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It’s Women in Horror Month! Book Review: A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales edited by Alex Woodroe

cover art for A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales edited by Alex Woodroe

A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales edited by Alex Woodroe

Brigids Gate Press, 2022

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09QHKS4GJ

Available: Kindle edition Amazon.com )

 

Just in time for Women in Horror Month, along comes A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales. This anthology of stories by women writers uses the gothic horror tradition to and illuminate the present by giving women a voice. An introduction by Stephanie Ellis provides background on the origins and characteristics of gothic horror and short summaries of each story.

 

Standout stories include “Penance” by Lindsey King Miller, a heartbreaking tale of a daughter’s unresolved fear, anger, and grief after the death of her estranged mother;  “What The Dead Whisper to the Living”  by Mary Rajotte, in which a father reveals unspeakable secrets to his daughter; “Picture Perfect” by Patricia Miller, a short, vicious, piece about an artist who pours all her feelings into her work; “Arbor Hills” by Deana Lisenby, a beautiful piece with an unreliable narrator that takes place in an Alzheimer’s unit; “Down with the Holly, Ivy, All” by Jessica Lévai , a Christmas tale of greed and just desserts that feels like it is straight out of Dickens; and “Speak Ill of the Dead” by Briana McGuckin is an entertaining tale about a forensics technician facing the consequences of feeling sympathy for the ghost of a victim she examined. The laginappe, or final story in the book, “The Sweetlings” by S.H. Cooper ,  could be an episode of  The Twilight Zone. 

 

Other good stories include  “Mercy” by Catherine McCarthy, which features a man with the supernatural power to end lives peacefully, at a cost; “Slave of the Living Dead” by Kasimma, which moves the gothic sensibility to Nigeria, where a family curse caused by destroying the lineage of a beloved ancestor and selling him into slavery dooms them at age thirty-five;  “A Kindness of Ravens” by April Yates, a tale of unhappy marriage, betrayal, sapphic love, and the supernatural; “The Half-Moon Casita” by Anna Fitzgerald Healy, about a couple in an unsatisfactory relationship, each haunted by uncomfortable doubts of the other; and “Scabrous” by Victoria Nations, a disturbing story of a haunted shed.

 

I appreciated the inclusion of “Slave of the Living Dead” , set outside the typical European locations and culture associated with the gothic tradition,, and would love to see more diverse authors’ interpretations if there is a second volume planned. This is a fine choice for readers wanting to explore the gothic horror genre and celebrate women in horror.  The variety of settings, styles, and lengths in this anthology however, means that everyone should be able to find something they can enjoy. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Ash House by Angharad Walker, illustrations by Corey Brickley

The Ash House by Angharad Walker

The Ash House by Angharad Walker, illustrations by Corey Brickely

Chicken House, 2021

ISBN:  978-1338636314

Available: Hardcover, audiobook, kindle

 

A chilling and impressive debut.

 

Angharad Walker’s debut novel The Ash House is a strong middle grade horror tale about a group of abandoned children. Stranded at an unusual orphanage, the residents seem to have internalized the strict moralistic ideology of their captors. With newly dubbed names like Freedom and Wisdom, each child acts within prescribed roles and duties to maintain upkeep of the property. They watch recordings instead of attending school and have limited memories of the world outside the smoky mansion. Ash House’s residents complete their chores with single-mindedness and nearly religious obsession, performing “nicenesses” and avoiding “nastiness.” This creates a rigid framework against which the newcomer, renamed Solitude (nicknamed Sol) rebels. As Sol questions the mindset, he also discovers alliances, potential dangers, and the secrets of the house. When the much-feared, cruel Doctor reappears to “help” Sol, the revelations are slow, winding like ivy up a manor, and the payoffs are worth the patience. Brickley’s bleak black and white illustrations and smoke-swirled chapter headings offer exquisite visuals to Walker’s foreboding, atmospheric descriptions.

 

Abandoned children, a missing headmaster, an arrogant and brutal doctor conducting torturous medical experiments, monitored by bird-like drones, hunted by strange beasts in the woods: Ash House is not for the faint of heart, but this immersive world and carefully crafted plot provides a steady study of how friendship, trust, and cooperation clashes with hyper-rule orientation and authoritarianism.  Readers who enjoyed Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children or who are ready to step into a more speculative world than Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events or Golding’s 1954 Lord of the Flies will find much to enjoy in The Ash House. Recommended for ages 8-12.

 

Contains violence, medical torture.

 

 

Reviewed by E.F. Schraeder

 

Book Review: Echoes of Home: A Ghost Story by M.L. Rayner

Echoes of Home: A Ghost Story by M.L. Rayner

Question Mark Press, 2020

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8553179045

Available:  Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition Amazon.com )

 

Les Wills is alone in the world. His brothers aren’t keeping in touch, he’s just buried his mother, and he’s depressed by it all. One night his brother Jonathan unexpectedly turns up, gifts him the deed to a remote cottage in the Scottish Highlands, and tells him that if he wants it he’ll need to be there by the next evening. With nothing keeping him, Les optimistically takes off to his new property. Jonathan’s description of the cottage wasn’t exactly accurate, though, and instead of a sales agent meeting him with the keys to a cozy cottage, he discovers a dark, chilly, isolated residence, luckily with the keys in the door.

 

After an uneasy night in his new home, Elphin Cottage, Les drives into town for supplies and breakfast, where he meets Michael Coull, an elderly resident who warns him that the cottage has a “dark past” and that many locals have seen things on the property “they dare not speak of.” Although he is entranced by the beauty of the area, Les starts to wonder if he is seeing and hearing things: a mysterious figure at the edge of a brook, tapping on the window that has no apparent cause, flickering lights in an abandoned cottage, and voices; he has vivid, unsettling dreams.

 

Proving to have the worst survival skills ever, Les wanders the area on his own despite poor weather, an unfamiliar environment, a house clearly unprepared for winter, and the feeling that he is being watched and his home invaded in his absence by… something. His terror is enough for him to flee Elgin Cottage on foot in a blizzard through several feet of snow and through a wooded area in hopes of reaching the closest inn. While there, he once again encounters Coull, who finally gives him the details of Elphin Cottage’s dark past and how to free it of its hauntings. M.L Rayner took inspiration for the story and names for the characters behind the haunting of Elphin Cottage and the surrounding area from his own family genealogy. Although it takes place at the time of the Irish Potato Blight, the story is set in the Scottish Highlands, which I did not know was also affected.

 

Rayner’s lyrical prose brings the remote environment to life, and draws vivid pictures of the starving families and blighted crops during the crop failures that led to the deaths of the ghosts haunting Elphin Cottage. The cruelty of the landowner towards his tenants and the complicity of his guests is heartwrenching.  Rayner also does a great job of creating creepy and suspenseful situations and making the reader question the mundane: did the door blow open on its own, or was it something supernatural? Les, the narrator, is less compelling, and it’s only through the relationship he builds with Michael Coull that we get any sense of him.

 

The unique backstory and creepy, suspenseful atmosphere make Echoes of Home worth checking out.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski