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Something Wicked, Something Dark
To tourists, Arabella is just another Irish seaside town, busy in summer, dead in winter. Those that live there know different, those that live there know...Arabella is different.
A place where the jangle of music can be heard echoing up and down dark streets at night from The Ice Cream Man.
Where every Halloween the undead rise to tell campfires tales.
Where a man decides to clean up the streets, doing so with a rusty hacksaw.
Author Jamie Stewart presents a collection of eight twisted tales including one bonus story. Welcome to Arabella, you may never leave, even if you want to.
Praise for Something Wicked, Something Dark.
From Laurel Hightower, author of Whispers in the Dark and Below.
Something Wicked, Something Dark is the perfect read for Halloween season.
From Dave Musson, author of Tiny Tales of Horror Vol 1 and 2.
What I particularly love is how Jamie is not afraid to flex his nationality and make the majority of these dark tales be unashamedly from and in Northern Ireland. He owns the nuances and quirks of life in small British towns, and has morphed this into a nasty place of his creation called Arabella, somewhere I don’t ever want to find myself stranded. For all the gruesome, spooky things that happen in these tales, he still takes time to craft some elegant sentences and evocative phrases that help suck you in and makes the punches hit even harder.
A few of the stories here I have read before, but found great pleasure in returning to them; No Strings is deliciously creepy and unflinchingly brutal, The Craig Stevenson Club has a really clever premise, and is gruesome but leaves plenty to the imagination too - which is kind of worse - and the slow-burn tale of revenge that is Mr Nostalgia Becomes Mr Hollywood evoked Richard Bachman-era Stephen King.
As for the rest of the collection, there’s so much to enjoy. The Corpse Thief and The Ice Cream Man show that Jamie is a master of creepy dread and gruesome violence at the same time, while The Lodger manages to pack an incredible amount of world-building and backstory while still building tension, before releasing it all in a hugely satisfying way.
Livestream - the only non-Arabella story - was fun too and even has the potential to be something bigger, but my favourites were Fish and Chips and Vinyl Blues. The latter is a tale of a weird and terrifying 45 record that does a great job of leaving enough out to make your imagination step in and chill you even more, it feels like Skeleton Crew-era King and I loved it. As for Fish and Chips, it’s Jamie showing he can do something different and the ambiguity and intrigue of it has haunted me since I read it. I want to know what happened next!
A place where the jangle of music can be heard echoing up and down dark streets at night from The Ice Cream Man.
Where every Halloween the undead rise to tell campfires tales.
Where a man decides to clean up the streets, doing so with a rusty hacksaw.
Author Jamie Stewart presents a collection of eight twisted tales including one bonus story. Welcome to Arabella, you may never leave, even if you want to.
Praise for Something Wicked, Something Dark.
From Laurel Hightower, author of Whispers in the Dark and Below.
Something Wicked, Something Dark is the perfect read for Halloween season.
From Dave Musson, author of Tiny Tales of Horror Vol 1 and 2.
What I particularly love is how Jamie is not afraid to flex his nationality and make the majority of these dark tales be unashamedly from and in Northern Ireland. He owns the nuances and quirks of life in small British towns, and has morphed this into a nasty place of his creation called Arabella, somewhere I don’t ever want to find myself stranded. For all the gruesome, spooky things that happen in these tales, he still takes time to craft some elegant sentences and evocative phrases that help suck you in and makes the punches hit even harder.
A few of the stories here I have read before, but found great pleasure in returning to them; No Strings is deliciously creepy and unflinchingly brutal, The Craig Stevenson Club has a really clever premise, and is gruesome but leaves plenty to the imagination too - which is kind of worse - and the slow-burn tale of revenge that is Mr Nostalgia Becomes Mr Hollywood evoked Richard Bachman-era Stephen King.
As for the rest of the collection, there’s so much to enjoy. The Corpse Thief and The Ice Cream Man show that Jamie is a master of creepy dread and gruesome violence at the same time, while The Lodger manages to pack an incredible amount of world-building and backstory while still building tension, before releasing it all in a hugely satisfying way.
Livestream - the only non-Arabella story - was fun too and even has the potential to be something bigger, but my favourites were Fish and Chips and Vinyl Blues. The latter is a tale of a weird and terrifying 45 record that does a great job of leaving enough out to make your imagination step in and chill you even more, it feels like Skeleton Crew-era King and I loved it. As for Fish and Chips, it’s Jamie showing he can do something different and the ambiguity and intrigue of it has haunted me since I read it. I want to know what happened next!
370 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 22, 2023
4 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Stewart
12 books178 followersJamie Stewart is a horror author and editor. His books include PRICE MANOR: THE HOUSE THAT BLEEDS, I HEAR THE CLATTERING OF THE KEYS (AND OTHER FEVERS DREAMS) and MR. JONES. He has co-edited such anthologies as WELCOME TO THE FUNHOUSE for BLOOD RITES HORROR and THE SACRAMENT, which is coming this October from DARK LIT PRESS. His short stories can be found in various anthologies, podcasts and Youtube channels.
Jamie lives in Northern Ireland with his wife and dogs, Poppy and Henry. He can be found on Instagram @jamie.stewart.33 where he reviews and promotes books.
Jamie lives in Northern Ireland with his wife and dogs, Poppy and Henry. He can be found on Instagram @jamie.stewart.33 where he reviews and promotes books.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 12, 2023
This was perfect to wrap up the spooky month of October with (all months are spooky when you, yourself are spooky) when I seen the cover I just *KNEW* it was gonna be good, I haven't previously read anything by Jamie before but I most certainly will be in future, this collection was great theres such a variety but each story is infused with an eerie atmosphere, Jamie is a master at blending the spooky with the gruesome which sometimes catches me off guard😂, I didn't expect the level of brutality(too strong a word maybe) I found but like a nutjob I was pleasantly surprised, most of the short stories take place in Arabella, which honestly sounds like I should live there, it's a creepy town, I'm a creepy gal, not one story is a throw away, my favourites were The Craig Stevenson Club, The Lodger, The Ice Cream Man and Livestream(PS make it a full length novel) I'd describe this collection like being wrapped in a cosy spooky blanket, but the blanket keeps getting tighter and tighter and before you know it you've entered some dark blanket abyss with no escape and you just have to live a fleece lined existence forever more, what I'm tryna say is, I totally judged the book by the cover and thought I was in for a cosy horror time, I was incorrect, it was a horror horror time 😂
September 30, 2023
I always find it tricky reviewing work by people who are your friends, mainly because I worry that anything positive I say won’t be taken seriously. But, I also like to think I can be an objective reviewer and offer an opinion on the work itself…
All that preamble is to say this; the new collection by my friend Jamie Stewart is really fucking good. These nine stories showcase how much he has grown as a writer over the last couple of years, how much more confidence he has, and just well he can spin a tale that gets under your skin and prods away relentlessly.
What I particularly love is how Jamie is not afraid to flex his nationality and make the majority of these dark tales be unashamedly from and in Northern Ireland. He owns the nuances and quirks of life in small British towns, and has morphed this into a nasty place of his creation called Arabella, somewhere I don’t ever want to find myself stranded.
Also, this collection shows Jamie is capable of some really nice prose. For all the gruesome, spooky things that happen in these tales, he still takes time to craft some elegant sentences and evocative phrases that help suck you in and makes the punches hit even harder.
A few of the stories here I have read before, but found great pleasure in returning to them; No Strings is deliciously creepy and unflinchingly brutal, The Craig Stevenson Club has a really clever premise, and is gruesome but leaves plenty to the imagination too - which is kind of worse - and the slow-burn tale of revenge that is Mr Nostalgia Becomes Mr Hollywood evoked Richard Bachman-era Stephen King.
As for the rest of the collection, there’s so much to enjoy. The Corpse Thief and The Ice Cream Man show that Jamie is a master of creepy dread and gruesome violence at the same time, while The Lodger manages to pack an incredible amount of world-building and backstory while still building tension, before releasing it all in a hugely satisfying way.
Livestream - the only non-Arabella story - was fun too and even has the potential to be something bigger, but my favourites were Fish and Chips and Vinyl Blues. The latter is a tale of a weird and terrifying 45 record that does a great job of leaving enough out to make your imagination step in and chill you even more, it feels like Skeleton Crew-era King and I loved it. As for Fish and Chips, it’s Jamie showing he can do something different and the ambiguity and intrigue of it has haunted me since I read it. I want to know what happened next!
Putting aside my friendship with the guy, Jamie has become an instant-buy author for me simply because his work is excellent. He loves his craft, he’s continuing to get even better with each new release, and he tells great stories. He also happens to be a lovely human too, which is an added bonus. This collection is a banger and I highly recommend you let Jamie show you his little town of Arabella too…just don’t stay too long, or you never know what might happen to you!
All that preamble is to say this; the new collection by my friend Jamie Stewart is really fucking good. These nine stories showcase how much he has grown as a writer over the last couple of years, how much more confidence he has, and just well he can spin a tale that gets under your skin and prods away relentlessly.
What I particularly love is how Jamie is not afraid to flex his nationality and make the majority of these dark tales be unashamedly from and in Northern Ireland. He owns the nuances and quirks of life in small British towns, and has morphed this into a nasty place of his creation called Arabella, somewhere I don’t ever want to find myself stranded.
Also, this collection shows Jamie is capable of some really nice prose. For all the gruesome, spooky things that happen in these tales, he still takes time to craft some elegant sentences and evocative phrases that help suck you in and makes the punches hit even harder.
A few of the stories here I have read before, but found great pleasure in returning to them; No Strings is deliciously creepy and unflinchingly brutal, The Craig Stevenson Club has a really clever premise, and is gruesome but leaves plenty to the imagination too - which is kind of worse - and the slow-burn tale of revenge that is Mr Nostalgia Becomes Mr Hollywood evoked Richard Bachman-era Stephen King.
As for the rest of the collection, there’s so much to enjoy. The Corpse Thief and The Ice Cream Man show that Jamie is a master of creepy dread and gruesome violence at the same time, while The Lodger manages to pack an incredible amount of world-building and backstory while still building tension, before releasing it all in a hugely satisfying way.
Livestream - the only non-Arabella story - was fun too and even has the potential to be something bigger, but my favourites were Fish and Chips and Vinyl Blues. The latter is a tale of a weird and terrifying 45 record that does a great job of leaving enough out to make your imagination step in and chill you even more, it feels like Skeleton Crew-era King and I loved it. As for Fish and Chips, it’s Jamie showing he can do something different and the ambiguity and intrigue of it has haunted me since I read it. I want to know what happened next!
Putting aside my friendship with the guy, Jamie has become an instant-buy author for me simply because his work is excellent. He loves his craft, he’s continuing to get even better with each new release, and he tells great stories. He also happens to be a lovely human too, which is an added bonus. This collection is a banger and I highly recommend you let Jamie show you his little town of Arabella too…just don’t stay too long, or you never know what might happen to you!
October 3, 2023
*ARC sent from the author in exchange for an honest review*
Jamie Stewart is a great author. That much is certain. And through Something Wicked, Something Dark, one can see it. Almost all of these short stories take place on Arabella, a creepy town filled with creepy happenings and creepy people, that pull you deep into their stories and are not 100% likable. Most of these stories present a tension that keeps on rising, waiting to trap you in anxiety and dread. Others will fill you with a "oh damn" moment that will make you want to reread them.
In the end, the only thing I can say is: if you haven't read Jamie, this spooky halloween filled collection is the best to pick up for the spooky season upon us!
Jamie Stewart is a great author. That much is certain. And through Something Wicked, Something Dark, one can see it. Almost all of these short stories take place on Arabella, a creepy town filled with creepy happenings and creepy people, that pull you deep into their stories and are not 100% likable. Most of these stories present a tension that keeps on rising, waiting to trap you in anxiety and dread. Others will fill you with a "oh damn" moment that will make you want to reread them.
In the end, the only thing I can say is: if you haven't read Jamie, this spooky halloween filled collection is the best to pick up for the spooky season upon us!
September 28, 2023
This collection was a perfect way to kick off spooky season! There's a wide variety of subject matter, length and sub genres, but all of it had that delightfully eerie feel perfect for curling up by a fire as the days get shorter. I really enjoyed The Lodger, The Craig Stevenson Club (so creepy and satisfying) and Vinyl Blues, though every story in here has something to offer.
September 29, 2023
Something Wicked, Something Dark by Jamie Stewart is an entertaining read, a short story collection that compiles nine short stories of varying, disturbing horror.
We have crazy puppet like creatures, a lodger with a dark secret, a fish and chip shop serving something that neither comes from the ground or the sea, a club for murdered children, a livestream from an uncharted island, a creepy ice cream van, the discovery of a lost vinyl record and so much more. See it’s fun, horror should be fun, and it should also be unsettling, and Jamie Stewart provides these things in bucketloads.
My favourites of the collection were No Strings, The Craig Stevenson Club, Live Stream, The Ice Cream Man and Vinyl Blues.
The concepts in these stories were unique and for me, those favourites of mine, were all disturbing, each having something that made me lean closer to the page, had the world fade around me, made all the background noise go mute.
No Strings kicks off the collection in a big way, it’s unsettling, horrifying and creepy as hell, the way this story ends really destroys you, and I loved the unique way of splicing social media posts into this really helped elevate the story - reminding me of Eric LaRocca’s Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - it helps to build tension and makes us the reader think: ‘What the hell is about to happen’
The Craig Stevenson Club really gets under your skin and it’s a concept that really pushes the boundaries of the sub genre of ghosts and the supernatural, I’ve not seen it done before and how the story progresses really pulls the reader in as if someone had their hand around my throat and was throttling me. There’s a satisfying conclusion to this one which makes the whole story sing from the page.
Another thing I liked about this collection is that the majority of the stories are set in the same town, Arabella, Northern Ireland - King gave us Castle Rock, Josh Malerman gave us Goblin, I gave the world Juniper and Jamie Stewart gives us Arabella, where weird things happen. Jamie does a great job in fleshing out this town, this place and its inhabitants, it also means that nothing is off the table, because literally anything could happen in this deranged place.
One thing that did irk me is that although Jamie is from Northern Ireland, and his stories are set in this fictitious town in Northern Ireland, he has opted to use American English. This isn’t his fault, and I spoke to him about it, he opted to use American English because he’d previously got bad reviews because his stories - some of which were published in American anthologies - were not American enough. This is a shame, because for me, knowing the location, knowing that Jamie is from the place his stories are set, when I hit one of these speed bumps - for example Eggplant instead of aubergine - it knocked me out of the story, because it wasn’t authentic enough, and had me like ‘Why is he using American phrasing’ - but it’s a minor irk, but it did irk me.
The collection which I’m sure will be given some more revisions before it hits the world is in need for another round of edits, there were a number of typos and missing words - but having said that, Jamie’s storytelling more than makes up for those, and it kept me engaged the whole way through.
We have crazy puppet like creatures, a lodger with a dark secret, a fish and chip shop serving something that neither comes from the ground or the sea, a club for murdered children, a livestream from an uncharted island, a creepy ice cream van, the discovery of a lost vinyl record and so much more. See it’s fun, horror should be fun, and it should also be unsettling, and Jamie Stewart provides these things in bucketloads.
My favourites of the collection were No Strings, The Craig Stevenson Club, Live Stream, The Ice Cream Man and Vinyl Blues.
The concepts in these stories were unique and for me, those favourites of mine, were all disturbing, each having something that made me lean closer to the page, had the world fade around me, made all the background noise go mute.
No Strings kicks off the collection in a big way, it’s unsettling, horrifying and creepy as hell, the way this story ends really destroys you, and I loved the unique way of splicing social media posts into this really helped elevate the story - reminding me of Eric LaRocca’s Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - it helps to build tension and makes us the reader think: ‘What the hell is about to happen’
The Craig Stevenson Club really gets under your skin and it’s a concept that really pushes the boundaries of the sub genre of ghosts and the supernatural, I’ve not seen it done before and how the story progresses really pulls the reader in as if someone had their hand around my throat and was throttling me. There’s a satisfying conclusion to this one which makes the whole story sing from the page.
Another thing I liked about this collection is that the majority of the stories are set in the same town, Arabella, Northern Ireland - King gave us Castle Rock, Josh Malerman gave us Goblin, I gave the world Juniper and Jamie Stewart gives us Arabella, where weird things happen. Jamie does a great job in fleshing out this town, this place and its inhabitants, it also means that nothing is off the table, because literally anything could happen in this deranged place.
One thing that did irk me is that although Jamie is from Northern Ireland, and his stories are set in this fictitious town in Northern Ireland, he has opted to use American English. This isn’t his fault, and I spoke to him about it, he opted to use American English because he’d previously got bad reviews because his stories - some of which were published in American anthologies - were not American enough. This is a shame, because for me, knowing the location, knowing that Jamie is from the place his stories are set, when I hit one of these speed bumps - for example Eggplant instead of aubergine - it knocked me out of the story, because it wasn’t authentic enough, and had me like ‘Why is he using American phrasing’ - but it’s a minor irk, but it did irk me.
The collection which I’m sure will be given some more revisions before it hits the world is in need for another round of edits, there were a number of typos and missing words - but having said that, Jamie’s storytelling more than makes up for those, and it kept me engaged the whole way through.
September 24, 2023
This collection of short stories offers all the deliciously horrific vibes you could desire this spooky season.
My two favorites were The Lodger and Vinyl Blues. I remembered a couple of others from anthologies past and thoroughly enjoyed revisiting those as well.
Overall, I had a great time with this collection and am thrilled Jamie sent them my way. ✨
My two favorites were The Lodger and Vinyl Blues. I remembered a couple of others from anthologies past and thoroughly enjoyed revisiting those as well.
Overall, I had a great time with this collection and am thrilled Jamie sent them my way. ✨
March 6, 2024
I always find it difficult to review short story collections. While collections are all penned by the same author (anthologies are various authors) sometimes the stories are so vastly different I'm conflicted on an overall star rating. [Ironic as I know I have my own collection novel, don't fight me]
So I'll keep this general! 😊
I really enjoyed some of these stories, My favorites were the dino island and 'The Lodge'. Seriously, I could read a full novel series about the two characters in 'The Lodge'!
One small complaint, I'm not sure it can even be called a complaint tbh, I thought with the stories all taking place in the same town there would be a bit more crossover. Don't get me wrong, I laughed out loud every time the fish and chips shop was brought up. This type of dark humor was right up my alley!
While a few of the stories felt a bit predictable I still enjoyed really this read!
This is my second book by @jamie.stewart.33 the first being Montague's Carnival of Delights and Terrors. I would recommend both to any horror/supernatural lover.
So I'll keep this general! 😊
I really enjoyed some of these stories, My favorites were the dino island and 'The Lodge'. Seriously, I could read a full novel series about the two characters in 'The Lodge'!
One small complaint, I'm not sure it can even be called a complaint tbh, I thought with the stories all taking place in the same town there would be a bit more crossover. Don't get me wrong, I laughed out loud every time the fish and chips shop was brought up. This type of dark humor was right up my alley!
While a few of the stories felt a bit predictable I still enjoyed really this read!
This is my second book by @jamie.stewart.33 the first being Montague's Carnival of Delights and Terrors. I would recommend both to any horror/supernatural lover.
September 26, 2024
This was an entertaining enough collection of stories. Having all but one related to the same small town in Ireland gave it a little bit of a Twin Peaks vibe; the town attracts strange things, and everyone knows it but still goes about their lives.
While most stories were interesting, I was never really sucked in or really creeped out. A fairly average reading experience.
While most stories were interesting, I was never really sucked in or really creeped out. A fairly average reading experience.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews