Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic by Tobi Ogundiran

Publisher – Undertow Publications

Published – Out Now

Price – £14.67 paperback £7.18 Kindle eBook

From Shirley Jackson award-nominated author Tobi Ogundiran, comes a highly anticipated debut collection of stories full of magic and wonder and breathtaking imagination!

The short story is part of writing that I appreciate more and more requires a lot of effort to get right. You’re creating a world, plot and characters in miniature and in just a few pages have to make the reader grasp it all and get a great read at the same time. There is nothing better then than finding a new collection by a writer and just enjoying one after the other. A bit like a new album where every song just works for you. In Tobi Ogundiran’s brilliant Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the dark and Fantastic we get a delicious array of top-quality horror and fantasy tales that I was hugely impressed by and I’ll be definitely looking forward to their future works.

Ogundiran delivers tales that play with myth. In the strong opening tale ‘The Tale of Jaja and Canti’ we have a unique spin on the classic tale Pinocchio but whereas that tale is a heartwarming boy finding his human life this is a more sombre quest as our now alive puppet Jaja is on a five-hundred-year-old quest to find the mysterious woman who gave him life. The tale creates a fascinating world as Jaja meets other people who’ve had life changing encounters and then finally he reaches the end of the quest which has a bittersweet conclusion that beautifully wraps the tale together. Another set of myths are played with beautifully in ‘Midnight In Moscow’ where our Nigerian narrator has decided to hide himself in a low rent flat in Moscow but his next door neighbours are a strange giant and three almost identical sisters who have tales to tell. This tale keeps us on our toes; weaves in Russian folklore and then moves itself into a race against time. I loved the flow of the tale and how the real and fantastic collide as well as the very subtle exploring of our narrator’s life too. A huge favourite in the collection.

Another great aspect of this collection is how Ogundiran can deliver what could easily have been an Epic Fantasy in short fiction form and it works perfectly in that format. A shining example is ‘The Epic of Qu Shitto’ a tale of a bard seeking one of the world’s most notorious warriors to find out his story. Which skilfully skips into tales of other worlds, dark magic and terrible bargains. It also manages to have one of the most gut-wrenching last few paragraphs that neatly wrap up the whole tale. Not all the tales are lengthy in the short and sharp ‘Here Sits His Ignominy’ – a few pages create a letter from the leader of an african Kingdom to his counterpart leading would be conquerors from an analogue of our Western powers who decided to attack them and get far more than they ever bargained for. Each sentence has marvels and scorn all the way through it.

In ‘Fael’ we get the conclusion to what sounds a centuries long epic struggle against a powerful witch king where a reformed warrior finds himself unexpectedly in the last battle. This combines poetical retelling of ancient myths with the more earthy and gritty tale of betrayal and magic that pleasingly blends everything together and never makes us feel feels like it has skipped things. The brilliant ‘Guardian of the Gods’ deals with a frustrated Acolyte named Ashake finally being told the truth behind her Gods which rocks her world and her own place in a Temple. But this story then delves deeper and deeper into a very fascinating set of revelations and ends on a beautiful ‘what next’ moment that makes the story work even if we never see the conclusion (although a novel around this concept will come out next year so phew!); another of my favourites. Equally I loved ‘Drummer Boy In A World of Wise Men’ that gave me strange Dark Tower similarities as it feels like a tantalising glimpse of another epic struggle as a young teenager is being chased by sinister men who want his absent father’s drum – the depth of scale and history in the tale has is really impressive. Another beautifully crafted tale is ‘The Clockmaker and His Daughter’ – a clockmaker is desperate to avoid the conquerors of his country forever guarding the streets and needs to soon find some illegal medicine for his desperately ill daughter. This has moments of wonder; a wonderfully crafted wooden city to marvel at, danger, betrayal, family love and most powerfully a gorgeous last-minute moment of hope we don’t quite get to see the full resolution of but its delivered perfectly.

The other side of the collection is Ogundiran’s huge skill as a horror author. These are tales that gave me chills especially on an empty train carriage while I was reading them! In ‘Jackal, Jackal’ an escaped prisoner finds hope through the mask of a jackal that allows him to reset his life. But if you abuse such magic, it has a way of paying you back in horrible ways. Watching the dream turn into nightmare is delivered brilliantly even if unsettling. Another disconcerting tale is ‘The Many Lives of An Abiku’ a young girl is haunted by a spirit claiming to be their bloodthirsty sibling. The creepy child idea is played with and gets genuinely uncomfortable as the final revelations reach a truly nasty conclusion. Two really memorable tales are to be found in ‘Isn’t Your daughter Such A Doll’ – Celine is a young girl in Paris starting a new life and very glad to have her new friend but soon we find all is not quite as it seems. The way the truth is revealed makes the final scenes even more worrying and its finale is one of the best I’ve read in a while. Equally I loved ‘The Muse of Palm House’ an extremely well written gothic thriller as a tormented artist decides to paint his last painting in a decrepit manor and decides the maid is to be his new model. Slowly we find this whole setting has hidden dangers and the reveals are skin crawlingly creepy. Finally, I must recommend the brilliant ‘In The Smile Place’ where a man seeks his missing younger brother. This tale explores the viewpoints childhood and adulthood, sibling love and rivalry and using an old VHS recording has one of the most disconcerting concepts brilliantly handled and genuinely unnerving in a while.

It would also be remiss of me to not mention the comedy horror of ‘The lady of the Yellow Painted Library’ a suave salesman finds his missing copy of a library book has upset a librarian. The notes he receives get more and more elaborately threatening; his life gets turned upside down and just as we find it funny, we also realise our main character may be in a huge amount of danger. The story keeps us guessing which side of the coin it will end on. Beware the librarians is a rule all readers should know!

This was a hugely impressive collection I found a pleasure to read, and I can see myself coming back to enjoy tales again in the future. A fascinating voice in the genre and one I think everyone needs to try. Strongly recommended!