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The Fading
Short listed for the Aurealis Awards, Best Collection
‘The dead came back. All of them.’
Step quietly, my friend, mind the shadows. This way, this way, there’s something I wish for you to see…
The Fading: eleven darkly-twisted tales of fantasy and horror, magic and superstition. Venture into a place where the veil between worlds is wafer-thin, where the dead join the living and the sun never sets. Drive a road of dust and bones that may never end and may take you places you do not wish to go… Visit a picture-perfect house, in a picture-perfect village, where there is a very special box. Sit for a while on the front porch, and wait for the end of the world, unless something more terrifying comes calling first…
Carole Nomarhas delivers a unique blend of dread and intrigue in short stories that cross genres and lead the reader down paths that were once the familiar haunts of horror and fantasy readers alike. With a delicate brush she paints vivid worlds where serial killers dwell, and digs up past wrong-deeds with dire consequences. Each story is a delicately-woven tapestry of nightmare places and nightmare beings, ordinary folk in extraordinary situations.
Step quietly, mind the shadows, and I will see you on the other side…
‘The dead came back. All of them.’
Step quietly, my friend, mind the shadows. This way, this way, there’s something I wish for you to see…
The Fading: eleven darkly-twisted tales of fantasy and horror, magic and superstition. Venture into a place where the veil between worlds is wafer-thin, where the dead join the living and the sun never sets. Drive a road of dust and bones that may never end and may take you places you do not wish to go… Visit a picture-perfect house, in a picture-perfect village, where there is a very special box. Sit for a while on the front porch, and wait for the end of the world, unless something more terrifying comes calling first…
Carole Nomarhas delivers a unique blend of dread and intrigue in short stories that cross genres and lead the reader down paths that were once the familiar haunts of horror and fantasy readers alike. With a delicate brush she paints vivid worlds where serial killers dwell, and digs up past wrong-deeds with dire consequences. Each story is a delicately-woven tapestry of nightmare places and nightmare beings, ordinary folk in extraordinary situations.
Step quietly, mind the shadows, and I will see you on the other side…
96 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 24, 2015
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 14, 2015
Well shitfuck, that was different!!!! This is a new author to me, and what a wonderful box of surprises is this book!
Some are just pure terror, but many skirt the border between weird fantasy and dream, like a rainbow of dingy greys.
What is brilliantly clear is the creative force at work here - so many wonderful ideas, like a bag of twisted sweeties.
If you fancy an unusual book which is full of clever nightmares without being gory, then huddle up with a cuppa and good luck :D
I look forward to reading more of this author....
Some are just pure terror, but many skirt the border between weird fantasy and dream, like a rainbow of dingy greys.
What is brilliantly clear is the creative force at work here - so many wonderful ideas, like a bag of twisted sweeties.
If you fancy an unusual book which is full of clever nightmares without being gory, then huddle up with a cuppa and good luck :D
I look forward to reading more of this author....
October 1, 2015
Just in time for Halloween!
A wide range of stories, from the almost comically twisted (Bernie's Mother)
...to the desolation of a slow-moving apocalypse that nobody could have foreseen, and a holiday where getting some peace and quiet is very literal...
These stories are small slices of life (er, or death) that are beautifully executed and just right for this time of year. Scary without the need for gore, and memorable.
A wide range of stories, from the almost comically twisted (Bernie's Mother)
...to the desolation of a slow-moving apocalypse that nobody could have foreseen, and a holiday where getting some peace and quiet is very literal...
These stories are small slices of life (er, or death) that are beautifully executed and just right for this time of year. Scary without the need for gore, and memorable.
October 1, 2015
Dark storytelling at its best. Just brilliant.
October 5, 2015
This was recommended to me, and I'm glad it was. I picked it up yesterday and inhaled it.
It's a collection of 11 short stories, each of them delightfully twisted. Because of the genre, I went into each story expecting something to mess with my head, but was delighted at how the twist I expected wasn't the one that showed up. There are some very clever stories in here.
I confess, there was one I just didn't get. But there were several that had me greatly impressed with their inventiveness, a few others that were wonderfully creepy, and a couple where I wanted to cheer in delight at the delicious twist.
And the writing! The descriptions are magnificent, evocative, and captivating. There were several passages where I stopped and stared at the text, saying "wow" out loud at how something was described. The editing was very good, with only a couple little whoopsies creeping in.
To Ms. Nomarhas: bravo. You're going to see sales of your other books on Amazon this afternoon. Those will be me.
It's a collection of 11 short stories, each of them delightfully twisted. Because of the genre, I went into each story expecting something to mess with my head, but was delighted at how the twist I expected wasn't the one that showed up. There are some very clever stories in here.
I confess, there was one I just didn't get. But there were several that had me greatly impressed with their inventiveness, a few others that were wonderfully creepy, and a couple where I wanted to cheer in delight at the delicious twist.
And the writing! The descriptions are magnificent, evocative, and captivating. There were several passages where I stopped and stared at the text, saying "wow" out loud at how something was described. The editing was very good, with only a couple little whoopsies creeping in.
To Ms. Nomarhas: bravo. You're going to see sales of your other books on Amazon this afternoon. Those will be me.
November 17, 2015
What an enjoyable collection of short stories this was! The author is certainly a gifted storyteller and possesses a strong talent with imagery and description. Many of these stories contained surprising, unpredictable twists and, with others, I could feel the character's sense of hopelessness, devastation, and acceptance of their fate. No two were the same, but all were delightfully dark and bewitching. Fantasy, horror, magic, superstition - it's all here in one book, just waiting to be read and savored - make sure you don't miss this one.
I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
October 6, 2015
The Fading: Short Stories of Horror & Dark Fantasy by Carole Nomarhas is a collection guaranteed to generate shudders of dread and delight. With precise prose that is often beautifully poetic—such as “Moth-flutters of dark, tattered mist came to his call…”—Nomarhas has carefully crafted characters and worlds that remain with the reader long after the book is closed. Nomarhas masterfully guides the reader through mazes of logical twists and turns that surprise and satisfy. For example, in “The Child’s Tale,” the story of a young man targeting a witch for revenge of his brother’s murder, just when you think you’ve figured everything out, the story takes an unexpected, but completely logical and adeptly set up turn. The Fading is a book filled with zombies, witches, murderers, and more, each tale wickedly entertaining while delivering a subtle lesson. Nomarhas is a gifted storyteller, crafting fiction that provides escape from a world that doesn’t always go our way into a world where things go the way they should, but not always to the satisfaction of its characters.
October 19, 2015
Creatures and Darkness of All Kinds Await
Dear Reader ... This collection and author were recommended to me by a fellow poet whom I admire. I am thrilled I made this purchase! Now I'll keep my eyes wide for more Carole Nomarhas. I'm a huge fan of psychological horror. In this diverse collection, readers will get a feel for the author's range and the sledge hammer that comes down upon them ... quietly. It is my pleasure to highly recommend this book ... as it was to me.
Dear Reader ... This collection and author were recommended to me by a fellow poet whom I admire. I am thrilled I made this purchase! Now I'll keep my eyes wide for more Carole Nomarhas. I'm a huge fan of psychological horror. In this diverse collection, readers will get a feel for the author's range and the sledge hammer that comes down upon them ... quietly. It is my pleasure to highly recommend this book ... as it was to me.
August 18, 2017
Disclaimer: This book was one of many I read as a judge for the 2015 Aurealis Awards. This review is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
[actual score: 4.5]
Quick review 1: Somewhat formulaic horror/dark fantasy, but (nearly) every story grabbed me. The twists are good genre tropes, handled well. Consistently competent, nicely varied.
Long review:
Nomarhas is not an author I was previously familiar with, and there is no visible publishers imprint in the ebook, so I was all braced for this to be a little on the dreadful side. But four reprints in a single author collection (of eleven) stories went a little way towards reassuring me, as did the rather striking cover. As did the first two stories, which I was somewhat surprised to discover were not (either of them) included in the reprints. From there, I was pretty much hooked. Other than one story that I found a little thin, a reprise of an author's conceit that I felt really only works once, and the bookending with a couple of too thematically similar stories given the range of the rest, everything worked for me.
For me, the highlights of the collection are "Of Bone and Dust and Hide" and "Bernie's Mother". The former takes the terror that dust and heat and distance can create for those who are not familiar with them, and creates a landscape that devours. The latter follows the career of a wanna-be serial killer who just needed the right impetus.
Of the others, some interesting explorations of identity, of the creation of reality, and the illusions that keep us sane. A number of classic horror tropes show up - the serial killer, the vampire, the predatory middle-aged villains, the lost girl, the revenge fantasy. There is the odd twist in the tale, but some really are just the story that they look to be. For example, the vampire story - nothing unusual, just a good, solid, 'suspicion of vampire' trope, played with all the beats in the right place. And, without spoilers, there is one story, where my story summary includes the phrase "..Almost Lovecraftian, without the dodgy bits". Across the darker of the stories, the author does a fabulous job of showing a range of deeply unpleasant people without beating the reader over the head with the details of the protagonists' awfulness(es).
As for the book as a collection, it works well. I've already flagged my issues with the bookending of two thematically similar stories, both reflecting the ideas of a slow apocalypse. The bringing of the collection around to its start works well in this case, with the final story providing a gently icky finish for a gently icky collection. The afterward is nothing startling, but does give a little of the author (and it is blissfully brief, a feature I have started looking for when author's write about their own work). This collection is not going to set the world on fire, but it is rock solid, with reasonably consistently strong stories with a good range of ideas/tropes
[actual score: 4.5]
Quick review 1: Somewhat formulaic horror/dark fantasy, but (nearly) every story grabbed me. The twists are good genre tropes, handled well. Consistently competent, nicely varied.
Long review:
Nomarhas is not an author I was previously familiar with, and there is no visible publishers imprint in the ebook, so I was all braced for this to be a little on the dreadful side. But four reprints in a single author collection (of eleven) stories went a little way towards reassuring me, as did the rather striking cover. As did the first two stories, which I was somewhat surprised to discover were not (either of them) included in the reprints. From there, I was pretty much hooked. Other than one story that I found a little thin, a reprise of an author's conceit that I felt really only works once, and the bookending with a couple of too thematically similar stories given the range of the rest, everything worked for me.
For me, the highlights of the collection are "Of Bone and Dust and Hide" and "Bernie's Mother". The former takes the terror that dust and heat and distance can create for those who are not familiar with them, and creates a landscape that devours. The latter follows the career of a wanna-be serial killer who just needed the right impetus.
Of the others, some interesting explorations of identity, of the creation of reality, and the illusions that keep us sane. A number of classic horror tropes show up - the serial killer, the vampire, the predatory middle-aged villains, the lost girl, the revenge fantasy. There is the odd twist in the tale, but some really are just the story that they look to be. For example, the vampire story - nothing unusual, just a good, solid, 'suspicion of vampire' trope, played with all the beats in the right place. And, without spoilers, there is one story, where my story summary includes the phrase "..Almost Lovecraftian, without the dodgy bits". Across the darker of the stories, the author does a fabulous job of showing a range of deeply unpleasant people without beating the reader over the head with the details of the protagonists' awfulness(es).
As for the book as a collection, it works well. I've already flagged my issues with the bookending of two thematically similar stories, both reflecting the ideas of a slow apocalypse. The bringing of the collection around to its start works well in this case, with the final story providing a gently icky finish for a gently icky collection. The afterward is nothing startling, but does give a little of the author (and it is blissfully brief, a feature I have started looking for when author's write about their own work). This collection is not going to set the world on fire, but it is rock solid, with reasonably consistently strong stories with a good range of ideas/tropes
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews