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Phobic: Modern Horror Stories
Britain’s leading contemporary authors experiment with the horror genre in this anthology of chilling short stories. Contributors including Hanif Kureishi, Frank Cottrel Boyce, and Ramsey Campbell expose the dark areas that lie beneath modern life with alarming results as internet chat rooms revive ancient curses and children’s TV characters acquire lives of their own.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
50 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 24, 2021
The Deadly Space Between
Chaz Brenchley
“I only skipped towards it like a child anticipating treats. Even knowing that treats always, always disappoint in the end, I was still skipping.”
I am still skipping along the Zeno Paradox path of this amazing story. How have I not read it before after all those shared convention breakfasts? It is a genuine classic of a ghost story blended with an art installation flour-mill that has created, by structural work, not only an official empty space between walls as cleared for performance or video art, but also a secret Casement, a space that was paranoiacally locked like all our lockdowns today, here with a ghost from the past as part of the ‘performance’ therein. So much to quote here, so much to say, from and about this work, but mainly I felt I was the narrator or I was the powdery ghost itself in this the author’s chilling work, within the space of its room. The Case of the Magus, I guess, now self-perpetuated in some locked-down space of my paradoxical head from where he had vanished interminably. The reviewer become the haunted narrator by perforce of ‘art’. So much to quote and say, but I leave it at only two figments, as a pure space’s glitches, this being the second… ‘Art is not required to be healthy, and it should never be safe!’ Oh, Ok, just one more figment beyond the ‘expressive shoulders and a giveaway spine’, the spaces around the words…
“It was a square box of a space, windowless and spare, hanging indeterminately between two floors. Case inhabited that space like a bird confined, angular and pacing.”
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.
Chaz Brenchley
“I only skipped towards it like a child anticipating treats. Even knowing that treats always, always disappoint in the end, I was still skipping.”
I am still skipping along the Zeno Paradox path of this amazing story. How have I not read it before after all those shared convention breakfasts? It is a genuine classic of a ghost story blended with an art installation flour-mill that has created, by structural work, not only an official empty space between walls as cleared for performance or video art, but also a secret Casement, a space that was paranoiacally locked like all our lockdowns today, here with a ghost from the past as part of the ‘performance’ therein. So much to quote here, so much to say, from and about this work, but mainly I felt I was the narrator or I was the powdery ghost itself in this the author’s chilling work, within the space of its room. The Case of the Magus, I guess, now self-perpetuated in some locked-down space of my paradoxical head from where he had vanished interminably. The reviewer become the haunted narrator by perforce of ‘art’. So much to quote and say, but I leave it at only two figments, as a pure space’s glitches, this being the second… ‘Art is not required to be healthy, and it should never be safe!’ Oh, Ok, just one more figment beyond the ‘expressive shoulders and a giveaway spine’, the spaces around the words…
“It was a square box of a space, windowless and spare, hanging indeterminately between two floors. Case inhabited that space like a bird confined, angular and pacing.”
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.
Want to read
February 17, 2024PLACEHOLDER REVIEW
"Sounds Between" by Matthew Holness has a struggling stand-up comic plagued by anxiety and disturbing visions following an awful death footage video appearing on his phone. Is he really asked to provide punch up comedy for military snuff footage, and is his significant other being stalked by a bizarre, threatening, balloon-headed man? Or are these examples of stress related visions overlapping with reality? I liked this in the sense that it felt very much in the "Ramsey Campbell" mold of modern anxiety manifesting as disturbing visions. A bit "chunky" in the writing perhaps, and I'm not sure whether the ending is a flashback or happening in real-time, but still, effective (and it seems to also deal with not just Internet-styled "cruel humor"/LOLZ type stuff, but the London train bombing and PTSD as well).
"Sounds Between" by Matthew Holness has a struggling stand-up comic plagued by anxiety and disturbing visions following an awful death footage video appearing on his phone. Is he really asked to provide punch up comedy for military snuff footage, and is his significant other being stalked by a bizarre, threatening, balloon-headed man? Or are these examples of stress related visions overlapping with reality? I liked this in the sense that it felt very much in the "Ramsey Campbell" mold of modern anxiety manifesting as disturbing visions. A bit "chunky" in the writing perhaps, and I'm not sure whether the ending is a flashback or happening in real-time, but still, effective (and it seems to also deal with not just Internet-styled "cruel humor"/LOLZ type stuff, but the London train bombing and PTSD as well).
July 10, 2018
Edit: another review mentioned the short story 'Mortal Coil' is good and I agree, but if you like stories about how the knowledge of death and how we die could affect humanity then I would recommend reading Machine of Death.
DNF'd this book 48 pages in.
The stories I made it through were random and seemed to have very little plot or theme with 'Dogs' being a particular low point of the pointlessness of its existence.
The opening story, 'Sounds Between' seemed to be trying for a Black Mirror vibe and missing.
The rest of the stories were pretty forgettable.
DNF'd this book 48 pages in.
The stories I made it through were random and seemed to have very little plot or theme with 'Dogs' being a particular low point of the pointlessness of its existence.
The opening story, 'Sounds Between' seemed to be trying for a Black Mirror vibe and missing.
The rest of the stories were pretty forgettable.
July 25, 2020
Some fresh and modern horror stories of excellent quality from lots of established writers such as Jeremy Dyson and Ramsey Campbell. Good intro from Andy Murray too. A solid collection.
August 8, 2016
Wanted to like this collection more. A few too many stories descended into randomness without actually being clear wtf happened. Most memorable stories for me were:
'Foster parents' by Paul Magyrs - Creepy one where the curtain twitching neighbours suspect their neighbours of foul play.
'Digging Deep' by Ramsey Campbell - Think I'd read this one before somewhere else, but as always he puts across a great sense of 'holyshitthings-gotout-of control-faaaast' and then just the screaming....
'Mortal Coil' by Robert Shearman - A cheeky take on a common question about death. The relief of fatalism. Liked this one the most.
'Foster parents' by Paul Magyrs - Creepy one where the curtain twitching neighbours suspect their neighbours of foul play.
'Digging Deep' by Ramsey Campbell - Think I'd read this one before somewhere else, but as always he puts across a great sense of 'holyshitthings-gotout-of control-faaaast' and then just the screaming....
'Mortal Coil' by Robert Shearman - A cheeky take on a common question about death. The relief of fatalism. Liked this one the most.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews