The Lure of Devouring Light

by Michael Griffin

Over the last few years, Michael Griffin has been heralded by critics as an author of breathtaking skill, melding the aesthetics of quiet horror, dreamlike wonder, and the strangeness inherent in the classical weird. Readers have sought his stories, scattered throughout prestigious anthologies, magazines, and limited-edition chapbooks, hoping to assemble their own collections of Griffin’s ferocious, poetic fiction.

Now, Word Horde presents Michael Griffin’s debut collection, The Lure of Devouring Light. Here you will find strange and luminous tales, character-driven, emotionally resonant, and grappling with horrors both everyday and supernatural.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Weird Fiction, Fiction

332 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very impressed with this debut collection of dark and imaginative fiction.  The writing is lush and evocative, expanding the parameters of actuality.  Directions are skewed so that up and down are sideways and interchangeable.  Emotions and relationships are explored within these pages, while nature and humanly created substances are conjoined to form new environments.  Time slips away along new routes, and what is real and what can be imagined have no solid boundaries.  Confusion makes sense after treading through darkness, and there are new ways of seeing what cannot be sensed.  Come in from the bright light of day and let your eyes adjust to the cave's Stygian pulse.  Identity is mutable.  Come see.  

[Adam Nevill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A writer doing something different with the cosmic in an impressive debut collection, and I was most reminded of Nathan Ballingrud, in that finely detailed relationships occupy a close focus in the foreground, while the horrors that exist beyond the bounds of time have an influence upon events, situations and feelings. Particularly liked the strange powers of the natural world that were conjured in many of the stories. Favourite tales: 'The Black Vein Runs Deep' and 'Far from Streets'.

[Michael Wehunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One thing that struck me very clearly about The Lure of Devouring Light is that it's much more than just a great debut. Michael Griffin took his time carefully, confidently curating a wonderful selection of stories for his debut collection. It rewards close attention and shows that there’s a major new voice at the table. Other writers should use this as a training manual, even though it will take many authors a decade or two to gather a body of work this impressive. Fortunately for readers, you can simply enjoy the hell out of it right now.

I enjoyed all the stories, but I’ll briefly single out two since I rarely divulge story details in a review: I’d heard about “Far From Streets,” but since it was originally released as a limited edition chapbook, I had to wait until Griffin collected it. It was worth the wait. A husband and wife build a cabin on the brink of a vast wilderness and experiment with living off the grid, but to say anything more would give away some of the many reasons to read it. And “The Black Vein Runs Deep,” which is by far the longest piece here. It explores a budding relationship between two protagonists with as much depth as the mine the story is centered around. Creepy and awesome.

The collection works so well as a whole, with real emotions explored with real skill, well-drawn settings and themes that are implemented seamlessly. Griffin finds fresh new ways to look at the weird, to find the horror in everyday life, and to step back and look at the uncaring universe as well.

[Michael Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the praise Michael Griffen and his collection The Lure of Devouring Light is well deserved. These is literary-quality stories and novellas of disquieting transformation and of mankind's insignificant role in the overall scheme of the world. He has a gift for writing living, breathing characters, and at putting them through hell. I've rarely read descriptions of drug-induced visions and deprivation-induced hallucinations that drew me so fully into them that I questioned my own sobriety like his do. This book is a highly polished gemstone of blackest onyx. I cannot recommend it enough to readers of horror and the weird.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lure​ ​of​ ​Devouring​ ​Light​ ​is​ ​dark​ ​fiction​ ​that​ ​is​ ​unforgettably​ ​human,​ ​poetic​ ​and​ ​refined, passionately​ ​pushing​ ​into​ ​darkness.​ ​A​ ​striking​ ​and​ ​impressive​ ​debut​ ​collection​ ​that​ ​gets​ ​my highest​ ​recommendation.
Favorites:
Dreaming​ ​Awake​ ​in​ ​the​ ​Tree​ ​of​ ​the​ ​World
The​ ​Book​ ​of​ ​Shattered​ ​Mornings
No​ ​Mask​ ​to​ ​Conceal​ ​Her​ ​Voice
The​ ​Black​ ​Vein​ ​Runs​ ​Deep
The​ ​Jewel​ ​in​ ​the​ ​Eye

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was unfamiliar with the term "quiet horror" but Michael Griffin's debut collection is a master class in this particular subgenre. There are elements of weird and cosmic horror to his stories, but they are so minimalistic in their use of supernatural that they allow to debate whether or not it actually is horror of incredibly dark psychodramas.

