More October bookerations today, dear listener. A quick note on a new novel by Willie Meikle, a guest review of a themed anthology, Welcome to the Show, complied by Matt Hayward and edited by Doug Murano, and a mention of another anthology on the wind from Planet X Publications – which also concerns a show, the classic US carnival.

Right, there are always far more interesting books than we can cover. So in addition to our usual wittering, articles and oddities, we’re going to include more guest reviews. We’ll still be doing our own thing, poking our cold wet noses into other people’s work and exploring, of course. We’re going for this approach because one of the biggest problems for small and independent presses (and their authors) is getting their works noticed at all.

The guest reviews will be clearly marked and attributed, just in case you get confused. Any opinions expressed in those sections belong to the reviewers, not us – our tastes are a bit peculiar, and we’ll make our own recommendations as we bumble along. This might also leave us more time to go back to lurchers and classic weird things!

What we ourselves are reading, by the way – about fifteen books at once, but Tade Thompson’s recent novel Rosewater is absolutely cracking and it looks like we’ll be recommending that one highly. First speculative novel we’ve read recently that was also a complete page-turner.

We’re also interested in Haunted are These Houses (from Unnerving), short stories and poetry with Gemma Files and others; Trade Yer Coffin for a Gun by Mer Whinery (from Muzzleland), Entranced by Eyes of Evil, edited by Tim Prasil (Brom Bones Books) and many more. We will try to report back.

The Green and the Black

Firstly, released this week we find Willie Meikle’s latest novel The Green and the Black, published by Crossroad Press.

“A small group of industrial archaeologists head into the centre of Newfoundland, investigating a rumour of a lost prospecting team of Irish miners in the late Nineteenth century. They find the remains of a mining operation, and a journal and papers detailing the extent of the miners’ activities. But there is something else on the site, something older than the miners, as old as the rock itself.

“Soon the archaeologists are coming under assault, from a strange infection that spreads like wildfire through mind and body, one that doctors seem powerless to define let alone control. The survivors only have one option. They must return to the mine, and face what waits for them, down in the deep dark places, where the green meets the black.”

William Meikle at his best, delivering strong, deftly-written prose entwined with a highly imaginative and richly-detailed mythological plot. It digs out the most disturbing elements of local folklore and legend and then uses them as a framework for a powerful, atmospheric and slow-burning piece of horror fiction that is often almost unbearably tense. – The Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviewer

Amazon UK http://amzn.eu/d/6lyubaj

Amazon US http://a.co/d/03LgERv

And now we have writer/editor Duane Pesice on a new anthology from Crystal Lake Publishing, Welcome to the Show…

WELCOME TO THE SHOW

Reviewed by Duane Pesice

Here’s the pitch:

“We all know the old cliché: Sex, drugs and rock and roll. Now, add demons, other dimensions, monsters, revenge, human sacrifice, and a dash of the truly inexplicable. This is the story of the (fictional) San Francisco music venue, The Shantyman.

“In Welcome to the Show, seventeen of today’s hottest writers of horror and dark fiction come together in devilish harmony to trace The Shantyman’s history from its disturbing birth through its apocalyptic encore.”

Table of Contents:

Alan M Clark – What Sort of Rube
Jonathan Janz – Night and Day and in Between
John Skipp – In the Winter of No Love
Patrick Lacey – Wolf with Diamond Eyes
Bryan Smith – Pilgrimage
Rachel Autumn Deering – A Tongue like Fire
Glenn Rolfe – Master of Beyond
Matt Hayward – Dark Stage
Kelli Owen – Open Mic Night
Matt Serafini – Beat on the Past
Max Booth III – True Starmen
Somer Canon – Just to be Seen
Jeff Strand – Parody
Robert Ford – Ascending
Adam Cesare – The Southern Thing
Brian Keene – Running Free
Mary SanGiovanni – We Sang in Darkness

The Shantyman’s beginning isn’t really chronicled – it’s a going concern in even the oldest (chronologically-speaking) stories, such as Alan Clark’s excellent show-opener, which also treats with the associations of the venue’s name.

And it fades away rather than rusting…but that’s just a sales blurb.

This is a pro anthology, make no mistake about that. One quick glance at the ToC confirms that these are some of the best-regarded, most popular writers on the scene.

Each story is carefully-plotted, well-characterized. The gears turn when asked, and the overall impression is one of technical competence.

The strongest stories are at the front and the rear, with the middle, which mostly consists of random devil/demon stories, sagging somewhat. That section may not sag for every reader. Random violent demons are a proven market driver. For me, that’s the easy way out, as cheerless a prospect as seeing romantic vampires or viral zombies.

I like specific demons. Paimon is one thing, Pazuzu another. Take the time to research and develop your devils, I say. Out-Blish Blish if you can. Blatty took the time.

Some standouts – Clark’s story, Max Booth III’s piece, Mary Sangiovanni’s tale. Those are more imaginative and move to different music.

In the bulk of the tales here, The Shantyman stands in for the Fillmore West or a reasonable facsimile. It seems natural, given the premise. But, given the quality of the pen-wielders here, I wanted more. Perhaps some insight into the mind of a bandmember, by someone who knows the music biz. Maybe some instrument-talk, something to add verisimilitude, to demonstrate some love for the idea.

I’d have loved to see a haunted venue. A couple of the pieces flirt with the idea, but shy away in favor of outre ideas. Two have actual ghosts, and they’re pretty satisfying.

Kelli Owens’ Open Mic Night has some neat ideas along the ghostly track, and Adam Cesare’s The Southern Thing unrolls nicely, to choose a couple more stories that made me nod or smile.

Mind you, there are no BAD stories here. Even the least tale has redeeming qualities. The floor is very high, but the ceilings aren’t raised.

I’ll give it three and a half stars, and recommend that you read it and form your own opinion.

Universal Link: http://getbook.at/TheShantyman

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40725438-welcome-to-the-show

Duane Pesice is currently editing the anthologies Test Patterns 2: Creature Features, and Caravans Awry, from Planet X. Being jolly transparent, poor greydog will have stories in these, but we nabbed Duane to review simply because he offered and we were short of time. You can be reassured that even our nepotism and corruption are done in a rambling and confused manner.

Caravans Awry

An anthology of sixties carnival stories along Route 66

Due out October/November 2018 from Planet X.

When the clowns turn away, you know not to look. They are our hyenas, ready with their grinding jaws and their maniacal amusement at the world’s pain. If they cannot face what comes, you do not want to even glimpse it. I do not want to glimpse it.

But I did. Something came to the carnival that night, and I looked.

***

I don’t have a name for the outfit that owns me. We are Mr Maelstrom’s Fun Palace, and the Leman Brothers’ Travelling Show. Or White’s Circus, in a gentle season when the leaves have no edges, and children smile. We were Rousch’s Carnival a few years ago. I don’t remember further back.

I do remember an early autumn in the mid-sixties, and the abandoned gas station that we found. ‘Eddie’s Gas’, an imaginative name. The Twinkies in the vending machine were stale, specked with gray when we opened them, but everyone was hungry, and there were crates of flat cherry soda around the back. These was no sign of what had happened to Eddie, but what did we care?

The place had a septic tank into which we could drain the wagons, and under the cracked concrete apron there was still fuel in the underground tank. Jackie Knife found it, fooling around with one of the two rusty pumps and spraying herself in the process. Reynard the fire-eater closed in on her when he smelled the octane, but the clowns growled him back.

We’d put on five shows in a row across three towns. Wheels churned and axles creaked as we drove from one dead-eyed, God-fearing place to another, playing to half-crowds only. Weatherford and Clinton had paid, but not in cash. This was a land of preachers, who would stand outside the general store and denounce the carnival before it was dust on the horizon.

Sometimes that helped, the thrill of the forbidden, but mostly it made parents send their kids to their rooms, and teenagers hang around the edge of the fairground, hesitant. A good minister could smell us on the wind.

Wires – John Linwood Grant, for Caravans Awry

You can support Caravans Awry here by pledging/reserving a copy here:

https://www.gofundme.com/caravans-awry

OCTOBER FRIGHTS BLOG HOP

Once again we’re part of this fun tour – sixteen horror-y writers this year, sharing posts, offering neat stuff and so on. Do have a look round, and we’ll have some more books news and guest posts on here over the next week.

http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=797504