The Mad Butterfly's Ball edited by Preston Grassman & Chris Kelso
I would like to thank PS Publishing for an advance copy of this collection in exchange for fair and honest review
Publisher – PS Publishing
Published – Out Now
Price – £15.99 trade paperback
The Mad Butterfly’s Ball is an essential compendium of stories dedicated to the lurking horror and profound wonder of those that live, largely unseen, in the world around us—the enigmatic insect! Featuring original and new works by Clive Barker, Jeffrey Thomas, Kaaron Warren, Paul Di Filippo, Eugen Bacon, and many more, alongside classics of the subgenre, The Mad Butterfly’s Ball is the largest and most comprehensive anthology of its kind, with stunning illustrations by Richard Kirk and Yoshika Nagata.
Insects and humans are interlinked in many ways. Our ecosystem is reliant on them; our food chains and yet they are also weirdly inhuman that both trouble and entice us. They come in myriad forms; have unusual behaviours we sometimes see in ourselves and very often do not. In Preston Grassman and Chris Kelso’s fascinating anthology The Mad Butterfly’s Ball we have an assortment of classic anew prose and poetry looking at our relationships with insects.
In this anthology among the stories I enjoyed were
Hivehead by Paul Di Fillipo – a strange subversive tail with a man who has become a human beehive (literally becoming the hive) but the body horror is quite mild then we find the real story are the group of people trying to break into the wood and the dangerous creatures lurking around it…who are no longer in copyright. A great blend of comedy and tragedy.
The Wings of Mourning – explores the deadly power of the mosquito and the power of the caterpillar in a tale of grief and horror which is quite unusual but has a lot of power.
The King’s Walking Stick by Richard A Kirk – is a strange tale of a rich man plagued by illness where the discovery of a painting behind a wall seems to bring new health benefits and yet something else appears to be going on. The insect connection will not be apparent but it reminds us how people have used insects in many different ways for a very long time as well as having a growing nightmarish sense of chickens coming home to roost.
Butterflies of Eastern Texas by Kij Johnson is a surreal train trip where a conductor and woman who appears to create butterflies have a strange interaction. The symbolism of freedom and change the insect creates is key to the theme of the tale for me.
The Nature of Bees by Priya Sharma – Unsurprisingly a great story where a woman goes to start a new life. However strange interaction with the family farm nearby and inserts of text about the nature of bees create a menacing tale of how adoration and wanting to be adored can be quite dangerous. A remarkable and terrifying ending awaits.
The Absent Swarm by Tom Over – an empty wasp nest, a tormented couple moving into a home and strange visitor creates a menacing tale of horror and yet also grief and hope in a surprising and disconcerting way. I was very impressed how this dealt with difficult subjects of loss.
Eejele by Nuzo Onoh - this appears to be a tale of grief as a daughter loses her mother. But very quickly this evolves into a more sinister tale of generational bargains with high prices. One of my favourites.
Warning Wings by Arlton Eadie - a little modern fable about why a sea Captain loved moths. Short and sweet but very effective.
The Roaches by Thomas M Disch - another of my favourites it appears snarky satire as we meet an ambitious young woman terrified by New York’s cockroaches but then it delves j to nightmarish territory of insect creepiness and the. For good measure ends on an ambivalent moment of love and loneliness that makes you wonder what happens next.
Jenny Longlegs by Chris Kelso and Brian Evenson is a fascinating nightmare showing how items can bring all our historic horrors back to haunt us. It moved with a nightmare’s fluidity into scary scenes of a man’s life and at the end is he dreaming or trapped is for the reader to decide. A great story.
Not Just The Stars That They Devour by Matt Neil Hill - a fascinating world where humans and insects have illicit encounters and swap DNA as part of their lives. A fascinating tale of lust, desire and changes as our main character finds their nightclub encounter leads to new changes and then it veers into a more sinister angle as they meet others changed who are not happy at what has taken place. Very memorable and a great story.
The Parliament of Wasps by Preston Grassman - here we got for epic weird fantasy as we reach a London overrun by strange insects and powers and watch a desperate man seek revenge. In a few scenes we witness the end of the world, feel the character’s loss and yet has a moment of potential mercy and reconciliation I was not expecting but welcomed.
The Ruins With A Spectator by Kaaron Warren - a very strange story where some furniture that erupts with firebugs send the main character and his film maker girlfriend on a project looking at insects that leads them to a spa with very strange insect themed regimes. The various scenarios we find are menacing and uncomfortable and as we approach the final challenge we wonder what lies in weight and a surprising elegant ending awaits:
The Hollow Electricity of Tiny Papery Wings or The Pinprick in the Powder by Christopher Young - a man snorts cocaine and inhales a fly. Things get weirder form then on in a tale weaving violence, drunken nights out and someone out for revenge interweaved with the main character having new senses and skills from their experience! A tale where the writing brings this all to dizzying violent life.
Things a huge varied collection with tales of insects showing humans loving them, being changed by them or being terrorised by them. It captures all the reasons people continue to find them interesting and is a very entertaining collection too. I also need to shout out about the gorgeous cover art by Richard A Kirk and amazing interior art by Yoshika Nagata and Richard Kirk. A collection blending new and classic tales in a very impressive way. Highly recommended for those who want to explore what fantasy and horror can do with a great theme.
