#WinterChills ‘Minotaur’ by C.S Humble

About the book…

A Collection of Horror brings you four dark tales milled from the mind of award-winning author C.S. Humble. Much like his 2018 PenCraft award winning novel ,‘The Massacre At Yellow Hill’ ‘Minotaur’ twists together stories of the macabre perfect for those who love occult detectives, secretive urban cults, dark science fiction, and slices of cosmic horror.

A WHOLLY SUPERIOR CREATURE – A brutal murder leads a police detective into the parlor of an excommunicated exorcist. Together they must unravel a mystery of occult killings going back decades and find a way to stop a cult’s desire to bring an ancient evil back into the world.

THERE IS ONLY THE HUNT – In the future, the world is consumed with fully immersive video game simulations. These ‘arcades’ serve as minor league training grounds for the most talented prospects in the world. These players strive to become a part of The League, a professional association of gamers who play for exorbitant wealth and fame. This story follows a recruiter for The League and his prize prospect Johnny Mac, who the recruiter believes is a transcendent talent. The only way to make it into the league is to beat the most challenging game on the circuit–MINOTAUR. It’s Johnny Mac’s turn to play the game and not even his recruiter knows the lengths Johnny will go to see MINOTAUR defeated.

RIG MOVE – Harvey didn’t want to go down into the pit that opened like a mouth in the middle of the West Texas desert. But, he did. What he and his companion found in that subterranean abyss landed Harvey in trouble with his employer. The Company Man has come to Texas to interview Harvey, where he asks the roughneck to recount the harrowing story of what Harvey saw. His chilling tale speaks to the disturbing truth–there are some places people were never meant to go.

A FIRST DATE IN BLACK WELLS – Lauren has lived a hard and difficult life as a single mother. Her luck seemingly changes when she is offered a job as a newspaper reporter in Black Wells, Colorado. Recently divorced, Lauren decides to jump back into the dating pool, and her first date proves to be a less than ideal experience.

C.S Humble first came on my radar courtesy of Talking Scared podcast, one of my favourite of all time ‘casts, which I have blurbed about all year because it is tremendous!

As I was struggling with a reading block, I thought about reading short stories rather than committing to a novel , and so I grabbed this from an online shop, and dove in.

These 4 stories as an introduction to C.S Humble’s work have made me keen to read more, when it originally arrived I thought it was very thin, which was a bit of a relief, but how much could be contained in this slim volume?

To paraphrase, an author whose name I cannot remember , it contains multitudes.

The first tale, is a noir-ish exploration of murder which leads down to some very, very dark places, and here it hits the ground running, and did not let up. The details of the killings which brings detective, Sam, into contact with the dark underbelly of the city whose streets he pounds by day, are chilling and unforgettable.

The sparsity of the language leads to an economical picture being created which is then peopled by the reader, who can visualise the relationship between Sam and his partner, Roger. The story is the key , the characters the lock, and the reader the conduit to the symbiotic joining of both elements.

I needed to take a break after that….

Story number 2, There Is Only The Hunt, was one I didn’t think I would ‘get’ because it delves into the realm of gaming, but when you strip away the tech talk and futuristic world building, what is left is a tale of the hunt, which is the remaining, defining, motif.

Rig Move further builds on the things which move and shudder in the dark, and deals in the Frankenstein-esque mode of ‘things which man need not know of’, as the testimony of rig worker , Harvey, gives evidence of a disaster for which he is one of two survivors. You would feel that the company man he tells this to would dismiss this as the raving imaginings of a panicked soul looking into the eyes of death. You would be wrong.

The finale, the story of a single mother moving into a new town and looking to make connections, was, I felt, my favourite tale, and really reminded me of I think the story from one of The Pan Books Of Horror, ‘The Speciality Of The House’ by Stanley Ellin (frequent fliers of this blog will be aware of my lifelong fondness for this series). Darkly funny which intensifies the horror of the situation, what this rounds of is a collection which turns reality on its head-even a future reality-and presents a tasting board of C.S Humble’s talents.

Definitely one to watch!

About the author…

C.S. Humble is an award-winning American novelist and short story writer. He lives in East Texas. He can be found @cshumble(twitter) or at his website www.cshumble.com

Get his full collection of stories by supporting him via Patreon at www.patreon.com/cshumble 

Links-https://www.cshumble.com/