Bite Sized Horror

by Johnny Mains (Editor), Conrad Williams, David A. Riley

CONTENTS

Brighton Redemption by Reggie Oliver
The Between by Paul Kane
His Pale Blue Eyes by David A. Riley
The Unquiet Bones by Marie O’ Regan
The Rookery by Johnny Mains
The Carbon Heart by Conrad Williams

86 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2011

Reviews

[Richard Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been looking forward to this, the first volume of the Obverse Quarterly, four slim paperbacks covering all branches of genre fiction, delivered every three months or so as part of a very nice subscription package (they can also be picked up individually from the Obverse website). For me, it's a beautiful little White Elephant stall of a experiment - for the most part, I've no idea what's heading my way, and look forward to finding some things I would otherwise never have stumbled across. Of the four books making up the first year, Bite-Sized Horror is the most predictable, a slim anthology of six horror stores, doing exactly what it says on the tin. By and large, the selection is excellent. While a couple of stories missed the mark for me, others hit the spot. Despite his writing having been around for a while, I'm new to Reggie Oliver's work, but I can see why he's so well regarded. While the plotting is a little predictable, the presentation of mood and place in The Brighton Redemption is extremely affecting. David A. Riley's His Pale Blue Eyes where's its zombie post-apocalypse heart on its sleeve, but still manages to surprise with a cold and brutal ending. The last stand out for me was The Carbon Heart by Conrad Williams, a disorienting and slightly surreal nightmare that closes the book in bewildering style. An excellent first quarter, then. Bring on the next!