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Musings: 2020 Is Nearly Here! The Classics Are Coming!

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It’s been a big year for looking back, with the establishment of the Paperbacks from Hell imprint, Looking forward to 2020, it appears that it will be a big year for looking even further back.  The publication of several books of ghost and Gothic tales in 2019 looks like it was the beginnings of a return to the classics of the genre. 2020 will bring the first volume of HWA’s Haunted Library series that will be published in conjunction with Poisoned Pen Press, The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. In addition, Crystal Lake has just announced that they’ll be publishing Crystal Classics, dark tales from the late 19th and early 20th century,  with occasional titles that “challenge” a classic title, and the covers look lovely. Their December newsletter says the first three of these are out in paperback and will also be available as ebooks: they are The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, with an introduction by William Meikle;  Dagon Rising, a “challenge” to Lovecraft by William Meikle; and The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, with an introduction by Jasper Bark. I’ve been watching over the past several years now as some of the older or lesser-known writers are starting to be introduced to readers who may never have encountered them before, and I think we’ll continue to see this appreciation of writers from earlier times. Given the publication of books like Monster, She Wrote this year, which set a focus on lesser-known women writers (or women writers whose supernatural work was lesser-known) I think we can be sure that there will be more to uncover and appreciate! Of course, time, and literature, and our fears, move on forward, and I think we’ll see more diversity among contemporary writers in 2020 as well, if what I’m already seeing is any indication. It’s an exciting time to be a writer, publisher, librarian, researcher, and reader, and I can’t wait to see what directions the genre goes in next.

 

Posted on December 22, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Songs of Dreaming Gods by William Meikle


Songs of Dreaming Gods by William Meikle

Macabre Ink, 2017

ISBN-13: 978-1946025951

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Haunted house stories have been overtaken by tropes and lazy writing, and in most cases, should be boarded up. In recent years, however, a few have managed to introduce something new. Books such as House of Leaves, The Unseen, and The Haunted have introduced new wrinkles to the sub-genre. Songs of Dreaming Gods is one of these: it’s far more than a haunted house story. It is a solid read that stretches the imagination: readers may have to flip back a few pages occasionally to be certain they’ve caught all the nuances and plot twists. Is it horror? Definitely. But it’s not contained by the genre.

Those familiar with the works of William Meikle know that the author conjures up some pretty freaky designs for plot and setting (The Hole and Fungoid quickly come to mind).  In Songs of Dreaming Gods, we see that Meikle has once again done an extraordinary job in the telling of the story and in the layering of both the house and characters. Reading the book is like peeling an onion, or opening Russian nesting dolls.

A trio of local cops are called to the house where a bloodbath has occurred. Several bodies, or what’s left of them, are discovered in an old house. What’s been done to them is unlike anything one would expect from any human being, or animal. The trio realize that this is unlike any crime they have yet encountered. Doors that led to the stained floors where the forensic team should be now open up to another room not in their reality. Each of the investigators come to the house with their own wounds, mentally or physically, and face different doors, each which lead to scenes and realities that break down what each has known in his or her life. Once the characters go deeper into the house, and themselves, the reality they knew cannot be retrieved. All they can hope for is to escape with whatever the house allows them.

Songs of Dreaming Gods is decidedly different from most recent haunted house reads. With its fast-paced plot and complex structure, Meikle’s latest is a welcome addition to the sub-genre. Recommended.

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Posted on April 11, 2018 by , Reply

Book Review: Fungoid by William Meikle

Fungoid by William Meikle

DarkFuse, 2016

ISBN: 9781940544748

Available:  paperback, ebook

The end of the world starts with a rainstorm. Within the rain droplets are small fungoid spores. Every living thing they fall upon develops a fast-spreading infection that immediately reduces them to a itching, writhing mass of bleeding flesh as they scratch, and scratch, and scratch, to try to relieve themselves of the painful itch. Soon, the infection takes a more devious form, able to acclimate to anything the human population devises to protect themselves. The fungus is evolving.

This is a fast-paced read, full of suspense, intriguing characters, science, and a planet-wide apocalypse. It goes back and forth from the perspective of different characters with different motivations. Shaun is trying desperately to get to his family and will stop at nothing to do so. Rohit, a mycologist, observes firsthand what the infection does to the human body when a student voluntarily wanders outside when the droning sound of the fungus gets to him. The reader also sees what happens to a person’s mind from the perspective of one of the infected as it takes hold of Jim, and won’t let him go.

I think the only criticism I have is in regards to the way Rohit’s research of who may be responsible for the global catastrophe is presented. He goes to the university library’s databases, which is good, and discovers the list of who accessed the article previously. We librarians guard our patrons’ usage information with a passion, so this information wouldn’t be openly available. Otherwise, this book was fantastic. Meikle is a great storyteller, and I am most familiar with his Carnacki stories. In fact, there is a nod to the great detective of the supernatural in this book. Recommended.

Contains: some body horror

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on December 23, 2016 by , Reply
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