We can’t feel our fingers. It’s cold. If we take Django and Chilli out with gloves on, we mix up the leads, can’t bag the poo properly, and generally fumble across the wasteland, dropping things. So instead of a long piece on dubious literary connections, here’s brief mention of a few new and recent books – genuine weird from Jon Padgett, historical scares from Amanda DeWees, apocalyptic adventure from Willie Meikle, and some fantasy…
A Scot goes Fungal
Above all, Willie Meikle is a storyteller. It’s an old skill and an important one, which gets forgotten in the rush to dazzle and stand out, to be literary and liminal and all that sort of stuff. And he can deliver some strange and disquieting stuff, don’t get us wrong, but at heart you get a skillfully woven adventure. The sort that satisfies, which is something surprisingly few can achieve. His latest, Fungoid, is such a thing. Like greydog, Willie has a Life Sciences background, and brings that to the table as well.
“When the end came, it wasn’t zombies, asteroids, global warming or nuclear winter. It was something that escaped from a lab. Something small, and very hungry. It starts with deadly rain that delivers death where it falls, but soon the whole planet is under threat as the infection spreads, consuming everything before it. A band of survivors on the Eastern coast of Canada watch as their world falls and crumbles to ruin…”
Some days you fry the fungus; some days the fungus fries you.
Our friends at Ginger Nuts of Horror pretty much encapsulate Fungoid in their review, thus saving us further typing with these frozen digits:
“Fungoid is a fast paced ecohorror thriller that delivers on all fronts. The large cast of characters combined with Meikle’s tight plotting and a keen eye for dialogue bring a real cinematic feel to the narrative. By focusing more on the fast based plot rather than getting bogged down by over characterisation Meikle has created a real page-turner.”
You can read the full piece here:
Or simply buy Fungoid.
Willie has also contributed to the new urban fantasy series The Veil Knights, which is written by a number of talented authors under the name of Rowan Casey. They’re up to Book Four, The Questing Beast, which came out this month.
Our Editor-in-Chief, who reads far more fantasy than we do, had a go at Book Two, Hound of Night, and gave her potted opinion:
“A very satisfying read. Music, monsters and magic…. John Seton is a great modern hero in a tale of ancient themes and magics. As with any good story, this one is full of greed, rage and betrayal, friends you can trust and some you can’t. His quest takes him through modern cityscapes and weird enchanted lands, where the action never lets up. The bad guys are baaad, the monsters are scary and the relics are never quite you expect.”
A Gothic Girl Thrills Us
With our love of the classic Gothic writers, our interest in period supernatural fiction and its ilk, it’s hard not to like what Amanda DeWees is doing. Amanda’s books of historical romantic suspense include With This Curse, winner of the 2015 Daphne du Maurier Award for excellence in historical mystery/suspense, and the acclaimed historical gothic romance Sea of Secrets, winner of the 2012 RONE award in mystery.
We’ve already briefly mentioned her Sybil Ingram ‘Victorian Mystery’ tales, which are both historical and supernatural – these include the novels Nocturne for a Widow and The Last Serenade, plus an excellent spooky tale in Issue One of Occult Detective Quarterly. This month sees an addition to her range with a new series of supernatural novellas, beginning with As Vital as Blood:
“Miss Michael Cargrave is desperate when the death of her bookseller father leaves her in a dire financial state. When she finds a letter from a mysterious foreign aristocrat, Baron Dalca, requesting that her father come work for him, she decides to risk everything by traveling to the Carpathian Mountains and claiming the position herself.
“Her audacity wins over Baron Dalca. But as rumors of vampire attacks reach her ears, and as she daily grows more fascinated by the enigmatic baron, she begins to dream of a strange predator that visits her at night.”
Amanda is not only a great writer, she’s also somewhat of an expert on period supernatural literature and on vampires, so you know that you’re going to get something good.
You can also get hold of the much sought after Issue One of Occult Detective Quarterly with Amanda’s tale ‘When Soft Voice Die’ here:
A Dark Puppet Pulls Our Strings
Our other main pick of the week is quite different. You know that phrase ‘Every once in a while, we discover a new author who stands out…”. As far as Jon Padgett is concerned, we have discovered a new author who just makes us wonder why we bother to write some days.
His book The Secret of Ventriloquism is not one easy to describe. It’s weird literature, yes, a series of stories which stand alone and yet are interlinked, reminiscent in some ways of Matthew M Bartlettt’s excellent Creeping Waves. Which doesn’t mean it’s the same at all, but they share a deft handling of style, sense of place and sheer creepiness.
With a genuine background in ventriloquism, Jon explores reality and illusion in ways which are subtle and brutal. Characters find themselves acting as both puppets and puppeteers, but rarely in the ways you expect.
What strikes us most is the directness of the prose. Some weird fiction tries too hard. Rather than obfuscate with an excess of verbiage and cleverness, The Secret of Ventriloquism is a touch like Thomas Ligotti stripped down and made accessible to all. Connection with characters is immediate, through voices which evoke anxiety and bewilderment at an increasingly incomprehensible world. To balance that, there are recurring motifs which do give clues and link the stories together nicely. Not that ‘nice’ is really an appropriate word here.
An alternative comment: ‘We devoured it in one sitting, and loved it.’
the secret of ventriloquism – amazon uk
the secret of ventriloquism – amazon us
The above should provide you with something for any taste. Before we go, here are a couple of campaigns running at the moment, in case you’re feeling generous or exploratory.
Michael Adams, a jolly decent sort of chap from what we’ve seen, is seeking support for a new anthology, Test Patterns, which will be:
“…A collection of short speculative fictions written with classic television shows such as The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, and The Night Gallery, in mind. These will be the dreams and nightmares one finds themselves waking from after watching that eerie midnight movie, only to find themselves bathed in the gray glow of the test pattern on the TV screen. A collection of richly varied stories which might impart a moral, inspire thought, offer meaning, inspire hope, or instill dread. Tales told in unique ways, employing provocative twists and surprises, and exploring the universal themes of humanity and self-discovery through the lenses of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.”
You can find out more here:
And British digital artist/writer Russell Smeaton is looking to take his work further with a series of stylish postcards on his strange Sad Diver theme.
He’s not after a lot, and you can get a bargain deal on ten Sad Diver designs, so you can go explore his artwork here:
That’s it. These fingers need a hot-water bottle, or a warm lurcher tummy, or something along those lines. Back in a couple of days, dear listener, and don’t forget to subscribe (top left) if you want to be warned…