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Vetala Cycle #3
Hell's Teeth
Out at sea, off the coast of Gallipoli, the black teeth of Cape Helles await!
Gallipoli, 1916. The campaign is lost. The Turks are driving the Anzacs from their dugouts. Amongst them is Tom Potter, a man who left England in disgrace, hoping to start his life over in New Zealand. But his ghosts have not let him go and, when he is cast adrift, lost at sea, they seek him out, they maroon him upon a grey and dismal island. A place where Tom discovers he is not alone, that he is being watched by horrors who have fed upon the blood spilled in the trenches of Passchendaele and the streets of London, and now, they wish to feed upon him.
Gallipoli, 1916. The campaign is lost. The Turks are driving the Anzacs from their dugouts. Amongst them is Tom Potter, a man who left England in disgrace, hoping to start his life over in New Zealand. But his ghosts have not let him go and, when he is cast adrift, lost at sea, they seek him out, they maroon him upon a grey and dismal island. A place where Tom discovers he is not alone, that he is being watched by horrors who have fed upon the blood spilled in the trenches of Passchendaele and the streets of London, and now, they wish to feed upon him.
152 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 19, 2012
2 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
G.R. Yeates
13 books59 followersG.R. Yeates was born in Rochford, Essex and studied Literature & Media at the Colchester Insitute.
He has lived in China where he taught English as a foreign language.
A life-long interest in the First World War and world mythology inspired his series of vampire novels, The Vetala Cycle.
He has lived in China where he taught English as a foreign language.
A life-long interest in the First World War and world mythology inspired his series of vampire novels, The Vetala Cycle.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 17, 2012
First published back in March of 2012, British author G.R. Yeates’ (aka Gregory James) novella ‘Hell’s Teeth’ formed the third and final instalment into the author’s debut ‘Vetala Cycle’ trilogy.
DLS Synopsis:
It’s 1916 and the world is thoroughly in the grip of the First World World. At the peninsula of Gallipoli, the Turks are pushing forwards, forcing the Anzacs into a desperate retreat. The air is thick with smoke, the trenches a cesspit of decaying flesh. The dead are everywhere and the flies form pockets of thick black clouds across the sky.
Thomas Potter hides away in his Funk hole, taking each miserable day as it comes. After leaving his homeland of England in disgrace, he finds himself in the thick of the atrocities; acting as a runner in the Brigade Staff. He thinks back to when he was sent on a mission that one particular mission that would send his life spiralling downwards into a nightmare wrapped in the foul gloom of the Grey. A mission to rendezvous with the Colonel Bentley out in the sandy wilderness, where Potter found himself disorientated and lost, unsure of how to return back to the Mena camp.
Searching around the seemingly endless desert for a way back to the camp, Potter had been carried upon his trusty horse ‘Old Duty’ down into an underground cavern where death was lurking. From within the dark shadows that pool around the underground lair, in swirling grey tendrils that transfix the lost solider, the Vetala had been waiting. And Potter’s arrival into their lair had doomed him for life. His escape from their grip is only fleeting.
Back in the Mena camp, when the retreat is finally called and the soldiers take to the sea off the coasts of Gallipoli, all hell comes thundering down onto the desperately fleeing men. The motorized lighter boat is ripped apart. Blown from the water, the soldiers are slaughtered and drowned. But Tom Potter somehow survives. Together with Lieutenant Bell, they float on their makeshift raft through the sea to face the black teeth of Cape Helles. Washed up on the shores of an unknown island, the two marooned soldiers cling to life with the tragedy of their own madness keeping them alive.
But they are not alone on the island. Tom’s life was doomed from the moment he stepped foot into the Vetala’s lair. From the moment he was chosen as a victim. From the moment he was cursed. Thomas Potter’s own private hell is about to be realised, and it’s a hell that will always remain with him through the rest of his life. Torment is real. The Gravelands are waiting for the cursed. And the Vetala are ready to feed...
