Danel Olson (ed.) - Exotic Gothic 4

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Danel Olson (ed.) - Exotic Gothic 4 (Drugstore Indian Press, 2014. Originally P.S., 2012)

Photo: Apolinar Lorenzo Chuca

Danel Olson - Preface: On Dark Gifting

Margo Lanagan - Blooding the Bride
Adam L.G. Nevill - Pig Thing
Kaaron Warren - The Lighthouse Keepers’ Club
Reggie Oliver - The Look
Lucy Taylor - Nikishi
Simon Kurt Unsworth - The Fourth Horse
Stephen Dedman - The Fall
Tunku Halim - In the Village of Setang
David Punter - Carving
Genni Gunn - Water Lover
Robert Hood - Escena de un Asesinato
Steve Rasnic Tem - The Old Man Beset by Demons
David Wellington - Atacama
Isobelle Carmody - Metro Winds
Terry Dowling - Mariners’ Round
Paul Finch - Oschaert
Ekaterina Sedia - Helena
Anna Taborska - Rusalka
Nick Antosca - Candy
Joseph Bruchac - Down in the Valley
Cherie Dimaline - Wanishin
Brian Evenson - Grottor
E. Michael Lewis - Such a Man I Would Have Become
Scott Thomas - The Unfinished Book
Stephen Volk - Celebrity Frankenstein

Blurb
A bumper anthology, with stories from twenty-five of today's finest speculative fiction writers.

My first charity shop find - indeed, first 'new' book of 2015 has been a long time coming, so a big 'thank you!' to whoever donated 'Exotic Gothic 4' to the Algate Chapter of the Spitalfields Crypt foundation! Am already familiar with the Stephen Volk and Anna Taborska contributions, and if the rest are of a similar high standard this should make for a proper bloody horrible read.

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Kaaron Warren - The Lighthouse Keepers’ Club: Peter has come of age and must now spend a fortnight alone at the lighthouse, guarding the thirty surviving prisoners who, a century ago, chose immortality over capital punishment for their alleged despicable crimes, and now regret the decision. Senile and withered to mummified husks, the pathetic wretches each proclaim their innocence and beg Peter to assist them to escape this death-in-life, but he's been well indoctrinated. Starkly horrific as the story is, the authors commentary, in which she identifies the real life 'inspiration' for The Lighthouse Keepers’ Club, is infinitely more frightening and sad.

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Lucy Taylor - Nikishi: A yacht goes down off the Namibian coast. The captain is killed outright, and hot-shot diamond merchant De Groot drowns when his craven underling, Thomas Blacksburg, shoves him from their dingy. Blacksburg washes up ashore next to a ghost village and is soon made uncomfortably aware that he is not quite as alone as he thought. Evil yellow eyes watch him from the trees. Man-eating hyena! As he makes his way through the village he meets a demented old man and his daughter, Aamu, a vision of beauty who feeds him a tasty meat dish washed down with bottled beer. The reader wonders how comes Aamu is entirely indifferent to the threat posed by the jackals, but all Blacksburg cares about is getting his hands on first her, and then her jeep to make his getaway with De Groot's gems. Aamu invites him inside one of the derelict buildings. Her lunatic father yells a warning ...

Paul Finch - Oschaert: Only a few weeks after he performed heroics beyond the call of duty during the Battle of the Somme, Private Longshaw, 25, stands before a firing squad having been found guilty of "cowardice." Longshaw faces his executioners without so much as flinching. A dog-thing howls as the Private is shot down.

Months later, Lieutenant Ronald Cavendish, who gave the order to open fire, is recuperating in the convent at Adinkerke, the sole survivor of his company after the Passchendaele advance. The Medical team are under pressure to return all so-called "shell shocked" malingerers to the front line in double-quick time. Cavendish, by now consumed by guilt that he ever doubted Longshaw, is terrified of the grey, mangy dog-thing that tracks his every step, and can only be lured into the convent garden by the stunningly pretty Sister Valentina who fast falls in love with him. Concerned that she will bring shame on the family, her idiot brother, Jacob, intervenes ....

As with The Lighthouse keepers Club, the author's commentary is pretty harrowing, let alone the story. Looks like this is going to be a very heavy-going collection.