Ed. Bob Furnell, Robert Mammone and Jez Strickley
Pencil Tip Publishing is one of the
newer small presses, and while it is so far known best for TV tie-in
works, it is already expanding in a new direction: original horror
fiction.
Grave Warnings is
a compact, evocative book of horror stories, with five authors
penning short, punchy tales of terror. Although the title and cover
to the book would suggest that this is a collection of ghost stories,
it's more varied than that. Although ghost stories do feature, the
five tales cover an impressive array of styles and genres between
them. If there is one thing that links the stories, it is that the
true horror is often not at the hand of something supernatural, but
is very human in origin.
The
collection opens with “Deceased Estate” by Sarah Parry, a very
effective story that sets the grim tone for the book. Parry cleverly
shifts the storytelling from light and conversational to desperate
and horrific, creating a chilling tale with a hint of a modern
Lovecraftian vibe. In spite of the inhuman monstrosities it hints at,
“Deceased Estate” is a warning on the perils of unchecked greed.
The
theme of avarice continues with Craig Charlesworth's “The Dumb
Show,” the most traditional ghost story in the collection. A fun
pastiche of Victorian-era short stories, Charlesworth's story is a
penny dreadful that sees money-hungry men try to use a haunting to
their own financial advantage, even as one tries, or claims to try,
to turn over a new leaf. The biting final scene proves that it is the
living that present the most to fear.
“The
Specimen” by Jodie van de Wetering is a brief interlude between the
heavier stories, and introduces a man whose unwholesome pastime
leads to his becoming truly lost to nature. It's the shortest but
most immediately potent story, simply and effectively told.
Hannah
G. Parry presents “The Citizen,” an unassuming title for a
disquieting and powerful story. Although it is a ghost story, “The
Citizen” inverts the usual conception of a haunting in order to
make her protagonist question his choices. It's an unsettling tale of
cowardice and brutality, emotions so easily entwined, set against the
very real, very human horror of revolutionary France, when Paris was,
not for nothing, known as the Land of Fear. This story is my personal
highlight of the book.
Finally,
“Vacancy” by Hamish Crawford brings us back to seemingly ordinary
life, with a story that makes us question the protagonist's sanity as
he relates the story of how his life changed when he took in a new
lodger. With only a hint at something supernatural, “Vacancy”
draws on some of the same concerns as “The Citizen”: that we, as
men, can commit acts we never thought we were capable of.
Grave Warnings is
a a pleasantly unsettling set of stories, and I look forward to more.
Purchase as copy here.
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