DLS Review:
Here we have the final part in Yeates’ bleak and utterly depressive Vetala Cycle trilogy. The first thing that becomes instantly apparent to the reader is that Yeates has changed course quite drastically with the structuring of this final part. Unlike the first two instalments which flowed with a clear-guided direction and purpose, in ‘Hell’s Teeth’ the reader is almost instantly submerged into a storyline that is seemingly stuck in an eternal loop; jumping back and forth between our protagonists woeful time at the frontline in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, memories leading up to the point when his life went to hell, and finally the doomed man’s bleak and eternally-cursed future.
Yeates has clearly set out from the start to encapsulate the very essence of his Vetala mythos within this final instalment. What we are thusly given is a bleak and nightmarish vision of one man’s life, which is forever locked in a spiral of maddening misery, all as a result of his escape from the grasp of the Vetala.
The overall concept and structure that is adopted is a daring and challenging format to take on board. The storyline constantly jumps between particularly significant stages of our protagonist’s life, through a seemingly endless spiral of nightmares, vivid recollections and memory-sparking experiences. This in itself initially creates a fog of confusion for the reader, with the storyline never flowing in a singular line but instead jumping about everywhere. Indeed, the reader has to stay utterly engaged with the events of the novel throughout, or else they are likely to lose track of the time, place, or positioning of the nightmarish events taking place.
Furthermore, Yeates’ influences and writing style seems to have changed somewhat since the first two instalments. Instead of the more direct and splatterpunk-cum-pulp-horror approach that was so utterly prevalent in the earlier two books, here Yeates has adopted a more atmospheric and disorientating style of writing – taking the reader back to the style of writing of H.P. Lovecraft or indeed Algernon Blackwood. Now, instead of a near-constant barrage of grotesque horror forming a visceral assault on the reader, we have a much more subdued (but in no way less terrifying) approach.
The tale feels more like a constantly circling nightmare than anything else. Yeates’ atmospherically geared prose furthers the disorientating experience, making every action or event a disturbingly blurred vision of the chaotic and horrifying nightmare that it most certainly is.
With the storyline jumping to a seemingly modern-day setting, the reader is given a glimpse of our tired and frail protagonist, left alone to carry the burden of his nightmares whilst the Vetala remain in possession of his soul. Once again, even in this here-and-now setting, the writing maintains the foggish nightmare approach, painting a strange and downright creepy image of our protagonists final days, much of which is set within a sinister ‘Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth’ (1992) take upon a nightmare sequence.
Whether the novella is a stronger addition to the trilogy than the previous two instalments is open to debate. It’s boldly different and quite obviously serves a different role. Indeed, the approach, construction and prose are quite far removed from the previous instalments. But where ‘Eyes Of The Dead’ (2011) and ‘Shapes In The Mist’ (2011) force-fed the reader a bitter meal of sadism, violence and vein-clogging horror, ‘Hell’s Teeth’ instead submerges and envelops the reader in a spiralling blanket of horror.
Unfortunately, the writing does occasionally get swallowed up in its own ambiguity, with nightmarish scenes falling in upon themselves with slightly muddled and overcrowded descriptions. What we have is something akin to Lovecraftian depictions of a maddening out-of-control horror that has mutated and gone cancerous. And in doing so, Yeates messes with the reader’s head and just keeps on pushing those goddamn unnerving buttons. Does Yeates’ go too far with the novel’s strange descriptiveness? I have to admit to becoming lost and slightly derailed at times. On a handful of occasions it just felt too clogged, too suggestive, and too opaque. The horror and atmosphere was there, but the flood of nightmarish descriptions ends up potentially drowning the reader rather than sending them to the nightmarish hell that the author was obviously aiming for.
But these slight criticisms pale in comparison to the astonishing piece of haunting horror fiction that’s ripped from the festering belly of the First World War. It’s a circling nightmare sent to torture this poor wretch. Yeates immerses the tale in the stink, the grime and the decay of a war torn battlefield. He casts hope to the side and promises nothing but misery and despair. And he delivers the monsters that are lurking behind the shadows in absolute abundance.
