collection to be savored."
-Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"A haunting is a moment of trauma, infinitely repeated. It extends forward and backward in time. It is the hole grief makes. It is a house built by memory in-between your skin and bones."
A lush and elegant collection of tales - many having appeared in various "Best Of" anthologies - teeming with frightful and tragic events, yet profoundly and intimately human. These chilling tales will engross and enthrall.
For readers of Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, and Angela Carter, this is a must have collection of ghostly tales set to deliver a frisson of terror and glee.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
 | |
The Heart and soul of horror fiction reviews
‘Do Not Weep For Me’ -
The triumphant return of Tony Tremblay
Back in 2018 I very favourably reviewed Tony Tremblay’s wild debut The Moore House which later reached the Final Ballot of the Bram Stoker Award in the First Novel Category. It was a superb haunted house yarn, which was backed up with exorcisms, dodgy priests, sexy nuns, demons and some superb characters, on both sides of the fence, good and evil. You can find the full review here:
I sped read Do Not Weep For Me so quickly I had to double check it was not a novella by the time I finished! Ultimately, not a word was wasted in the 252 pages which, I would have thought impossible, even tops The Moore House for violence, over-the-top action and crazy demon inspired kill scenes, stunning decapitations, detached talking heads and enough gross bodily fluids to drown you. That previous sentence makes this story sound very trashy; but it was nothing of the sort and was a very clever and absolutely perfectly paced horror novel in which the unbelievably becomes perfectly acceptable within the boundaries of the story. Tremblay’s publisher should give this novel to Sam Raimi to check out and I would envisage the final result to be something akin to Drag Me To Hell but with bigger, meaner, and nastier demons.
Although Do Not Weep For Me is not a direct sequel to The Moore House they are strongly connected and the consequences of what previously occurred lingers in the background. The exorcist Father MacLeod returns and the action once again takes place in Goffstown (New Hampshire) and more crucially the owner of the Goffstown Pawnshop is back and with a larger role this time around. The owner’s true identity is never truly revealed (Mr Smith or is it Jones?) but his shop seems to have mysterious supernatural properties and can sense when demons or evil is around and relocate within the boundaries of the town. Smith/Jones really stole the show and I found myself wanting to know more about him and his peculiar, fortified shop which is built to withstand assaults from powerful demons. Towards the end of the novel there were some absolutely outstanding scenes in the Pawnshop which would not have been out of place in the gore horror classic Evil Dead 2. This was an outstandingly cool location and it was a delight to see the shop have a more substantial role than it did in Moore House.
At first glance Do Not Weep For Me sounds like a trashy b-movie horror story, but do not be deceived, as it is a very cleverly plotted story which knits together perfectly in the latter stages. In the opening pages we see a demon possessed woman murder a child in front of her parent before being killed herself, with the possessed woman then heading to Gofftown. In another story-arc a disabled woman who survived a long kidnapping (and multiple rapes) promises to reveal her story to reporter Manuel Chance, but only if he helps investigate her husband, whom she suspects is involved in a series of child kidnappings. However, nothing is what it seems and the ‘Duck Lady’ is far from an innocent old granny, as the reader will find out in a particularly filthy, but very funny, scene.
A spate of child abductions around Gofftown are the focus of the most riveting story-arc, with every parent’s nightmare coming true for single dad Paul Lane when in an unguarded moment his young daughter Cindy disappears from the back garden. In the aftermath of the incident Paul connects with a mum of one of the other snatched kids and the two go on a truly terrifying journey which eventually links to what I have previously mentioned. This part of the story was incredibly absorbing, seen from the point of view of both Paul and Cindy and at various stages of the disappearances. If you struggle with violence inflicted on children, then perhaps this might not be the book for you when things take a darker supernatural turn. However, the direction the kidnapping story heads into was one of the strongest of the book and if you’ve ever seen the Disney film Freaky Friday, that gives a slight hint where it goes, but change the name to Evil Friday and you’re more on track!
In the background Tremblay nicely develops his version of the classic ‘Good Vs Evil’ battle of the ages, as there are rumblings of discontent in Hell with the pawnshop being stuck in the middle. I appreciate this book sounds mightily ridiculous, but it was so stupidly enjoyable I found it totally irresistible. Some of the scenes, where the twitching and swaggering demons sauntered into the fortified Pawnshop and the uber-cool sidekick Rex (another awesome character) were so entertaining I was glued to the page. The level of brutality was also wildly over the top, with Tony Tremblay viciously and ruthlessly butchering a substantial number of his leading characters (undoubtedly rubbing his hands with glee!) If you are a fan of exorcist/demon style fiction Do Not Weep For Me is unmissable.
Tony Jones
I sped read Do Not Weep For Me so quickly I had to double check it was not a novella by the time I finished! Ultimately, not a word was wasted in the 252 pages which, I would have thought impossible, even tops The Moore House for violence, over-the-top action and crazy demon inspired kill scenes, stunning decapitations, detached talking heads and enough gross bodily fluids to drown you. That previous sentence makes this story sound very trashy; but it was nothing of the sort and was a very clever and absolutely perfectly paced horror novel in which the unbelievably becomes perfectly acceptable within the boundaries of the story. Tremblay’s publisher should give this novel to Sam Raimi to check out and I would envisage the final result to be something akin to Drag Me To Hell but with bigger, meaner, and nastier demons.
Although Do Not Weep For Me is not a direct sequel to The Moore House they are strongly connected and the consequences of what previously occurred lingers in the background. The exorcist Father MacLeod returns and the action once again takes place in Goffstown (New Hampshire) and more crucially the owner of the Goffstown Pawnshop is back and with a larger role this time around. The owner’s true identity is never truly revealed (Mr Smith or is it Jones?) but his shop seems to have mysterious supernatural properties and can sense when demons or evil is around and relocate within the boundaries of the town. Smith/Jones really stole the show and I found myself wanting to know more about him and his peculiar, fortified shop which is built to withstand assaults from powerful demons. Towards the end of the novel there were some absolutely outstanding scenes in the Pawnshop which would not have been out of place in the gore horror classic Evil Dead 2. This was an outstandingly cool location and it was a delight to see the shop have a more substantial role than it did in Moore House.
At first glance Do Not Weep For Me sounds like a trashy b-movie horror story, but do not be deceived, as it is a very cleverly plotted story which knits together perfectly in the latter stages. In the opening pages we see a demon possessed woman murder a child in front of her parent before being killed herself, with the possessed woman then heading to Gofftown. In another story-arc a disabled woman who survived a long kidnapping (and multiple rapes) promises to reveal her story to reporter Manuel Chance, but only if he helps investigate her husband, whom she suspects is involved in a series of child kidnappings. However, nothing is what it seems and the ‘Duck Lady’ is far from an innocent old granny, as the reader will find out in a particularly filthy, but very funny, scene.
A spate of child abductions around Gofftown are the focus of the most riveting story-arc, with every parent’s nightmare coming true for single dad Paul Lane when in an unguarded moment his young daughter Cindy disappears from the back garden. In the aftermath of the incident Paul connects with a mum of one of the other snatched kids and the two go on a truly terrifying journey which eventually links to what I have previously mentioned. This part of the story was incredibly absorbing, seen from the point of view of both Paul and Cindy and at various stages of the disappearances. If you struggle with violence inflicted on children, then perhaps this might not be the book for you when things take a darker supernatural turn. However, the direction the kidnapping story heads into was one of the strongest of the book and if you’ve ever seen the Disney film Freaky Friday, that gives a slight hint where it goes, but change the name to Evil Friday and you’re more on track!
In the background Tremblay nicely develops his version of the classic ‘Good Vs Evil’ battle of the ages, as there are rumblings of discontent in Hell with the pawnshop being stuck in the middle. I appreciate this book sounds mightily ridiculous, but it was so stupidly enjoyable I found it totally irresistible. Some of the scenes, where the twitching and swaggering demons sauntered into the fortified Pawnshop and the uber-cool sidekick Rex (another awesome character) were so entertaining I was glued to the page. The level of brutality was also wildly over the top, with Tony Tremblay viciously and ruthlessly butchering a substantial number of his leading characters (undoubtedly rubbing his hands with glee!) If you are a fan of exorcist/demon style fiction Do Not Weep For Me is unmissable.
Tony Jones
Do Not Weep For Me
by Tony Tremblay
Goffstown, New Hampshire has seen its share of supernatural mayhem, murder, and monsters. With the banishment of the demon James Moore, some in the town believed their bloody past was behind them. The devil knows better.
For weeks, an old crippled woman hesitates then waddles past the window of the Goffstown News building. On the day she finally enters the office, she has one hell of a story to tell the editor, Manuel Chance, but there is a caveat to publishing it. Manuel is skeptical of the bizarre tale and suspicious of her motives. When she removes her clothing to provide evidence for her story, his skepticism vanishes, but when he hears the basis for her caveat, his suspicion grows. She wants Manuel to investigate her husband to determine if he is behind the disappearance of four local children.
As Paul Lane steps out of his home, uneasiness overwhelms him. While he's distracted, his daughter Cindy asks to play on the swing set in the backyard. In the unguarded moment, Paul agrees, making it the biggest mistake of his life. After Cindy disappears without a trace, a woman approaches Paul with an identical story. Together, they wait for the return of their children. When the two girls are found and returned to their parent's, relief turns to confusion after the two girls make an astonishing claim. Confusion turns to horror when they discover the children have brought someone else back with them.
A battered, bruised, filthy, woman pulls her stolen Subaru into a parking lot across from The Goffstown Pawnshop. With two decomposing bodies in the back of the car, she has driven non-stop from the Midwest to procure an item from the owner of the pawnshop. Possessed, she will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Inside the shop, the owner and his assistant Rex, notice the woman on a surveillance camera. When the three of them do battle inside the pawnshop, it will be the first volley in a war to decide who will rule in Hell.
***
Shaken from his conflict with the demon residing in The Moore House, the pawnshop owner in Goffstown had hoped for a reprieve from supernatural carnage. Instead, when a possessed woman enters his shop demanding an item he is sworn to protect, violence remains his only option. Three of those who had assisted him in the defeat of the demon James Moore will be pulled back into battle. They, along with three innocents who have been sucked into this new vortex of evil are the only ones preventing an overthrow of Hell. The problem for the pawnshop owner is... God isn't the one on their side.
For weeks, an old crippled woman hesitates then waddles past the window of the Goffstown News building. On the day she finally enters the office, she has one hell of a story to tell the editor, Manuel Chance, but there is a caveat to publishing it. Manuel is skeptical of the bizarre tale and suspicious of her motives. When she removes her clothing to provide evidence for her story, his skepticism vanishes, but when he hears the basis for her caveat, his suspicion grows. She wants Manuel to investigate her husband to determine if he is behind the disappearance of four local children.
As Paul Lane steps out of his home, uneasiness overwhelms him. While he's distracted, his daughter Cindy asks to play on the swing set in the backyard. In the unguarded moment, Paul agrees, making it the biggest mistake of his life. After Cindy disappears without a trace, a woman approaches Paul with an identical story. Together, they wait for the return of their children. When the two girls are found and returned to their parent's, relief turns to confusion after the two girls make an astonishing claim. Confusion turns to horror when they discover the children have brought someone else back with them.
A battered, bruised, filthy, woman pulls her stolen Subaru into a parking lot across from The Goffstown Pawnshop. With two decomposing bodies in the back of the car, she has driven non-stop from the Midwest to procure an item from the owner of the pawnshop. Possessed, she will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Inside the shop, the owner and his assistant Rex, notice the woman on a surveillance camera. When the three of them do battle inside the pawnshop, it will be the first volley in a war to decide who will rule in Hell.
***
Shaken from his conflict with the demon residing in The Moore House, the pawnshop owner in Goffstown had hoped for a reprieve from supernatural carnage. Instead, when a possessed woman enters his shop demanding an item he is sworn to protect, violence remains his only option. Three of those who had assisted him in the defeat of the demon James Moore will be pulled back into battle. They, along with three innocents who have been sucked into this new vortex of evil are the only ones preventing an overthrow of Hell. The problem for the pawnshop owner is... God isn't the one on their side.
TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE
 | |
The Heart and Soul of Horror Book reviews
The tagline for The Outfit reads ‘The absolutely true story of the time Joseph Stalin robbed a bank’.
I’m almost tempted to leave the review there; as the cop wryly notes as he offers Val Kilmer’s wife in Heat witness protection for her and her child as the price for betraying his gambling, backrobbing arse, ‘this shit here sells itself’. Certainly, when Tallerman told me about this project over late night drinks at FCon 2019, I was almost obscenely excited by the prospect. Stalin, unarguably one of the great monsters of the 20th century (arguably the biggest, in terms of body count) spent 1907 planning and executing one of the biggest bank robberies in the history of the Russian Empire. Apparently. Who knew?
That’s the hook, and a not inconsiderable one at that. Nonetheless, as the author notes in the afterword, what proved really astonishing is just how much material there is around this; the formation of the gang that will undertake the heist, the extraordinary audacity and violence of the caper, and the way the loot is handled in the aftermath all feel like something out of a grimier Hollywood spectacular (or, for that matter, a story of outlaws and the Wild West); with an added dimension of secret police, double crosses, and the wider historical revolutionary moment. Given what Stalin became, it’s perhaps understandable that this part of his history goes relatively underemarked; nonetheless, it’s a gobsmacking story on it’s own terms.
Tallerman does a brilliant job with such dynamite material; he has a prose style that melts back into the page, allowing the story to tell itself, and the pacing is relentless, bringing to mind the very best ‘holiday read’ paperback experience - and, to be crystal clear, I mean that as strong and unambiguous praise. Historical fiction can all too easily become bogged down in minutiae and detail, or become leaden by the sense of it’s own self importance. Here, Tallerman realises wisely that the weight of the story is all there in the bare facts, and so focusses relentlessly on laying the narrative out in lean, vivid prose.
As a result, the novel is a pleasure to read from start to finish, breathlessly building to the moment of the robbery, and then delivering a heart in the mouth action sequence, before dealing with the inevitable bloody aftermath.
The novel also engages with the politics of the moment with admirable clarity and without sentiment; the brutality of the then-current Russian regime is clearly depicted, as is the idealism of the revolutionaries; and so, too, is the brutality of those revolutionary methods, the impact of their actions. As befits a fictionalised account of true historic events, Tellerman plays a straight bat with the facts, makes the best guesses he can with regards to the interiority of the key players, and lets the reader sort through their complicated thoughts and reactions. This is not a place to find pat answers, and I’d wager whatever your prejudices are in terms of politics, you’re likely to find something in here to challenge you.
Most of all though - and I really can't stress this enough - this is an absolutely ripping novel; rollicking, thrilling, twisty; in short, one of the best heist novels I’ve read this decade, without qualification. For that reason alone, I really cannot recommend it highly enough.
KP
9/5/21
I’m almost tempted to leave the review there; as the cop wryly notes as he offers Val Kilmer’s wife in Heat witness protection for her and her child as the price for betraying his gambling, backrobbing arse, ‘this shit here sells itself’. Certainly, when Tallerman told me about this project over late night drinks at FCon 2019, I was almost obscenely excited by the prospect. Stalin, unarguably one of the great monsters of the 20th century (arguably the biggest, in terms of body count) spent 1907 planning and executing one of the biggest bank robberies in the history of the Russian Empire. Apparently. Who knew?
That’s the hook, and a not inconsiderable one at that. Nonetheless, as the author notes in the afterword, what proved really astonishing is just how much material there is around this; the formation of the gang that will undertake the heist, the extraordinary audacity and violence of the caper, and the way the loot is handled in the aftermath all feel like something out of a grimier Hollywood spectacular (or, for that matter, a story of outlaws and the Wild West); with an added dimension of secret police, double crosses, and the wider historical revolutionary moment. Given what Stalin became, it’s perhaps understandable that this part of his history goes relatively underemarked; nonetheless, it’s a gobsmacking story on it’s own terms.
Tallerman does a brilliant job with such dynamite material; he has a prose style that melts back into the page, allowing the story to tell itself, and the pacing is relentless, bringing to mind the very best ‘holiday read’ paperback experience - and, to be crystal clear, I mean that as strong and unambiguous praise. Historical fiction can all too easily become bogged down in minutiae and detail, or become leaden by the sense of it’s own self importance. Here, Tallerman realises wisely that the weight of the story is all there in the bare facts, and so focusses relentlessly on laying the narrative out in lean, vivid prose.
As a result, the novel is a pleasure to read from start to finish, breathlessly building to the moment of the robbery, and then delivering a heart in the mouth action sequence, before dealing with the inevitable bloody aftermath.
The novel also engages with the politics of the moment with admirable clarity and without sentiment; the brutality of the then-current Russian regime is clearly depicted, as is the idealism of the revolutionaries; and so, too, is the brutality of those revolutionary methods, the impact of their actions. As befits a fictionalised account of true historic events, Tellerman plays a straight bat with the facts, makes the best guesses he can with regards to the interiority of the key players, and lets the reader sort through their complicated thoughts and reactions. This is not a place to find pat answers, and I’d wager whatever your prejudices are in terms of politics, you’re likely to find something in here to challenge you.
Most of all though - and I really can't stress this enough - this is an absolutely ripping novel; rollicking, thrilling, twisty; in short, one of the best heist novels I’ve read this decade, without qualification. For that reason alone, I really cannot recommend it highly enough.
KP
9/5/21
The Outfit: The Absolutely True Story of the Time Joseph Stalin Robbed a Bank for Lenin's Revolution
by David Tallerman
Lies and double-crosses, secret police and explosions, a carriage chase, a mattress stuffed with cash and a one-eyed master of disguise…
In 1907, the revolutionary Joseph Djugashvili – who would later take the name Joseph Stalin – met with an old friend, a clerk at the Tiflis branch of the State Bank of the Russian Empire, for a glass of milk. Over talk of national pride, the spirit of the new century and Djugashvili’s poetry, they agreed the beginnings of a plan.
With the aid of the Outfit, Djugashvili’s hardened crew of “expropriators,” they would pull off the biggest, bloodiest and most daring robbery in Georgia’s history, and ruthlessly change the direction of the Bolshevik revolution forever...
In 1907, the revolutionary Joseph Djugashvili – who would later take the name Joseph Stalin – met with an old friend, a clerk at the Tiflis branch of the State Bank of the Russian Empire, for a glass of milk. Over talk of national pride, the spirit of the new century and Djugashvili’s poetry, they agreed the beginnings of a plan.
With the aid of the Outfit, Djugashvili’s hardened crew of “expropriators,” they would pull off the biggest, bloodiest and most daring robbery in Georgia’s history, and ruthlessly change the direction of the Bolshevik revolution forever...
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An ill-fated voyage on an ancient boat, crewed by a team of inexperienced strangers. What could go wrong?
A crabbing ship, captained by a man known only as God, is in search of a crew. As no self-respecting seaman will work with him he is forced to recruit a group of untried outsiders and hope for the best. With a violent psychotic for a deck boss, and a crew without a day's seafaring experience between them, it promises to be a trying voyage, but one that he has no choice but to take.
When they drag up something from the depths that is most decidedly not crabs, the crew find themselves freefalling down the food chain as they are soon under siege by a previously unknown, and undeniably deadly, race of creatures. The danger outside their boat, however, is nothing compared to that which is hidden amongst them, waiting for their opportunity to take charge.
Plot-wise, ‘Maiden’ is hardly in unchartered waters. The fun here is in the telling and there are enough strange and unusual choices to keep you guessing, even if the broad strokes are easy to see coming. When we’re talking about a book that boasts a sea captain named God, who is aboard a sentient ship under attack by an army of Lovecraftian fish/human hybrids, you can hardly accuse it of unoriginality. We’re even told part of the story from the perspective of the boat, which is a stroke of genius. It is one of those rare books, that is an absolute joy to come across, which is just immediately engaging and impossible to put down once you’ve started. I read the entire thing in a single sitting and imagine most people who pick it up will do the same.
There are content warnings aplenty in the back of the book (eight to be precise) and ‘Maiden’ does tackle some difficult and varied subjects (racism, suicide, homophobia to name a few). It can be a tough balancing act to include depictions or discussions about serious, real-world issues in a fictional story which is, by and large, aiming to entertain rather than inform, and in lesser hands, it can either negate the fun factor or, worse, feel as though the book makes light of sensitive subjects. Maiden has no such issue and the way these issues are broached felt appropriate and well handled, thanks largely to some nuanced character work (Jordan and Charlie are both standouts) alongside the larger-than-life characters (Nash, a villain so abhorrent, that you’ll fly through the book simply to see him get his very well-deserved comeuppance).
Maiden is such an unabashedly odd book that it is impossible not to get swept up in the story, especially when it is offering its readers something genuinely unique. Captained by an incredible cast, besieged by some memorable creatures and anchored by some stellar storytelling, Maiden’s horrors will test the mettle of even the most able seaman, but once you’ve read the first page, it’s full steam ahead for nautical mayhem.
A crabbing ship, captained by a man known only as God, is in search of a crew. As no self-respecting seaman will work with him he is forced to recruit a group of untried outsiders and hope for the best. With a violent psychotic for a deck boss, and a crew without a day's seafaring experience between them, it promises to be a trying voyage, but one that he has no choice but to take.
When they drag up something from the depths that is most decidedly not crabs, the crew find themselves freefalling down the food chain as they are soon under siege by a previously unknown, and undeniably deadly, race of creatures. The danger outside their boat, however, is nothing compared to that which is hidden amongst them, waiting for their opportunity to take charge.
Plot-wise, ‘Maiden’ is hardly in unchartered waters. The fun here is in the telling and there are enough strange and unusual choices to keep you guessing, even if the broad strokes are easy to see coming. When we’re talking about a book that boasts a sea captain named God, who is aboard a sentient ship under attack by an army of Lovecraftian fish/human hybrids, you can hardly accuse it of unoriginality. We’re even told part of the story from the perspective of the boat, which is a stroke of genius. It is one of those rare books, that is an absolute joy to come across, which is just immediately engaging and impossible to put down once you’ve started. I read the entire thing in a single sitting and imagine most people who pick it up will do the same.
There are content warnings aplenty in the back of the book (eight to be precise) and ‘Maiden’ does tackle some difficult and varied subjects (racism, suicide, homophobia to name a few). It can be a tough balancing act to include depictions or discussions about serious, real-world issues in a fictional story which is, by and large, aiming to entertain rather than inform, and in lesser hands, it can either negate the fun factor or, worse, feel as though the book makes light of sensitive subjects. Maiden has no such issue and the way these issues are broached felt appropriate and well handled, thanks largely to some nuanced character work (Jordan and Charlie are both standouts) alongside the larger-than-life characters (Nash, a villain so abhorrent, that you’ll fly through the book simply to see him get his very well-deserved comeuppance).
Maiden is such an unabashedly odd book that it is impossible not to get swept up in the story, especially when it is offering its readers something genuinely unique. Captained by an incredible cast, besieged by some memorable creatures and anchored by some stellar storytelling, Maiden’s horrors will test the mettle of even the most able seaman, but once you’ve read the first page, it’s full steam ahead for nautical mayhem.
MAIDEN
BY TC PARKER AND WARD NERDLO
A MAIDEN VOYAGE…
The Pepper Kay is no stranger to the open seas, but now she has a new captain: God. His maiden voyage aboard the newly-acquired vessel will be operated by a crew greener than seaweed. With a reputation like God’s, they were all he could find.
NO MAN’S WATER…
The Pepper Kay and her greenhorn crew, captained by God and his shady deckboss Nash, voyage into the brutal unknown of the Bering Strait in search of Dungeness crab. But, when a storm rolls in and the crew hauls from the depths an impossibility, something ripped from the pages of nautical folklore, tensions mount and the crew separates into factions: good versus evil.
THOSE WHO DWELL IN DARKNESS…
Nash has plans for their newest catch, plans God is not a part of, and the deckboss will wade through blood and chum before he allows his goal to be blocked. As the crew dwindles, laid low one by one, the remaining shipmates must faceoff against not only the human evil of Nash, but something much, much older.
The Pepper Kay is no stranger to the open seas, but now she has a new captain: God. His maiden voyage aboard the newly-acquired vessel will be operated by a crew greener than seaweed. With a reputation like God’s, they were all he could find.
NO MAN’S WATER…
The Pepper Kay and her greenhorn crew, captained by God and his shady deckboss Nash, voyage into the brutal unknown of the Bering Strait in search of Dungeness crab. But, when a storm rolls in and the crew hauls from the depths an impossibility, something ripped from the pages of nautical folklore, tensions mount and the crew separates into factions: good versus evil.
THOSE WHO DWELL IN DARKNESS…
Nash has plans for their newest catch, plans God is not a part of, and the deckboss will wade through blood and chum before he allows his goal to be blocked. As the crew dwindles, laid low one by one, the remaining shipmates must faceoff against not only the human evil of Nash, but something much, much older.
THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FICTION REVIEWS
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