David A. Riley - The Return

[David A. Riley]

My mistake. The 102k is the size of my short story collection from Shadow Press. The novel is 83k. My apologies.

[mattofthespurs]

No worries.
Thanks again.

[Craig Herbertson]

Just reviewed David's recent work(stuck it in below to save searching). No spoilers

One thing I didn't mention - I thought it was quite short but the reason it feels like that is its very well paced and seems shorter than it is. The lead character is a cracker.
It's a really good read.

Mr. Fosset, making a brief appearance in this work by David A. Riley says "Dark, bleak, nihilistic stuff. Not the kind of thing to take to bed for a good night's sleep." Admirably summarizing this new work by a veteran author who many horror aficionados will have encountered in the legendary Pan Horror series and subsequent `best of' collections. There is a reason why I mention' best of'. Riley has produced some fine short stories and I was curious as to how his undoubted skill as a short story author would translate on the wider screen

The answer is very well. Fans of Grudge End, a horrible place full of horrible places, will lap this up. "Even in bright daylight the five-storey building looked dark, forbidding, and sordidly utilitarian." - a good description of Riley's bleak uncompromising prose - sparse, economical and clinically scary.

Riley has produced one of his marvelous anti-heroes in Gary Morgan. I won't go too much into plot because a large part of this work is dependent on a slow build up of dark energies contained in the utterly mundane. Gary is not what he seems and the reader will be surprised that at the conclusion of this story you'll find yourself drawn to a real sympathy with the character.

A thoroughly enjoyable read and I would ignore Mr. Fossett and start it late at night.. You'll finish before dawn...I hope

Published by Blood Bound Books splendidly illustrated by Andrej Bartulovic

[dem]

"Reminds me of photos I saw in a book. Jack the Ripper's last victim. Mary Kelly... At least they were only black and white." Inspector Ray Parks meets what is left of the luckless author of Hell's Cesspit: The Story Of Grudge End.

Meanwhile, back with those fun loving, demon raising Grudgeenders, the return of a prodigal son sparks a new wave of ultra violence.

Correctly nailed for the murder of a South London gangster, Gary Morgan, hit man, high tails it up the motorway, back to his despised childhood neighbourhood Grudge End with the fearsome Broadman mob on his trail. Morgan arrives just in time to witness the demolition of the family home during the slum clearance of Randall Street. He's not sad to see it go. The place holds hideous memories of a dreadful childhood. His father, a brutal drunk, was murdered in 1968 by persons unknown. Who or whatever was responsible broke every bone in his hateful body. His old school-friend Kevin Cross never escaped Grudge End. He's spent the past few decades researching the violent and diabolical history of the area and his findings have left him a paranoid wreck - with good reason. There is evil abroad, always has been, and it can be traced back to the bowels of a disused factory owned by the obscenely wealthy and depraved Malleson family, once the main job providers for the local population.

Pitched somewhere between Get Carter and The Call Of Cthulhu - although, mercifully, the author never allows the story to get bogged down in mythos gibberish - The Return is a fast paced horror thriller with several nasty moments, including some seriously brutal scythe action involving the cover star. Long time Riley readers will appreciate the references to his back catalogue (toward the close, there is even a walk on for Dag and the teen cultists from The Lurkers In The Abyss.

After what amounts to a post-Beyond decade in the wilderness, what with His His Own Mad Demons, the aforementioned Lurkers ...., and now this début novel, Mr. R. is on a roll.

[David A. Riley]

Many thanks for that brilliant review, dem. I really appreciate it.

Curiously, I recently saw a video clip provided by my friend and folk singer Nick Caffrey on facebook. It's from 2008 (though to me its seems uncannily much older) and is of the Britannia Coconut Dancers processing through Bacup in Lancashire which just happens to be one of the towns I based Edgebottom and Grudge End on. I wonder if there is a potential story in these dancers?



Some strange things go on in Lancashire's isolated mill towns.

[Craig Herbertson]

Apr 19, 2014 8:54:59 GMT David A. Riley said:

Many thanks for that brilliant review, dem. I really appreciate it.

Curiously, I recently saw a video clip provided by my friend and folk singer Nick Caffrey on facebook. It's from 2008 (though to me its seems uncannily much older) and is of the Britannia Coconut Dancers processing through Bacup in Lancashire which just happens to be one of the towns I based Edgebottom and Grudge End on. I wonder if there is a potential story in these dancers?



Some strange things go on in Lancashire's isolated mill towns.

Coming from a land where real men wear skirts and use a wailing multicolored bag as an instrument I can say with conviction that North England takes some beating on the surreal folklore front - A good friend of mine is a Morris Dancer. When you see him spinning in the air with a daft hat and a little stick it's a bit difficult to remember that he is a Professor in Physics and has a brain the size of the multiverse.

[dem]

Morris Dancers: Where would we be without them? try Ramsey Campbell's Merry May from the superb Scared Stiff and Franklin Marsh's droog disciples The Morrie Men - read it here! - for starters. And (brain is a bit addled) didn't David Campton have a right proper scary one?