The novella runs for a total of 166 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
The book also contains the following bonus material:
The Last Post - 23 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
It’s Christmas Eve 1914 and midnight is approaching. As the soldiers hunker down for another bitter cold night in the trenches bordering No Man’s Land, the few on sentry duty during the cold winter night know there is little hope of a seasonal respite from their duties. Lieutenant Reynolds offers what little good news he can to the three soldiers on watch – Charley, Bennett and Jimmy. But there is little to raise their hope during the bleak hours of darkness.
And then they hear the faint sound of singing across the way. German soldiers, joined in a chorus of ‘Silent Night’. And then, from across No Man’s Land they see the blurred shapes advancing through the wispy fog. Figures walking through the perilous ground between the two opposing sides. But there is more than festive cheer here in the ravaged Western Front. The Vetala are here. Torn from the ground they are ready to feed. And feed they will…
As a final addition to the trilogy, Yeates has drawn upon the legendary ‘Christmas Truce’ along the Western Front to set his final conclusion to the First World War set Vetala Cycle mythos. Already wrapped up in a wealth of nostalgic emotion, Yeates inches closer and closer to the great moment of the ceasefire, when suddenly he chooses to pounce. From out of nowhere we’re back in the vicious throngs of Vetala chaos; thrust into the last post before those that have fallen pass over into the Greylands. And with a somewhat out-of-character twist, Yeates ends the mythos on a somewhat different note to what we have come to expect. And it ends darn well.
The Song of the Cycle - a Creation Myth - 3 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
Here we have the lyrics for a strange and somewhat eerie song to the Vetala Cycle that wraps the trilogy up in its chilling words, touching upon much of the nightmarish world that we have glimpsed through the three novellas.
Preview of ‘From The Shadows, I Hear Screams’ – 9 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
Finally we have a short preview of Yeates’ forthcoming Vetala Cycle novella planned for 2013 entitled ‘From The Shadows, I Hear Screams’ which takes the mythos on to the Second World War.
DLS Synopsis:
It’s 1916 and the world is thoroughly in the grip of the First World World. At the peninsula of Gallipoli, the Turks are pushing forwards, forcing the Anzacs into a desperate retreat. The air is thick with smoke, the trenches a cesspit of decaying flesh. The dead are everywhere and the flies form pockets of thick black clouds across the sky.
Thomas Potter hides away in his Funk hole, taking each miserable day as it comes. After leaving his homeland of England in disgrace, he finds himself in the thick of the atrocities; acting as a runner in the Brigade Staff. He thinks back to when he was sent on a mission that one particular mission that would send his life spiralling downwards into a nightmare wrapped in the foul gloom of the Grey. A mission to rendezvous with the Colonel Bentley out in the sandy wilderness, where Potter found himself disorientated and lost, unsure of how to return back to the Mena camp.
Searching around the seemingly endless desert for a way back to the camp, Potter had been carried upon his trusty horse ‘Old Duty’ down into an underground cavern where death was lurking. From within the dark shadows that pool around the underground lair, in swirling grey tendrils that transfix the lost solider, the Vetala had been waiting. And Potter’s arrival into their lair had doomed him for life. His escape from their grip is only fleeting.
Back in the Mena camp, when the retreat is finally called and the soldiers take to the sea off the coasts of Gallipoli, all hell comes thundering down onto the desperately fleeing men. The motorized lighter boat is ripped apart. Blown from the water, the soldiers are slaughtered and drowned. But Tom Potter somehow survives. Together with Lieutenant Bell, they float on their makeshift raft through the sea to face the black teeth of Cape Helles. Washed up on the shores of an unknown island, the two marooned soldiers cling to life with the tragedy of their own madness keeping them alive.
But they are not alone on the island. Tom’s life was doomed from the moment he stepped foot into the Vetala’s lair. From the moment he was chosen as a victim. From the moment he was cursed. Thomas Potter’s own private hell is about to be realised, and it’s a hell that will always remain with him through the rest of his life. Torment is real. The Gravelands are waiting for the cursed. And the Vetala are ready to feed...
