#Spooktober ‘Beyond The Veil’ edited by Mark Morris

About the book…

‘Beyond The Veil’ is the second volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window.

Contents List:

THE GOD BAG by Christopher Golden

CAKER’S MAN by Matthew Holness

THE BEECHFIELD MIRACLES by Priya Sharma

CLOCKWORK by Dan Coxon

SOAPSTONE by Aliya Whitely

THE DARK BIT by Toby Litt

PROVENANCE POND by Josh Malerman

FOR ALL THE DEAD by Angeline B.Adams and Remco Van Staten

THE GIRL IN THE POOL by Bracken McLeod

NURSE VARDEN by Jeremy Dyson

IF, THEN by Lisa L Hannett

AQUARIUM WARD by Karter Mycroft

A MYSTERY FOR JULIE CHU by Stephen Gallagher

AWAY DAY by Lisa Tuttle

POLAROID AND SEAWEED by Peter Harness

DER GEISTERBAHNHOF by Lynda E.Rucker

ARNIE’S ASHES by John Everson

A BRIEF TOUR OF THE NIGHT by Nathan Ballingrud

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF HOUSEHOLD GODS by Frank Oreto

YELLOWBACK by Gemma Files

It starts strong, and finishes stronger, does this, the second in what is now commonly known as ‘The ABC’s of horror’, 4 now in print from speculative fiction forerunner Flame Tree Press with no signs of stopping.

The list of contributors should be enough to get you slavering and if you haven’t read the previous volume then I hurriedly urge you to correct that oversight.

There is nary a wrong foot or even toe placed, and given the size of the anthology then you would expect at least one to not maybe have the same effect as another, but in this case, it’s just not true.

So hello to old friends of many years acquaintance (Stephen Gallagher who gave me nightmares as a teen with the televised ‘Chimera’, Jeremy Dyson , whose mastery of the written as well as the visual word has been a part of my life for over 20 years, and Matthew Holness whose writing I am new to, but whose televisual exploits I have recently been introducing my children to).

And nice to meet you to new friends to my bookshelf, Priya Sharma who I believe I came across in another Morris edited anthology, and immediately bought her novella ‘‘Ormeshadow’, 

Dan Coxon who again, I was only aware of in an editorial sense and Gemma Files, quickly becoming one of my favoruite writers.

What we have here is a tasting plate of modern horror, and whilst there is no voer arching theme, I would hesitate to suggest there is an essence of loneliness underpinning each tale which in itself is horrifically prescient, landing the year which Covid really turned our world upside down.

And yet, there is a respite offered in each tale of the macabre, the stinging twist that makes you double back to see if you could have guessed it, the gasp evinced from a throat raw and dry from shuddered breath, the prickle down the back bone that is the essential after effect, of this reader, from ending with ‘Yellowback’ by Gemma Files. That left wounds I tell you.

Here are tales of loss and grief, the manifestation of want and desire , the scar tissue that runs a little thin the closer to the surface that you get.

It’s a compilation of stories with author bios which send you eagerly searching for more, and it’s quite incredible that such a plethora of authors offered their works to create an unsettling mix which is never predictable, never boring.

I would say that out of the 20 stories, my favourites were ‘Caker’s Man’, by Matthew Holness and ‘Nurse Varden’ by Jeremy Dyson alongside the aforementioned ‘Yellowback’. I think anyone who reads it would say they react in a different way to the running list, some will dip in and others, like me , will read it front to back , with a notepad, to list new books to look for by authors I had not heard before.

What I enjoyed the most was that I could not tell the commissioned from the new tales, all were presented with equal aplomb and I think there may be a little bit of magic in how the tales veer so much off each other, yet run together so well, if that makes any sense?

So bravo for another offering to the elder gods , thank you Mark for choosing tales which disturbed my peace, each one took me away from reality and out me somewhere different, somewhere dark and where monsters lie. The worst of them have human faces…

About the editor…

Mark Morris became a full-time writer in 1988 on the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, and a year later saw the release of his first novel, ‘Toady’. He has since published a further sixteen novels, among which are ‘Stitch’, ‘The Immaculate’, ‘The Secret Of Anatomy’, ‘Fiddleback’, ‘The Deluge’

He has written tie-in novels for popular movies as well as orginal stories for ‘Doctor Who and ‘Torchwood’

His short stories, novellas, articles and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of anthologies and magazines, and he is editor of the highly-acclaimed Cinema Macabre, a book of fifty horror movie essays by genre luminaries, for which he won the 2007 British Fantasy Award.

His most recently published or forthcoming work includes Obsidian Heart trilogy and editing short story collections New Fears 1 and 2  for Titan Books.

Twitter @TitanBooks @MarkMorris10