Eric Ian Steele - Nightscape

[dem]

Eric Ian Steele - Nightscape (Parallel Universe, Aug. 2017)

Joseph de Ribera Hecate:Procession to a Witches' Sabbath

Charlie
The Musical Box
The Groaner In The Glen
City Of The Damned
Black Annis
After The Fall
Moths
A Dahlia Among Roses
Ars Armortia
Cycle
Indian Summer

Blurb.
There isn't one, but there is an about the author page which have taken the liberty of quoting below.
Eric Ian Steele is a novelist and screenwriter from Manchester, England. He is the writer of the horror novel The Autumn Man, as well as the thriller feature film The Student (2017) and the action/sci-fi feature film Clone Hunter (2010). He won the prestigious Writers on the Storm screenwriting contest in 2012 and has had short films produced across the USA. He has also written for hire on a children’s sci-fi animated TV series. His short stories range from science-fiction to horror and fantasy and can be found in numerous anthologies and magazines including Terror Tales alongside fiction by Neil Gaiman and Kim Newman, The Lovecraft E-Zine, Horror Without Victims, the superhero fiction anthology POW!erful Tales, and the zombie poetry collection Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes!



Thanks to David and Linden Riley for this lovely surprise! Can't say I'm familiar with Mr. Steele's work but it was the same with Joseph Rubas, David Ludford and Ezeiyoke Chukwunonso until parcels from PUP alerted me to their individual talents.

What with this, the new Pulp Horror and 2 X Men Of Violence arriving over consecutive days, the running repairs are on hold for the weekend while I get down to some serious reading and scribbling.

More details on the Parallel Universe News thread.

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Charlie: (John H. Ford & Paul Kane [eds.] Terror Tales #4, 2009). Oliver Marple, the master of Pastor's Return, was a sadistic tyrant who made his childrens' lives a misery while kindly housekeeper 'Gramma' Margate looked on, helpless to intervene when his savagery went too far. On Marple's death, surviving daughter Mattie returns home with husband David Eastwood who is determined to erase all memory of the twisted old bastard from the estate. But Marple's spirit lives on in his aged cocker spaniel, Charlie. A Killer Dogs miniature via The Fall Of The House Of Usher although it's something other than rabies responsible for Charlie's murderous disposition. A cracking start. Hope they are all going to be as lively as this.

The Musical Box: (A. A. Roberts [ed.] Chaos Theory: Tales Askew #13, 2010). Another gem. Junior physician Werner has good as thrown away his career by falling in love with a particularly troubled patient. Now he and Laura have taken a room in a Whitby boarding house, hoping against hope he'll find a job before their little money runs out. Laura is a "borderline" schizophrenic with suicidal tendencies so it's no great help when the landlady, Mrs. Lovett, casually lets slip that the previous occupant of their room - her own daughter - died leaping from the window while under the influence of drugs, but then the wretched child never had a thought for anyone else! Laura grows increasingly fascinated by the dead girl's musical box, until ....

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The Groaner In The Glen: (Mike Davis [ed] Lovecraft E-zine # 29, Feb. 2014). Forty years after Boudicca's suicide, the Legia Hispania IX cross the Caledonian border to take on the Picts, confident that they will never again face an enemy as merciless and bloodthirsty as the Iceni. The combined forces of Druids and terrifying headless Anthropophagi prove the invaders wrong. Fortunately Gaius Atticus Germanicus, lone Roman survivor of the massacre, thought to write a farewell message to his wife and his letter has survived as an authentic account of what really happened.

Read it HERE. Excellent illustration by Mike Dominic, too.

City Of The Damned (Bad Dreams II, 2009). After a stressful day at the bank, Brian Harrison, personnel manager, falls asleep on the commute home from Manchester to Stalybridge and winds-up in the hell-hole that is New Kai (nee Winter Hill. Name changed after an accident at the chemical plant decimated the local population). A decrepit policeman, the last in town, informs him that the next train leaves at midnight and strongly advises he pass the intervening six hours at Molly's Café as nowhere else is safe. A hairy encounter with three hoodies decides him to do just that. The dismal café is deserted save for a Madonna clone behind the counter who prevails on him to take her for a drink at Seth's nightclub. Too late Brian has cause to wish he'd heeded the policeman's warning ....

Moths: (Sci-Fantastic, 2005). Short-short. First person account of a man haunted by a swarm of phantom Lepidoptera from infancy.

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Eric’s short stories have been published in numerous zines and anthologies. His goal is to have at least one animal in every story or feature film he has written. See if you can spot them!

Eric Ian Steele. com/ Confessions of a British writer

Black Annis: (Ben Thomas [ed] The Willows #1, 2007). I do love a pastoral horror, me, and what we have here is a bona fide entry in the 'Hard Life in the Country' manual with a nod toward the Cthulhu Mythos. Lilly Welles and husband Adam move in at Crag Cottage, Sudbrooke, legacy of her late Aunt Miriam. Adam is particularly surprised (albeit delighted) at such a turn of events as the old bat made no secret of her loathing for him. On the very first night the newcomers have a run in with members of the local hunt who insist on dragging a dead cat through their garden and tossing it in the river. Lilly is never quite the same woman again and, completely at odds with her "stupid-Vegan-animal-rights" beliefs (© Adam: he's not the most sympathetic character), takes to hanging grisly home-made mobiles about the cottage. Adam learns from Price, the Estate Agent/ Master of the Hunt, that Miriam was a descendant of a notorious witch burnt on the village green in 1662. Price explains that the barbaric cat-dragging is an age-old ritual among country folk to guard against her return. The Welles' well-intentioned interference has guaranteed she's already done so.

If I've one small criticism of Black Annis it's that someone couldn't decide how the heroine spells her name as it fluctuates between 'Lily' and 'Lilly' throughout. In terms of story it's another corker.

[helrunar]

Black Annis piques my interest.  She's one of the old Witch Goddesses... I printed out the Boudica themed story, which seems as if it must have been inspired by a dream Lovecraft recounted virtually at short story length in one of his more memorable letters (he wrote thousands of them).

H.

[helrunar]

I'd give "The Groaner in the Glen" a B.  The story just never really took off for me, and after the beginning which had a note of genuine intrigue, I felt as if he was just going through the motions.  It doesn't help that I was able to re-read the original HPL letter (which recounted a past life regression as a Roman army officer he had in a long and vivid dream) a few years ago and it was so excruciatingly good.  An unfair comparison perhaps.  I also wanted some kind of follow-up to the tantalizing description of the Druidic Deities--I found that to be the best bit of the yarn.

Film and television writing seem to occupy most of his writing, and that may be a better venue for him.

Thanks for mentioning this, Dem.  I did actually enjoy the story, despite my critical comments!

cheers, H.

[dem]

Ah. Not having read, or even been aware of HPL's letter until you mentioned it, might be to my advantage as I had a great time with The Groaner In The Glen - I've liked all of the stories so far, The Musical Box in particular, though we still have plenty of book to go (closing novella Indian Summer accounts for roughly a third of the 146 pages).

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After The Fall: (A. A. Roberts [ed.] Chaos Theory: Tales Askew, 2003). It is the NEAR FUTURE, and once again mankind is facing death by doom. Genetically engineered New Men have been introduced to the work force. Of supposed limited intelligence, programmed to perform only the most menial tasks, the New Men are fast learners and soon come to resent their lot. Comes the day of a bloody revolt against their "masters."

Andrew Callwood, wife Lindsey, Arthur Solent - a soldier whose entire detachment were butchered at Woodville - and Kellog, the friendly android, come under siege from these forces the former helped unleash on the world. Callwood was a prominent Dr. Frankenstein at the Artificial Intelligence Research complex and must accept the lion's share of responsibility for the terrible consequences of his meddling. Their prospects of survival are sub-slim. Solent's leg was maimed during the massacre while Lindsey's announcement that she is heavily pregnant does not go down quite as well as it might have in happier circumstances. And who really knows which side Kellog will come out for once the New Men break down the fences and enter the compound?

The book's pulpiest moment to date. Reads like a fabulously suspenseful 'fifties 'Never trust a Boffin' throwback played deadly straight.

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This next is cute. Depending on your POV, the ending might even be considered "happy."

A Dahlia Among The Roses: Ever since she first watched Ramona Valenti in desert romance Silver Stallions, Dahlia has longed to become as great an actress as her heroine. On leaving school she enrols at college, passes her exams and wins an acting scholarship to a New York University. A fellow student and would-be director invites her to Hollywood to appear in his small indie film. Predictably, things do not run smoothly, and Dahlia is forced to wait tables to make ends meet. Her fledgling 'career' is over before it even began. She just has to accept it was never to be. Eventually she'll return home to her parents in Illinois, settle down to a life of drudgery.

And then one blessed hour Ramona Valenti floats into the diner and takes her under her bat-wing. Dahlia's good as achieved all her wildest dreams from the moment the screen idol shares her secret because you just wouldn't believe some of the people Ramona knocks around with.

Ars Armortia: A terrible road accident on a wet night. Lori is killed outright - there's little left of her to bury - and Baz, who was driving her, holds himself responsible. He's haunted by her eyes, pleading with him to do .... what?

Phil Langden, a well-meaning if possibly misguided friend from Uni days who digs Aleister Crowley, introduces him to showbiz Wiccan, Victor Saint-Germain, who suggests a seance, but Baz wants Lori back in the flesh and buries his head in a book on Goetia instead. It all looks reasonably straightforward ....

Tonight's the night. Baz breaks into the cemetery and exhumes the mouldering corpse of his lover. Back at the farm, he lays Lori out on a slab and summons Baphomet ....

Think this one might be the pick of the crop. The plot is deliciously Tales From The Crypt ghoulish, but Baz's reaction to bereavement - self-loathing, self-harm, crushing guilt for something that isn't his fault, from sobriety to overnight drink dependency, etc. - touches a nerve, or did in this reader's case.

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Revenge of the Weredeer

Cycle: (Neil Thomas & Michael Stewart [eds.], Terminal Earth, Pound Lit Press, 2010). Armaggedon has done its thing, the few survivors band together and pretend to themselves they are awaiting a New Eden. Nominal leader the Preacher rids himself of dissenters via a rigged version of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery - those who draw the short straw are sacrificed to the Endless Thing, a flat amorphous mass from the ocean depths which will ultimately absorb all humanity until it's time to restart the cycle anew. Existence. What a pointless waste of everyone's time.

For this reader, Mr. Steele has saved the very best for last.

Indian Summer: Joanie Moran, an aspiring composer who makes her living writing jingles for TV and Radio commercials, is crippled in a road accident. Fiancée Ed, who was driving at the time, escaped unscathed. Wedding bells are no longer on the agenda. Joanie never tires of reminding Ed that it's his fault she'll be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her days (it isn't). Consumed by guilt and self-loathing, Ed seeks refuge in the bottle.

Joanie lives in a two story detached house with her father, a gnarled former sea dog, who employs, Tom, a live-in handyman, to keep the place ticking over. Tom is at his most accomplished in the garden which, over the course of the seasons, he transforms from unsightly heap to botanical wonderland. Responding to Tom's gentle encouragement, Joanie first rediscovers her love of music, then, much to the bewilderment of Dr. Pickman, the use of her dead legs. X-rays confirm a medical miracle: the multiple fractures have mended. Joanie can walk, jog, dance with the best of 'em.

There is, of course, a price to pay. Tom is no mere faith healer, he is Summer, and the gifts he bestows are just as easily taken back. Furious that Joanie has lost interest in the garden and now spends most of her time with a reformed Ed, he delivers an ultimatum.

Angry, hurt and not a little scared that her saviour has now shown his true colours, Joanie asks her daddy to dismiss him. Mr. Moran is only too happy to comply. Best of luck with that one, old timer!

While it's way too simplistic to pigeon-hole Indian Summer as a 'Plants Hate you!' novelette, fans of vicious vegetation fiction are unlikely to be disappointed when Tom unleashes floral Hell.