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Blood Wood and Other Stories
Christopher Harman is a former librarian and lives in Preston, Lancashire. His stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies over almost thirty years and this (sort of/mostly) retrospective and bumper collection of his work is really long overdue.
Presenting an invitation to terror … here the reader will discover a dozen tales of Jamesian chills, creeping urban dread and rural folk horror … there is darkness even in the common-place. And for Mr Harman’s characters there appears to be no escape from the lurking horrors …
Eleven of these stories were originally published (in magazines and anthologies) over a period of twenty years between 1994 and 2014 and are collected together here for the first time. The title novella “Blood Wood” was written especially and is wholly original to this volume.
Stories: “The Children”, “Passengers”, “A Better Place”, “In the Fields”, “Dinckley Green”, “Sleepers”, “By Leaf and Thorn”, “The Last to be Found”, “Jackdaw Jack”, “Dark Tracks”, “Hill Shadows” and “Blood Wood”
BLOOD WOOD is a Hand Numbered Limited Edition Jacketed Hardcover.
Bound in ‘blood’ Red [what else] Cialux Italian cloth, Foil Blocked to Front & Spine in White, Quality Creamy Text Paper, Full Colour Printed Endpapers with a Marbled Design, Section Sewn binding, Red Head/Tailbands and Red Ribbon Bookmarker. Approx 232pp including prelims etc. Fabulous Full Colour Wrap Dust-Jacket Art by PAUL LOWE.
Presenting an invitation to terror … here the reader will discover a dozen tales of Jamesian chills, creeping urban dread and rural folk horror … there is darkness even in the common-place. And for Mr Harman’s characters there appears to be no escape from the lurking horrors …
Eleven of these stories were originally published (in magazines and anthologies) over a period of twenty years between 1994 and 2014 and are collected together here for the first time. The title novella “Blood Wood” was written especially and is wholly original to this volume.
Stories: “The Children”, “Passengers”, “A Better Place”, “In the Fields”, “Dinckley Green”, “Sleepers”, “By Leaf and Thorn”, “The Last to be Found”, “Jackdaw Jack”, “Dark Tracks”, “Hill Shadows” and “Blood Wood”
BLOOD WOOD is a Hand Numbered Limited Edition Jacketed Hardcover.
Bound in ‘blood’ Red [what else] Cialux Italian cloth, Foil Blocked to Front & Spine in White, Quality Creamy Text Paper, Full Colour Printed Endpapers with a Marbled Design, Section Sewn binding, Red Head/Tailbands and Red Ribbon Bookmarker. Approx 232pp including prelims etc. Fabulous Full Colour Wrap Dust-Jacket Art by PAUL LOWE.
- GenresHorror
220 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2023
9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 23, 2024
Harman, Christopher - Blood Wood
The featured story, an extended tale, rides along with Gavin, newly hired driver of the mobile library. The physical library is closed, meaning he is the book source for several rural communities. In Gavin’s background is girlfriend Jacqui and her son, an older teenager, moody – aren’t they all?
Around the library lies the forest, which few remember as Blood Wood, and fewer know why. Nonetheless, Gavin has free time, library resources, and a niggling curiosity.
One particular funhouse ride stirred nightmares. As boys, Brian and Travers had been aboard when the train came to a complete stop inside the ride. In the inked darkness of the spook house, something seemed to slither. In “Dark Ride” the train was never actually disposed of, but merely transported, tracks, rails, coaches, into a basement, where the proprietor continued making improvements.
Christmas. Hide & seek. The further one goes to hide, the less likely they are to be found. Unless, as in “The Last To Be Found” they come across the unexpected seeker.
The cancelation of a long running column in the weekly paper does not go unchallenged. The new manager wants to modernize, meaning let paying advertisers pen their own self-serving posts. And not those enigmatic prose poems by Mr. Pucklebry. “By Leaf & Thorn” indeed!
I have often found Harman’s style difficult to tune into. His word choice, descriptions, analogies, are unique to themselves. So much so, I often paused mid-paragraph to consider the word painting he had presented.
The featured story, an extended tale, rides along with Gavin, newly hired driver of the mobile library. The physical library is closed, meaning he is the book source for several rural communities. In Gavin’s background is girlfriend Jacqui and her son, an older teenager, moody – aren’t they all?
Around the library lies the forest, which few remember as Blood Wood, and fewer know why. Nonetheless, Gavin has free time, library resources, and a niggling curiosity.
One particular funhouse ride stirred nightmares. As boys, Brian and Travers had been aboard when the train came to a complete stop inside the ride. In the inked darkness of the spook house, something seemed to slither. In “Dark Ride” the train was never actually disposed of, but merely transported, tracks, rails, coaches, into a basement, where the proprietor continued making improvements.
Christmas. Hide & seek. The further one goes to hide, the less likely they are to be found. Unless, as in “The Last To Be Found” they come across the unexpected seeker.
The cancelation of a long running column in the weekly paper does not go unchallenged. The new manager wants to modernize, meaning let paying advertisers pen their own self-serving posts. And not those enigmatic prose poems by Mr. Pucklebry. “By Leaf & Thorn” indeed!
I have often found Harman’s style difficult to tune into. His word choice, descriptions, analogies, are unique to themselves. So much so, I often paused mid-paragraph to consider the word painting he had presented.
Displaying 1 of 1 review