Strange Gateways [Signed Limited Edition] by Simon Kurt Unsworth (2014) Hardcover

by Simon Kurt Unsworth

n this, the third collection of horror fiction from Simon Kurt Unsworth, you will find tales of words that can corrupt a world, of hotels that are not what they seem, of sculptures made at night from cans and bottles that have a meaning we cannot hope to grasp and of a journey to work that becomes a nightmare. These are monsters here and roads down which impossible vehicles travel, and mines and shadows and children made of twine and stitch.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Weird Fiction, Humor

Hardcover

First published June 1, 2014

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some authors, for whose works one can keep waiting. Simon Kurt Unsworth is an author who belongs to this category. I had been introduced to his writing via his 1st collection of stories (“Lost Places”, published by Ash Tree Press in 2010). The stories were simply unforgettable. As anybody who has ever published anything would know, sustaining that level of creativity is very difficult. And yet, the author achieved it, and gave us some more unforgettable stories in his 2nd collection (“Quiet Houses”, published by Dark Continent Publishing in 2011). And now, after quite a while, he has given us his third collection of stories.

The contents of this book (apart from a very informative & personal ‘Afterword’, followed by ‘Acknowledgements’) are:

• Morris Expedition, Days Nine and Ten
• F Bomb
• The Hotel Guest
• The Knitted Child
• The Drunks’ Totem
• Implementing the Least Desirable Solution
• Traffic Stream
• A Man of Ice and Sorrow
• Mami Wata
• The Seven People You Don’t Meet Today
• Peek A Boo

Some of these stories (1st, 6th and 11th) are interconnected, since they had been written as part of an anthology. Interestingly, only those interconnected stories, and one story (“Mami Wata”, published in “Exotic Gothic”), can be categorised as ‘horror’. The rest, which had never been published anywhere, are stories of loss, haunting, breakdown (psychological or physical, you can never be sure) and pain. But they are personal, honest, and superbly written (as always).

Once again, in this entire collection, you come across a remarkable batch of stories, which are crisp, compact (despite the detailed narratives and vivid imagery), and extremely powerful, as they latch on to your mind after a single reading, and keep dripping themselves onto your inner-self for a very long time. Highly Recommended.

[Karl]

This, the third collection of horror fiction from Simon Kurt Unsworth, you will find tales of words that can corrupt a world, of hotels that are not what they seem, of sculptures made at night from cans and bottles that have a meaning we cannot hope to grasp and of a journey to work that becomes a nightmare. These are monsters here and roads down which impossible vehicles travel, and mines and shadows and children made of twine and stitch.

Contents:

11 - Morris Expedition, Days Nine and Ten
17 - F Bomb
29 - The Hotel Guest
45 - The Knitted Child
53 - The Drunks' Totem
65 - Implementing the Least Desirable Solution
79 - Traffic Stream
89 - A Man of Ice and Sorrow
101 - Mami Wata
121 - The Seven People You Don't Meet Today
135 - Peek A Boo
143 - Afterword And Notes
157 - Acknowledgements

Readings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-dis...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7BLn...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rAV3...

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

My ratings for the stories is Strange Gateways averages to 3.63.

The Afterword and Notes section of the book I found interesting. Rounding up my rating to 4 stars.

My comments on the stories can be read in this thread, posts 229 to 240:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Luke Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely top notch collection of short horror. As good as The Devil's Detective is, Unsworth's short fiction (just) edges it.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed my time with this! I haven't got much experience reading short story compilations other than when I used to binge creepypastas growing up, but I feel that they're a nice pallet cleanse from the more prolonged narratives I am used to. Even if I wasn't blown away by most of these stories, I enjoyed the variety the stories offered at least, and any I wasn't too thrilled with were over before they outstayed their welcome. There were a few stand-outs, though, Like Traffic's Stream and The Hotel Guest, I had a blast with these. Going to post the reactions I wrote about some of the stories as I finished them.

F-bomb: An interesting story that highlights the importance of language and what would happen if our agency over it was taken away from us. Bit pessimistic with its conclusions, though. Thought it gave swearing too much power, which I don't think it has anymore.

Hotel Guest: This one was good! Reminiscent of those hotel elevator ritual creepypastas here you press a combination of floor numbers and end up in a different world. I liked it very much.

Knitted Child: I felt nothing. Team human all the way, but someone should probably take those needles away from the old witch.

Drunks' Totem: Pretty underwhelmed, and felt a little mean-spirited to kill a guy trying to improve himself but I guess these human trivialities are irrelevant to the cosmic, eldritch shenanigans present here. Not a bad story.

Least Desirable Option: Very predictable but enjoyable read. Wish there was more nuance to Morris, but he just came across as your stereotypical evil scientist that's pitted against the monster you end up rooting for.

Traffic Stream: Liked the premise a lot, pretty good. The stories that involve people being removed from what we consider reality definitely outshine the other ones here.

The Snowmen story: not a fan.

Mami Wata: This story was different, a succubus in a mine, I liked it!

Strangers: Pretty vague in its meaning, might just be a story about fatalism and relying too much on external factors outside of our control. I enjoyed it.

Peek-a-Boo: Short and unsweet.

[Des Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short short as a remarkable coda to the gestalt of this book. Half Kaiju, half ‘shadow thing’ — as if a blend from Zambia’s shadows, and ‘the least desirable solution implemented’ — attacks a neighbourhood where a small girl ‘witnesses’ from the kitchen cupboard what it does to her small brother, its having earlier expunged her mother and father. It is as if the solution to the worldly worry and often despair of steadfastly bringing up a family is the conjuring up of even more despair, utter despair, irreparable despair and emptiness. And that somehow brings a smidgen of hope….and only a peek into a book like this one can conjure such hope, via the dying eyes of one of those for whom you once hoped so much.

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.

[Anders Levan]

I've only just finished the second story ("The F Bomb") but I am so annoyed with it that I just have to get my thoughts down. Maybe I'll return later with reviews of other stories in the volume.
So. 1) That is not how evolution works. Not remotely. 2) That is not how capital-L Language works. At all. 3) What's happening in the non-anglophone world while this story's going on? What a stupid, stupid story.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather slim collection and not nearly on par with author' excellent "Quiet Houses", but there are still some decent stories in there.
Few of them are interconnected, and concern (extremely unlikable) scientist's attempt to capture mysterious monster, and later use it for profit. Predictable horror flick-inspired stuff, but still eminently readable and fun.
"Hotel Guest" and "Traffic Stream" are my favorites. In former, man randomly steps out of lift to find out that the hotel he's been staying in has... changed... in a most disturbing manner. "Traffic Stream" feels very Twilight Zone-ish in the best possible way, man expects a visit from his business partner but through a series of phone calls from him finds out that other man is at first hopelessly lost in traffic and later that he entered some other place. Creepy stuff.
"Mami Wata", one of the longer pieces, is a story that has been pretty hyped to me, but tuned out to be somewhat. There is a parallel with the monster stories from this collection, in that materialistic westerner faces something from a part of the world less influenced by modernity that he is unable to properly comprehend or combat. Most memorable part of the story was Unsworth's description of the mine complex and intrusion of modern industry it presents (place is appropriately likened to "creeping, cancerous thing").
"F Bomb" is a clever lil piece that starts humorously and ends in rather bleak, potentially apocalyptic manner.