Reggie Oliver > Quotes

“Darkness is a strange thing — it is both infinite and confining; it holds you tight in its grasp, but it holds you suspended in a void. Silence operates in a similar way. Slowly the two combine to become a threat.

("Come Into My Parlour")”
― Reggie Oliver

“The celebrations go on for many hours,' said the woman. Above her, in the sky, a firework exploded, showering multi-coloured flames across the stars. 'You can pay fealty at any time.' Another firework tore open the sky, streams of colour painting the woman's shift blue and green, throwing their shadows downwards. For a moment, the woman's shadow self moved against the shadow Fillingham, pressing to him, and then another explosion above them sent them dancing apart, wavering, their edges rimed with yellow and reds, and then the woman was moving again.

("The Cotswold Olimpicks")”
― Reggie Oliver, Best New Horror 24

“There are some people who belong to the land of the dead and some who belong to the land of the living. And there are some who stand between the two, keeping open the door. These are the artists, dreamers, philosophers and mystics. They are strange people who tell of strange things. We must be patient with them. I myself, in my humble way, stand between these two worlds. I make the pastries. I wait. We all have our roles, as I believe you do.”
― Reggie Oliver, Flowers of the Sea

“Despite their displays of bravado, young boys can be peculiarly susceptible to atmosphere

("Between Four Yews")”
― Reggie Oliver, Best New Horror 24

“Fillingham first saw the women by the dwile flonkers. He had spent the day walking around Dover's Hill, the shallow amphitheatre where the Cotswold Olimpick Games took place and had taken, he thought, some good photographs so far. The place was heaving and he had captured some of that, he hoped; the shifting bustle as people flocked from event to event and laughed and shouted and ate and drank. The sound of cymbals and mandolins and violins and guitars filled the air about the crowd, leaping around the brightly costumed figures and the smells of roasting meat and open fires.

("The Cotswold Olimpicks")”
― Reggie Oliver, Best New Horror 24

“Hillingham first saw the women by the dwile flonkers. He had spent the day walking around Dover's Hill, the shallow amphitheatre where the Cotswold Olimpick Games took place and had taken, he thought, some good photographs so far. The place was heaving and he had captured some of that, he hoped; the shifting bustle as people flocked from event to event and laughed and shouted and ate and drank. The sound of cymbals and mandolins and violins and guitars filled the air about the crowd, leaping around the brightly costumed figures and the smells of roasting meat and open fires.

("The Cotswold Olimpicks")”
― Reggie Oliver, Best New Horror 24

“Of course,' he said, 'it is possible to be haunted by the living as by the dead.”
― Reggie Oliver, A Maze for the Minotaur

“But surely,’ I said at last, ‘Love is stronger than Death?’ ‘We must believe so, Martin, even when it appears to be untrue.”
― Reggie Oliver, The Ballet of Dr Caligari and Madder Mysteries