North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud – review

9781618730602_medNorth American Lake Monsters

by Nathan Ballingrud

Published July 2013
Trade cloth: 9781618730596
Trade paper: 9781618730602
Ebook: 9781618730619

Small Beer Press

I’ve never come across the short fiction of Nathan Ballingrud before, but when this book was released I saw a sudden buzz around my social media feeds. I always pay attention to that sort of activity, so I picked up a copy of the ebook. Having just finished reading it, I went straight back to the Small Beer Press and ordered the Trade cloth edition. This is a book that needs to stand proud on a bookshelf.

There are nine stories in this debut collection from Ballingrud and each one of them is amazing. There is not a low point anywhere in this book. Balligrud’s writing is both beautiful and unrelenting, artistic and brutal. The same can be said for every story and every character. He draws on pain for his work, whether that pain is a lost young white supremacist, a broken down waitress, a man who recently got out of jail and doesn’t know his daughter any more, a man who lost his child, a husband who has become increasingly disconnected from his wife who suffers terrible depression and regularly attempts suicide. Against those characters of raw realism and terrible everyday struggle, Ballingrud draws the most incredible supernatural and horrific environments in which to put those people. The crass, the ugly, the brutal, the terrifying. It exists in every inch of every story and the characters reflect their terrible situations as much as those situations reflect the characters.

And yet, while I might make it sound horrendously bleak by the above description (and believe me, it often is!) it’s also sublimely beautiful, in both idea and execution. This book contains one of the most amazing vampire yarns I’ve ever read. Also one of the best werewolf stories and, at a stretch, the best zombie story ever. It’s not a zombie story in the Romero tradition, but even so. It’s better than that. More subtle, more heartbreaking. I’ve also read several stories based around the horror of New Orleans and Katrina, but Ballingrud’s The Way Station blows them all away. And there’s a touch of Cthulhu mythos in this book, equally well handled.

There are no answers here, no happy endings. Some stories are left hanging, almost too soon, but only better for that. There’s no suggestion of a way out of the darkness drawn by these tales, whether that’s the darkness of Elder gods, blood sucking vampires or humanity’s incredible ability to care so little for its fellows. Yet for a book with such a diverse eye for monsters and the supernatural, the overall sensation left after reading is one of humanity. Which should ever be the root cause of horror writing, that exploration of the truly dark nature of the human, in the face of monsters or of themselves.

Ballingrud’s touch is light, his implications subtle. For that reason, the moments of stark and visceral horror have all the more impact. This is without a doubt one of the best short fiction collections I’ve ever read. Not for the faint of heart, but worth the trauma for the incredible writing, absolutely real characters and palpable sense of wonder that comes from every touch of the unnatural along the way. This book is a dark road, emotionally battering and utterly incredible. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Apocalyptic News

Some bloody end of the world goodness from Permuted Press

Paul Mannering (TANKBREAD, TANKBREAD 2: IMMORTAL) has a new SHTF* apocalypse novel under contract with Permuted Press.

“Dead! Dead! Dead!” is the story of an ageing biker who finds himself on the run with an ER doctor after a shipment of contaminated cocaine turns the city’s junkies into contagious cannibals.

This is Mannering’s fourth novel with Permuted Press, and will be published in 2015.

*SHTF = Shit Hits The Fan – an outbreak scenario, be it alien invasion, deadly flu, civil war – anything that triggers a change in civilisation.

*

Martin Livings (CARNIES, LIVING WITH THE DEAD) has just sold his short story “El Caballo Muerte” to Permuted Press’s upcoming Fat Zombie anthology.

Fat Zombie is an anthology of unexpected survivor stories from the apocalypse.

The collection will include stories that tell the tale of the losers, the geeks, the freaks and the sad-sacks. It could also include stories of the differently abled, or anyone lacking skills, physical ability, education, resources so common in many zombie survival stories.

These are the survivor stories of the people you never expected to survive the end of the world.

