Published - Out Now

Price - £12.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle ebook

The debut short story collection from acclaimed U.K. writer Priya Sharma, “All the Fabulous Beasts,” collects 16 stunning and monstrous tales of love, rebirth, nature, and sexuality. A heady mix of myth and ontology, horror and the modern macabre. ‘Priya Sharma explores liminality and otherness with skill and verve in her engaging and haunting stories.’ –Alison Moore, Author of the Man Booker shortlisted ‘The Lighthouse’ “Priya Sharma has been writing and publishing short stories for over a decade, and I’m delighted that she’s finally receiving the recognition her work deserves. She’s extremely skillful in creating characters with whom we can empathize–no matter their deeds–leading her readers down roads of beauty and horror. I especially love her award-winning novelette ‘Fabulous Beasts,’ a perfect piece of storytelling.” –Ellen Datlow, Best Horror of the Year series

There are many ways to unsettle a reader in horror and dark fantasy. It’s propose isn’t to jump scare you to drop the book and scream bur make you uncomfortable not just about the plot but perhaps the wider world looks like little bit less safe. It may remind you that not everyone gets a quiet life. I had a great pleasure reading Priya Sharma’s short fiction collection All The Fabulous Beasts and yet these are stories that definitely don’t make you feel warm and comfortable but do take you around the world and the darker side of being human. It’s excellent!

Among the many stories I enjoyed were

The Crow Palace - this opening story had an estranged daughter finally returning to the family home when her father unexpectedly passed away leaving her adult disabled sister at home. Our narrator the sister explored the family dynamics and how’s it impacted her own life and feelings about people but while also pretty capturing what grief can do in exploring relationships there is a touch of the supernatural casting a shadow over this family. The horror though is we as readers just realise what’s actually going on just ahead of our main character and we are left to see what can happen next. Powerfully unsettling.

Rag and Bone - a gorgeous supernatural historical with a slightly distorted version of 19th century Liverpool. Our narrator is a rag and bone man who has a sideline for one of the wealthy industrial families securing people. The historical details as a local to Liverpool are well captured and this story is full of surprises on gender, capitalism and even the dawning of the socialist trade union movement. It’s tragic horror and Sharma even makes us feel worse things could come after the final page. I loved this one.

The Anatomist’s Mnemonic - a tale of a young man forever apparently fated by a fortune teller to fall for a woman with perfect hands. This moves him into life drawing but a chance encounter with an omens who he clicks with and yet does not have the hands he desires causes a quandary. This could have been a romance but it really isn’t and we are flatfooted ad to how this tale ends nastily but delivered so well to surprise us.

The Sunflower Seed Man - this is a tale of grief when a family tragically loses a husband and a father. We feel the pain the mother feels which she is starting to push onto her daughter but a chance idea to grow sunflowers crates something much darker and nastier. This is a monster tale and we feel the drama and separate resolution really power the story’s second half. Wonderfully strange and a creepy character awaits you!

The Ballad of Boomtown - Off to 21st century island and one of the many development towns that have gone to the dogs in the economic downturn. We follow an unusual character shopping and get the feeling few like her. Sharma carefully explains her past and why it’s causing so much pain, horror can often feel unfair and a tragedy through no fault of someone else can still devastate your life. It’s a tale filled with regret, dark shadows and feels it will never end.

The Show - this story takes to the filming of a paranormal investigation show that fans of Most Haunted may recognise, but this show’s physic while fake does have some family secrets. Everything is about to go very very wrong and the familiar set up of these type of shows becomes a horror tale in its own right is a great idea and captured perfectly.

Pearls - to New York and this tale imagines Medusa survived and has passed the centuries hiding among us. A new neighbour entranced her but he’s very likely to not survive a first date. The origin of Medusa is explored and built upon to touch on tales of abuse, murder and male egos. A fascinating main character human and yet not and despite it all this tale has a chance of some hope.

Small Town Stories - a really haunting tale of a young woman whose teenage years have cast a huge shadow on her life. Sharma gives us clues as to what has happened and how it’s wrecked our narrator’s life but the tale is even more heartbreaking than we think. Another favourite as it captures real life and yet a hint of the supernatural is making the tale even more powerful. Everything leaves shadows.

The Rising Tide - a medical doctor is living in squalor and feeling tormented. We walk through what’s brought her to this from early life choices to a single mistake. Ghost stories don’t always end in justice that we feel fair this indeed brings horror to us to consider was this deserved.

Fabulous Beasts - the final tale is dark, filled with family secrets and handles the subject of abuse. We watch a Wirral based family full of little rivalries, growing up and friendships and yet there is a sense of both mothers not telling their daughters everything and something more supernatural running in the family. It builds the relationships of this working class community really well, we are fully invested in the main characters and then when a truly evil character arrives the story feels even more tragic. The ending is powerful and bittersweet

This is a wonderful collection filled with a host of excellent stories. Engraving, disturbing and thoughtful it weaves the supernatural into our work to cast a light on dark subjects and communities we tend to not focus on. I absolutely loved and highly recommend it!