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After Shocks
The really unexpected thing lay on the other side of the door—a cave, or at least the entrance to one; a narrow cleft in the bedrock of the mountain, without doubt of natural origin. Its walls were smooth, but slimy and rippled, while its roof was low and jagged with stalactites. It angled sharply down, the dull light penetrating far enough into it to show a right-hand turn about thirty feet along, beyond which there was only blackness. A dank subterranean breath flowed out, redolent of deep-earth chasms and underground lakes. Water dripped in the furthest depths.’ Rob and Gina’s dream house in the Derbyshire Peaks seems perfect in every respect; until a furious pounding awakens them in the middle of the night. It seems to be coming from behind the locked door in their cellar; a door which leads into a vast network of underground caverns, which at first appear empty. Before long, however, the couple realise that the caverns have their own inhabitants; ones who won’t be kept out merely by a wooden door . . . Welcome to the world of Paul Finch: a world in which the ordinary and the everyday are rarely what they seem, and where the forces of the past are constantly intruding on the present. It's a world in which an innocuous-looking holiday camp turns out to provide a vacation from hell, where the search for an elusive book raises spectres from the past, and where a ruined castle exerts an inexorable pull over those unfortunate enough to visit. It is, in short, a world where nothing can be taken for granted; something the characters of these stories only realise when it is far, far too late. Paul Finch’s stories have appeared in numerous small press publications on both sides of the Atlantic. Ash-Tree Press is proud to be presenting, in After Shocks, the first collection of supernatural tales from one of the most exciting contemporary writers in the field. CONTENTS: Introduction; The Knock at the Cellar Door; The After Shock; Devils of Lakeland; The Magic Lantern Show; The Wolfman’s House; Eleanor’s Garden; A Night on Dragon Rock; February; Teresa’s Torment; To the Castle; The Altar; August; The Hotel on the Borderland; The Punch and Judy Man; September; The Dandy Dogs; Enemy Ours; The Fimbulwinter. Jacket painting is by Tony Patrick
- GenresHorror
262 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2001
3 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Paul Finch
206 books462 followersPaul Finch is a former cop and journalist, now full-time writer. Having originally written for the television series THE BILL plus children's animation and DOCTOR WHO audio dramas, he went on to write horror, but is now best known for his crime / thriller fiction.
He won the British Fantasy Award twice and the International Horror Guild Award, but since then has written two parallel series of hard-hitting crime novels, the Heck and the Lucy Clayburn novels, of which three titles have become best-sellers.
Paul lives in Wigan, Lancashire, UK with his wife and children.
He won the British Fantasy Award twice and the International Horror Guild Award, but since then has written two parallel series of hard-hitting crime novels, the Heck and the Lucy Clayburn novels, of which three titles have become best-sellers.
Paul lives in Wigan, Lancashire, UK with his wife and children.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 11, 2012
Dark, gloomy and morbid. Just how I like it. The first story really was something quite special.
September 18, 2023
This book has been one of my white whales. I know what you’re thinking. An Ash Tree book of ghost stories that’s hard to find and/or expensive? Never!
After Shocks is a very good looking book. Everything about it. Cool, evocative cover. Intriguing titles. Even the length to story ratio is appealing. But was it worth hemming and hawing over, searching again and again for a cheaper copy, for years, before finally pulling the trigger?
Definitely. My only real complaint was that most of these are not horror tales, per se. More weird or uncanny. I wanted a little more atmosphere.
One thing I definitely appreciated was the variation from story to story. A lot of horror or weird collections can become a little monotonous. Not so here. Finch has a good eye for switching up setting, time, place, era, tone. I was not familiar with him at all so I was half-expecting something like Alabaster Hand or Nine Ghosts, two great collections despite the stories within feeling very similar from one to the next (I know a guy who knows a guy who found an old book or artifact in an old house or church and some shit went down—not knocking it, it’s my drug of choice.)
Overall, a very good read. I will be tracking down as much of Finch’s horror material as I can find. And I’ll definitely be revisiting some of these stories in future. Recommended.
