Uncategorized
-
Stephen King loved Shaun Hamill’s splendid debut, “A Cosmology of Monsters,” and rightly so. That book was a challenging, sometimes frustrating ode to horror itself, and I loved it. And I loved this new book as well, which feels like a direct response to King himself, though he’s not the only influence you can see…
-
The bird was pecking at the glass again. Sunday afternoon, Linda put a fresh loaf of bread on the windowsill to dry. It was for breadcrumbs, which she’d freeze for the following weekend. Pete rolled his eyes at this latest escalation in the pursuit of the perfect, home-made Christmas dinner, but said nothing. She’d left…
-
Happy Thanksgiving, those who observe it. I’m Irish, so I don’t, but I like the sentiment, obviously. In the spirit of the giving part, here’s a story, though it may not follow the spirit as kindly as my sharing it is intended. And if you take the time to read it, then Thanks. Thankless To…
-
Happy Halloween, everyone. Here’s a little story for the night that’s in it. Winter Barley Sally hid in the barley field and tried to ignore her mother’s cries. She stared instead at the hungry mice as they shuffled back and forth near her feet; wanting to go round her, but fearing to as well. She…
-
Ramsey Campbell is a master of the kind of tangled, snaring horror that reminds us all we’re in a living trap that we can’t escape. In The Wise Friend, this is woven into a terrifying cat-and-mouse with half-seen horrors, in a sort of exploded Gothic landscape; a series of isolated, beautiful, but haunted locations replacing…
Damien Kelly 