Supernatural Tales

   The latest edition of Nightmare Abbey is as strong as its predecessors, which is heartening. Editor Tom English continues to attract first-rate talent. Many of the writers in this, the eighth issue, will be familiar to ST readers. But before I pick out a few highlights of the fiction, let me mention how solid and entertaining the non-fiction is. There’s an excellent overview of that classic The Black Cat by John Llewellyn Probert, an interview with Ghostwatch and Gothic writer Stephen Volk, and John V. Navroth continues his aborbing history of US horror comics. ‘A Legend of the Ile de St Anselm’ by Steve Duffy is, as we’ve come to expect, a slow-burn tale of weirdness that lingers in the mind. The setting is a frequently fog-bound isle off the French coast, reached by a tidal causeway. A retired psychiatrist is approached by a man with an unusual problem, and the doctor agrees to take the case. The story this special patient tells is one of strange dreams and stranger r...

Christopher Harman's work has been appearing in ST for quite a while. This new collection of nine stories contains three that I had the pleasure of getting first dibs on. Those tales - 'Cold Air from the East', 'The Abbey Hoard', and 'Black Water' - are all excellent, I need hardly add. Rereading them confirms how well Harman builds his tales. He is, to coin a phrase, an architectural writer, creating a strange edifice that we can explore and inhabit for a while. And yet he is also a writer of the great outdoors with a very British love of the countryside, the coast, the long hike in the rain.  Cover by Paul Lowe for 'Wet Jenny' Harman is arguably a folk horror writer, at least for some of the time. 'Wet Jenny' is certainly in that category, with its variation on the regional bogeyperson that is Jenny Greenteeth. 'Cold Air...' is a remarkable take on a Russian folk tale. And 'A True Yorkshireman' is a wry, somewhat hallucinat...

I received a paperback review copy of this debut collection because several of the stories first appeared in ST. And I'm proud of that fact. I seldom talk about why I accept or reject stories because in the end it's all personal taste, instinct, 'vibes'. With Tim Foley I knew there was something good here - I enjoyed his work and felt good about putting it in front of my (admittedly tiny) readership. Let us dive in... The subtitle is A Collection of Stories of the Uncanny . Not horror, though horror is to be found here. Not ghost stories, though most of these tales qualify. The uncanny is the key ingredient, the mortar that binds together every story. Fans of old-school pulp fiction will enjoy this book, as will ghost story aficionados. More importantly, anyone who appreciates well-crafted short fiction will find plenty to savor and admire. Foley's world is a realm of abandoned buildings, shabby apartments, ageing hotels, second-hand cars. Above all, it's a wor...