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Mood Swings
- GenresHorror
158 pages, Paperback
Published July 25, 2024
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Dave Jeffery
75 books147 followers"Jeffery has a connoisseur's eye for the grotesque and mind-bending."—STEPHEN VOLK, writer of GHOSTWATCH and AFTERLIFE,
Dave Jeffery is a British Fantasy Award and The Bridport Prize Finalist. He is author of 19 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. His Necropolis Rising series and yeti adventure Frostbite have both featured on the Amazon #1 bestseller list, while the A Quiet Apocalypse series continues to garner critical acclaim. His YA work includes the Beatrice Beecham supernatural mystery series and Finding Jericho. His screenwriting credits include award winning short films Ascension and Derelict.
Before retiring to write full-time, Jeffery worked in the NHS for 35 years specialising in the field of mental health nursing and risk management. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Mental Health Studies and a Master of Science Degree in Health Studies. His novel Finding Jericho is an amalgamation of his experiences of working with service users who have experienced stigma and social exclusion due to their mental illness. As a novel, Finding Jericho (Demain Publishing) has featured on both the BBC Health and Independent Schools Entrance Examination Board's ‘Recommended Reading’ lists
Jeffery is a member of the Society of Authors, British Fantasy Society (also as a regular book reviewer), and actively involved in the Horror Writers Association where he is a mentor on the HWA Mentorship Scheme and recipient of the HWA Mentor of the Year Award, 2022. He was also co-chair of the HWA Wellness Committee for a three-year tenure.
Jeffery is married with two children and lives in Worcestershire, UK.
Forthcoming Releases:
SEPTEMBER 2025
False Prophet: A Novel (Eerie River Publishing)
This Way Lies Madness Anthology (co-edited with Lee Murray, Flame Tree Press)
MAY 2026
Screams & Whispers Collection (Horrorsmith Publishing)
Dave Jeffery is a British Fantasy Award and The Bridport Prize Finalist. He is author of 19 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. His Necropolis Rising series and yeti adventure Frostbite have both featured on the Amazon #1 bestseller list, while the A Quiet Apocalypse series continues to garner critical acclaim. His YA work includes the Beatrice Beecham supernatural mystery series and Finding Jericho. His screenwriting credits include award winning short films Ascension and Derelict.
Before retiring to write full-time, Jeffery worked in the NHS for 35 years specialising in the field of mental health nursing and risk management. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Mental Health Studies and a Master of Science Degree in Health Studies. His novel Finding Jericho is an amalgamation of his experiences of working with service users who have experienced stigma and social exclusion due to their mental illness. As a novel, Finding Jericho (Demain Publishing) has featured on both the BBC Health and Independent Schools Entrance Examination Board's ‘Recommended Reading’ lists
Jeffery is a member of the Society of Authors, British Fantasy Society (also as a regular book reviewer), and actively involved in the Horror Writers Association where he is a mentor on the HWA Mentorship Scheme and recipient of the HWA Mentor of the Year Award, 2022. He was also co-chair of the HWA Wellness Committee for a three-year tenure.
Jeffery is married with two children and lives in Worcestershire, UK.
Forthcoming Releases:
SEPTEMBER 2025
False Prophet: A Novel (Eerie River Publishing)
This Way Lies Madness Anthology (co-edited with Lee Murray, Flame Tree Press)
MAY 2026
Screams & Whispers Collection (Horrorsmith Publishing)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 12, 2025
Full review at Happy Goat Horror:
https://happygoathorror.com/2025/02/1...
I'll never stop recommending Dave Jeffery's work, and this collection is yet another excellent addition to my DJ collection. Great variety in the stories, some truly horrible ideas, and wonderful writing.
https://happygoathorror.com/2025/02/1...
I'll never stop recommending Dave Jeffery's work, and this collection is yet another excellent addition to my DJ collection. Great variety in the stories, some truly horrible ideas, and wonderful writing.
