For When the Veil Drops

by Christian Larsen, Doug Murano, C. Bryan Brown

West Pigeon Press is honored to present its newest anthology, a collection of resonant, unbridled dark fiction. Unburdened by genre and disparate in subject, these stories find common cause in their emphasis on mood, style, intelligence, and emotional depth. West Pigeon is proud to release these stories under its banner, and is proud to have you as a reader.

Featuring all new stories by A.A. Garrison, Paul L. Bates, Bryan Brown, Robin Wyatt Dunn, J.R. Hamantaschen, Christian Larsen, B.V. Lawson, Samuel Minier, Nick Medina, Doug Murano, Joshua Clark Orkin, Yarrow Paisley, Lydia Peever, Michael Trudeau, and Michael Wehunt.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

i have read another book of short stories!

and like many multi-author anthologies, there were hits and misses for me. but since everyone is a snowflake and my hit could be your miss, if you like that brand of horror that verges on the ineffable, this would be a great collection for you to read.

in the introduction, which serves as a mission statement for the collection and the publisher itself, the claim is made that this is a collection of "dark, resonant fiction." and that they gravitate toward "the evocative and unsettling." and that is all true. some of them remind me of roald dahl, when he is doing his dark adult stuff and not his dark kids' stuff. and some of it just went over my head.

best:

the chopping block by doug murano

bleak and chickeny with enough back-and-forth narrative to keep me interested and genuinely unsettling, for being so short. and just enough left unsaid to shiver those timbers.

beside still waters by bv lawson

this falls into the category of that appalachia-noir stuff i like so much. murder, revenge, struggle - all good things. this story has zero supernatural-weird stuff in it, and could easily cross over into a collection of general southern fiction.

oh abel, oh absalom - by jr hamantaschen

and not just because it takes place (partly) in woodside, queens (REPRESENT!!) and not just because i know him. and i should get all riled up with adopted-hometown pride, but i forgive him, for his character saying he "never liked Woodside, and as a kid he'd leave it as often as he could..."

hhmph. who wants you here anyway, vernon?

other stories worth mention are

724 by christian a. larsen

this is the one that felt roald-dahl-y to me. it had a good, tiptoeing build and then ended with a quiet lonely horror. very well-constructed.

the condition she's in by nick medina

this one was like the darkest o. henry story ever written. so cruel and abrupt.

thicker than by lydia peever

this one was full of great imagery and creepy characters. it was one of those "wait, what??" stories, but i liked it in a way that i didn't like some of the others with that ghostish, ambiguous vibe.

the third list by samuel minier

a christmas story, of sorts. i mean, if christmas were horrifying, this would be the one you would want to read aloud around the fire before you gutted a live animal for your feast.

and

nothing bad has every happened here by a.a. garrison

a short dark story about denial. 'nuff said.

the other stories weren't bad or anything, they just didn't move me any particular way. the persistence of frondu, for example, would probably really appeal to someone with a stronger sci-fi bent than i have. i can tell that it is a well-written story, but it just didn't really have anything for me. but it had a good, twilight zone-y feel, and many of you would probably dig it.

so, that is another short story collection i have read!! ring the bells!

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the collection immensely. Particularly the quiet horror of "Thicker Than" and the not so quiet "A Coat That Fell."

[Majanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

For When The Veil Drops is a dark fiction anthology released by West Pigeon Press featuring a large collection of authors. As a whole, the collection is pretty decent. It ranges from dark, surreal fiction to macabre, horrifying short stories. There is no red wire throughout the book though, it’s just dark fiction. I prefer anthologies focused on a certain theme, like haunted houses, gothic horror, or surreal horror, or something like that. At least then I know what to look for each time around, and I’m not a big fan of surprises. Here all I knew when starting to read was that the stories were dark fiction, but that’s a large umbrella for several subgenres. I do think West Pigeon Press focused on finding quality and that they, at least to some extent succeeded. Some stories were brilliant, others just didn’t work for me, but that’s normal with anthologies.

724 by Christian A. Larsen – This story was all right, but nothing special. It reminded me too much of Benjamin Button. I know it’s not the same, but I’ve read about this concept a lot of times before. Someone who can age at will, or changes from baby to eighty plus years old in a day. The way it was executed wasn’t that special or thought-provoking either. The main character lacked personality. Her reaction the first time she saw the signs something was up – namely, ignoring it and thinking she’d imagined it – didn’t strike me as believable. Her relationship with Owen was absurd, not because of what he was, but because they barely knew each other. Linnie didn’t ask entirely enough questions.

The Chopping Block by Doug Murano – I liked this one. A lot of things were left out in this story. Sometimes that doesn’t work, but here it did. The descriptions were well done as well. I liked the portrayal of the Papa figure.

The Persistence of Frondu by Yarrow Paisley – This wasn’t my taste. It had great potential, and I have to admit I liked the concept as well, but the execution fell a little flat. I kept on asking ‘why now’. Probably a pointless questions to ask because there always has to be a starting point, but I would’ve preferred if there was more indication as to why exactly the MC saw the frondu right at that precise moment. Anyway, from the start I had a feeling where this was going, and the ending didn’t surprise me. While I may not like surprises when it comes to genre, I do like surprises when it comes to stories themselves, which was lacking here.

Bless You by C. Bryan Brown – I actually heard about this legend before that when you sneeze, and nobody blesses you, your soul comes out. This urban legend or folklore has great potential to be turned into a scary story. The story itself started out promising, but lost track around halfway through. It was no longer something with potential to be scary, the ending was pretty obvious, and while I enjoyed reading to the end, I couldn’t help but feel a bit dissapointed. If Mark figured out what was up, couldn’t he have asked someone to bless him? Maybe that would’ve saved him. Or maybe not, but at least I felt like he could’ve tried.

A Coat That Fell by Michael Wehunt- I wasn’t sure what to think about this one. The sudden confession spree made no sense to me, and I still haven’t completely figured out what exactly was going on there. You don’t have to give me an entire plot, or explain everything, but a little more explanation would’ve made me a much happier reader.

The City Underneath by Robin Wyatt Dunn – The concept was compelling but too metaphysical to really speak to me. It was a bit too random for my likings.

Beside Still Waters by BV Lawson – Now this story was close to brilliance. Popular high school boys have been found murdered, and there’s no suspect in sight. Main character Rita is called a “retard” by most of her high school’s fellow pupils. She lives with her grandmother, Grammy, who the police decide to interrogate about the murders. I loved the concept of this story. The main character was truly three-dimensional, a noteworthy feat especially in a short story. The plot was fast, dark and thrilling. I had a hunch halfway through about what would happen, and I was right, but that didn’t make the reading experience any less pleasant. The writing was fluent and the story intriguing, and I loved the end.

The Condition She’s In by Nick Medina – This story was WOW. It started out pretty tame, albeit interesting, and I was curious of the direction it would take. Halfway through I was hooked and then came the end. All I can do is sit here and say WOW. An incredible storytelling feat, with an end I never saw coming.

St. Molluks by Paul L. Bates- Another great story. The middle part of this book seems filled with the best stories. There’s no real protagonist here, except if you think a building could be a protagonist, and that’s something unique, and intriguing. The story reminded me of those early, gothic, scary vampire stories. The concept here was original, but the story dragged here and there.

Thicker Than by Lydia Peever- Another winner. This time about a girl who sees her dead cousin everywhere. They used to be best friends, like the kind of friends who can almost talk without uttering a word. I liked the execution of this story, the slow build up to its inevitable climax. The story featured ghosts – hey, that’s always a bonus in my book – and some really creepy, amazing imaginary. I loved the writing style on this one as well.

The Third List by Samuel Minier – This was a pretty decent story as well. Imagine there’s a Santa Clause who comes to collect the bad kids to punish them. Billy definitely belongs in the category ‘bad kids’. I wasn’t sure what I was more freaked out by – Billy and what he’d done, or the evil version of Santa, but I think it was the first. Well written story with a nice twist at the end.

Nothing Bad Has Ever Happened Here by A. A. Garrison – This one was actually pretty scary for me, although I don’t know if that was the author’s intention. It was subtle and dark, and I kept imagining worse things to have happened. The unused room was scary to me, although I’m not sure if that was fully intended. Either way, I enjoyed this one.

Oh Abel, Oh Absalomby J.R. Hamantaschen – I liked the concept of this one, but not the execution. At least, not entirely. What if there was an organization out there that punished sinners? But punishing them in such harsh ways that the organization’s own morals can be called questionable at best? The concept surely is intriguing, but the story was a bit too long. It was the longest story in the book thus far, and it sounded like the author wanted it to be even longer at times. A lot of things were introduced that didn’t seem to matter, like the MC’s past, or his relationship with his fellow inmates while he was in prison, which dragged the story on and kept us from the real plot. When the story got past that, to the plot, it was interesting though. The main character, albeit having done some pretty bad stuff, isn’t entirely unlikeable. The organization’s morality left a big question mark for me though, and it’s actually pretty scary to think some people might be capable of setting something like this up. It’s a story of course, but it could essentially be possible. What the story’s strong point is though is that it shows us that sometimes by punishing those who did wrong, we can create an even bigger wrong. There has to be a set limit to what punishment is all right, and what isn’t.

Misery Don’t Wait On Me by Joshue Clark Orkin- This seemed like a rather loose collection of unrelated things. Or maybe it was related, and I didn’t get it. Anyway, this made me feel next to nothing. It was too random for my tastes.

Still Life by Michael Trudeau- This one was pretty good. It talked about human indecision, about being stuck in the same pattern over and over again. The writing was solid, the main character well-developed.

All in all, I enjoyed this collection and am looking forward to what West Pigeon Press decides to publish next.

[James Everington · Rating 4 out of 5]

For When the Veil Drops is an anthology of short stories from the newly fledged West Pigeon Press. The stories are all pretty dark, but there’s no unifying theme or genre: horror, crime, and even surrealism are all at play here.

Multi-author anthologies, particularly when they feature relatively unknown writers as here, are probably always likely to provoke a mixed reaction. There were five stories that really stood out for me. As for the others, there aren't any stories here that are bad in any objective sense, but a number of them I found slightly ‘overwritten’ for my tastes (my inner editor wanted to cross out words quite a lot). Other readers may well have different favourites, but for the record mine were as follows:

The Chopping Block by Doug Morano. Quite a simple post-apocalyptic story, but no less effective for it. Of course stories about survivors of some apocalypse or other are ten a penny, but this one managed to be both original and quietly disturbing. One of those stories that works well because of what has been left out as much as what has been put in.

Beside Still Waters by BV Larsen. One of the two authors in the book that I’d read before (in the Pulp Ink 2 anthology) Larson’s contribution here is a crime story told by a classic unreliable narrator. I'm a sucker for unreliable narrators, but they are hard to pull off. But Larson does so with aplomb. A story about small-town life, prejudice (including our own as we read, perhaps), and revenge.

St. Mollusks by Paul L. Bates. Well this was very Thomas Ligotti (no bad thing). Like Ligotti in something like The Town Manager, this story really just describes the workings and rationale behind a very odd institution (sometimes “show don’t tell” doesn't apply!).

Thicker Than by Lydia Peever. A more ‘traditional’ horror story, this hit all the right notes for me. Well written and atmospheric, in a genre where atmosphere is a must.

Oh Abel, Oh Absalom by J.R. Hamantaschen. The other author I’d read before; and I’d probably say this is the best story by the him that I have read. It’s the longest story in the anthology, a novella told from the point of view of some lowlife who by any standards is morally dubious. He comes up against a group of people who do have morals – but a moral code that to modern sensibilities seems even worse than his immorality. It's a set up that makes for truly uncomfortable reading - there are no good guys here, or anywhere implies Hamantaschen.

[Cfinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm new to this genre, so I wasn't too sure what I was going to be getting with this collection of short stories, but I liked what I read! Many of the stories left me with a creepy feeling, which was a good feeling. I highly recommend this book, for new and old dark fiction/horror readers alike!

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unsettling, but thats not a bad thing when it comes to books like this. A quick but eerie read.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepily good

[Michael Wehunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't offer a proper review since I'm in this book. But after reading it I can say I'm honored to be among so many great stories.

[Kate Onyett · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so to delve into a collection of tall tales of different genres, by different writers, in different styles, all bound up, according to publisher’s (West Pigeon Press (WPP)) back-cover blurb by their depiction of “resonant, unbridled dark fiction.” I seek to determine what ‘dark fiction’ is meant by this book, and therefore if it does, indeed, ‘resonate’ with life.

Universally shared emotion transcends cultural norms, values and social detail, which change with successive generations towards a new bias. People have not essentially evolved beyond what our ancestors of many years ago would recognise as sad, happy, angry, hungry (etc); even if the prompts for the emotion have changed colours. Dark fiction has the leeway to dispense with many of the trappings of formal narrative and weighs in unashamedly on this emotional landscape, creating a shared experience. It is fiction to induce a reaction, to jog a specifically emotional ejaculation from the consciousness. A lot of ‘dark’ fiction currently marketed is basically horror-pornography; sexing up monsters and the undead. But given the visceral nature of such, this is also ‘dark’ in that it wants to delve into feelings, into reaction. Literature is the ‘light’ to ‘dark’ fiction; it seeks to involve the mind, the consciousness. Emotional interaction with literature, whether high or low-brow, is the recognition of a social construct that defines and describes the self as part of that conformity. ‘Dark’ fiction goes for the emotional jugular; and connects author, reader, and society through recognition of experience. It’s one heck of a brief to live up to.

Dealing first with the collection as a publishing whole, it is a very pleasant change to come across an anthology of consistent quality from a small press. Vanity publishing has exploded with the electronic format making it much easier for anyone and his dog to join in. Thankfully, WPP employs definitive editorial filtering; the consistent quality speaks for this. Editorial pomp is remarkably absent in the book itself and is coyly alluded to on the rear cover; that the stories speak for themselves, thank you very much, and by implication the publishers are but collectors of a thrilling nosegay. Editorial direction is polished to smoothness, directing but not dictating. WPP can be commended, fulfilling their desire to present quality unexpurgated.

Often in collections, one or two stories stand out as testament to their author’s specific brilliance. Each reader will have their own favourites; each reader will resonate differently with different tales, producing a mixed bag of response. It’s the way a collection works, and why making a collection just the second printing is a brave choice for a new publishing house. Some of the stories here grab by the throat more obviously; their ‘darkness’ is the sense of fear over what is not clearly seen. The murky semi-mythical St Mollusks drips with vampire-esque characters and grim conspiracy. Thicker Than features a grisly haunting and a murderous obsession of a closed psychology, and the baroque nastiness of The Third List harks that not all children are innocent. There are the lighter elements; the quizzical, last-man-standing quality of Persistence of Frondu (I am Legend for the fashionata generation, perhaps?) produces a wry chuckle, and 724 and The Condition She’s In deliver final summations that wraps up the action in a one-liner finish, with a definitive ‘pow’ of a punchline. And that’s humour’s trick, folks, lavered in ‘dark’: when one isn’t sure if one should be laughing, but, still, it is bloody funny,.

The darkness of humanity’s propensity for brooding over what is frightening still haunts many writers’ concerns, and worse; the ability to ignore, and thereby not deal with, human darkness. In this collection, it is the unnerving question of ‘who is it, actually, lying in bed next to me as my life’s partner?’ that ricochets into violence in A Coat That Fell. The ability of people to cover over uncomfortable truths and isolate the undesirable boils into murder in Beside Still Waters. Hysterical denial in Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here leads the young protagonist down the path of emotional truncation, whereas the unbearable clarity of existence is overwhelming and dreadful in Still Life. A fear of losing oneself, of becoming superseded in everyone’s eyes shakes the foundations of personal certainty in Bless You.

There were a couple of weaker additions. Oh Abel, Oh Absalom and Misery Don’t Wait on Me did not click as the rest had done. Perhaps it is a matter purely of taste; I would willingly concede as such, but a tale of the broken youth; the model for uncaring, selfish and vicious street turks; the lad who fails to socialise and becomes one of ‘the system’s failures, does not ring true. Are we meant to feel a psychological horror at riding in the mind of someone so detached? Are we meant to feel a thrill of threat that this character could be living next door? Are we meant to feel pity for a wasted life? It seems less ‘dark’ and more grey-area. Perhaps a tale to ‘shock’ someone more right-wing, but it lacks an emotional direction, and so any dark effect frazzles out. Don’t Wait on Me is, according to the writer’s biography, a direct setting-down of broken-hearted outpouring as he dealt with a depressive era, featuring gross disappointment and an unfaithful girlfriend. The product of a sensitive mind, it is a little too self-indulgent and personal to classify as truly ‘dark’. A dark writer has to present a distance from their work; the voice must be that of the fiction, not the author’s. Fiction becomes darker when the reader has been left alone to face the events quite on their own.

The ‘dark’ element in this collection works when the emotional connection is made. And, in common with variations of ‘dark’ writing, it is also the displaying of uncomfortable truths. These writers point out that chaos is still alive and well and can never be run from, for it begins and ends in the frankly terrifying world of perception, which comes from the as yet unplumbed depths of the human psyche. The collection title ‘For When the Veil Drops’ is dropping the veil (more accurately perhaps, the knickers) of human thoughts that shield, cover, and make clichés out of perception’s roots in a bid to understand and soften what is primitively not understandable. Literature attempts to explain. ‘Dark’ writing goes on to vaunt those exposed parts in an exhibition of recognition, but not in explication; these are not morality plays, these tales are simply what is- according to the writers’ point of view.

‘Dark’ writing is about loss, not gain; the removal of comfort, of covering, and the calculation of tragedy. The thread that binds the collection is that of loss; death either actual or metaphorical, but a definite loss of something very important to the protagonists. The ‘veil’ of death has also been stripped away. ‘Dark’ is the removing of untouchability of sacredness. This is all to come; the reader is the active, willing participant, for these stories erupt ‘For When the Veil Drops’. By reading, we complete the connection. By steering clear of over-used clichés, and mixing tales with a greater sense of normalcy with those tales that fly off the wire completely, this is a lively and characterful bunch that connects and holds. Dark, indeed.

[David Leingang · Rating 4 out of 5]

West Pigeon Press's second release unto the world, and I am not dissapointed.

[Emma Audsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb collection!

[Andy North · Rating 2 out of 5]

A shaggy little collection of short stories that (IMO) vary hugely in quality. Several stories (the ones I liked) are fun little self-contained works that tell a nice, grounded human story while darkly hinting at a wrongness or grander horror happening offscreen. Standouts for me were:

The Chopping Block by Doug Murano
Oh Abel, Oh Absalom - by JR Hamantaschen
A Coat That Fell by Michael Wehunt
724 by Christian A. Larsen
The Third List by Samuel Minier (I guess "grounded" and "human" doesn't describe this very well, but I just liked it)

I've gotta knock this down some stars because some of the stories I didn't vibe with I found actively unpleasant. Most of these stories, including the ones I listed above, deal with very heavy subject matter (mental illness, murder, suicide, sexual assault, child abduction) and some authors handled their subjects so amateurishly that I'd feel embarrassed recommending this book even to people with similar taste in weird/dark fiction. So tread carefully I guess!

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent collection of stories from lesser- (or un-)known authors, some of them too short for what they're attempting, and some of them too long; too many obvious twist endings, and one that was such woefully self-indulgent, bleeding-heart-on-my-sleeve pretension I'm embarrassed it was even published, and more embarrassed that I read half of it.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average collection of the style of weird that incorporates fantastical elements sparingly, kind of like the A24 version of the genre.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story anthology immensely! My favorites are:

724
The Persistence of Frondu
A Coat That Fell
The Condition She's In
Nothing Bad Has Ever Happened Here

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy all of the stories, only that I had some that lasted with me well after closing the book. I had fun discovering new stories and new authors every evening and recommend the experience to anyone who enjoys good old-fashioned story telling.

[Aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed overall with this collection =/ The stories either suffered from Trying-too-hard-to-be-artsy-farsty syndrome, or the author neglected the story-telling aspect in favor of setting up a "What a twist!" ending. The one with the sneezing... just want to punch that story in the face. Frondu was ok, but the story with Vernon was the only truly satisfying read for me. Oh well.