Knox is great at narrating his own books � just like True Crime Story, this worked much better for me on audio than on the page, partly because it allKnox is great at narrating his own books � just like True Crime Story, this worked much better for me on audio than on the page, partly because it allowed me to get past the dull opening chapters and into the meat of the story. There’s a whole section in the middle where Imposter Syndrome turns into a weird gangstalking conspiracy thriller. This is great: with a madcap clue-chasing quest through London and characters called things like Vincent Control and Gym Morrison, it remined me of Ned Beauman’s Glow mixed with Erin Kelly’s The Ties That Bind. Unfortunately, the stuff that pads it out at the beginning and end is much less engaging. I couldn’t summon up any investment in either Lynch (a character left purposely blank) or the Pierce family. I wasn’t surprised by the double twist, not really because I’d anticipated it, but because I just didn’t care. I had some fun with this, in the same way I have fun watching Netflix thriller miniseries that look good but don’t really make sense....more
Trophy Lives is a short book, really an essay in two parts. In the first, Snow talks about the celebrity as muse and representations of celebrity in aTrophy Lives is a short book, really an essay in two parts. In the first, Snow talks about the celebrity as muse and representations of celebrity in art; in the second, she makes the case for the celebrity as art. I love Snow’s writing, she constructs perfect sentences and expresses ideas very incisively, so I really enjoyed reading this, even if it is a little insubstantial as a book. The idea that a celebrity’s image and physical appearance (including the ways in which it might have been altered by plastic surgeons) might constitute ‘a bona fide work of art�, while obviously interesting, warrants a deeper dive. The argument is easy � it makes perfect sense to describe a celebrity’s projected image as performance art; the implications are thornier. Snow does talk about the relationship between person(a)-as-art and notions of conventional beauty, of course, but I think there’s much more to say. Happily, during the course of reading this I discovered that Snow has a full-length book about celebrity and femininity � It’s Terrible the Things I Have to Do to Be Me � coming out in July; straight onto my wishlist. ...more
I learned of the existence of this book by chance a couple of days before its publication, and had to buy it because a) I am a fan of Simon Avery’s wrI learned of the existence of this book by chance a couple of days before its publication, and had to buy it because a) I am a fan of Simon Avery’s writing (I loved The Teardrop Method in particular) and b) it’s a creepy novel about imaginary friends and a forgotten kids� TV show from the 70s. With themes like that, my worst enemy could have written this and I’d probably still buy it. PoppyHarp, though, has much more going for it than just its premise.
At a book signing, middle-aged writer Noah is reunited with his former girlfriend Imogen, also the erstwhile star of a children’s TV series created by her father, Oliver. In a parallel storyline, flashbacks follow Oliver as he develops The Adventures of Imogen and Florian, has a fleeting moment of fame and is drawn into a new, intoxicating way of life in London. As each strand progresses, we get to know these characters intimately, particularly in the case of Oliver. And we become aware that Oliver’s creations � the animal companions who starred alongside Imogen in his show � may be more than just puppets. On top of that is the mystery of the book’s title. What (or who) might ‘PoppyHarp� be?
When I reviewed Avery’s collection A Box Full of Darkness, I described it as ‘filled with both deep strangeness and profound humanity�. I could say the same of PoppyHarp. This is a book that packs in a huge amount � including fascinating context about British media, art and celebrity in the 1970s and 80s � but its connecting thread is an unwavering sense of hope. Then there’s the strangeness: this is a deliciously eerie story, and its climactic sequence, a surreal excursion into ‘Elsewhere�, is unforgettable.
Much like the characters, I was led down some surprising rabbit holes (put it this way: I did not expect one of my big takeaways from this book to be that I now really want to read Kenneth Williams� diaries.) PoppyHarp reminded me of Nina Allan’s The Dollmaker in its wonderfully digressive narration, its stories within stories, and its warmth. Avery is an excellent storyteller, and this is an unexpected and very welcome late addition to my ‘best books of the year� list. ...more
A sweet short story set in the world of JS&MN (though it resembles the stories in The Ladies of Grace Adieu more than the novel itself). Slight, bA sweet short story set in the world of JS&MN (though it resembles the stories in The Ladies of Grace Adieu more than the novel itself). Slight, but charming. Also gave me Over the Garden Wall vibes....more
I haven’t read any of the other books in Boyne’s ‘Elements� series, but I’d seen several comparisons between this and Alissa Nutting’s Tampa, so I hadI haven’t read any of the other books in Boyne’s ‘Elements� series, but I’d seen several comparisons between this and Alissa Nutting’s Tampa, so I had to check it out. The comparison is understandable, since both books centre on a female predator. But while Boyne’s writing is assured, Fire lacks the wit, irreverence and boldness Tampa has in spades. Freya is a beautiful, successful surgeon in her thirties who has a disturbing secret life. A second part of the narrative discloses a traumatic incident from her childhood, and Fire purports (if you believe the blurb) to ask: ‘Did what happened to Freya as a child one fateful summer influence the adult she would become � or was she always destined to be that person?� I’m not sure it really answers that, although maybe it’s meant to be a jumping-off point for discussions rather than an examination of trauma in and of itself.
I found this competently written and a brisk, tense read, though I don’t know that I got much out of it or thought it was doing much of anything really. It’s very short � more novella than novel � and the character development is the kind of sketch you get in a short story: it’s efficient but there’s little room for it to breathe. Maybe it’s more effective in the context of the others in this series, and I found Fire interesting enough that I’d still consider reading them....more
I’ve read two short story collections by Izumi Suzuki; the first of these, Terminal Boredom, was incredible, while the second, Hit Parade of Tears, seI’ve read two short story collections by Izumi Suzuki; the first of these, Terminal Boredom, was incredible, while the second, Hit Parade of Tears, seemed to drop off quite significantly in terms of quality. When Terminal Boredom was published, I could find very little information on the author � there wasn’t even an English-language Wikipedia page for her at the time � and I had no idea she’d also written novels. In fact, it turns out Suzuki was a more prolific writer than I’d initially assumed. This book, the first of her novels to be translated, follows a beautiful but unhappy young woman’s adventures in the Tokyo music scene of the 1970s. Towards the end, it takes a more serious turn when she (rather inexplicably) marries an unpleasant bully. From what I can gather, parts of this are pretty true to the author’s own life; accordingly, the protagonist here is named Izumi.
Set My Heart On Fire reminded me insistently, maybe even eerily, of Anna Kavan’s writing: its semi-autobiographical nature; the narrator’s detachment and ennui; the drugs; an abusive, loveless marriage. Kavan, too, is a writer whose oeuvre is a mixture of speculative and realist fiction. Even Izumi’s preference for musicians as romantic and sexual partners is reminiscent of the way Kavan portrays racing drivers in ‘World of Heroes�. Maybe it’s unfair to say this novel pales in comparison to Kavan’s Who Are You? or Julia and the Bazooka, but the thematic (and, sometimes, stylistic) similarities are so strong I couldn’t help comparing them. There are some really vivid, arresting moments in Set My Heart On Fire, and if you know the author’s life story, it’s difficult not to read a certain pathos into the ending. Yet it feels frustratingly uneven, with a dizzying amount of random sex in the first two-thirds followed by an abrupt drop into more gruelling subject matter when Izumi meets Jun. So far, I’ve found Suzuki’s realist fiction less successful than her sci-fi....more
This is the second library book I’ve borrowed in a row that has the phrase ‘female rage� in the blurb (after Spoilt Creatures) and perhaps I should haThis is the second library book I’ve borrowed in a row that has the phrase ‘female rage� in the blurb (after Spoilt Creatures) and perhaps I should have realised that one was enough. The Drownings is a frustrating book with a tendency for the narrative to over-explain itself rather than letting the characters� words and actions stand on their own. It’s strongest in its details. Serena’s youth swimming career is beautifully rendered, and I quickly started looking forward to the chapters that flesh it out. There’s also Serena’s uneasy relationship with her influencer cousin Zara; I enjoyed the balance here, the push and pull between the two. In both strands, there’s a lot of tension that’s lacking in what is supposed to be the book’s main plot, about a campus protest movement. While the characters feel authentic in smaller, more personal scenes, the broader themes are shallow and unconvincing. There’s a moment in this book when the ‘daughters of the witches you couldn’t burn� thing is mentioned and dismissed, presumably as an acknowledgement of how such slogans have come to be seen as trite and insufficient; but for me, such a glibly feminist storyline occupies exactly the same space....more
Neverland is a book about the author, poet Vanessa Kisuule’s, lifelong love for Michael Jackson, and her struggle to reckon with that love in the faceNeverland is a book about the author, poet Vanessa Kisuule’s, lifelong love for Michael Jackson, and her struggle to reckon with that love in the face of sexual abuse allegations against the artist. How can she measure these revelations against her relationship with the music and performances she has adored since childhood? The tone is meandering, gossipy and intimate; it often feels like Kisuule is working things out as she writes.
