Cassie was suspended for an antisocial incident at school. Her penance is to read to the ailing proprietor of the town’s esoteric bookshop. When Mr Gussy warns her off a very particular book in his shop, she can’t resist cracking open the ‘dark tome’ – only to find herself whisked far away and long ago to where an Italian has found a staircase to hell…
Category Archive: Reviews
Welcome back to Spooktastic Bite-size Reads, where my 2022 challenge to read (some of) the amazing anthologies on my shelves embraces the darker side of fantasy. This week I’m completing my journey around This Dreaming Isle with uncanny tales inspired by British cities and coastline.
They have always walked among us. Some shift shape. Some drink blood. Some step freely between worlds to marvel at the kaleidoscope of lives lived differently. Now, some have chosen to show themselves to us. Others will stop at nothing to keep their secrets. But is humanity ready to live with monsters?
Welcome to Spooktastic Reads! I’m kicking off 13 days of celebrating the darker side of fantasy with a return to Bite-size Reads, my 2022 challenge to read (some of) the amazing anthologies on my shelves. Having trotted the globe with Chinese SF and African horror, for Spooktastic Reads I’m staying on home shores with some uncanny British tales.
Smuggler and linguist Sean Wren is on a mission he couldn’t refuse: to retrieve a long-lost scientific secret from an ancient ship orbiting a dying star. At least, that was the plan. Instead, enemies must ally as hunters become hunted aboard the deadly spaceship – but when the prize is immortality, treachery is the only possible outcome…
Nearly 400 years ago, Roundheads fled a skirmish for the dubious sanctuary of Moresby Forest, long steeped in terrifying legend. Only two survived, spinning wild tales of the devil in the wood. Now, a well-equipped team of scientists are going to trace the squad’s footsteps in search of the truth. But what will they find?
Welcome back to Bite-size Reads, where it’s my final round-up of the dark and haunting tales of African Monsters, edited by Margrét Helgadóttir and Jo Thomas.
When her dying mother summons her after years of estrangement, Vera reluctantly returns to the house her father built. The house where it all happened. A house as haunted as Vera herself…
Welcome back to Bite-size Reads, where I’m currently enjoying tales collected by Margrét Helgadóttir and Jo Thomas. It’s time to be haunted and horrified by some more African Monsters…
Welcome back to Bite-size Reads, my 2022 challenge to read (some of) the amazing anthologies on my shelves. It’s been a long while since Sinopticon, and today I’m on the trail of African Monsters – the second volume of the globe-trotting Fox Spirit Book of Monsters.
Sig is a loner even by the standards of the remote island community she lives on the margins of. Haunted by guilt, she has cut herself off from friends and family. But when an older, darker sin is uncovered by an ignorant visitor, Sig must decide whether she is truly ready to turn her back on her world.
An arrogant foreigner funds an expedition north – or perhaps south – or maybe out – to find a mysterious Edifice that appears on no charts. As questions gather about what happened to the first ship to find it, the expedition’s doctor begins to recall events his crewmates assure him haven’t happened…
I read the SF shortlist for this year’s Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards, but have been so slow off the blocks in writing about any of them that we’ve picked our finalists before I got round to sharing my thoughts on this always-intriguing category. Better late than never? I hope so.
When Sol disappears after what may be a bioterrorist attack, their spouse Lumi searches for them across Mars and beyond. As she starts to examine their past in a new light, she begins to realise how many secrets they have kept from one another over the years.
For some couples, holidays are a relaxing break by the beach with a book. For others, it’s political intrigue and murder all the way down – although Asmodeus did bring a book, just in case…
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