WHEN GRAVEYARDS YAWN
Edited by Sean Wright
Reviewed by Mario Guslandi
They say short story anthologies are mixed bags and that's mostly true. The present volume, indeed, is no exception.
Conceived as a homage to the famous August Derleth's collection of the same title, When Graveyards Yawn features sixteen tales from Australia, Canada, UK and the USA where modern masters of the genre as well as emerging authors are exploring the boundary between life and death, that nowhere land where ghosts and other nameless creatures lurk.
The results, inevitably, are uneven. Herein you will find truly great stories as well as run-of-the mill material to be forgotten as soon as you close the book. But that's life; one cannot expect masterpieces at every corner.
So allow me to grade the tales in three categories, according to my own taste as a genre faithful reader.
There are three real standouts which represent the highlights of the anthology.
Hollow Heart by James Cooper is a powerful, moving tale about lost love where horror and pity are blended in a masterful way; Geoff Maloney's Confessions of Imray displays top notch storytelling, gripping the reader's attention from the very first sentences. The story revolves around a man seeking treatment in a private hospital who's haunted by a BMW belonging to his former lover; David A Sutton contributes Zulu's War, a marvellously bitter piece depicting the cruelty of war and how a soldier has to pay his dues to the young mother he murdered in cold blood.
Then there's a group of good stories, such as Gary Fry's School of Fought , a grim, atmospheric tale taking place in a private school and featuring a stern headmaster and a deranged, but vengeful pupil, or Peter Tennant's La Ronde a malignant but enjoyable story about how the summoning of an evil spirit triggers a chain of inexplicable murders.
Other good ones are Poe Pourri by Gary Mc Mahon, a pleasant "scherzo" where Poe's skull interferes between an unscrupulous curio dealer and his voluptuous lover, Hoody by David Riley, a dark tale of urban horror set in a menacing London where a hooded serial killer is at large and Sean Wright's own Journey's End, a surreal piece where the fortunes of a couple of lovers keep going full circle.
John L Probert's The Comeback Kid is a smart quickie pushing the idea of reincarnation to the farthest limit while Ken Alden's Resting Place is a humorous vignette about the inconveniences of afterlife.
On the other hand I failed to be impressed by Michelle Ponto's The Soul Hunter, a story of supernatural revenge, Lisa DuMond's Born to Run, describing the encounter between an albino woman and a pitiless vampire, and Paul Jessup's Happiness of Pinned Wings where the zombies meet the time machine. Likewise, I was disappointed by both Spectre at the Feast by Jeff Gardiner, a boring tale describing a family's dissolution in a haunted house and Kagan Bang by David Murdoch, a confused piece set in the music business, written in a very “casual” style.
All in all, however, a good anthology where a few misfires do not spoil the quality of the fiction offered by the majority of the contributing writers and a few gems will remain in your memory for a long time.
When Graveyards Yawn, edited by Sean Wright. Tpb, 196pp, £10. Published by Crowswing Books and available from the publisher, Amazon and in the US from Shocklines
Website: - www.crowswingbooks.co.uk