Black Static

In Black Static #50 (out now, and hopefully hitting doormats by the end of the week if not sooner) I review six short story collections published by The Alchemy Press, but didn't comment on five of the stories as I had already reviewed them previously.

For the sake of completeness, I've decided to post my reviews of those stories as they originally appeared.

We start with three stories that appeared in Dead Water and Other Weird Tales by David A. Sutton.

From my Black Static #9 review of Subtle Edens, edited by Allen Ashley:-

Similarly David A. Sutton's 'Mind-Forged Manacles' would be perfectly at home in a science fiction setting. It's action takes place in the future, when a man responsible for moving on an enclave of 'squatters' finds himself attracted to one of them and questioning the job he is charged to perform. As far as that goes, it's a routine tale, but the gist of the story lies in the antipathy between different ways of life, on the one hand a love of nature and freedom, and on the other conformity and artificiality, the two blending to offer a moving story of love and alienation, of the things we are prepared to do to fit in. It's a dystopian piece really, but one in which cleverly the dystopia is always kept off stage.

From my Black Static #48 review of Shadows Over Innsmouth, edited by Stephen Jones:-

'Innsmouth Gold' by David A. Sutton makes for an engaging read, with its account of a man who goes seeking gold abandoned in the swampland around the deserted town, tying in the legends of the area effectively, but while entertaining enough in a pass the time sort of way the reason given for our hero's search seemed rather tenuous to me, a bit too much clutching at straws for plot convenience.

From my Black Static #39 review of The Tenth Black Book of Horror, edited by Charles Black:-

'The Pre-Raphaelite Painting' by David A. Sutton is a competently written piece about a cursed painting, told from the viewpoint of the friend of a man who develops an obsession with the model in the portrait, the story running along familiar lines, with some nice touches of detail and an engaging protagonist, but having little new to offer.

The next story appeared in Marion Pitman's collection Music in the Bone and Other Stories.

From my Black Static #31 review of Where Are We Going? edited by Allen Ashley:-

Marion Pitman's story 'Overnight Bus' tells of a woman obsessed with a cricketer and following him on a tour of South Africa, who has an unusual experience on her journey cross country. Again, with a real sense of place and feel for the alien setting, the narrative cleverly uses elements of the weird to force a moment of epiphany for the protagonist, throwing her own behaviour into context.

And our final missing story appeared in Evocations by James Brogden.

From my Black Static #46 review of Whispers From the Abyss, edited by Kat Rocha:-

Some humour from James Brogden with 'The Decorative Water Feature of Nameless Dread' which delights with its deadpan telling of a member of the general public phoning into Gardeners' Question Time for advice on dealing with the Deep One in his garden pond, the whole quintessentially British and unreservedly hilarious.

And if any of that has whetted your appetite, then click on the links below to learn more.

I hope to publish some more Alchemy Press related material on the Case Notes blog later in the month, so keep watching this space.