The Short Shelves!

Hellooo!

Once I’d got my exams (passed); tricky work project (almost) and Subjective Chaos Reading (so so close) done I thought mid-year would be a perfect time to start a settle back into more regular reviewing and amongst the things I’ve wanted to do is a closer look at short fiction. I do love anthologies but here is a lot more out there to sample. So I think in a fortnightly feature I introduce you to the world of The Short Shelves. For this first edition two new entrants.

Cloisterfox – CloisterFox – Tell me strange things

This new bi-annual magazine celebrating British speculative fiction was started earlier this year through a fundraiser and having read some Verity Holloway work before and knowing they were the editor I could not resist adding to the list.

The first edition boasts six rather great tales: -

Gallows Hope Circular by David Hartley – A rather brilliant story that takes the form of a walking guide taking us the reader on a little country walk. But brilliantly what we get described is not the kind of thing you’d see on Countryfile. Sinister ropes and paths to avoid, hills with dark secrets and a final terrible walk in the dark await us. A wonderfully creepy story whose matter of fact telling us of such strange things makes it all the disturbing.

Darkness Falls by Ally Wilkes – In the long hot days of summer this story proves how successful it is with its setting at the December solstice. Our narrator suffers from Seasons Affective Disorder (SAD) and on top of this has broken up with her girlfriend. Everything feels hard and lost. She reads a tale of a ancient tree where if no one goes to look through it on the solstice means the sun will not return. I really was impressed by this story’s approach with an ever increasingly strange trip into the woods with a mixture of disturbing sights and feelings on the this walk creating an uneasy atmosphere yet also helping us get to know our narrator who doesn’t know where in life they’re going next. The end is a curious mix of uplifting and unsettling as to the choices made and their repercussions depending on what you think happened.

They Have Gone To The City by Daniel Carpenter – two middle aged brothers have returned to the Satan’s Hollow rock club in Manchester after the mysterious death of their mother to escape from it all and re-live their youth. Getting old is a theme of this story – knowing the world you know even if the same city and not too long ago relatively has changed just a little too much – the music, the styles, and the people. That growing awareness of mortality and those memories you had are all slowly fading away. It’s a melancholy tale of loss and watching our main charter Paul stand to one side lost in their thoughts we also notice the strange character who accompanies him. The desire to escape into the past is a teem in this tale but can you ever really go home again? Deliciously haunting!

Nighttime by Chikodili Emelumadu – A light-hearted weird tale where our lead character is on a diet and a delicious cake in the fridge is calling out to her to be eaten. I loved how this story grabs a feeling I know too well of knowing happiness is just a tasty slice away and also knowing I really shouldn’t. The cake is a very funny character not taking no for an answer and there is a rather tasty sting in the tale too. A reminder weird fiction doesn’t always need to be all dark and gloom!

Second Homes (The Daydream Real Estate Scandal) by Natasha Kindred – this is trp into he surreal where a dream thief trades their prizes stolen from sleeping humans to another denizen of a strange fantasy dimension. More like a much creepier Discworld tale this story has its own internal depth throwing so much at us about it in a few paragraphs that it all feels despite the subject matter real in a very creepy way. Nothing gets fully explained or resolved but it’s a great weird ride and you just wonder what happened next.

The Wait by Robert Shearman – this story captures that moment in school when you realise the teacher in class has finally lost it with the disruption a noisy unruly class can cause. That frightening realisation that an out-of-control adult is in front of 30 kids, and no one can stop them. In this case the teacher moves the kids around and makes a startling pronouncement – which I am not spiling but it is a rather brilliant and terrible thing to do to ten-year-olds. Our narrator explains what happens next and slowly a long-term nightmare begins. A slow whispered nightmare that speaks to that growing realisation that no one lives forever and then the final scenes are a mix of menacing and tragic making a fine ending to the collection.

I cannot wait for the next edition in six months

IZ Digital - Interzone Digital – mind-bending fantastika from all over the planet

Interzone is legend in British short fiction but has now started a digital website where fiction will also appear (and a lot more)

The Ghost in the Valley by Alexander Glass – An old man meets his friend to tell them of his strange encounter with a unrecognisable version of ancient London while travelling on the train. I really liked the way this tale makes it feel like an old ghost story but also brings in the feeling of time shifts in unexpected ways. Time travel can go two ways!

The Feast of Mulligan Lang – Mulligan Lang works on a exploration ship and after a recent expedition out into deep space he now feels he’s lost his sense of taste. This story explores how food in space can work. Replicated formulas passed down forever – are they real foods? Can you make things taste more real? Then it goes into a slipstream of madness as Mulligan seeks ever more enticing flavours (to make you go urgh). I love the way the pace quickens as Mulligan gets more and more desperate and a disquieting explanation for it all hands open-ended for the reader to digest.

Going Through Customs by Chloe Smith – A timely tale of space mechanics; access to medication and a woman’s right to choose having her baby. Captain Yu arrives at an asteroid station that has recently seen a change in government – one that thinks they know best how women can have children even if their method is quite risky. The Captain thinks she may eb able to help a woman but may end up risking her ship, her job and her life. A smart mi of classic adventure in space with some interesting perspectives on pregnancy in space and most of all a right for people to make their own mind.

Very interested in watching how this website evolves!