Tales Nocturnal by Tim Foley

I would like to thank PS Publishing for an advance copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - PS Publishing

Published - Out Now

Price - £14.99 paperback

This collection of uncanny tales invites us into a world where a subtle frisson awaits, a world where the sense that something is chillingly wrong lurks just beneath the familiar rituals of everyday life. A classic muscle car hides a dark, secret history. The shade of a lonely bride broods in a hotel room, longing for a friend. A cynical musician confronts a closet door that, without explanation, refuses to stay shut.

For the past dozen years, Tim Foley’s stories have appeared in journals and anthologies, offering modern takes on the supernatural tale, creating a sharp sense of unease in the reader. Gathered here in his first collection, these stories offer gentle mystery and creeping dread. Seventeen Tales Nocturnal, to be read late in the evening, when the spirits are near.

The horror short story allows for a quick sharp shock or a brush with the uncanny. By the end of it we get the feeling reality isn’t quite what we thought it was and that should give us pause for thought and a reminder the worst moments in our lives can come at you in surprising directions. In Tim Foley’s impressive horror collection Tales Nocturnal - A Collection of Stories of the Uncanny a very impressive range of chilling tales await.

Along the many stories I enjoyed were:

Galen’s Closet - this story takes to modern San Francisco and set around a coming rock band and a slightly singer obsessed fan. But the story takes a big left turn when we encounter the closet the title refers to. A historic murder leaves an unusual impression that both is creepy and unusual with the effect it has on people. It’s menacing and that’s delivered by an empty closet which is pretty damn impressive.

Snowman, Frozen - occasionally stories feature people we don’t like and Arthur a slightly pretentious and greedy author trying to finish a screenplay he can’t deliver is a prime example. Here though the take of isolation works well to make us feel his sense of being alone and who think Snowmen could be dangerous? This story will make you watch them carefully.

Nineteen Sixty-Five Ford Falcon - our narrator is trying to make us buy his car but he then tells us why he needs to sell it. A haunted car story brimming with danger and also a young man finding his life getting destroyed. Really impressive.

The House Opposite - a young couple reluctantly downsize when a man loses his job. In his new small apartment he is entranced by the rundown house opposite them. Many people try to tell him to ignore it and one day he tries the door. A really impressive weird horror tale ramping up the tension up to a floor opening and then showing us something strange and unexplainable.

A Hitch - an older man tells us of a hitchhike when he was young. This is that idea of meeting someone you’ve never met who unsettled you but also changes what you think you know about yourself. I loved the unexplainable here nothing horrible happens but are things now forever changed?

Room 413, Silver Spruce Hotel - a tough journalist tells us about her most frightening experience which was simply a night stay over at a hotel. It appears to be a haunted room take but Foley jolts us with the final much more dramatic and horrible final act. A brush with danger seems much more threatening than I was expecting initially.

Aneurism - a man tells us of how he collapsed of an aneurism but the real horror is where he ends up while unconscious. It’s a tale of childhood guilt and the idea we can’t run away from our past sins. Ominous and leaves us unsure where he goes next.

Flowers Along the Seawall - a good old school bar tale of haunting in San Francisco but a really good last act to put icing and a cherry on a scary cake to tuck into.

The Sound of Children Playing - this story is more eerie and haunting as a young man meets a much changed friend. He asks for help looking at the strange run down desert house his dad lived in that was a former school. It’s a tale of sadness as we see an estranged father son take but also the supernatural here isn’t trying to scare but it shows us a world we didn’t know was there. Mysterious and makes an impact as to what was going on all these years.

The Ghost of Niles Canyon - this also gives us a classic haunted hitchhiker take but then immerse us in the story a little differently and that difference makes us wonder what could happen next. Old school but very polished.

Emir - a neighbour encounters Emir a few times who behaviour is a little strange. His untimely death means our narrator is asked to help sell some books and that’s when the story goes into occult territory not just the strange people very interested in the books but what effect the books have on our main character. It’s a brush with the very strange that makes the big impact here. One of my favourites

House of Spiders, Man of the Woods - I love this story as we have two dual plots. Our main characters family breakup and his mother taking them to a deserted empty place to possibly hide and a strange figure met in the woods. Danger lies in not but we are not sure which is real and then we see where we should have been watching - dark and nasty but feels so very real.

A very impressive collection I highly recommend for the cold twilight spring evenings!