#Titanuary ‘Wild Spaces’ by S.L Coney

About the book…

A young boy’s life is upended after the arrival of his grandfather, who is hiding a terrifying secret in this sweltering southern gothic horror, perfect for fans of Cassandra Khaw and T. Kingfisher. An eleven-year-old boy lives an idyllic childhood exploring the remote coastal plains and wetlands of South Carolina alongside his parents and his dog Teach.

But when the boy’s eerie and estranged grandfather shows up one day with no warning, cracks begin to form as hidden secrets resurface that his parents refuse to explain. The longer his grandfather outstays his welcome and the greater the tension between the adults grows, the more the boy feels something within him changing—physically—into something his grandfather welcomes and his mother fears. Something abyssal. Something monstrous.

My thanks to the wonderful folk at Titan for my gifted review copy of ‘Wild Spaces’ in glorious hardcover. This novella is a staggering feat of heart, S.L Coney has done a magnificent job in a much shorter space than what many of their contemporaries would do with 3, 4 times the page length.

The unnamed boy, mother, father , they could be anybody. This juxtaposes the every day nature of a child growing up with loving parents, in a seemingly isolated, almost gothic manner, where each is the side of the triangle needed to complete the other two.

And yet, these are uniquely these people, at this time, living these lives. Until into this idyll comes a monster…but, maybe the monster was already there, waiting to hatch.

The mother’s father turns up, oddly dressed, with few belongings, and throws himself into a full scale disruption of the family’s life. Suddenly everything from mealtimes to conversations are oddly disjointed and expanding that triangle to make a square is catastrophic.

The first hints are there when , on the first page, it says-

”The dog shows up at the mint-green house on the edge of the woods a month before the monster arrives.”

Already you are on the back foot as a reader, a house, a dog and a monster is established, but who or what is the danger aimed at?

As SL Coney establishes the life lived in the walls of the mint-green house, they then systematically strip it away as grandfather brings his influence to bear on a daughter who, whilst grownup, cannot turn him away.

In the effort to do the right thing, both mother and father bring to bear on their son a fate which might have been avoided had they faced their pasts, had honest conversations and prepared him to grow into what he becomes. It may not have, but he might have had a fighting chance. As it is, the dog, Teach, the only named character, is the one whose nature does not change after grandfather’s arrival-his instinct to protect and to fight is maintained, whilst mother turns her back, literally and figuratively on her son, father becomes more and more intense and that leaves the son following grandfather and asking questions of him, the answers to which he has nowhere near the strength to understand.

All becomes dark, soup and thick with menace as fractures widened into cracks, widen into earthquakes.

And that ending….

Who is Ian?

What is the treasure buried by the mouth of the cave?

Was mother and father deliberately in hiding from her father or was he keeping a distance until son’s 12th birthday on purpose?

I have my own ideas….

There is so much which can be left open to interpretation, that you immediately want to rush online and find out what others thought.

Many of the reviews I read seemed to hold issue with the fact its a slim novella, that its not enough ‘bang for your buck’. Well excuse me if I beg to differ. There is so so much in this story, the way that Teach is described so beautifully you can feel your fingers running through his red fur. The way the actions of the characters are described so well, that you don’t need the minute details of faces and figures, your mind fills the gaps in itself. SL Coney gives space to the reader to bring their own unique interpretations to what they have written, and so each time it rings a different bell in your mind, a different timbre is created, a kaleidoscopic narrative of eldritch horror, familial ties and blood offerings.

What I loved about this novella was its unflinching handling of a family dynamic, what made it safe, the love of mother and father, made it vulnerable and open to harm. The watery imagery and wild spaces inside this boy were about to rip open the world of the book and reader alike.

If I hadn’t been gifted this book, I would have happily purchased it without regrets. Absolutely loved it.

About the author..

S. L. Coney obtained a master’s degree in clinical psychology before abandoning academia to pursue writing.

In addition to making up stories, they work to help train and place people in tech careers. Shaw has ties to South Carolina, roots in St. Louis, and are still deeply disappointed their fins never grew in.

Shaw’s work has appeared in St. Louis Noir, Best American Mystery Stories 2017, and Gamut Magazine. Their novella Wild Spaces was published in August 2023 from Tordotcom Publishing (US) and Titan Books(UK).

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

Twitter @rockconey01 @TitanBooks