Category: Reviews

Review: ‘Dangerous Dimensions: Mind-bending Tales of the Mathematical Weird’ ed. Henry Bartholomew

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This review first appeared in Horrified magazine.   I’ve no head for mathematics, but the premise of this anthology – the latest in the British Library’s Tales of the Weird series – had me excited. I looked forward to having my brain twisted into new and strange configurations by tales of unearthly geometry and sinister equations, … Continue reading Review: ‘Dangerous Dimensions: Mind-bending Tales of the Mathematical Weird’ ed. Henry Bartholomew

Review: ‘Home & Other Stories’ by P.J. Blakey-Novis

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This review first appeared in Horrified magazine This mini-collection appears to be a sampler for a series of four Elements of Horror collections by Blakey-Novis, and each of the eight short tales within is associated with a particular element. Home shows great promise, and Blakey-Novis writes well, but several of the stories don’t quite deliver … Continue reading Review: ‘Home & Other Stories’ by P.J. Blakey-Novis

Review: ‘The Children God Forgot’ by Graham Masterton

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This review originally appeared in Horrified, February 2021. Graham Masterton needs little introduction to British horror fans. Although never attaining the high profile of the late James Herbert, or the notoriety of Shaun Hutson – with both of whom his work shares a level of gore – he has a similarly impressively backlist. Managing to … Continue reading Review: ‘The Children God Forgot’ by Graham Masterton

‘Clive Barker’s Dark Worlds’

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Oh, this is luscious. Produced by Phil and Sarah Stokes, the forces behind Clive Barker's official website, this huge book (350+ pages) is copiously illustrated with cover artwork, behind-the-scenes photos from the likes of Hellraiser and Nightbreed, rare promo materials and Barker's own sketches and paintings. For those Barker fans who already own Stephen Jones's … Continue reading ‘Clive Barker’s Dark Worlds’

Zine review: ‘Hellebore – The Unveiling issue’

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"The veil between the worlds is thinning." Whether Hellebore editor Maria J Perez Cuervo is referring to Samhain specifically, or knows something we don't, I'm not sure. But I do know that there's no more appropriate time of year to consider the barrier between this world and others. Issue 8's tutelary spirit is William Blake … Continue reading Zine review: ‘Hellebore – The Unveiling issue’

Review: “Mandrake Petals and Scattered Feathers” by David Greygoose

Mandrake Petals and Scattered Feathers cover
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Any author who comes with recommendations from Donovan, Alan Moore, and Ben Graham (author of Amorphous Albion, an Illuminatus! Trilogy for the 21st Century) must be worth checking out. And so it proves. Mandrake Petals and Scattered Feathers is unlike anything I've read for some time. The closest comparisons I can think of are the … Continue reading Review: “Mandrake Petals and Scattered Feathers” by David Greygoose

“Only the Broken Remain” by Dan Coxon

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Regular readers will know the name of Dan Coxon, whether as editor of the excellent Tales from the Shadow Booth series and This Dreaming Isle anthology, or as author of the delightfully dark micro-collection Green Fingers. Only the Broken Remain is his first full-length collection of horror shorts, and it's full of good stuff. Some … Continue reading “Only the Broken Remain” by Dan Coxon

Zine review: ‘Weird Walk’ #4

Weird Walk issue four
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The short review: best issue yet of Weird Walk. Buy it now. The longer review: Outwardly, nothing has changed. Weird Walk still has the same neat 48-page A5 format as ever, printed as before on high-quality paper. The design and typography are unchanged, as are the grainy photos of megalithic sites. But the contents have … Continue reading Zine review: ‘Weird Walk’ #4

Horror Rewind #6 – ‘The Cleanup’ by John Skipp & Craig Spector (1987)

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'Splatterpunk' was a short-lived tag applied to a generation of younger horror writers who appeared in the mid-80s and took the levels of explicit gore pioneered in the late 70s to new levels. John Skipp and Craig Spector were twenty-something US horror authors at the forefront of the movement. In an interview with them in … Continue reading Horror Rewind #6 – ‘The Cleanup’ by John Skipp & Craig Spector (1987)