Where Shadows Gather - Review

Another excellent cover by Paul Lowe

The very first issue of Supernatural Tales featured a story by Michael Chislett. Since then nary a year has gone by without at least one more tale from him. He's a remarkable author, but one who is not easy to categorise.

The fact that he has been published many times in Ghosts & Scholars proves that he often works in the M.R. James tradition. In this volume 'Th Whistle Thing' confirms his love of and technical proficiency in this sub-genre. Yet his stories are not always tales of ghosts, as such.

By the same token, he is not a horror writer, but his work can offer deeply horrific scenes. He is, however, unquestionably a London author, and his work - while not always set in what was once known as the Smoke - has a sensibility that, like London, is both cosmopolitan and very specific.

Which brings us to this new-ish collection from Sarob Press. Here are a baker's dozen stories, five previously unpublished, that provide an excellent showcase for Chislett's talent. Most are, of course, familiar to your humble reviewer. Of those first published in ST, I was pleased to see so many excellent stories finally between hard covers. These five tales pretty much range of all of Mike Chislett's areas of interest.



'Only the Dead Know Deptford' sees Thea making her way home through a dense London fog, receiving odd text messages along the way. 'The Subliminals' is set in the brash, glass-fronted new London (not so new now, admittedly) of the Docklands development, where darkness and light both threaten strange intrusions. The eponymous 'Redriff' is a man who gets too deeply involved in arcane matters, and meets a strange (and somewhat slimy) fate. 'The Coast Guard' is one of the stories inspired by trips abroad,  with its German coastal setting, and also features one of the author's recurring characters, the red-haired Fraukie, with her fox-like character. The earliest story of all, 'Those That Come From the Air', sees a typical Chislett amateur scholar exploring an enchanted, dangerous location - Mabbs Hill,

Of the other previously published tales, 'Mara' is a solid and appealing vampire tale, and 'Endor' is a fine Decadent tale inspired by the life and work of Hans Heinz Ewers. These stories and several others demonstrate the author's versatility, not to mention his sense of the erotic and disturbing.

The five new tales all stand up well alongside earlier work. 'Downriver' takes us back to the Thames, and a couple who fall victim to a strange spell. 'In the Garden' is the story of Tom, a rather lonely soul who is 'let go' by his employer after his wife leaves him, and who at first finds solace amid flowers. But will the denizens of the garden embrace him for good or ill?

'The Extras' returns to a familiar Chislett obsession,  as a photographer discovers entities that resemble Fritz Leiber's dangerous paramentals. 'The Raggy Girl' is a more traditional ghost (albeit one with a memorable way of making her presence felt) the supposed victim of a hideous crime who haunts a run-down block of flats. The last story, 'The Snow Queen', offers a re-imagining of the fairy tale, with its white-blonde temptress in a fur coat disturbing the world of two familiar characters, Fletcher and Mathews.

This is a fine collection, showcasing some of the best Mike Chislett stories. I can recommends it to anyone who likes their fiction weird, their imagery strange, and their characters' memorable.