November 21, 2024
I can't believe that some of these stories came from Dave Jeffery. They are so despicably horrible and Dave is so lovely that it's hard to imagine that they came from his mind. Brilliant collection!
December 26, 2024
Live the Black shuck shadows series thus far and this book is no exception. Every story is unique and horrifying
August 2, 2024
Mood Swings is the 36th entry in Black Shuck Books’ Black Shuck Shadows series, micro-collections of peculiar tales. It’s a series which consistently delivers. Black Shuck Books are one of those publishers you can really count on for a quality product.
In Mood Swings, you’ll find 8 tales from Dave Jeffery, each uniquely presenting some kind of horror, but with a range extending from heartfelt tales to truly hideous horrors.
‘Restoring Scarlet’ tells the tale of a gifted individual finding beauty in death and holding onto that. Some of the imagery around death is beautifully presented (in all of its tragedy). I could make a joke about it being a story about a Faith healer, but it would be lost on you until you read it.
‘Once’ is a heartbreaking tale of loss through dementia. It captures that horror of a death by degrees, a loss that hits you again and again, but with it there are memories of the good times and bad that meant so much. It’s simultaneously awful, yet touching, and very skilfully written.
As tender and sweet as ‘Once’ is, ‘Last Rose of Summer’ is the opposite. This is Jeffery giving us a character to truly make our skin crawl. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to watch for long through his eyes, but the story twists and turns. At times, I thought I’d got where it was going, only for it to pivot in another direction, then it twists again, bringing me back to my initial thoughts.
‘Masquerade’ is another tale with an unpleasant narrator, though it’s a very different story. It’s an intriguing premise of one stuck in some kind of hellish purgatory who seeks a way out through manipulating another.
In ‘Where There’s a Will…’ Jeffery demonstrates how he can tell a story that develops over a lifetime in but a handful of pages. Again, it shows the importance of family relationships and the damage fractured ones can do.
I was very surprised to find that ‘Disturbia’ was written pre-pandemic. Looking at it today, it reflects a lot of the control, a lot of the fear, and a lot of the paranoia of 2020. The ‘bulletins’ in the story tell our narrator how to cope with the rehabilitating panic that has swept the nation. Beyond the pandemic, it also reflects the awful mental health crisis we’re currently experiencing.
‘Different’ contains some pretty grim ideas and descriptions and saying much at all will give it away. Let’s just say a man wishes to be reunited with his estranged wife and very much comes to regret it!
The collection is rounded off with ‘And Your Fear Shall Define You’ about a rather selfish man cursed with those very words. Of all the stories, which contain many monstrous people doing monstrous things, this is the one that comes closest to bringing us an actual monster.
Mood swings is a collection which continually captivates and sometimes surprises. It’s full of truly awful things, but it’s often uplifting too, with many of the characters getting what they deserve. It’s beautifully written, too. There were often times I paused to take in a particular description or an apt simile that painted a picture so vividly. Highly recommended.
In Mood Swings, you’ll find 8 tales from Dave Jeffery, each uniquely presenting some kind of horror, but with a range extending from heartfelt tales to truly hideous horrors.
‘Restoring Scarlet’ tells the tale of a gifted individual finding beauty in death and holding onto that. Some of the imagery around death is beautifully presented (in all of its tragedy). I could make a joke about it being a story about a Faith healer, but it would be lost on you until you read it.
‘Once’ is a heartbreaking tale of loss through dementia. It captures that horror of a death by degrees, a loss that hits you again and again, but with it there are memories of the good times and bad that meant so much. It’s simultaneously awful, yet touching, and very skilfully written.
As tender and sweet as ‘Once’ is, ‘Last Rose of Summer’ is the opposite. This is Jeffery giving us a character to truly make our skin crawl. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to watch for long through his eyes, but the story twists and turns. At times, I thought I’d got where it was going, only for it to pivot in another direction, then it twists again, bringing me back to my initial thoughts.
‘Masquerade’ is another tale with an unpleasant narrator, though it’s a very different story. It’s an intriguing premise of one stuck in some kind of hellish purgatory who seeks a way out through manipulating another.
In ‘Where There’s a Will…’ Jeffery demonstrates how he can tell a story that develops over a lifetime in but a handful of pages. Again, it shows the importance of family relationships and the damage fractured ones can do.
I was very surprised to find that ‘Disturbia’ was written pre-pandemic. Looking at it today, it reflects a lot of the control, a lot of the fear, and a lot of the paranoia of 2020. The ‘bulletins’ in the story tell our narrator how to cope with the rehabilitating panic that has swept the nation. Beyond the pandemic, it also reflects the awful mental health crisis we’re currently experiencing.
‘Different’ contains some pretty grim ideas and descriptions and saying much at all will give it away. Let’s just say a man wishes to be reunited with his estranged wife and very much comes to regret it!
The collection is rounded off with ‘And Your Fear Shall Define You’ about a rather selfish man cursed with those very words. Of all the stories, which contain many monstrous people doing monstrous things, this is the one that comes closest to bringing us an actual monster.
Mood swings is a collection which continually captivates and sometimes surprises. It’s full of truly awful things, but it’s often uplifting too, with many of the characters getting what they deserve. It’s beautifully written, too. There were often times I paused to take in a particular description or an apt simile that painted a picture so vividly. Highly recommended.
February 19, 2025
n an effort to introduce readers to horror and speculative fiction, Black Shuck Shadows has released a series of micro-collections of which Dave Jeffery’s Mood Swings is number 36 out of (currently) 37. The eight works in this collection are not blood and guts and veins in the teeth, but something oh so much more delicate and oh so much more unsettling…sort of like a Maxfield Parrish painting, but in dark shades of grey, with a spot of red here and there. It is cerebral horror at its best.
Here is what you may expect if you read this book, which I wholeheartedly recommend that you do:
“Restoring Scarlett” – An embalmer who has a preternatural ability to restore broken, mangled bodies.
“Once” – A heartbreaking story of a devoted couple.
“Last Rose of Summer” – A serial killer who isn’t quite as smart as he thinks he is.
“Masquerade” – A Dorian Gray type of person who is a really slow learner.
“Where There’s a Will…” – A nasty man dying of Alzheimer’s is allowed one last bit of clarity.
“Disturbia” – A strange story about a sudden worldwide onset of fear and anxiety.
“Different” – Is it possible to make amends to someone after they die? Graves, Inc. thinks so.
“And Your Fear Will Define You” – This story and “Restoring Scarlett” were my favorites, although they all are so good, I had trouble choosing. In this one, a wealthy landowner finds a gypsy camping on his land, and in trying to intimidate her into leaving, kicks her fire and accidentally burns her caravan to the ground. The title of this story is the curse of that gypsy…and what a curse it is!
Dave Jeffery is the author of 18 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. He is a member of the Society of Authors, the British Fantasy Society (where he is a regular book reviewer), and the Horror Writers Association.
I couldn’t possibly recommend Mood Swings more highly, and I urge you to pick up a copy. Not only will you want one for yourself, but this will make a great stocking stuffer come Christmas, or a perfect no-reason gift right now for someone who loves great horror.
The printed book is available on Amazon. Currently, if you wish an e-book, it may be had here: https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/shadows...
Here is what you may expect if you read this book, which I wholeheartedly recommend that you do:
“Restoring Scarlett” – An embalmer who has a preternatural ability to restore broken, mangled bodies.
“Once” – A heartbreaking story of a devoted couple.
“Last Rose of Summer” – A serial killer who isn’t quite as smart as he thinks he is.
“Masquerade” – A Dorian Gray type of person who is a really slow learner.
“Where There’s a Will…” – A nasty man dying of Alzheimer’s is allowed one last bit of clarity.
“Disturbia” – A strange story about a sudden worldwide onset of fear and anxiety.
“Different” – Is it possible to make amends to someone after they die? Graves, Inc. thinks so.
“And Your Fear Will Define You” – This story and “Restoring Scarlett” were my favorites, although they all are so good, I had trouble choosing. In this one, a wealthy landowner finds a gypsy camping on his land, and in trying to intimidate her into leaving, kicks her fire and accidentally burns her caravan to the ground. The title of this story is the curse of that gypsy…and what a curse it is!
Dave Jeffery is the author of 18 novels, two collections, and numerous short stories. He is a member of the Society of Authors, the British Fantasy Society (where he is a regular book reviewer), and the Horror Writers Association.
I couldn’t possibly recommend Mood Swings more highly, and I urge you to pick up a copy. Not only will you want one for yourself, but this will make a great stocking stuffer come Christmas, or a perfect no-reason gift right now for someone who loves great horror.
The printed book is available on Amazon. Currently, if you wish an e-book, it may be had here: https://blackshuckbooks.co.uk/shadows...
January 28, 2025
Mood Swings by Dave Jeffrey: A captivating collection with literary brilliance.
Mood Swings is the third installment from the Black Shuck Shadows collection that I’ve had the pleasure of reading, and, like its predecessors, it delivered a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Jeffrey’s writing is imbued with intensity, sharp wit, and a remarkable ability to blend dry humor with genuine emotional depth.
The standout story for me was the opener, Restoring Scarlet, a poignant tale about a cursed child who discovers how to wield their unique ‘gift.’ The narrative was both compelling and haunting which set the tone for the rest of the collection.
Two stories in particular, Once and Disturbia, stood out to me because of their lyrical prose. These were so beautifully written I found myself highlighting entire passages to revisit later.
As a devoted fan of Ray Bradbury (the first author I ever felt the urge to read the entire body of work of), I couldn’t help but notice how Jeffery’s lyrical style occasionally mirrors the evocative and poetic quality of Bradbury’s work—a true testament to Jeffery's skill as a storyteller.
If I had to find a downside, it’s this: these collections from Black Shuck Books are utterly addictive. They warrant a warning label! The temptation to collect them all is hard to resist—which kidney should I attempt to flog first?
In summary, Mood Swings is a masterful collection of short stories that will appeal to fans of dark fiction, sharp prose, and satisfying denouements. Highly recommended!
Mood Swings is the third installment from the Black Shuck Shadows collection that I’ve had the pleasure of reading, and, like its predecessors, it delivered a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Jeffrey’s writing is imbued with intensity, sharp wit, and a remarkable ability to blend dry humor with genuine emotional depth.
The standout story for me was the opener, Restoring Scarlet, a poignant tale about a cursed child who discovers how to wield their unique ‘gift.’ The narrative was both compelling and haunting which set the tone for the rest of the collection.
Two stories in particular, Once and Disturbia, stood out to me because of their lyrical prose. These were so beautifully written I found myself highlighting entire passages to revisit later.
As a devoted fan of Ray Bradbury (the first author I ever felt the urge to read the entire body of work of), I couldn’t help but notice how Jeffery’s lyrical style occasionally mirrors the evocative and poetic quality of Bradbury’s work—a true testament to Jeffery's skill as a storyteller.
If I had to find a downside, it’s this: these collections from Black Shuck Books are utterly addictive. They warrant a warning label! The temptation to collect them all is hard to resist—which kidney should I attempt to flog first?
In summary, Mood Swings is a masterful collection of short stories that will appeal to fans of dark fiction, sharp prose, and satisfying denouements. Highly recommended!
August 5, 2024
A great collection. Themed collections can sometimes be a bit samey, but Jeffery manages to make each story with Mood Swings unique. My personal favourites are the beautiful "Once" and the unnerving "Disturbia". But with such a wide range of stories, there is something for everyone in this book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews