Angela Slatter

I ended up DNFing this at about 60%, which is rare for me with a book this short, but the story never fully came together.

The novel seems to aim for a Gothic atmosphere—an ancestral house, family history, hints of witch trials, and a mysterious husband—but those elements felt more like decoration than the driving force of the story. The tone is very breezy and conversational, which made it difficult for the darker themes to land with any real weight.

The central mystery also felt easy to show more see through very early on. The story treats several revelations as surprises, but the clues are fairly obvious, so much of the tension disappears long before the narrative reaches those moments.

What ultimately pulled me out of the book was the internal logic around Nick and the family’s finances. If he was independently wealthy from his own trading, it’s difficult to understand why his wife and child were living paycheck to paycheck without even a simple explanation for the money. That kind of decision would need a strong narrative reason, and the story never seemed to provide one.

By the halfway point the plot felt closer to a domestic “husband with secrets” story than a true Gothic novel, and I found myself questioning the setup rather than becoming more immersed in it. Since I was no longer invested in either the mystery or the characters, I decided to stop reading. show less

'All The Mumurung Bones' is a beautifully written tale told from the perspective of Mirin O'Malley, a young woman finding and claiming her place in a world that wants only to use her as currency to pay an ancient debt and breeding stock to preserve a bloodline. It draws on Celtic myths and aspects of fairytales but, at its heart, it's a story driven by a pragmatic understanding of the nature of power and the price to be paid for it. Triumph here won't come from a Fairy Godmother waving a show more wand or a handsome prince riding to the rescue but by from the strength of Marin's will and the sharpness of her wits.

Like many of Angela Slatter's stories, 'All The Murmuring Bones' is set in the Sourdough Universe that I first encountered in her wonderful novella, 'Of Sorrow And Such' about how women survive in a misogynistic world. I quickly found myself immersed in this richly imagined world yet it wasn't the world that fascinated me but Mirin. She's young, isolated and in mourning for the death of the grandfather who raised her. What shone through was her self-awareness, her pragmatism and her deep yearning for more in life than her grandmother believes she is destined to have. I was, of course, immediately completely on her side in her struggle not to live down to her grandmother's expectations.

'All The Murmuring Bones' is a richly textured story that's carried as much by Mirin's character as it is by the twisty plot and the gothic environment. Although the Sourdough Universe is not our world but one sown with magic and popluated with strange things, the people in it feel real in terms of how they hate, how they love and what they long for. A strong theme in the book is how dynastic stories shape the lusts and twist the lives of each generation, trapping rather than freeing them, making them characters in a play they didn't write. What makes Mirin so engaging is the combination of her determination to break free of the received narrative by writing her own script and her acceptance that she may get blood on her hands from time to time.

I enjoyed the way Celtic fairy tales were woven into the story not as fantasy but as guides to dealing with the beings alive and dead that Marin encounters. The middle section of the book had the feel of a quest to it but not in the video game 'win points and level up' way but more as life lived for a while with a goal much longed for but not well understood.

The last third of the book was filled with threat, betrayal and violence that kept me turning the pages eagerly. The ending wasn't what I expected but it fitted Mirin's character perfectly.

'All The Murmuring Bones' was a very satisfying stand-alone fantasy that I highly recommend. I suggest listening to the audiobook version if you can. Aoife McMahon's narration does justice to the lilt of the language and helps Mirin's character to shine through. show less

I enjoyed all but one of the twelve chilling tales contained in this collection. They cover a wide range of topics from abduction to zombies. The only things that they have in common is that they are well-written, have strong (but not always nice) women or girls as the central characters and they give new twists to old tropes. Some of the strongest stories focus on vengeance, particularly for offences committed against children.

My favourites were the darker ones:

Some made me smile: 'Sun show more Falls' and 'The Dead Ones Don't Hurt You'. Some were gothicly creepy: 'Only The Dead And The Moonstruck', 'The Song Of Sighs' and 'The Way Of All Flesh'. My favourites were dark and chilling: 'Cuckoo', 'Home And Hearth', 'The Burning Circus' and 'Winter Children'

To give a flavour of the collection, I've written spoiler-free mini-reviews for each story. Take a look and see if there's something that appeals to you.

Only The Dead And The Moonstruck

A fairytale of the grim cautionary type in which a very young girl lives with her guilt about the secret bargain she made with a monster. Then, the monster returns and she must face it to redeem herself.

The imagery was stark and as cold as starlight. The backstory was revealed entirely by how the girl reacts to the present danger, engaging me with her and slowly revealing the damage her first encounter with the monster had wrought and the guilt she carried for the decision she'd made. The girl is smart and brave and aware but still a young girl, so the boundaries between the magic and the real are hard for her to establish, especially when a real monster has already come calling. This way of looking at the world as somewhere where magic is something as dark and dangerous as a storm or as bright and beautiful as a moonrise made her acceptance of the outcome of the story perfect.

Cuckoo

This was very powerful and very unpleasant. The premise, a first-person account from a body-swapping avenging spirit hunting someone who had taken lives he wasn't entitled to, was original and attention-grabbing. The execution was skilled: slick, fast, unflinching. The content was corrosive, contaminating and depressing. It also felt horribly true.

I loved the opening line of the story:

"The child was dead by the time I found her, but she suited my purposes perfectly."
Slatter, Angela. Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales . Brain Jar Press. Kindle Edition.

I was won over to the vengeful spirit by its reflections rather than its actions. It remembers when evil was different, a black-and-white affair, evil or not evil, rather than a contagion that touches everyone. I loved this expression of regret:

"I miss that—the delineation of great evil from banal nastiness."
Slatter, Angela. Winter Children and Other Chilling Tales . Brain Jar Press. Kindle Edition.

Sadly, I think I'll remember this story for a long time.

The Burning Circus

This was a wonderfully chilling tale of betrayal, ruin and revenge. I loved the calm focus of this story. A single-mindedness so patient it might seem passionless but was really a channel for fury. I had the impression that not all of the main character's memories might be reliable, that her mind had suffered and facts had become fables. Yet she understands the changes she's been through and the price she must extract for it.

Home And Hearth

I love stories like this one where actions can be read as the result of a manifestation of something supernatural or as the distortions of a subconscious quickened by fear and burdened with guilt. The slow unfolding of the source of the guilt and the eventual acceptance of the extent of the guilt and the actions needed to atone for it produce a tale that is both sad and chilling.

Winter Children

Now I know how you make Winter Children. It's a graphic image I won't soon forget. This was a fast, tricky tale where I played Spot The Monster even though I knew I was going to lose. I liked that this was set in an old people's home, with all the details needed to make it convincing, even disarming, and the plot turned out to be bloody and packed with surprises.

Pale Tree House

A short but sinister tale with a manifestation of a spirit of vengeance that made me smile but not in a nice way. This was dressed like a Victorian ghost story but went somewhere the Victorians would not have expected. I approved of the destination. If that makes me a harsh and unforgiving person, I can live with that.

The Red Forest

This one didn't work for me. I think that was mainly because I've never liked or understood the fascination of the supernatural character this story depends on.

The Song Of Sighs

Normally, I'm turned off by any horror story that's headed for Lovecraft country. The whole tentacled God thing leaves me cold. I thought that was where this story was going but the way it was written hooked my curiosity so I stuck with it and found that I was reading a solid Gothic tale with a clever twist and that I'd enjoyed myself.

The Dead Ones Don't Hurt You

This is one of the most original stories I've read in a while. It's certainly the most original zombie short story I've read. It did such a good job of making me smile that didn't notice that we were headed towards the dark until we were deep in shadow. I loved the idea of a zombie story where it was the live folks who seemed most monstrous.

Sun Falls

This is the kind of modern vampire story that I like. One where the vampire doesn't sparkle or suffer from existential angst. One told from the point of view of somebody who serves the vampire, knowing that she's made a deal with the devil but that's it better to have deal with the devil you know than to be a snack for the other things that come out at night.

This story has a desert road trip vibe that looks like it might become an Aussie version of 'Deliverance'. There's a head in a cooler, a woman with a Katana, a vintage Holden with flames, go-faster stripes and fluffy dice and something that may or may not be a magic pool. And there's a twist at the end that made me smile.

The Way Of All Flesh

This is a ghoulish delight, set in rural America some years after everything in the world stopped working. I loved the gentle matter-of-fact way the predatory main character was introduced. giving the story a folksy feel, a fairytale with sharp teeth. O liked the ending best of all. I didn't see it coming but it made me smile when it arrived.

The October Widow

I love this title, now that I know what it means. This was a satisfyingly modern riff on ancient traditions on death and renewal. I liked that, despite its supernatural content, it felt solid and real. show less

Vigil introduces us to the Weyrd community of modern-day Brisbane, all those creatures of myth and nightmare from around the world who gave humans a reason to be afraid of the dark, who, over the past two centuries, sought refuge in Brisbane to escape the threats of whatever 'old country' they'd left behind. They stay mostly hidden from human eyes by disguising their physical shape behind a glamour (humans tend to find claws, wings, tails and fangs tend disturbing in creatures that talk, show more especially when the creatures view humans as snack food) and by giving up some of the old ways, like hunting and killing the humans who they share the city with. The Council enforces the suppression of the old ways, with limited unofficial cooperation from the local authorities.

If things start to get out of hand, they call in Verity Fassbinder. Half Weyrd, half human, Verity is best placed to walk the line between the Wyrd and the Human communities without being fully accepted by either She has no special powers beyond being extraordinarily strong but she is an obsessive, tenacious investigator/enforcer who will do whatever it takes to find and stop the bad guys. Not surprisingly, she has almost no friends, has lots and lots of enemies and she gets injured a lot. 

'Vigil' is structured around Verity's investigations of several problems that may or may not be related: street kids going missing in large numbers, winged beings with crushed hearts falling from the sky, a strange swirling entity sweeping through the streets and swallowing anyone it touches and rumours of a supernatural plot to 'Break The Sky'. As Verity investigates these problems, we get a tour of Weyrd Brisbane and come to understand Verity's backstory.

The pace is fast, the violence is frequent and the body count is high but there's more to this book than action. There's a lot about difference and exclusion and privilege and what it takes to make a new start. Verity is not soft and fluffy but she's not a stormtrooper either. She's a sort of PI to the Wyrd who is also willing to mete out justice to those she thinks deserve it. 

I had a lot of fun with this book. The mysteries were well-crafted and skilfully revealed. The Weyrd, while not being entirely new, felt both fresh and plausible and Verity was an appealing mix of grit, sass, compassion and vulnerability. The supporting cast was well-drawn and the foundations have been laid for a good series. I'm already looking forward to the next book, Corpselight. show less