If there’s a problem with the book, it’s that the title (well, the subtitle) doesn’t really reflect the contents. If you challenged me to tell you something it has to say about ‘the pleasures and perils of fandom�, I might struggle to give you an answer. In a particularly effective section, the author grapples with the concept of seeing things from a perpetrator’s perspective � how difficult it is to consider ideas around prevention of, or even tolerance for, taboo desires. This is thoughtful and interesting, and it’s relevant to Kisuule’s reckoning with her admiration of Jackson, but it hasn’t, strictly speaking, got anything to do with fandom.
Neverland reminded me a lot of Kaitlyn Tiffany’s Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It. Both work well because their authors structure the book around an obsession of their own (in Tiffany’s case it’s a love of One Direction). Simultaneously, in both cases, this means the books veer away from their mission statements somewhat. You could apply some of Kisuule’s thinking to your own adoration of a ‘problematic� artist, but it isn’t really presented that way within the book: it’s all very specific to Kisuule and Jackson. As such, it’s not a book full of lightning-bolt moments that will stay with me, more a likeable, chatty, open-ended memoir....more
In Amy Twigg’s debut, Iris, a rudderless and almost unbelievably naive 32-year-old, finds her way to Breach House, a community of women. Here she fallIn Amy Twigg’s debut, Iris, a rudderless and almost unbelievably naive 32-year-old, finds her way to Breach House, a community of women. Here she falls under the spell of leader Blythe and into an infatuation with fellow member Hazel. But is this a place of refuge or a dangerous cult?
Twigg structures the book very effectively, especially in its first half. We occasionally flip forward to a later point (2018) in which Breach House has become notorious, even infamous. In itself, this device is old hat, but I felt its use here was a masterclass: I was, undeniably, compelled. Similarly, occasional flashbacks to Iris’s previous life with boring boyfriend Nathan are used sparingly to great effect. Like Hazel, we’re eager to know more about Iris, and like Iris, we’re eager to know more about Blythe; Twigg gives us just enough information to stay interested, yet not entirely satiated.
There’s something slightly out of date about the depiction of ‘female rage� here, and for a while I found it kind of embarrassing to read about, so childish in its simplicity; this is most obvious in the scene where the women literally throw rocks at a car carrying two men. I think maybe that’s the point, though? Although she’s in her thirties, Iris is childlike; her life up to the point of joining Breach House has been sheltered. When they’re together, the group regress, until it all devolves into Lord of the Flies-style chaos more appropriate for teenagers than adult women. Of course the motives are shallow � it’s because the motives are shallow that the climactic scene is so horrific.
As far-fetched as the story occasionally gets, I also found its explanations for how the group stays under the radar, and Iris anonymous as a member, clever and believable � often a sticking point for modern novels dealing with isolated cult-like communities (Rebecca Wait’s The Followers springs to mind).
I was drawn to Spoilt Creatures in the first place because of the premise’s vague similarity to Catherine Chanter’s The Well, and indeed, there are echoes of Chanter’s novel in Iris’s reverence for Hazel and the eventual fate of the commune. I’d also compare it to The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz and Supper Club by Lara Williams....more
I’m not a big ‘books by comedians� person, and may be an outlier in picking this up having not read any of Ayoade’s others, although I like him as an I’m not a big ‘books by comedians� person, and may be an outlier in picking this up having not read any of Ayoade’s others, although I like him as an actor and presenter. I just found the premise � Ayoade sets out to make a documentary about an enigmatic (fictitious) playwright � impossible to resist. It’s daft but well-written, wry rather than laugh-out-loud funny. I loved the format, which includes interviews, article excerpts and dialogue from Hughes� gnomic plays alongside a narrative of the documentary’s inevitable collapse into chaos. I had fun!...more
Journal entries tell the story of a tumultuous season in a mystery world. This chapbook weaves together strange events with backstories for each of itJournal entries tell the story of a tumultuous season in a mystery world. This chapbook weaves together strange events with backstories for each of its character, telling a lot of story in a small number of pages. Enjoyed the creative names for months (Meltwater, Stillwind, Amberlight)....more
A compelling introduction, a good pun for a title, and it does eventually pick up when we get some actual dirt on Twitter under Musk, but great swatheA compelling introduction, a good pun for a title, and it does eventually pick up when we get some actual dirt on Twitter under Musk, but great swathes of this are very dull. Thousands of words devoted to the buying and selling of shares, endless lists of who was or wasn’t in a meeting... I alternated between the ebook and audiobook, and the robotic narration certainly didn’t help. Also beggars belief that apparently nobody involved in writing, editing or publishing this book was capable of correctly understanding the phrase ‘the pit of [someone’s] stomach�....more
(3.5) This is Red Pill meets Girls Against God, by way of That Time of Year: a trippy fever dream of a novella about masochism, Hitchcock and haun(3.5) This is Red Pill meets Girls Against God, by way of That Time of Year: a trippy fever dream of a novella about masochism, Hitchcock and haunted cameras. Unable to complete a book he’s under contract to write, a man aimlessly wanders the German city of Tübingen, where his often-absent wife has secured a job and possibly also a lover. Left to his own devices, he obsessively returns to memories of an ex � an older, more powerful woman who exploited their connection � and begins to suspect a strange conspiracy: figures lurking in the shadows, enigmatic notes, screams in the night. Based on the title and the film references, I was hoping for a lost media story, which this is not. At times its dream-logic becomes impenetrable; thankfully Tyree has a knack for bringing the story back down to earth. I really enjoyed the evocative settings as well as all the details of the weird clues....more
I loved Newman’s Municipal Gothic so much that I bought and started reading this new collection immediately after finishing it. There’s definitelyI loved Newman’s Municipal Gothic so much that I bought and started reading this new collection immediately after finishing it. There’s definitely more of a folk horror flavour to Intervals of Darkness. Things rise up from the earth, or the sea: an ancient skull in ‘Poor Ned’s Head�, a pair of antlers in ‘The Horns in the Earth�. Echoes of history reverberate through ‘Second Homes� and ‘Tales from the Levels: ‘Remembrance’�; rural communities reject and/or terrorise outsiders in ‘Night of the Fox� and ‘Winter Wonderland�.
At the same time, the book continues and reinforces the political slant evident in Newman’s first collection. This is most apparent in two stories I can’t help but think of as a pair, ‘British Chemicals� and ‘Industrial Byproducts�. In ‘Chemicals�, company directors discuss a factory worker’s mysterious death; though they acknowledge a strange presence on the factory floor, they ultimately decline to award his family compensation, adding a final indignity to a lifetime of exploitation. Strange elements notwithstanding, ‘Byproducts� really feels like more of a realist, miserabilist story, in which a working-class couple struggle to maintain optimism in the face of the daily grind. The effects of decades of work manifest in unusual physical ways, but really the point is that these shining, beautiful people are ground down to nothing by the simple act of trying to survive.
I loved ‘The Horns in the Earth�, in which a cynical writer visits a series of council estates, hoping to find a topic for a book. He ends up being haunted (and somewhat oblivious about it) after digging a pair of antlers out of an old rubbish heap. ‘Winter Wonderland�, charting a doomed family outing to a Christmas theme park, is excellent, and so cinematic it feels like a ready-made basis for a film. I also enjoyed the Aickmanesque ‘Night of the Fox�, and ‘Competing Theories with Regards to the Origins of the Ghost of Totterdown Lock� with its multitude of voices.
Overall, I didn’t fall as hard for this book as I did for Municipal Gothic � maybe it wasn’t the best idea to read the books back-to-back, but I was just so excited to discover a new writer to add to my collection of favourites. Although I’d recommend Municipal Gothic first, Intervals of Darkness is well worth a look if you’re interested in modern British horror....more
First things first: I had no idea that Elizabeth Hand’s ‘Near Zennor� � literally my favourite short story of all time � would appear in this anthologFirst things first: I had no idea that Elizabeth Hand’s ‘Near Zennor� � literally my favourite short story of all time � would appear in this anthology. For anyone thinking of buying Bound in Blood, Hand’s story is an absolute masterpiece that is worth the price of the book on its own. I wrote about it in my review of her collection Errantry, and there’s not much I can add to that, but again: it’s a masterpiece.
Yet its inclusion means I find Bound in Blood more difficult to review, overall, than I might otherwise. For me, ‘Near Zennor� is such a standout it makes even the good stories here look mediocre by comparison. That’s not to say that it’s a bad collection, just your typical mixed bag. As with something like Darkness Beckons, I found this to be such a mixture of styles and subgenres of horror that I inevitably found myself skipping over some of the stories. As a result, I’m not sure I can assign a single rating to it.
With that said, Lucie McKnight Hardy’s ‘Broken Back Man� is excellent: a barman is spooked when a customer reminds him of childhood night terrors; it’s truly atmospheric and creepy. As a non-enjoyer of cosmic horror, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Charlie Higson’s ‘From the Sea�, an ingenious and funny reinvention of Lovecraft that reminded me of Lynne Truss’s Cat Out of Hell. Other highlights were A.G. Slatter’s enjoyably gothic ‘Bell, Book and Lamp�; Robert Shearman’s odd, original ‘Beneath the Diaphragm, the Gut Itself�; and Alison Moore’s ‘The House Witch�, a typical Moore combination of mundanity and the weird....more
I enjoyed If We Were Villains when I read it in 2017, but I’m puzzled by the reputation it’s acquired in the years since. It seems to be treated aI enjoyed If We Were Villains when I read it in 2017, but I’m puzzled by the reputation it’s acquired in the years since. It seems to be treated as one of the totemic campus novels, often spoken about as though it is equivalent to The Secret History rather than a pastiche of it (I always assumed it was a deliberate one � an homage in which Shakespeare takes the place of Classics). Rio’s second novel, then, arrives with a lot of expectation heaped on it. Can the author create a similarly compelling story outside an established and well-loved formula?
On the evidence of Graveyard Shift, I’m not convinced. It starts well enough, with five friends meeting at midnight in a churchyard that sits on a university campus, only to discover a mysterious open grave. Definitely academic, certainly dark. Too bad, the rest of it’s a damp squib. Despite being short, it’s devoid of tension or urgency, and the prose is riddled with cliches (‘like a dog with a bone, she refused to let the matter drop� is a typical sentence). The characters are a grab-bag of features with no real personality, and the ending is silly. This might have made a decent episode of a podcast or something but it doesn’t work as a book.
I received an advance review copy of Graveyard Shift from the publisher through ....more
(3.5) I haven’t read anything from PS Publishing for a while, and when I went to browse their recent releases, this � a new novella from the author of(3.5) I haven’t read anything from PS Publishing for a while, and when I went to browse their recent releases, this � a new novella from the author of The Ghost Sequences � caught my eye. Grackle follows master’s student Andi as she travels to the ‘famously haunted town� of Drakesburg on a research trip. With her sister reluctant to join in, she ends up with fellow student Emanuelle in tow. And it’s Emanuelle who tells her the story of Grackle, a piece of folklore she’s never heard before... and a story that, thereafter, seems to haunt her all over Drakesburg.
Grackle is not as good as the strongest stories in Sequences; for my money, ‘The Nag Bride� is a more successful treatment of some of the themes also found here (grief, family ties, folklore). I liked the investigation elements best, and would have preferred more clue-chasing, less abstract stuff. It has bags of atmosphere, though, and the kind of evocative description that makes it easy to imagine a film adaptation. ...more
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