D. F. Lewis

'Nemonymous Night' is a bewildering puzzle of a novel. At times I enjoyed it, at others it felt like a frustrating amount of effort. I can’t describe the plot any better than the blurb, as after the reading the whole thing I don’t really know what happened. I found a copy in a charity shop and was moved to buy it as I appreciate novels that try to capture the feeling of dreaming. This one doesn’t really do so, though, as it goes in a very meta direction instead. The meta sections, in show more which there is a shift from third person to first and the author inserts comments on the manuscript, were the least appealing parts. On the other hand, I did like the many puns, surreal interludes (which comprised much of the first two-thirds), and linguistic contortions. I’m struggling to describe this novel, though. In places, it reminded me of Steve Aylett’s ‘Accomplice’ series (surreal hilarity) and [b:The Age of Sinatra|256201|The Age of Sinatra|David Ohle|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328690612s/256201.jpg|248305] (wholly baffling). It repeats and circles back on itself, pits different facets of the same character against each other for narrative dominance, and hints at some sort of pandemic conspiracy. If you enjoy linguistic playfulness and are willing to put up with a plot structured like a tangled set of fairy lights, you should enjoy ‘Nemonymous Night’. It may help to know that 'nemo' is 'no-one' in Latin. show less

The Black Book Of Horror is the first in a series of horror anthologies published by Mortbury Press. As soon as I saw the gorgeous covers I knew that I wanted the entire set even though I am not familiar with the authors. I did notice some nominations for the British Fantasy Award but winning or losing would not have swayed my desire to get my hands on these books. I don't have a lot of experience with British horror other than having enjoyed the Hammer House of Horror series when I was a show more kid. Since I have found in my limited experience that British horror tends to be a bit more subtle than what I am used to on this side of the pond, I expected this would be more atmospheric than blood soaked. Well subtle I can take, but vague I can not. Some of these stories were so vague that they seemed more like a wisp of idea for an outline than an actual finished product. For example I could sum up "Spare Rib" as once upon a time a man's wife died but then she came back and he left for work. The End. Seriously that's a story in here. In another story a Nazi skin head and his pals desecrate a grave and then take off their pants and boots. The End.
Not to say they were all bad, there were some 3 and 4 star stories among the duds. The only 5 star mentions go to "Size Matters" more for it's dark humor than for anything frightening. Yes it is a story about a penis enlargement gone wrong, and Lock-In by David A Riley which actually was a scary story about a handful of men trapped in a pub by a creeping black void of nothingness that awaits them outside. 4 stars to Last Christmas (I gave you my life) Family Fishing, and Subtle Invasion.
I'm hoping the rest of the series has more 5 star stories than this did. show less

This is a no-frills collection from Megazanthus Press, edited by D. F. Lewis (I’d have liked a brief introduction by the editor on the theme of the collection and some info about the authors). It plunges straight in to the twenty-five stories included. I must confess to being a little nonplussed regarding the collection’s theme before I began reading. After all, how can there be horror if there are no victims? I’ll be blunt: some of the authors cheated and don’t really adhere to the show more collection’s theme, which was a little annoying, but there are some enjoyable stories mixed in here that really do genuinely adhere to the idea of a horror story that doesn’t contain victims. It’s an intriguing concept for a themed collection, and clearly an interesting design challenge/constraint for the authors. So how did they do?

Here were a few of the stories that stood out to me (mild plot spoilers follow):

Eric Ian Steele, “Clouds”: A man notices that his city is changing in significant ways every night – buildings are disappearing out of existence – and he’s the only one to notice. Reminded me (thematically at least) of Stephen King’s “The Langoliers.”

Alistair Rennie, “The Carpet Seller’s Recommendation”: A Victorian British businessman living in Turkey takes a “pleasure cruise” on the Bosphorus that we won’t soon forget. Dare I say that his life will never be the same after that voyage?

Mark Patrick Lynch, “Point and Stick”: Ever wonder what goes on inside your neighbors’ homes? The narrator gets a peek inside his downstairs neighbor’s apartment and sees some mysterious goings-on. No spoilers, but it’s an amusing little tale.

All in all, the collection was a decidedly mixed bag. I liked a number of the stories in the collection and appreciated the ones in which the authors found ways to genuinely abide by the theme of “horror without victims.” Other stories meandered or were simply unclear. Without a “victim,” many of the stories simply presented a strange situation that they mostly left unresolved. A lukewarm recommendation; if the collection’s theme intrigues you, then by all means check it out, as it does include some stories well worth reading. I think it really is possible to craft a story that contains plenty of horror without a true victim, though that certainly presents a significant challenge for the author.

Review copyright © 2014 J. Andrew Byers show less

Whimsical, weird, and filled with unique little dream-logic laden stories, my only complaint is that I was left wanting more. The last collection I can recall having this same reaction to was Brian Evenson�Ûªs Windeye.