Coming soon from Permuted Press.

Permuted Press

 

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron, review

barronThe Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron
Publisher: Night Shade Books (September 3, 2013)
ISBN-13: 978-1597804677

Laird Barron is well-established now as one of the premier horror writers working today. He’s recognised as leading the new breed of cosmic horror writers, taking his cues from Lovecraft’s mythos, but Barron’s work stands very well on its own. He’s almost developing his own mythos and this third collection is further cementing that position.

Each story in this latest collection is connected to one degree or another, but each stands alone well. There’s room in Barron’s stories – space to breathe and feel the world we’re in while reading. Not all of the stories worked for me. One or two were even too roomy and slow. One yarn in particular, the last story, was far too self-indulgent for my taste. That story, More Dark, is a tale of drunken horror writers going to see a reading by the new big thing in horror and the associated surrealism of the man’s ability. It would have worked, perhaps, if it didn’t try to be so clever. The self-reference was one thing, but the supporting cast was drawn from writers and editors real writers and editors in the field would know. Characters like horror editor Ellen D and fantasy magazine editor GVG. As a writer, I found it trite and I wonder if readers not in on the joke would feel lost. Of course, that also raises the question of who beyond the writers and editors of short horror fiction actually read it? But that story was the only real low point for me. The high points are very high and more than make up for it.

The Redfield Girls, for example, is an excellent character-driven story and a truly subtle horror. You can feel how cold the lake is while reading. The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven is a brilliant piece of work and not quite like anything I’ve read before. By far the best story in the collection for me was The Men from Porlock, a fantastic effort in terms of historical accuracy and colloquial realism while being a perfect example of Barron taking old Mythos ideas and making them totally his own. The book is worth it for this story alone, but there are plenty of others worth your time.

Barron is a writer you need to read if you’re a fan of horror and this book is highly recommended.

.

The Tenth Black Book of Horror, ed. Charles Black, review by Mario Guslandi

BBH10The Tenth Black Book of Horror

Edited by Charles Black

Mortbury Press 2013

Here it comes, the tenth volume of the successful British horror anthology edited and published by Charles Black. The series has consistently provided excellent new material for horror fans, featuring stories by both well known authors and newcomers (some of whom, in turn, have eventually achieved notoriety, thanks also to the inclusion of their fiction in that prestigious venue).

The tenth issue – assembling fifteen brand new tales – continues the tradition of the previous volumes, but somehow with a nastier character and a tendency towards violence and gore which has not always worked for me.

Having made it clear that #10 is not my favourite volume, I must admit that also the current book includes some good stuff worth mentioning.

To me the best story is “The Last Testament of Jacob Tyler” by David Surface, a well-crafted example of supernatural horror at its best, featuring a man making his living with his rifle.

Angela Blake’s “Stiff” is a grotesque story of sexual obsession and lust, with a paranormal, horrific side, while “The War Effort” by Carl P Thompson is a dark piece revealing the tricks to survive and manage post-war problems.

David Sutton contributes “The Pre-Raphaelite Painting” a solid piece of fiction where a femme fatale returns from a long-gone past to haunt an unfortunate man, and Paul Finch provides “Marshwall”, a very atmospheric, although not quite plausible tale about family secrets and a sinister rocking horse.

Finally, “The Last Wagon in the Train” by Andrea Janes is a disquieting, macabre western taking place under the blasting sun of the desert.

- review by Mario Guslandi

McDermott’s Caution: Contains Small Parts now available

Twelfth Planet Press has just released the ebook version of Caution: Contains Small Parts, an intimate, unsettling collection from award-winning author Kirstyn McDermott.

A creepy wooden dog that refuses to play dead.
A gifted crisis counsellor and the mysterious, melancholy girl she cannot seem to reach.
A once-successful fantasy author whose life has become a horror story – now with added unicorns.
An isolated woman whose obsession with sex dolls takes a harrowing, unexpected turn.

Four stories that will haunt you long after their final pages are turned.

Available now from Twelfth Planet Press for $5.95. Print copies can be purchased here.

‘Kirstyn McDermott’s prose is darkly magical, insidious and insistent. Once her words get under your skin, they are there to stay.’ – Angela Slatter, British Fantasy Award-winning author of Sourdough and Other Stories

‘The supernatural lurks in the shadows of Kirstyn McDermott’s first collection, an ambiguous or mundane presence that keeps these four quasi-horror stories feeling palpably real … McDermott’s poignant stories defy genre labelling, being primarily about damaged people seeking solace, escape, or meaning. The otherworldly merely gives them a chance to find it, and makes these unflinching but touching stories even more evocative and irresistible.’ – Aurealis, Issue 64

ill at ease 2 now available

Following on from the critical success of “ill at ease” comes volume 2, featuring seven original horror short stories, all of them guaranteed to give you the chills. The anthology is published by PenMan Press and available from  Amazon in both print and digital editions.

Joining the original trio of Stephen Bacon, Mark West and Neil Williams this time are Shaun Hamilton, Robert Mammone, Val Walmsley and Sheri White.

You will descend into an underground train station to uncover a dreadful secret and watch in horror as a paradise holiday turns sour. You will see a bullied boy who’s helped by local history and share the anguish of a father, losing his child in a shopping centre. You will take a trip with a cancer sufferer and share the pain of a couple, desperate for a child. You will discover that history needs to be kept somewhere.

Seven stories, seven writers and you.

Prepare to feel “ill at ease” all over again.

Warren wins 2013 ACT Writers’ and Publishers’ Fiction Award

Through Splintered Walls, the short story collection by Bram Stoker Award nominated author Kaaron Warren, has won the 2013 ACT Writers’ and Publishers’ Fiction Award.

The 2013 ACT Writers Centre Award winners were announced at the end-of-year Christmas celebrations, held on 12 December at the Bogong Theatre in Gorman House Arts Centre, Braddon.

About Through Splintered Walls (Twelfth Planet Press, 2012):

Country road, city street, mountain, creek.

These are stories inspired by the beauty, the danger, the cruelty, emptiness, loneliness and perfection of the Australian landscape.

Paperback: $18.00 + postage
Ebook: $5.95

‘Every Warren story is a trip with no map.’ – Gemma Files

‘Her fiction shifts across genres smoothly and intelligently, never settling for the easy path… she doesn’t flinch.’ – Andrew Hook

‘As with most of the best horror writing … the power of Warren’s strongest stories comes from the mirror they hold up to our everyday practices and prejudices.’ – Ian McHugh

Shirley Jackson Award winning author Kaaron Warren has lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Fiji, She’s sold many short stories, three novels (the multi-award-winning Slights, Walking the Tree and Mistification) and four short story collections. Two of her collections have won the ACT Publishers’ and Writers’ Award for fiction, and her most recent collection, Through Splintered Walls, won a Canberra Critic’s Circle Award for Fiction, two Ditmar Awards, two Australian Shadows Awards, an Aurealis Award and a Shirley Jackson Award. Her stories have appeared in Australia, the US, the UK and elsewhere in Europe, and have been selected for both Ellen Datlow’s and Paula Guran’s Year’s Best Anthologies.

She was shortlisted for a Bram Stoker Award for “All You Can Do is Breathe”, and was Special Guest at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention in Canberra 2013. Kaaron will teach a workshop at next year’s Aradale Creative Writing Retreat in February. You can find her at http://kaaronwarren.wordpress.com/ and she Tweets @KaaronWarren

About the Awards:

The ACT Writers’ and Publishers’ Awards are an Australian literary award presented by the ACT Writers Centre for the best books in the categories of non-fiction, fiction, poetry and children’s literature written in the Canberra region.

The full list of winners and highly commended for 2013 can be found here.