This book deserves a wider audience. There should be tons of blog posts reviewing and analyzing some of these stories. They really have a lot of depth and nuance, often with ambiguous, thought-provoking endings, not to mention a careful use of language. I don’t usually leave story-by-story impressions—although I love when others do—but maybe it will persuade another reader to look out for After Shocks.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Knock at the Cellar Door - A man and his pregnant wife move to the country. Their secluded home—bought surprisingly cheap, of course—boasts a very mysterious cellar door. Very good, with familiar elements but still surprising.
The After Shock - I love ghost stories and weird stories about trains, train stations, and train journeys. This was a good one, though the end was a little too tepid.
Devils of Lakeland - A grieving man tries to make sense of his brother’s unexpected suicide at a place where the family had once vacationed. Excellent. The kind of story that is economical with exposition and all the more effective for it. Interesting end.
The Magic Lantern Show - A pre-Ripper Christmas yarn about a serial killer targeting the residents of one of Victorian England’s Irish slums. Okay. Well-written, but lacking something that would take it to the next level.
The Wolfman’s House - A struggling genre writer tracks down an urban legend. Fun and unexpected.
Eleanor’s Garden - A reporter visits the home of a big game hunter. Very Alfred Hitchcock Presents it Tales of the Unexpected.
A Night on Dragon Rock - A loser returns to his ancestral home hoping his national hero uncle will pay his debts so he can continue being a degenerate. Fantastic. A more abbreviated, Jamesian-wallop ending could have made it more memorable, though.
February - Two escaped cons get, what else, more than they bargained for when they choose to take cover in an abandoned holiday camp. Great story.
Teresa‘s Torment - A man visits his aunt who had gotten herself to a nunnery fifty years prior. I think this was a short and amusing little story, but I read it out loud to my teething bulldog puppy to distract him from nibbling me and everything in sight so I can’t be sure. I’d like to read it again to see if there are more clues possibly indicating the circumstances surrounding an event about which the text only hints.
To the Castle - A professor of medieval history looks to the past to escape his modern problems. This was another one with strong atmosphere. You know… something is messed up, things don’t make sense, what the heck could be going on. Reminded me of Dahl or Bradbury.
The Alter - A troubled priest serving an inner city parish discovers some competition. Not sure what to make of this one. Original. I think I may have missed something, though. Worth another look.
August - Alan wants nothing more than to spend the bank holiday plopped on a deck chair in his backyard, but his wife insists they pick up her annoying family and spend the day at the beach being miserable together. Another Twilight Zone ending I don’t get. Really not sure what to make of the last scene. (The radio didn’t work when he returned to the car. When he got home the house was empty and messy, so clearly his house-proud wife hadn’t been around for some time.) Maybe another read would help. Enjoyable story but since the ending went over my head I can’t say I loved it. May feel differently on a re-read because the buildup was enjoyable. And relatable.
The Hotel on the Borderland - More Irish folklore, this time in Limerick, aka Stab City. A beautifully written, dark fairy tale.
The Punch and Judy Man - A couple of gangster businessmen try to revive a seaside pier that was the site of a past tragedy. Not bad but not something I need to ever read again.
September - Two schoolboys poach conkers (acorns) for their catapults (slingshots) from the land of a dying madman, only to be haunted/hunted by a driverless tractor. My least favorite, I think.
The Dandy Dogs - A horror story writer visits the presbytery (rectory) of an old friend, now a priest, and in the study beside a crackling fire the priest tells a “terrifying” and “true” story. This is more like it. There’s an age old trick in the telling of ghost stories to increase verisimilitude—nested narrators or stories within stories—the narrator finds a document or meets somebody who tells the story. This story is very Hound of the Baskervilles and it’s another that left me with a few questions. Maybe a second reading would reveal the answers. Loved the setup more than the set down.
Enemy Ours - A trio of environmental loons shipwreck on a small island run by oil barons, but this is far from a safe harbor. Something fishy is going on here. Okay; bit lacking in dread and horror, maybe too short a story. I thought we were headed to Lovecraft Land but turned out it was Creature Feature City. Once again Finch keeps things interesting by completely changing the milieu, though.
The Fimbulwinter - A global blizzardy winter strikes and a policeman investigates strange events in this apocalyptic tale. Another of the stories that veers too much away from horror towards sci-fi/action for my taste. It’s hard to muster any enthusiasm for those types of short stories. In my view, it should stick to the mystery and buildup, not the predetermined climax. I was hoping the collection went out on a bang and this story seemed promising—inexplicable blizzard conditions, a violent murder, reports of a “tall man” scaring children. Shame it took a turn.
NOTE TO SELF, AKA
ADDENDUM OF NERDY STATS: 9/19/23
ADDED TO GR WANT LIST: 11/24/20
ORDERED BOOK: 10/13/21
MARKED READ ON GR: 11/20/21*
REVIEWED ON GR: 8/10/22*
HANKERING TO RE-READ: 9/19/23
PAUL FINCH HORROR BOOKS BOUGHT SINCE: ALL OF THEM OR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!
Don’t understand this discrepancy, but I think I did read it Summer 2022, tho it’s entirely possible I started it Winter 2021 and took my time. But then I wouldn’t have marked it as “read,” though, as I only do so when a book is complete.
All of these dates fascinate because in such a short period of time I somehow became quite the Finch connoisseur. It’s hard to believe I’ve collected and read so much of his work in just 11 months (since August 2022.) 22 months makes more sense (since November 2021.) Especially given how much non-Finch books and comics and manga I’ve read in the same period. And the fact that I’m a slow reader.
After Shocks is a very good looking book. Everything about it. Cool, evocative cover. Intriguing titles. Even the length to story ratio is appealing. But was it worth hemming and hawing over, searching again and again for a cheaper copy, for years, before finally pulling the trigger?
Definitely. My only real complaint was that most of these are not horror tales, per se. More weird or uncanny. I wanted a little more atmosphere.
One thing I definitely appreciated was the variation from story to story. A lot of horror or weird collections can become a little monotonous. Not so here. Finch has a good eye for switching up setting, time, place, era, tone. I was not familiar with him at all so I was half-expecting something like Alabaster Hand or Nine Ghosts, two great collections despite the stories within feeling very similar from one to the next (I know a guy who knows a guy who found an old book or artifact in an old house or church and some shit went down—not knocking it, it’s my drug of choice.)
Overall, a very good read. I will be tracking down as much of Finch’s horror material as I can find. And I’ll definitely be revisiting some of these stories in future. Recommended.
This book deserves a wider audience. There should be tons of blog posts reviewing and analyzing some of these stories. They really have a lot of depth and nuance, often with ambiguous, thought-provoking endings, not to mention a careful use of language. I don’t usually leave story-by-story impressions—although I love when others do—but maybe it will persuade another reader to look out for After Shocks.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Knock at the Cellar Door - A man and his pregnant wife move to the country. Their secluded home—bought surprisingly cheap, of course—boasts a very mysterious cellar door. Very good, with familiar elements but still surprising.
The After Shock - I love ghost stories and weird stories about trains, train stations, and train journeys. This was a good one, though the end was a little too tepid.
Devils of Lakeland - A grieving man tries to make sense of his brother’s unexpected suicide at a place where the family had once vacationed. Excellent. The kind of story that is economical with exposition and all the more effective for it. Interesting end.
The Magic Lantern Show - A pre-Ripper Christmas yarn about a serial killer targeting the residents of one of Victorian England’s Irish slums. Okay. Well-written, but lacking something that would take it to the next level.
The Wolfman’s House - A struggling genre writer tracks down an urban legend. Fun and unexpected.
Eleanor’s Garden - A reporter visits the home of a big game hunter. Very Alfred Hitchcock Presents it Tales of the Unexpected.
A Night on Dragon Rock - A loser returns to his ancestral home hoping his national hero uncle will pay his debts so he can continue being a degenerate. Fantastic. A more abbreviated, Jamesian-wallop ending could have made it more memorable, though.
February - Two escaped cons get, what else, more than they bargained for when they choose to take cover in an abandoned holiday camp. Great story.
Teresa‘s Torment - A man visits his aunt who had gotten herself to a nunnery fifty years prior. I think this was a short and amusing little story, but I read it out loud to my teething bulldog puppy to distract him from nibbling me and everything in sight so I can’t be sure. I’d like to read it again to see if there are more clues possibly indicating the circumstances surrounding an event about which the text only hints.
To the Castle - A professor of medieval history looks to the past to escape his modern problems. This was another one with strong atmosphere. You know… something is messed up, things don’t make sense, what the heck could be going on. Reminded me of Dahl or Bradbury.
The Alter - A troubled priest serving an inner city parish discovers some competition. Not sure what to make of this one. Original. I think I may have missed something, though. Worth another look.
August - Alan wants nothing more than to spend the bank holiday plopped on a deck chair in his backyard, but his wife insists they pick up her annoying family and spend the day at the beach being miserable together. Another Twilight Zone ending I don’t get. Really not sure what to make of the last scene. (The radio didn’t work when he returned to the car. When he got home the house was empty and messy, so clearly his house-proud wife hadn’t been around for some time.) Maybe another read would help. Enjoyable story but since the ending went over my head I can’t say I loved it. May feel differently on a re-read because the buildup was enjoyable. And relatable.
The Hotel on the Borderland - More Irish folklore, this time in Limerick, aka Stab City. A beautifully written, dark fairy tale.
The Punch and Judy Man - A couple of gangster businessmen try to revive a seaside pier that was the site of a past tragedy. Not bad but not something I need to ever read again.
September - Two schoolboys poach conkers (acorns) for their catapults (slingshots) from the land of a dying madman, only to be haunted/hunted by a driverless tractor. My least favorite, I think.
The Dandy Dogs - A horror story writer visits the presbytery (rectory) of an old friend, now a priest, and in the study beside a crackling fire the priest tells a “terrifying” and “true” story. This is more like it. There’s an age old trick in the telling of ghost stories to increase verisimilitude—nested narrators or stories within stories—the narrator finds a document or meets somebody who tells the story. This story is very Hound of the Baskervilles and it’s another that left me with a few questions. Maybe a second reading would reveal the answers. Loved the setup more than the set down.
Enemy Ours - A trio of environmental loons shipwreck on a small island run by oil barons, but this is far from a safe harbor. Something fishy is going on here. Okay; bit lacking in dread and horror, maybe too short a story. I thought we were headed to Lovecraft Land but turned out it was Creature Feature City. Once again Finch keeps things interesting by completely changing the milieu, though.
The Fimbulwinter - A global blizzardy winter strikes and a policeman investigates strange events in this apocalyptic tale. Another of the stories that veers too much away from horror towards sci-fi/action for my taste. It’s hard to muster any enthusiasm for those types of short stories. In my view, it should stick to the mystery and buildup, not the predetermined climax. I was hoping the collection went out on a bang and this story seemed promising—inexplicable blizzard conditions, a violent murder, reports of a “tall man” scaring children. Shame it took a turn.
NOTE TO SELF, AKA
ADDENDUM OF NERDY STATS: 9/19/23
ADDED TO GR WANT LIST: 11/24/20
ORDERED BOOK: 10/13/21
MARKED READ ON GR: 11/20/21*
REVIEWED ON GR: 8/10/22*
HANKERING TO RE-READ: 9/19/23
PAUL FINCH HORROR BOOKS BOUGHT SINCE: ALL OF THEM OR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!
Don’t understand this discrepancy, but I think I did read it Summer 2022, tho it’s entirely possible I started it Winter 2021 and took my time. But then I wouldn’t have marked it as “read,” though, as I only do so when a book is complete.
All of these dates fascinate because in such a short period of time I somehow became quite the Finch connoisseur. It’s hard to believe I’ve collected and read so much of his work in just 11 months (since August 2022.) 22 months makes more sense (since November 2021.) Especially given how much non-Finch books and comics and manga I’ve read in the same period. And the fact that I’m a slow reader.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews