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This Haunted Heaven: Ten Strange Stories
Ten strange stories from a modern master story-teller, Reggie Oliver’s impressive tales range from an archaeological dig on an island in the Mediterranean, to seventeenth century Milan. With a wide range of eminently authentic characters, Oliver insinuates strangeness into the lives of his unwary protagonists and the results vary from a profound chill to outright horror.
As Publishers Weekly wrote of a previous collection by Reggie Oliver, his work is for, ‘Readers who like their horrors subtle but unsettling.’
As Publishers Weekly wrote of a previous collection by Reggie Oliver, his work is for, ‘Readers who like their horrors subtle but unsettling.’
241 pages, Hardcover
Published October 24, 2024
6 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Reggie Oliver
160 books128 followersReggie Oliver is a stage actor and playwright. His biography of Stella Gibbons was praised as “a triumph” by Hilary Spurling in the Daily Telegraph, his play Winner Takes All, was described as “the funniest evening in London”, by Michael Billington in The Guardian, and his adaptation of Hennequin and Delacour’s Once Bitten opened at the Orange Tree Theatre in London in December 2010.
He is the author of four highly-praised volumes of short fiction: The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini (Haunted River 2003), The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler (Haunted River 2005), Masques of Satan (Ash Tree 2007), and Madder Mysteries (Ex Occidente 2009). His stories have appeared in over 25 anthologies and, for the third year running, one of his stories appears in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, the most widely read and popular of contemporary horror anthologies.
He is the author of four highly-praised volumes of short fiction: The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini (Haunted River 2003), The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler (Haunted River 2005), Masques of Satan (Ash Tree 2007), and Madder Mysteries (Ex Occidente 2009). His stories have appeared in over 25 anthologies and, for the third year running, one of his stories appears in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, the most widely read and popular of contemporary horror anthologies.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 18, 2025
like a 4.5 rounded up
full post is here at my reading journal;
https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/202...
It is not only a true pleasure to have a book published by Tartarus in my hands once again, but added to that is the joy of it being a book of collected stories by Reggie Oliver. Long may they continue to be published -- I love his work. In This Haunted Heaven, as the blurb notes, the author "insinuates strangeness into the lives of his unwary protagonists and the results vary from a profound chill to outright horror." Let me add that it's not just true about this book, but rather the case in every single collection of his that I've read.
My big test in any story collection is always whether or not the first one makes me want to go on to the rest, and with the titular "This Haunted Heaven," Oliver passes with flying colors. Set on the Greek island of Skliros, within just a few lines of opening this tale, the author mentions the Mediterranean Sea as being "Wine-dark," as "the romantics will tell you, imagining they are quoting Homer," but it wasn't all that long into the story that my brain drifted to Robert Aickman. If you consider the themes in that story, my brain wasn't too far off the mark, but this is clearly a Reggie Oliver creation. In "This Haunted Heaven," a university don returns to the island to finish his book Middle Eastern Cults and Greco-Roman Culture," which he believes will be the "standard work on the subject," or else his "life has been wasted." In setting down "how it all began," he remembers the first time, as a young Classics student, he had gone to the island as part of an ongoing dig at a site which had been dedicated to the goddess Cybele. I won't say any more, but I had to remind myself that this was just the beginning and I needed to buckle up if the remainder of the stories were going to be this disturbing. And they were, most especially "Fell Creatures," which I thought was just absolute freaking genius.
I have to say that the only story I wasn't completely in love with was "The Cardinal's Ring" -- for me, it just didn't have the same oomph as the others, but that's just a personal taste thing. Your mileage may vary. What I love the most about his work is that he is not only a master of atmosphere, but also the way in which he brings together past and present creates a lingering sense of menace and danger that gets and stays under my skin. As I usually find while reading his work, his writing is so good that while in the middle of one of these stories, the house could have caught fire and I would have waited to do anything about it until I finished reading. There just aren't that many authors about whom I can honestly say that, especially modern writers, but it's true. The dustjacket blurb quotes Publishers Weekly about another of Oliver's collections, saying that his stories are for "Readers who like their horrors subtle but unsettling," and that description is right on the money. He is and likely will remain one of my favorite writers ever.
Very, VERY highly recommended!!!
full post is here at my reading journal;
https://www.oddlyweirdfiction.com/202...
It is not only a true pleasure to have a book published by Tartarus in my hands once again, but added to that is the joy of it being a book of collected stories by Reggie Oliver. Long may they continue to be published -- I love his work. In This Haunted Heaven, as the blurb notes, the author "insinuates strangeness into the lives of his unwary protagonists and the results vary from a profound chill to outright horror." Let me add that it's not just true about this book, but rather the case in every single collection of his that I've read.
My big test in any story collection is always whether or not the first one makes me want to go on to the rest, and with the titular "This Haunted Heaven," Oliver passes with flying colors. Set on the Greek island of Skliros, within just a few lines of opening this tale, the author mentions the Mediterranean Sea as being "Wine-dark," as "the romantics will tell you, imagining they are quoting Homer," but it wasn't all that long into the story that my brain drifted to Robert Aickman. If you consider the themes in that story, my brain wasn't too far off the mark, but this is clearly a Reggie Oliver creation. In "This Haunted Heaven," a university don returns to the island to finish his book Middle Eastern Cults and Greco-Roman Culture," which he believes will be the "standard work on the subject," or else his "life has been wasted." In setting down "how it all began," he remembers the first time, as a young Classics student, he had gone to the island as part of an ongoing dig at a site which had been dedicated to the goddess Cybele. I won't say any more, but I had to remind myself that this was just the beginning and I needed to buckle up if the remainder of the stories were going to be this disturbing. And they were, most especially "Fell Creatures," which I thought was just absolute freaking genius.
I have to say that the only story I wasn't completely in love with was "The Cardinal's Ring" -- for me, it just didn't have the same oomph as the others, but that's just a personal taste thing. Your mileage may vary. What I love the most about his work is that he is not only a master of atmosphere, but also the way in which he brings together past and present creates a lingering sense of menace and danger that gets and stays under my skin. As I usually find while reading his work, his writing is so good that while in the middle of one of these stories, the house could have caught fire and I would have waited to do anything about it until I finished reading. There just aren't that many authors about whom I can honestly say that, especially modern writers, but it's true. The dustjacket blurb quotes Publishers Weekly about another of Oliver's collections, saying that his stories are for "Readers who like their horrors subtle but unsettling," and that description is right on the money. He is and likely will remain one of my favorite writers ever.
Very, VERY highly recommended!!!
July 31, 2025
Long time Reggie Oliver followers know what to expect. The framing devices may be a bit more extended than necessary, but usually charming and packed with interesting details about archaeology, old British academia, and theatre. The arcs tend not to be terribly surprising. My favorites are "The Ninth Curtain", with the architectural anomaly; and the last story "Chaos Regained", which combines most of Oliver's usual themes, and includes a few little twists on the way to its quietly threatening conclusion. The rest are mostly disposable, but this was fairly entertaining as usual.
[2.5 stars, rounded up]
[2.5 stars, rounded up]
November 8, 2024
There is a pleasure in reading Reggie Oliver that few other living authors achieve. Complex emotions described in simple glances. Simple emotions tied up with complicated stage dressing. A modern take on a classic format that feels 2020 and 1920 at the same time. Misty endings that achieve a sense of closure. You never feel rushed or left behind (at least not more than the characters). Like an uncle taking his time to tell you of the time his best friend saw a ghost and getting a bit lost in the telling.
There are perhaps no stories as strong as some standouts from previous collections—no "Mrs. Midnight," say—and much of the set dressing, relationship templates, and general conclusions have effectively all be done before. None of this stops the collection from being a 5-star pick from me but if you start here you might feel a sense of deja vu for stories you have never seen.
Meandering through my notes and notions, a few things surface. The eponymous story approaches the fully Aickman-esque side of Oliver's works but it feels in places secondary to its internal ruminations of gender, losing steam every time it tries to move back to more definite. The final story, "Chaos Regained," likewise infuses modern issues (in this case, the Israel/Palenstine conflict, though Oliver avoids him or his characters taking either side) with a mash-up of Lovecraftian, Biblical, and conspiratorial concepts [all cast around academics and dramatists to hit most of the Oliver points on the way down].
Some stories sing. I adored the mild weirdness of "Behind You" with the skeleton dance and its odd description lining up with a kind of mental image as produced by 1970s BBC television. Some stories do not sing so much. "Grey Glass," for instance, is fine but feels like the Strange elements are more an add on. "From the Man-Seat" feels very high concept but without enough breathing room (or too much, such things can be tricky).
But in a collection with such stories as the excellent human-indictment tale of "Limed Souls"—"Humans tend to be individually clever and collectively idiotic..."—and with wonderful mood pieces such as "Fell Creatures" and "South Riding" the whole makes for a fine few nights of bedtime reading (my favorite time to read such stories is in the quiet hours of night after the family has gone to bed).
As a bonus of sorts, it is clear the Oliver has been contemplating Dante's Inferno as of late. One story is a direct reference to it, at least one more recalls it in passing. I wonder if there are more elements I missed?
I am already excited for the next Oliver collection and any more that will follow.
There are perhaps no stories as strong as some standouts from previous collections—no "Mrs. Midnight," say—and much of the set dressing, relationship templates, and general conclusions have effectively all be done before. None of this stops the collection from being a 5-star pick from me but if you start here you might feel a sense of deja vu for stories you have never seen.
Meandering through my notes and notions, a few things surface. The eponymous story approaches the fully Aickman-esque side of Oliver's works but it feels in places secondary to its internal ruminations of gender, losing steam every time it tries to move back to more definite. The final story, "Chaos Regained," likewise infuses modern issues (in this case, the Israel/Palenstine conflict, though Oliver avoids him or his characters taking either side) with a mash-up of Lovecraftian, Biblical, and conspiratorial concepts [all cast around academics and dramatists to hit most of the Oliver points on the way down].
Some stories sing. I adored the mild weirdness of "Behind You" with the skeleton dance and its odd description lining up with a kind of mental image as produced by 1970s BBC television. Some stories do not sing so much. "Grey Glass," for instance, is fine but feels like the Strange elements are more an add on. "From the Man-Seat" feels very high concept but without enough breathing room (or too much, such things can be tricky).
But in a collection with such stories as the excellent human-indictment tale of "Limed Souls"—"Humans tend to be individually clever and collectively idiotic..."—and with wonderful mood pieces such as "Fell Creatures" and "South Riding" the whole makes for a fine few nights of bedtime reading (my favorite time to read such stories is in the quiet hours of night after the family has gone to bed).
As a bonus of sorts, it is clear the Oliver has been contemplating Dante's Inferno as of late. One story is a direct reference to it, at least one more recalls it in passing. I wonder if there are more elements I missed?
I am already excited for the next Oliver collection and any more that will follow.
November 28, 2024
I received this book yesterday and spent every available moment reading it. Reggie Oliver is one of my favourite authors of weird/ supernatural fiction. Utterly brilliant.
December 27, 2024
✭✭✭½
“This Haunted Heaven” (2023) ✭✭✭✭
“Grey Glass” (2021) ✭✭✭✭½
“The Ninth Curtain” (2022) ✭✭✭½
“Limed Souls” (2024) ✭✭✭½
“From the Man-Seat” (2023) ✭✭✭½
“South Riding” (2024) ✭✭✭✭
“Fell Creatures” (2023) ✭✭✭✭
“Behind You!” (2023) ✭✭✭
“The Cardinal’s Ring” (2024) ✭✭✭
“Chaos Regained” (2024) ✭✭✭✭
“This Haunted Heaven” (2023) ✭✭✭✭
“Grey Glass” (2021) ✭✭✭✭½
“The Ninth Curtain” (2022) ✭✭✭½
“Limed Souls” (2024) ✭✭✭½
“From the Man-Seat” (2023) ✭✭✭½
“South Riding” (2024) ✭✭✭✭
“Fell Creatures” (2023) ✭✭✭✭
“Behind You!” (2023) ✭✭✭
“The Cardinal’s Ring” (2024) ✭✭✭
“Chaos Regained” (2024) ✭✭✭✭
November 1, 2024
Outstanding collection: every story weird, droll, and punctuated with terror.
October 16, 2025
Reggie Oliver should be a household name.
I've only read a few of Mr. Oliver's collections of short stories so far but they are all excellent, and I'm delighted that I have the remainder to enjoy.
I've only read a few of Mr. Oliver's collections of short stories so far but they are all excellent, and I'm delighted that I have the remainder to enjoy.
November 17, 2024
Exceptional.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews