The Signal Block & Other Stories

It's not every day that you come across an new author whose talents knocks you for six.   I first came a cross Frank's writing a while back with his excellent short story Mountains of Smoke.  So when I heard that he was going to release a collection of his short stories I was ecstatic.  Frank is one of those rare authors who manages to combine a compelling literary style of writing with deeply chilling and entertaining stories.  This is not a emperors new clothes collection, at no point does Frank sacrifice  fancy writing for a good, engaging and at times terrifying short stories.  

The Signal Block & Other Stories, is a bleak, bleak collection, that will slowly and surely scrape away at your inner light.  However this almost relentless attempt to smother you in darkness is worth it, as you read your way through this collection you will bear witness to some of the freshest writing in horror today.  Dark images will haunt your memory for days after, that dimly lit path that you take home every night will suddenly be teeming with foreboding and menace.  

The collection opens with the wonderfully creepy The Signal Block, which sees a film crew enter an abandoned prison.  This powerful and chilling story is the perfect opening story to the collection as it sets the mood for the rest of the book.  

My personal favourites of this collection are the aforementioned The Signal Block, And When The Lights Came On, is an eerie tale that tells the story of Arthur, the city's last Lamplighter, this is a slow burner that slowly adds layer upon layer of creepiness until the the brilliantly shocking finale. 

And No Longer Lost, which closes the collection is a masterpiece of short story telling, that will invoke that adrenaline fuelled heart thumping in the chest feeling, that all good horror stories should.

This is the sort of book that I initially set up this blog to review.  Those who already know of Frank and his writing will already have this book in their wish list, but sadly Frank's name is not as well known as it should be.   If you are a fan of dark, thoughtful and well written horror then you really must get yourself a copy of this book.  I promise you won't be disappointed. 

---

Click to set custom HTML