DLS Review:
Here we have the final part in Yeates’ bleak and utterly depressive Vetala Cycle trilogy. The first thing that becomes instantly apparent to the reader is that Yeates has changed course quite drastically with the structuring of this final part. Unlike the first two instalments which flowed with a clear-guided direction and purpose, in ‘Hell’s Teeth’ the reader is almost instantly submerged into a storyline that is seemingly stuck in an eternal loop; jumping back and forth between our protagonists woeful time at the frontline in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, memories leading up to the point when his life went to hell, and finally the doomed man’s bleak and eternally-cursed future.
Yeates has clearly set out from the start to encapsulate the very essence of his Vetala mythos within this final instalment. What we are thusly given is a bleak and nightmarish vision of one man’s life, which is forever locked in a spiral of maddening misery, all as a result of his escape from the grasp of the Vetala.
The overall concept and structure that is adopted is a daring and challenging format to take on board. The storyline constantly jumps between particularly significant stages of our protagonist’s life, through a seemingly endless spiral of nightmares, vivid recollections and memory-sparking experiences. This in itself initially creates a fog of confusion for the reader, with the storyline never flowing in a singular line but instead jumping about everywhere. Indeed, the reader has to stay utterly engaged with the events of the novel throughout, or else they are likely to lose track of the time, place, or positioning of the nightmarish events taking place.
Furthermore, Yeates’ influences and writing style seems to have changed somewhat since the first two instalments. Instead of the more direct and splatterpunk-cum-pulp-horror approach that was so utterly prevalent in the earlier two books, here Yeates has adopted a more atmospheric and disorientating style of writing – taking the reader back to the style of writing of H.P. Lovecraft or indeed Algernon Blackwood. Now, instead of a near-constant barrage of grotesque horror forming a visceral assault on the reader, we have a much more subdued (but in no way less terrifying) approach.
The tale feels more like a constantly circling nightmare than anything else. Yeates’ atmospherically geared prose furthers the disorientating experience, making every action or event a disturbingly blurred vision of the chaotic and horrifying nightmare that it most certainly is.
With the storyline jumping to a seemingly modern-day setting, the reader is given a glimpse of our tired and frail protagonist, left alone to carry the burden of his nightmares whilst the Vetala remain in possession of his soul. Once again, even in this here-and-now setting, the writing maintains the foggish nightmare approach, painting a strange and downright creepy image of our protagonists final days, much of which is set within a sinister ‘Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth’ (1992) take upon a nightmare sequence.
Whether the novella is a stronger addition to the trilogy than the previous two instalments is open to debate. It’s boldly different and quite obviously serves a different role. Indeed, the approach, construction and prose are quite far removed from the previous instalments. But where ‘Eyes Of The Dead’ (2011) and ‘Shapes In The Mist’ (2011) force-fed the reader a bitter meal of sadism, violence and vein-clogging horror, ‘Hell’s Teeth’ instead submerges and envelops the reader in a spiralling blanket of horror.
Unfortunately, the writing does occasionally get swallowed up in its own ambiguity, with nightmarish scenes falling in upon themselves with slightly muddled and overcrowded descriptions. What we have is something akin to Lovecraftian depictions of a maddening out-of-control horror that has mutated and gone cancerous. And in doing so, Yeates messes with the reader’s head and just keeps on pushing those goddamn unnerving buttons. Does Yeates’ go too far with the novel’s strange descriptiveness? I have to admit to becoming lost and slightly derailed at times. On a handful of occasions it just felt too clogged, too suggestive, and too opaque. The horror and atmosphere was there, but the flood of nightmarish descriptions ends up potentially drowning the reader rather than sending them to the nightmarish hell that the author was obviously aiming for.
But these slight criticisms pale in comparison to the astonishing piece of haunting horror fiction that’s ripped from the festering belly of the First World War. It’s a circling nightmare sent to torture this poor wretch. Yeates immerses the tale in the stink, the grime and the decay of a war torn battlefield. He casts hope to the side and promises nothing but misery and despair. And he delivers the monsters that are lurking behind the shadows in absolute abundance.
The novella runs for a total of 166 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
The book also contains the following bonus material:
The Last Post - 23 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
It’s Christmas Eve 1914 and midnight is approaching. As the soldiers hunker down for another bitter cold night in the trenches bordering No Man’s Land, the few on sentry duty during the cold winter night know there is little hope of a seasonal respite from their duties. Lieutenant Reynolds offers what little good news he can to the three soldiers on watch – Charley, Bennett and Jimmy. But there is little to raise their hope during the bleak hours of darkness.
And then they hear the faint sound of singing across the way. German soldiers, joined in a chorus of ‘Silent Night’. And then, from across No Man’s Land they see the blurred shapes advancing through the wispy fog. Figures walking through the perilous ground between the two opposing sides. But there is more than festive cheer here in the ravaged Western Front. The Vetala are here. Torn from the ground they are ready to feed. And feed they will…
As a final addition to the trilogy, Yeates has drawn upon the legendary ‘Christmas Truce’ along the Western Front to set his final conclusion to the First World War set Vetala Cycle mythos. Already wrapped up in a wealth of nostalgic emotion, Yeates inches closer and closer to the great moment of the ceasefire, when suddenly he chooses to pounce. From out of nowhere we’re back in the vicious throngs of Vetala chaos; thrust into the last post before those that have fallen pass over into the Greylands. And with a somewhat out-of-character twist, Yeates ends the mythos on a somewhat different note to what we have come to expect. And it ends darn well.
The Song of the Cycle - a Creation Myth - 3 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
Here we have the lyrics for a strange and somewhat eerie song to the Vetala Cycle that wraps the trilogy up in its chilling words, touching upon much of the nightmarish world that we have glimpsed through the three novellas.
Preview of ‘From The Shadows, I Hear Screams’ – 9 pages on the Kindle at a standard font size.
Finally we have a short preview of Yeates’ forthcoming Vetala Cycle novella planned for 2013 entitled ‘From The Shadows, I Hear Screams’ which takes the mythos on to the Second World War.
November 18, 2021
Grisly, brutal, honest
Although this story is supernatural horror in genre, it is a most succinct depiction of the horrors endured by a human as it delves into minds damaged by conflict. A window reflecting attitudes and actions.
Although this story is supernatural horror in genre, it is a most succinct depiction of the horrors endured by a human as it delves into minds damaged by conflict. A window reflecting attitudes and actions.
July 24, 2014
“Hell's Teeth “by G.R. Yeates is the third book in the Vetala cycle, a rather dark and quite surreal collection of horror novels. Again Yeates has focussed on WWI but this time he has decided to use the Eastern Front as the basis of his story with the Anzac forces being pushed back by the Turks at Gallipoli. In this chaotic place is Tom Potter who must deliver messages between the various commanding officers. However, on one mission he finds himself lost and enters an underground lair where the Vetala are waiting. Whilst Tom manages to escape his respite is only temporary and before long his own personal nightmare begins.
So, the first thing I noticed about this book is that it felt less structured than the previous novels. The reader is dragged quickly into a story that loops back on itself multiple time and jumps between different points in the protagonist’s life. As the story can become rather surreal and quite intense in the visions of horror it portrays it wasn’t always easy to know where I was in the story. The reader really has to concentrate and stay fully engaged with the story or they could easily get lost.
As with the other books in the series, Yeates has created a very dark and bleak world in the novel. It is incredibly atmospheric and the rather surreal and confusing feel of the plot helps to enhance the feeling that you are watching a real journey into hell. I will admit that by the end of the novel the constant barrage of dark horror along with the concentration required to understand what was actually going on did leave me feeling a bit drained.
The writing itself is very poetic and descriptive which has become a sort of hallmark style of Yeates. The beauty of his writing wonderfully supplements and enhances the very dark and terrifying story he is telling. Without doubt Yeates’ prose has been a real plus point to this series and his writing has at times reminded me of H.P. Lovecraft.
Overall, this is another dark atmospheric horror story from Yeates that competently completes the Vetala cycle of novels. I have to say that the rather unstructured nature of the book meant I didn’t enjoy it is as much as the other novels but it was still entertaining enough. Once again, if you enjoy dark and surreal horror novels then I am happy to recommend this this book and the rest of this series.
So, the first thing I noticed about this book is that it felt less structured than the previous novels. The reader is dragged quickly into a story that loops back on itself multiple time and jumps between different points in the protagonist’s life. As the story can become rather surreal and quite intense in the visions of horror it portrays it wasn’t always easy to know where I was in the story. The reader really has to concentrate and stay fully engaged with the story or they could easily get lost.
As with the other books in the series, Yeates has created a very dark and bleak world in the novel. It is incredibly atmospheric and the rather surreal and confusing feel of the plot helps to enhance the feeling that you are watching a real journey into hell. I will admit that by the end of the novel the constant barrage of dark horror along with the concentration required to understand what was actually going on did leave me feeling a bit drained.
The writing itself is very poetic and descriptive which has become a sort of hallmark style of Yeates. The beauty of his writing wonderfully supplements and enhances the very dark and terrifying story he is telling. Without doubt Yeates’ prose has been a real plus point to this series and his writing has at times reminded me of H.P. Lovecraft.
Overall, this is another dark atmospheric horror story from Yeates that competently completes the Vetala cycle of novels. I have to say that the rather unstructured nature of the book meant I didn’t enjoy it is as much as the other novels but it was still entertaining enough. Once again, if you enjoy dark and surreal horror novels then I am happy to recommend this this book and the rest of this series.
March 5, 2013
Hell's Teeth is the third book in the Vetala cycle, and a very strong close to the trilogy. It is mostly written in a poetry/prose that has become a signature style of Yeates. It is as beautifully written as it is terrifying. This is a horror book, but one that transcends the genre. It makes the reader consider the past, and how that affects the present. It brings the horror of war and trenches out of the history books and makes it something much more visceral and real. There are layers in the story that bring the past and present together, and then asks the question of what lies beyond death. This was an amazing read, that while horrifying, goes beyond horror and into the beauty that only poetry can bring. Yeates is a master of the English language, and his skills are on full display in this work. I can not recommend this highly enough; this is a book I will be reading again and again. There is also some bonus material at the end, a chilling short story as well as a creation myth that is a beautiful and disturbing poem.
May 10, 2012
Tom Potter shifts from one hellish vision to the next in this dark, hauntingly gruesome novella fashioned in the vein of Jacob’s Ladder.
Yeates’ obvious flair for creating an immersive atmosphere had me hooked from the first page. I found his use of language to be fluid and beautiful, and I thought the story was evocative and horrifying. My main issue with Hell’s Teeth was an overwhelming problem with punctuation, the number of comma splices and inappropriate use of semicolons repeatedly distracting me from what was otherwise an amazing read. I did also find the constant barrage of darkness and horror a bit draining by the end, feeling that some kind of break from it all might have strengthened the final stretch. With that said, I found Yeates’ storytelling to be impressive, and even with the punctuation issues I rate Hell’s Teeth a solid four stars.
Yeates’ obvious flair for creating an immersive atmosphere had me hooked from the first page. I found his use of language to be fluid and beautiful, and I thought the story was evocative and horrifying. My main issue with Hell’s Teeth was an overwhelming problem with punctuation, the number of comma splices and inappropriate use of semicolons repeatedly distracting me from what was otherwise an amazing read. I did also find the constant barrage of darkness and horror a bit draining by the end, feeling that some kind of break from it all might have strengthened the final stretch. With that said, I found Yeates’ storytelling to be impressive, and even with the punctuation issues I rate Hell’s Teeth a solid four stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews