Darren Speegle

Darren Speegle presents a literary quality collection of horror. He uses a variety of writing modes. His tales have high originality and, in the best sense, a 19th century depth of word selection.

Not everything that he writes is story. The volume's title, itself, refers to a poem.
In another work identifiable as poetry, "Lathered Spit in the Calloused Palms of the Demiurge" he reduces life to something rather onanistic - a wretched proposition. In a brilliantly worded litany, *Things that show more Tend to Disturb*, he presents exactly that, a listing of things briefly editorialized. When the reader finishes the lengthy tally, they might feel overcome by a sense of dread.

Of course most of the work is story. He has a deeply visceral ghost story in "Hexerei". A most unsettling, realistic, double murder transpires in another tale.

*Kiss of Chromium, Caress of Isolation* is a particularly disturbing story. In it, a man seeks out his mother living on a deserted island, perhaps to reconcile or resolve the troubles of a past life in which his mother was a paedophile. His name, Hadrian, makes a clear reference to isolation which permeates the story. His career as a photographer implies one who records but does not participate in the world at large. Speegle communicates through sexual symbolism through the story. It is a pleasurably challenging read.

Quite by chance, I read the adult graphic novella, *The Inferno in Bottles*, adapted from the story by Kyusaku Yomeno (1928), within days of reading Kiss of Chromium. Inferno is a classic pictorial work in Japan about a brother and sister also stranded from childhood on an island. Upon reaching the threshold of puberty, they, too, become horrified by their incestuous feelings, though they never commit a sin. The artwork within the piece is loaded with symbolism.

Anyone familiar with and liking TIB will definitely like Speegle's work and vice versa. Using text as a medium, Speegle naturally creates something more visceral than can be found in any drawings, but I really enjoyed seeing two perspectives side by side. People reading Speegle's story might like to see TIB similarly close in time.

In Stephen King's opinion, good horror writing generally avoids adjectives in preference to adverbs. Speegle's work boldly refutes this notion. He writes masterfully in a manner of Poe or Stoker relying on circumstance and description more than action to disturb the reader. For an adult reader, his style has a superior richness compared to most 20th century work. show less

A collection of hybridised boundary and intersection. Speegle skirts the edges as if navigating a perpetual motion machine, slavishly adhering to the old-fashioned wiles of fiction headed towards a transcendental breakdown, before braking much too early. It’s a funny (as in strange, not haha) collection, each story fluctuating wildly, creating moments where the cosmological pranksterism really hits. Yet at times the language languishes, seems dated even. I really wanted to like this more, show more as a collection, but as it turns out about four stories are worth the four stars, overall I’ll give this a three, so three point five is a reasonable score. show less

A collection of hybridised boundary and intersection. Speegle skirts the edges as if navigating a perpetual motion machine, slavishly adhering to the old-fashioned wiles of fiction headed towards a transcendental breakdown, before braking much too early. It’s a funny (as in strange, not haha) collection, each story fluctuating wildly, creating moments where the cosmological pranksterism really hits. Yet at times the language languishes, seems dated even. I really wanted to like this more, show more as a collection, but as it turns out about four stories are worth the four stars, overall I’ll give this a three, so three point five is a reasonable score. show less

This book is not an easy read. In fact I read the first story then went back to the beginning and read it again. Not to be read with your kindle in one hand and a spoonful of cereal in the other. Concentration is required here. This collection of stories, and a few poems, tends towards the supernatural/horror. They are not happy stories but are dark and sometimes uncomfortable. Definitely worth reading as Mr. Speegle has a command of language that we don't often see in fiction today.