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Post by franklinmarsh on Aug 24, 2015 7:49:49 GMT
Can confirm it is brilliant, in ways you may not expect.
Tunnel Vision by Tim Major
Nifty tale of school life, with a Pan style ending. Horror lite but an entertaining read.
Life is Prescious M. J. Wesolowski
Another strange one, but in the best kind of way. Almost over-written, a tale of two chavs turns into a very strange yarn with the introduction of an horrible creature. Great!
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Post by franklinmarsh on Aug 25, 2015 8:11:50 GMT
Canvey Island Baby by David Turnbull
And so, with a heavy heart we come to the end of this odyssey through the more working class environs of horror, with many characters trapped - in their own minds and bodies, within houses/dysfunctional families, on estates, in cities, yearning for escape via their imagination, chance encounters or just trying to screw up the courage to step beyond their boundaries themselves.
David Turnbull's story is an uneasy reminder of both Lovecraft and Lynch's Eraserhead, set in Dr Feelgood country. There's an estate, a protagonist who doesn't want to do what is expected of him and a bleak landscape. Two terrific scenes - Patsy's confrontation with his grandfather, and his realisation that he's being watched when he discovers what he's been looking for on the beach, in a very fitting end story to this maverick collection.
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Post by David A. Riley on Aug 25, 2015 8:19:59 GMT
Thanks for the review, Franklin. I particularly love your description of this as a "maverick collection"!
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Post by franklinmarsh on Aug 25, 2015 8:27:23 GMT
I thoroughly enjoyed it, David. Not what I was expecting but that didn't matter because it was much much more.
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Post by benedictjjones on Aug 25, 2015 17:52:14 GMT
Glad you enjoyed it, mr marsh! :-)
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Post by dem bones on Aug 27, 2015 17:20:43 GMT
 The front cover has been posted several times, so here's the back. - David A. Riley. So far, so good. Stephen Bacon - Mr. Giggles: How better to get the book under-way than with the story of Dean Duffy, whose life has been fucked ever since his father took to molesting him as a child, utilizing a button-eyed glove puppet with a bell on its hat as unlikely sex-aid? The boss gives Dean compassionate leave to visit his mother in hospital, but as he's never forgiven her for turning a blind eye to his torment, the death-bed reunion is a mutual torture. Back to the old place - "It hasn't been my room for twenty years. Just another shrine to my wrecked life" - to dispose of the dead woman's accumulated clutter on a bonfire. Why on earth did she keep "Mr. Giggles"? Will burning the thing set him free? If you like your escapism unbearable, you've come to the right place. Next up, a case of kitchen sink demonic possession. Franklin Marsh - 1964: Parka-clad scooter boys and greasy rockers clash on the railway platform at Brighton. Gerry, who isn't cut out for this stuff and only running with the Mods to fit in, throws a bottle to save Derek the face from a knifing. A direct hit! His victim falls beneath the wheels of an oncoming train. Back in London, the gang head their separate ways. Gerry gets Mona pregnant. He's frog-marched down the aisle by both sets of parents but Mona's an OK girl and he's prepared to make a go of it. Gez just wishes he could shake the vision of the dead greaser's face from his mind. But his worst nightmares concern impending baby ... If it carries on like this, KSG and me are going to get along famously. |
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Post by dem bones on Aug 28, 2015 7:05:58 GMT
Andrew Darlington (Derek Edge and the Sunspots) Jings! What a strange one this is. Hovering close to SF, entrancingly written, ultimately WTF. I'll go with SF/ Acne Gothic. Andrew Darlington - Derek Edge And The Sunspots: Waiting his turn at the dental surgery, Derek Edge, paperboy, impulsively tears a page from an issue of National Geographic and pockets it. On closer inspection, the sunspots in the photo mirror the constellation of acne eruptions on his face, mirroring those in the sky. Also, his new pet wood-louse, Chespius, may or may not be the harbinger of cosmic doom. That being the case, could be that Derek's digestive tract is the one thing can save the universe. Hell of a responsibility to place on an adolescent. This story first appeared in Tears in the Fence "an independent, international literary magazine ...we are looking for the unusual, perceptive, risk-taking as well as the imagistic, lived and visionary." You can see why. For fellow fans (?) of same, pop culture references to date include The Dream Academy, Jim'll Fix It, Roobarb And Custard, Tit-Bits magazine, J. G. Ballard's The Crystal World, wretched New Romantic groups, and the "Chiswick Mods." |
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Post by dem bones on Aug 28, 2015 18:31:08 GMT
Gary Fry - Black Sheep: They've been boyfriend and girlfriend for all of ten minutes when posh Trudy insists Billy from the sink estate endure the nightmare meet-my-parents ritual. Well, it can't be any worse than spending another evening at home taking grief from Dad (embittered slob), Mum (great martyrs of our time) and catty big sis, can it? One brief, mind-blowing encounter with human kebab boy is all it takes for Billy to realise that far better to be the black sheep of his own shit family than Trudy's. Another taut psychological horror offering from the veteran Black Book/ Terror Tales chill-monger, put me in mind of Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse. Certain episodes in Black Sheep and Mr. Giggles revived seriously wretched memories for this reader, so thanks much for that, Messrs. Bacon & Fry! Benedict J. Jones - Jamal Comes Home : Another gem. In Black Sheep, Billy is ostracised by his family for trying hard at school instead of quitting for any old job just to keep his old man in beer. How Carole in Bermondsey wishes that her Jamal were as studious. It's the tragic, all too familiar story of the decent kid turned crack-addicted monster, preying on family, friends and all who come into his orbit, as he too is preyed upon by brutal dealers and a pair of vigilante cops who've seen one too many mugged grannies. Carole knows she's lost the boy, but, in her case, a mother's love really is unconditional. An ill-advised visit to Mrs. Shandy, the Doris Stokes of The Lord Nelson, initiates a ghastly reunion. Amazing. Five stories centred on the working class/ underclass and nobody's mentioned the 'c' word yet. I don't think even the outstanding Horror Uncut: Tales of Tales Of Social Insecurity & Economic Unease pulled that one off. How refreshing. And Jones.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Aug 28, 2015 20:02:45 GMT
Sociology! SPOILER - I'm probably not remembering this correctly but I think there's only one use of that word in the whole book, which (in hindsight) makes it extremely effective. |
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Post by dem bones on Aug 29, 2015 9:46:42 GMT
Sociology! SPOILER - I'm probably not remembering this correctly but I think there's only one use of that word in the whole book, which (in hindsight) makes it extremely effective. It's all about context, ain't it? Anyway, these next two have passed with a clean bill of heath. Kate Farrell - Waiting : Live from a doctor's waiting room in Manchester, the narrative of sweet old Edna Gould, who's moved home to Hyde now her Len's gone, close to her daughter, although Carole and Edward are that busy, what with him being a bank manager, she hardly gets to see them, which is a shame, as Jamie's her only grandson after all, but mustn't grumble, and I wonder who leaves these magazines, and do you suppose the receptionist ever reads them?, it's a different world these days .... FM has this spot on, right down to the Alan Bennett comparison, and I absolutely loved it. Kate has a collection, And Nobody Lived Happily Ever After imminent from Parallel Universe, and, from what I've read of her work in Black Book Of Horror and Terror Tales there's no chance of the title being sued under the trade descriptions act. Charles Black - Lilly Finds a Place to Stay: Tired of being used as a sperm receptacle/punch-bag by her odious Cockney squatmates, teenage runaway Lilly is desperate to quit the squalor and degradation of Bird Hill Road for somewhere, anywhere, even remotely salubrious. Which is when she's befriended by sympathetic local librarian, Mrs. O'Riorden, a fifty-something widow, whose son shares little Miss Munster's interest in serial killers. Perhaps our luckless Goth chick would like to move in with them? I read this as Charlie's contemporary take on 'Alex White''s Never Talk To Strangers but could be wrong. Give the man his new trainers! |
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Post by dem bones on Aug 29, 2015 15:05:22 GMT
The Mutant's Cry by David A. Sutton Really strange, really good. Set in period (late 50s-early 60s) with stunning accuracy. Probably would have been top story until I got to Mr Avery's. : " .... for the script, writer Llewellyn Upham says he went back to his Welsh roots and folklore ...". Set in Birmingham, circa 1957, I'd have said. In Mr. Black's story, Mrs. O'Riordan struck pay dirt when she enticed Lilly into her home, but it's quite the opposite for Stan Gibbons, 23, who plays Good Samaritan to a sixteen-year-old acquaintance, Freddie Wilcocks, when he's kicked out by his parents yet again. Not to beat around the bush, Freddie is a hunch-backed midget, obsessed with horror films and one in particular, this new, mind-bending shocker, The Mutant's Cry, now showing at the Jacey, which has already gained some disturbing reviews. It bodes ill for Stan that, on this occasion a movie lives up to the hype. Walter Gascoigne - The Sanitation Solution : Reader may experience sudden urgency to bathe in neat bleach after reading. Oz the refuse collector's dirty war on ex-wife's lawyer and ex-mother in law, unwittingly triggers a revolution that reduces the USA to one big Garbage dump, woah, garbage dump. That sums it up in one big lump. Well Dem should like this one - it starts with some of Charlie Manson's lyrics. Unapologetically American but fits right in. Actually, I prefer G. G. Allin's power-charged sing-along version, relatively refined by his standards (if nobody elses). For the Kitchen Sink Gothic Curious who've yet to take the plunge, Mr. Riley has now reproduced his introduction on his blog. Direct Link |
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Post by dem bones on Aug 30, 2015 19:40:54 GMT
"In the anthology you are now holding you will find stories that cover a wide range of Kitchen Sink Gothic, from the darkly humorous to the weirdly strange and occasionally horrific." I think the key to this collection is the Riley's brilliant if short-lived (three issues) Beyond from 1995, a "horror" magazine wherein fantasy of every hue was the order of the day. Whatever, this next , along with Derek Edge And The Sunspots, will be one of the "weirdly strange" ones. Mark Patrick Lynch - Up and Out of Here: Three youths, cursed with superpowers they can find no use for. Dylan is Sky Boy - he can fly ... sometimes. Buddy is the Invisible Man - invisibility is only any good if you're a bank-robber, or a peeping tom, or Richard Laymon. Chewing gum champ Jade-Louise, Buddy's sister and Dylan's crush, is Bubble Girl. Will the trio find their good cause? Light and frothy - until it gets dark. Can't decide whether to add or remove points for referencing The Jeremy Kyle Show. |
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Post by David A. Riley on Aug 30, 2015 20:05:31 GMT
Can't decide whether to add or remove points for referencing The Jeremy Kyle Show.  |
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Post by dem bones on Aug 31, 2015 19:18:40 GMT
Adrian Cole - Late Shift: Factory workers come off worst in clash with four skinny, corpse-pale subterranean tribalists of prodigious strength, strange thirst and gross appetite. Mac, our narrator, almost loses protégé Rob for keeps when the lad falls for Miss Filthy. Very odd, captures that sense of dislocation symptomatic of long years working ghosters. Nearest thing we've had to a traditional Gothic to date.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 2, 2015 11:27:23 GMT
Shaun Avery - The Great Estate: Another day, another black sheep. Slowly, painfully, comes the crushing realisation that Dave Holland's entire 22 years have been spent centre stage in a sink estate equivalent of Hotel California/ The Truman Show minus the camera's (although even these arrive at the end). The place he can't bring himself to call home is a society apart, with unwritten codes, peculiar "morals", even its own God to placate with sacrifice. Dave's ghastly parents, pregnant fiancée, squalid friends and neighbours are all in on the great conspiracy to crush a lad who, from an early age, has shown a timid but unwelcome streak of individuality. Connie's pregnancy is but the latest ruse to mould him into a real man, emulate his bully boy father Jack's proud standing in "The Shitty Father's Society." Social isolation, Job Centre Plus sanctions, C5 benefit porn, extreme power-tool abuse. Another KSGthat would hold its own in spiky Horror Uncut. Incredibly, the epic ends on note of quiet optimism as our non-conformist hero makes a break for it. Nine Tenths by Jay Eales This one lost me. : A very sad Kitchen Sink Gothic Romance. The way I read it, Marcus Hale is possessed by either the motorist who knocked him down or the flower-giver (and previous victim of the same accident black-spot?). Either way, the new Marcus is one despicable piece of work and everything The Great Estate's Jack Holland could wish for in a son. By contrast, the cruelly abused Sarah is among the most sympathetic characters in the book.
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