Their Cramped Dark World and Other Tales

by David A. Riley

Their Cramped Dark World and Other Tales is David A. Riley's third collection of short fiction, spanning 40 years of publication, from appearances in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural #1 in 1971, to the Ninth Black Book of Horror in 2012.
He has had numerous stories published by Doubleday, DAW, Corgi, Sphere, Roc, Playboy Paperbacks, Robinsons, etc., and in magazines such as Aboriginal Science Fiction, Dark Discoveries, Fear, and Fantasy Tales. His stories have been translated into Italian, German, Spanish and Russian. His Lovecraftian crime noir horror novel, The Return, was published by Blood Bound Books in 2013. His fantasy novel, Goblin Mire, was published by Parallel Universe Publications in 2015.
Table of Contents Hoody (first published in When Graveyards Yawn, Crowswing Books, 2006) A Bottle of Spirits (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 2, 1972) No Sense in Being Hungry, She Thought (first published in Peeping Tom #20, 1996) Now and Forever More (first published in The Second Black Book of Horror, 2008) Romero's Children (first published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror, 2010) Swan Song (first published in the Ninth Black Book of Horror, 2012) The Farmhouse (first published in New Writings in Horror & the Supernatural 1, 1971) The Last Coach Trip (first published in The Eighth Black Book of Horror, 2011) The Satyr's Head (first published in The Satyr's Head & Other Tales of Terror, 1975) Their Cramped Dark World (first published in The Sixth Black Book of Horror, 2010)

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 9, 2015

About the author

David A. Riley writes horror, fantasy and SF stories. In 1995, along with his wife, Linden, he edited and published a fantasy/SF magazine, Beyond. His first professionally published story was in the 11th Pan Book of Horror in 1970. This was reprinted in 2012 in The Century's Best Horror Fiction edited by John Pelan for Cemetery Dance. He has had numerous stories published by Doubleday, DAW, Corgi, Sphere, Roc, Playboy Paperbacks, Robinsons, etc., and in magazines such as Aboriginal Science Fiction, Dark Discoveries, Fear, Fantasy Tales. His first collection of stories (4 long stories and a novelette) was published by Hazardous Press in 2012, His Own Mad Demons. A Lovecraftian novel, The Return, was published by Blood Bound Books in the States in 2013. A second collection of his stories, all of which were professionally published prior to 2000, The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales of Terror, was launched at the World Fantasy Convention in 2013. His fantasy novel, Goblin Mire, was published by Parallel Universe Publications in 2015. Their Cramped Dark World is his third collection of short stories. With his wife, Linden, he runs a small press called Parallel Universe Publications, which has so far published ten books. His stories have been translated into Italian, German, Spanish and Russian.

Reviews

[Jameson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird fiction in the timeless or classic style. Very happy to have found a new writer of this I can binge. While this collection isn’t as tight as the last (and first Riley) I read, it’s just as good because there are more stories. (Including one, the penultimate one, that would cause keyboard warriors to spontaneously combust since it could be interpreted as a gay panic story. I thought it was a nice play on that type of tale—supernaturalism used to illustrate questioning one’s sexuality—and the ending was wonderfully grotesque and creepy. Definitely re-readable.)

Riley offers a different point of view from most genre writers these days—that of the average Englishman. Specifically, he doesn’t bend over backwards to justify this and make his protagonist white saviors or white martyrs. And some of the stories are peppered with stray if noncommittal comments on things like nationalism, foreigners, etc. Not sure if these elements resonate thematically or are more or less time/place references. But whatever the case may be this helps anchor the story in reality instead of the “let me be a eunuch and only write what I think mainstream critics and social media addicts will allow” fantasy land. The old descriptive vs. prescriptive argument. We need more of the former these days, funnily enough.