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Book Review: A Feast of Sorrows: Stories by Angela Slatter

A Feast of Sorrows: Stories by Angela Slatter

Prime Books, 2016

ISBN: 9781607014744

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Australian author and World Fantasy and British Fantasy award winner Angela Slatter’s A Feast of Sorrows is her first U.S. collection and contains fourteen dark fairy tales. This collection includes stories full of strong girls and women, fairy tale retellings, and Gothic themes. Her stories are a blend of horror and fantasy, and it is hard to pick a favourite out of this collection.

In “Light as Mist, Heavy as Hope,” a maiden leaves her home after her father strikes a bargain with a member of royalty whose coffers are drying up quickly. The lovely maiden, whose mother is long dead, is rumored to be able to spin straw into gold, but her mother is the key to her salvation. “Bluebeard’s Daughter” melds the traditional Bluebeard story with Snow White and Hansel and Gretel. “Sourdough” gives us the tale of Emmaline, who bakes pieces of art for a living. She and her mother are called upon by to compete with another bakery in town to supply a wedding with baked goods. The groom, Peregrine, is smitten with Emmaline and they begin a clandestine affair. Peregrine’s fiancé, who garnered the nickname the fox bride, is not pleased and makes her stance on their relationship known. In “The Jacaranda Wife,” an estate owner finds a mysterious woman sleeping under the jacaranda tree on his property. They eventually wed, but he becomes jealous of the grove she spends so much time in and has all of the lovely trees cut down. She’s in agony without the trees, and eventually returns home after the housekeeper leads her to the lone jacaranda tree that the master missed. A coffin maker, haunted by the ghost of her father, takes on a job to bury a widow’s husband in “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter.” She is in love with the young widow, and thinks the feelings are mutual. They are not, but the coffin maker ensures their ties will be difficult to undo.

Slatter’s storytelling is fascinating and gripping. From the first tale to the last, I couldn’t put this book down. It becomes clear throughout that all of the stories take place in the same universe, as we see familiar characters or settings make an appearance in other tales. Highly recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker


Posted on October 13, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: I Can Taste The Blood edited by John F.D. Taff and Anthony Rivera

I Can Taste the Blood  edited by John F.D. Taff and Anthony Rivera

ISBN-13: 978-1940658728

Grey Matter Press, 2016

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

This anthology contains five stories, or “visions”, all written with the same title: I Can Taste the Blood. The editor gathered five authors, each presenting a unique take on the phrase, which originated from graffiti in the bathroom of a dive bar, which read “I can taste the blood.”

The first vision, by Josh Malerman, is the story of Rab, a traveler who begs for help at the home of Madmannah, Sammi, and their child, Aart. It is a windy night when the desperate traveler knocks on their door and demands shelter for a short time. At the encouragement of their visiting friends, they admit the stranger into their home. Rab then tells them the story of how he came to be in their humble abode, what is chasing him, the horrors that he faced in this person’s presence… and what he has done. Everything is not as it seems with the traveler, or with the entity pursuing him.

The second vision, by J. Daniel Stone, is one of violence, underground snuff films, and heroin. Bok can’t escape the clutches of Laurenz, an elderly German man with a taste for extreme violence who creates films to feed his urges. Bok discovers, through his lover Jared, that the old German’s films hold a transformative contagion. As a warning, this story is extremely explicit in its depiction of bloody violence, snuff film material, and sex.

Joe Schwartz presents a vision of a man who earns his keep as a hired strong-arm for someone known simply as Caretaker. The man and his partner, Joe, kidnap a young woman as she leaves her home. We get a series of short memories of crimes he has committed when he first started in the “business,” and snapshots of his personal life. As the story returns to the present, and the kidnapped woman, things don’t quite go as planned for the dastardly duo.

Erik T. Johnson’s vision tells of Canny, who is trying to cope with his strange mother and her death… I think. I read and reread this story a few times, and I’m still not sure what to make of it. It reads like a stream of consciousness piece, and Canny’s thoughts are incredibly disjointed. There are subtle, perhaps too subtle, connections between his thoughts. At times I felt like I should be getting more from this story than I was, but things just weren’t connecting for me. I will say it is very poetic, and there is a lot of rich imagery in this story. Just be prepared for an exercise in attempting to follow a lost man down the rabbit hole.

The final vision in the anthology, by John. F.D. Taff, is probably my favorite out of the anthology. Merle, a divorced father of one, lives in the small town he was raised in, where he knows everyone and everyone knows him. One evening at the local bar, his friend, Gun, points out a bandage on his arm. Merle doesn’t remember giving blood, but the alcohol he loves so much tends to make him forgetful. Things change that night, when the two men venture to the VFW for the weekly spaghetti dinner. Merle gets very sick, and experiences disturbing and hyper-realistic hallucinations. What happens to him in the following days is enough to make anyone crazy. He struggles with his illness, he sleeps for days on end, his ex-wife is a constant nag, and all he wants to do is see his daughter. Oh, and his hands are growing teeth.

I Can Taste the Blood is an incredible anthology, full of nightmare fuel. I don’t recommend it for squeamish readers, though. There are times where the material delves into uncomfortable themes, or it just gets gross. If you don’t like transgressive dark fiction, this won’t be your cup of tea. If you do, dig in. You won’t be disappointed. Recommended.

Contains: blood, gore, sexuality, torture, rape, body horror

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker


Posted on October 7, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Moonlight Serenades by Thom Carnell

Moonlight Serenades by Thom Carnell

Crossroad Press; Macabre Ink, 2016

ASIN: B01FX26OEA

Available: Kindle edition

Moonlight Serenades, Thom Carnell’s collection of seventeen short stories, is pretty incredible. I had to take a step back from the book a few times just to be able to savor some of the tales. In “Wedding Day”, a man in mourning proceeds with what is to be one of the best days of his life, in a very different way. “Another One for the Fire” is a retelling of the opening scene of Night of the Living Dead through the perceptions of the character of Barbara, and is quite beautiful.  “I Stand Alone” is written in screenplay format, from the point of view of, seemingly, the last man on Earth, watching the world from his window, and venturing out only to collect supplies. But things are not as they seem in this black and white world. “Canto Carnascialesco” is the story of Billy and Elena, two teenagers on their first date at the carnival. Unfortunately for them, and all of the other carnival goers, things turn into a bloody mess. “Retribution” is an incredible revenge story told in first person. The question I think the author poses here is, how far would you go to avenge, or revenge, the death of your child? Carnell also includes three stories about Cleese, the hero of his previous book, No Flesh Shall Be Spared.

Two other stories really sat with me. “When I Fall in Love…It Will Be Forever” actually made me cry. Gene and Dottie are trapped in their basement after their home is overrun by zombies. Unfortunately, Dottie did not come away unscathed, and has turned. Gene is doing his best to feed and care for her, while keeping himself safe, but he misses his wife, especially after he flips through one of their photo albums. After contemplating life without her, he makes a life-changing decision.

I wasn’t too sure about “Clown Town” when I started reading, but it turned out to be my favorite in this collection. The story revolves around the “moidah” of a member of the Harlequin family. Carnell uses 1940s jazz and circus slang in this mystery story, which follows Detective Bumpo and Inspector Garbo as they investigate the scene in Marceau’s club and question the suspects. There’s even a little bit of intrigue, and a love story between Bumpo and Josephine, an employee at Marceau’s. I found it interesting how Carnell writes the various types of clowns, by dividing them into cadres or gangs. The story reads very much like the old time radio shows of the 1940’s, and I couldn’t help hearing the voices of Philip Marlowe or Sergeant Joe Friday in my head as I read this story. I hated to reach the end, not because of the conclusion itself, but because I want to read more about this world. I kind of fell in love with the world of these clowns. The other stories in this collection are just as powerful as the ones mentioned above.

Recommended, especially for readers who are drawn to stories that make them sit back for a few moments before starting on another. It’s been a week or so since I read this collection, and there are still tales that I think back on, and have revisited.

Contains: blood, revenge

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 


Posted on September 4, 2016 by , 1 comment
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