My two favorite stories in the collections were FAR FROM STREETS and THE BLACK VEIN RUNS DEEP which were by far the longest in the book. They explore the deep, ancestral relationship of men to nature and the fissures it causes in the artificial lifestyle we force ourselves to live.Not exactly a public transportation book, but definitely a subtle, moody, late night read that'll crawl into your dreams. Enjoyed it a lot.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've heard about the collection with the amazing title for over a year now, and I can say after two readings that this is an essential volume of the contemporary weird.

Michael Griffin specializes in the creation of believable and often painful relationships between complex characters. They (usually two) haunt each of the stories contained in THE LURE OF THE DEVOURING LIGHT and that haunting is reflected by the phenomenal evocation of the weird, at times malignant, natural world they inhabit. Case in point: "Far From Streets," my favorite of the collection, tells the story of a man and a woman who are torn between two irreconcilable worlds, both of which devolve and mutates before their eyes and within their bodies.

This one receives my highest recommendation.

[Waffles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing collection. If you've ever wondered who would win a cage match between Clark Ashton Smith and Jonathan Carroll - with Thomas Ligotti and Laird Barron in the audience angrily tearing up their betting slips, then read this collection.

Everyone wins! Especially you, the reader!

Buy this book or I'll steal your lunch money.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn... that was brilliant! Full review to come.

[Aksel Dadswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible collection that takes weird fiction to new, beautiful, unexpected heights. You can never predict how a Michael Griffin story will end; there's always a subversion of expectation, and it's wonderful to experience. A standout for me was "Diamond Dust", which has echoes of Ligotti but also happily treads its own ground, getting right under the skin and culminating with what, at this point, is clearly Griffin’s trademark heartbreaking, beautiful imagery.

The collection’s final entry, the novella "The Black Vein Runs Deep" is just incredible. Technically it’s slow-moving, but it never feels like it. It’s so immersive, and being carried by its easy current is the most pleasurable experience as we follow the main characters’ relationship blossom in the most honest and real way. His use of the supernatural, like a lot of the stories in this collection, combines physical dislocation and danger with a big slice of metaphysical, dreamlike weirdness.

Griffin’s ability to graft some seriously genius character work with endlessly inventive and original genre elements is astounding, and what makes this collection so enjoyable. Every story here was absolutely thrilling to read, and I can’t recommend Griffin’s work enough – as you can tell from this gushing, embarrassingly adjective-laden review.

[Shane Douglas Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

With stories published in a diverse array of publications such as Apex and Black Static and anthologies like The Grimscribe’s Puppets and The Children of Old Leech, plus a cornucopia of work forthcoming, Michael Griffin has been garnering some impressive accolades from such high profile voices as S. P. Miskowski, Michael Cisco, and the reigning king of literary weird fiction, Laird Barron. So it’s no surprise to see that his debut collection, The Lure of Devouring Light serves as a showcase of some of the finest short horror fiction to be published in recent years.

In the past few years, the art of the short weird horror story has been experiencing a renaissance of sorts, gaining in both production levels and popularity at a rate never seen before. Once a sub-genre that enjoyed small niche groups of fans, it’s becoming more and more integrated into the mainstream of dark fiction, validated by editors and publishers, and embraced and championed by the reading community. And it’s because of authors like Michael Griffin, that rare breed of storyteller that comes around every now and then and raises the bar on a form, pushing it to heretofore unrealized levels and thereby establishing a new and elevated paradigm that other authors must meet or risk falling into obscurity.

Starting out with the titular story, The Lure of Devouring Light Michael Griffin quickly establishes his fascination with the strange as we meet a soul devouring cellist who meets justice in a cabin in the Oregon woods. With this tale, we see right from the start that we’re in for something outside the usual fare, something weird, terrifying, and special. Griffin writes with a poet’s sensibilities and a pioneer’s daring, giving us new and unusual fare with stories like ‘Dreaming Awake in the Tree of the World,’ in which a young college student wakes up in the boughs of a giant tree, delirious and being cared for by a strange woman who shows him bliss. But there’s a fine line between pleasure and pain, desire and terror and it soon becomes difficult to tell what’s real. Again in ‘The Accident of Survival,’ in which the protagonist and his lover barely miss certain death at the mercy of an oncoming truck, Michael displays a refreshing flair for the unique that is unmatched among speculative fiction writers today, mesmerizing us with his vision and holding us captive to his immense and wonderful imagination.

Griffin’s voice is lyrical and tantalizing in all of his work but it isn’t until you get to his longer works that you start to realize the true power and beauty of his creative passions. The novella ‘Far From Streets’ tells the story of a man and woman building a new and simpler life on a piece of property in the Oregon wilderness. But in the process of recreating themselves, they may also be losing themselves and even time itself as things become increasingly bizarre and terrifying:

“His eyes strained to discern drops of blood on unsealed wood. Outside, the sky was fully dark. Lantern light was sufficient to reveal obstacles in the night, but inadequate to reveal the sort of fine detail over which Dane had obsessed during construction. Of course he was missing some of the blood. The bird seemed to spray death over every surface in just seconds. One minute flying weightless, then a flurry of panic and it lay there broken, extinguished without warning.”

Closing out the collection strongly with ‘The Black Vein Runs Deep,’ another longer work, Michael once again digs into his seemingly bottomless well of ideas, giving us a story of a man and his boss as they make plans for a development on the slopes of Mt. Hood, falling in love along the way and, as in ‘Far From Streets,’ discovering the truth of themselves in the face of potentially losing everything.

The Lure of Devouring Light is a celebration of creativity and transformation, the tales therein often poignant, frequently terrifying, surreal, and brilliant. Michael Griffin has a style like no other author working in weird speculative fiction today, and what you’ll find within the pages of this breakout debut collection is nothing short of remarkable. Griffin is a stellar wordsmith who approaches his work like the artistry that it is, pouring his sweat, his blood, and his self into every exacting sentence and holding the reader captive from page one to the final, soul stirring, heartrending sentence. If you’re a fan of quiet literary horror with a sense of the fantastic about it, Michael Griffin has just what the doctor ordered. Do yourself a favor. Grab a copy of this book and hook yourself up with some magic.

You can read this and all my other reviews at https://shotgunlogic.com/

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Griffin crafts words in to beautiful landscapes of the surreal, complex characters on unexpected journeys in to dark abysses, and nightmares within reach of conscious minds that are not ready for the infinite darkness between the cracks of the world.
This book transcends horror and weird fiction and becomes something else, these dreamlike stories are some of the best writing that I've ever read and it’s hard to believe that this is his debut collection.
I was expecting this to be very good as I've seen many other writers praise this book, but it surpassed my expectations on every level and has instantly become one of my favourite books.
I'm not going to try and explain any of the stories in this collection as they need to be experienced and all of them are worth your time. I would recommend this book to anyone that can read!

[David Peak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth purchasing just for the novella "The Black Vein Runs Deep." The title story, "Diamond Dust," and "No Mask to Conceal Her Voice" were also standouts. Overall, a very promising collection.

[Karl]

This book came with a book plate signed by Michael Griffin and a few other fine "Extra's".

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's weird to think that, aside from a few previews in related works, I didn't really know the contemporary weird horror short story community existed only a little over a year ago. Since I read The Children of Old Leech, I've been chasing this incestuous set of writers through tribute anthologies and introductions to each others' collections and mostly enjoying what I've found. And while that community has a ton of writers with unique voices and stylistic goals, there is a solid core preoccupied with doing the same thing they were doing when I got on this train: imitating Laird Barron. I've said before that I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing; I love what Barron is trying to do and I've been desperate to see it finally perfected by somebody with better chops or sensibilities for my taste. And while I've loved a few of the more unique or experimental stories I've encountered, for every Human Moth there are 10 meandering messes that completely miss the mark for me. I can hardly object to authors sticking close to home when I mostly object if they don't, too.

If I'd read Lure earlier, I think I would have appreciated it more in that pursuit. Griffin really does improve on Barron in a few important ways. He crafts better characters, which makes the buildup less tedious and of course the stories in general more engaging. That, plus a more diverse approach to structure, smooths out the sense that every story is just a big windup for what may or may not be a satisfying punch. I'm also happy to report that his stories lack the weird Hemingwayan preoccupation with masculine coolness that dogs Barron's stuff.

But a few things have changed since that ideal point. One is that Langan delivered the perfection of Barron's wave with The Fisherman, so the thrill of hoping the next story might be The One I've been waiting for is gone. The other is that a fair number of authors have also landed stories in that sweet spot--trying to tell fundamentally the same story, but doing it better. Some (though far from all) of Langan's short stories fit here, as well as Nathan Ballingrud's, which have the added benefit of a sense of thematic coherence and purpose that helps them feel less referential.

As it is, this is overall a skippable collection, though it has some high points. The title story is one of those Weird Artist stories I hated in Old Leech, that rely on the evocation of a spook in another medium described in prose and inevitably fails. Dreaming Awake and Far From Streets are the high points, by far. Dreaming engages the PNW setting of Griffin and Barron's work more directly than anything else I've read, trying to capture some of the fey creepiness of the old-growth rainforests and mostly succeeding.

Far From Streets is one of the best of this story type I've read. It builds on a strong pair of lead characters and expertly walks a line of murky confusion while holding up its dramatic arc and its buildup to a climax that is big and strange aesthetically while maintaining plenty of ambiguity. It never spoils things by introducing a Satanist mouthpiece or something, and instead just lets the Pacific Northwest finally come into its own as a Monstrous Geography. My only complaint is that I would have been happy to have it go on longer and explore some of the things it teased, but that's the best complaint to have. If you're into this kind of story, it's probably worth checking out the collection just for it.

I have no idea what was going on in Book of Shattered Mornings. I feel like there was a reference to it in a later story so maybe it's a Mythos-building thing? Not the most enjoyable for me but perhaps to other peoples' tastes. Arches and Pillars is one of those that could be fine but somehow ends up too unmoored and distant, at every moment, to really make an impact. Accident of Survival is the same way. No Mask to Conceal Her Voice seems to have been written for submission to Cassilda's Song but apparently didn't make it in, for reasons that I can imagine. It's long and meandering and doesn't manage to do much. Jewel in the Eye is more accessible than the other middle stories, has clearer characters and more concrete action, but seems to be working its way around a theme that never quite cohered for me. Neither sexy enough to be fun nor clear enough to be thoughtful, much less both. Need to Desire has way too many characters for its length, or maybe I was just too tired when I read it.

The Black Vein Runs Deep is the capstone novella of the collection and one of its biggest disappointments. It's rather long but uses that length to develop a great pair of main characters through a somewhat boring but tried-and-true mystery formula. After the strength of Far From Streets, I was hoping a longer take on this kind of story with better characters would be really special. Unfortunately, this is also the story that most directly apes Barron, but in everything except his imagination for conclusions. The climax is so expertly set up, that even though the flavor is a bit thin beforehand, I was ready for something really spectacular. But it isn't. It's boring and derivative and unsatisfying. The dramatic arc at least completes, kind of, but it takes a pretty hard turn at the end that effectively conveys its subconscious depth and murk and confusion but isn't particularly fun or all that relevant to the pretty long lead up.

[Ian Welke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lure of Devouring Light is a wonderful collection of stories, some that I had read previously, others were new to me, but even with the stories that I had read before I was struck by how well the tone of the stories fit together in the collection. Griffin’s prose are flawless and the stories are all well crafted, but what really astounds me is how relatable his characters are. I love the plots of these stories, but I think I could read these characters doing just about anything in their lives.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Griffin’s debut is a resonant collection of seething, quiet horror, where the strange, in many disturbing guises, inhabits the natural features of the everyday. Characters matter. Relationships matter. Desire is destructive. Between theses covers, Griffin’s fascinating, poetic examinations are not afraid to open old wounds, or create new ones, nor are they afraid to let their nightmares fully blossom. This is mature work by a remarkable writer.

[Pawl Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I found one or two of the stories somewhat opaque, I’m overall blown away by griffin’s sheer talent (plus opacity is part of the ride). Prepare to be baffled only to have your vision cleared by terror more than once. “dreaming awake in the tree of the world” is a good example of this as well as a story that will stick with me for a long time, which is what any author hopes for out of a short story.
My fave, and what brought the read up to five stars had to be the final, “the black vein runs deep” which really took my favorite kind of horror story- one about caves and dark recesses of the earth - and just slam fucking dunked it.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I'd liked this, and I don't like writing bad reviews, but this was pretty disappointing.

I read a review somewhere that called this "mature" weird fiction. Weird fiction author Jeffrey Thomas calls it "dark fiction of a rare literary refinement." I supposed that's because the stories focus on turbulent relationships between normal, middle class people, and in a few of the stories the weird elements are almost an afterthought. Well, give me atmospheric tales of lonely Ligottian wanderers, impossible Clark Ashton Smith dreamlands, or pulpy Lovecraftian monsters.

I'm here for cosmic awe, not failed marriages, regretful life choices and inter-personal drama. These stories get smothered by this, one after the other. Fleshed-out characters are great (depending on the style) but here it takes over too much of the story. I was reminded a bit of the weird fiction of Kelly Link or Elizabeth Hand, but this is often even milder on the weird front and without as much emotional impact as the latter generates. Some weird writers like Nathan Ballingrud, Helen Marshall and Glen Hirshberg excel at mixing the emotional and weird/horror quite effectively.

I call this "disappointing" specifically because even the stories I didn't like often had interesting ideas at their base, but the execution didn't work for me, time after time. Griffin can certainly write and does generate some noteworthy disorientating moments. (Although the "jump-cut" is overused here as a general device of disorientating the reader.)

The Lure of Devouring Light - The weird/supernatural elements are pretty subtle with this one, but it's still an OK story on dangerous relationships. A young music professor and cellist starts a relationship with a controversial, but brilliant and established cellist who has been invited to play a rarely-performed piece at her university. But while allowing him to stay at her cabin she learns he may be something worse than what is publicly known, (which is pretty bad already.)

Dreaming Awake in the Tree of the World - An imaginative story that kept me guessing, put this in the dark fantasy category. A college student wakes up in the boughs of a great tree, being mended and fed by a strange woman who lives there. At first he thinks she's a nymph, but it turns out to be far more complicated than that.

Far From Streets - This is one of the best stories in the book. It's about relationships, trying to escape from the hum-drum of modern life, the encroachment of civilization into nature, and vice-versa. There's a lot of disparate, weird elements here that don't really come together, but the disorientating effect is potent. After Dane inherits some isolated land he gets his wife Carolyn to agree to let him build a cabin on it. At first she reluctantly tolerates his escape from civilization, but the more time they spend there, the stranger she acts.

The Book of Shattered Mornings - GEEZ. This story has potential but was a real yawner. I won't even bother with a plot description...moving on.

Arches and Pillars - Another disorientating tale, a bit like "Far From Streets." The theme here is familiar, but this story is a bit better than the average here. A man goes on a date with a girl he has been seeing for longer than he can recall, always with a distance between them he can never quite overcome.

Diamond Dust - This is a story I read previously in the "Grimscribe Puppets" anthology. It's an excellent story, probably the best in this book. It mixes elements of corporate and philosophical horror which I thought were really effective. A man begins to realize that there are troubling parallels between his problems at home and at work, where a vast structure is being built.

The Accident of Survival - This story is a bit like Arches and Pillars. Another disorientating story where a character cannot tell if they are alive or dead. A couple on their way to see friends almost have an accident, but one of them isn't convinced afterward that they really survived.

No Mask to Conceal Her Voice - This was another decent story. It's a "King in Yellow" themed story that kept me hooked all the way to the end, unfortunately the end left me a bit unsatisfied. A washed-up actress just out of rehab travels to the estate of a reclusive, controversial director where she is forced to confront her past demons.

The Jewel in the Eye - I like the concept here and the writing is good, but I wished it had gone in a more horror-orientated direction. While meeting for their book club, Sibyle admits to her friends that she has made her husband a "shaper," a semi-human living doll that she hopes will give him inspiration in his work. But she made it in the form of her younger self and is plagued by doubt and nostalgia.

The Need To Desire - A very bizarre, brief story. At a skiing lodge marital transgressions cause some very strange body dysmorphia.

The Black Vein Runs Deep - I was disappointed by this nearly 40,000-word novel. This has an interesting premise but all the horror/weird elements are smothered so we can linger on a budding romance and regretted life choices. Then the end comes and left me like, "Huh?" But I didn't care, I was ready to move on to something else. A woman intends to rejuvenate a sleepy mountain town that has never recovered from a fateful mine disaster many decades ago. She and a surveyor quickly realize their lives are in danger because they are too close to uncovering a secret connected with the mine.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As other reviewers have pointed out, Michael Griffin excels at exploring human relationships and psychology against an artful backdrop of cosmic horror. He also paints vivid pictures of the Pacific Northwest, which serves as an ideal setting for many of the stories in this collection. The shorter stories here are gripping, but the novella-length "Far From Streets" and "The Black Vein Runs Deep" were the two that really sunk their teeth in, for me.

[Δημήτριος Καραγιάννης · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was utterly disappointed and my expectations were not met. The genre of the weird is not merely a postmodern labyrinth of consciousness and unconsciousness and implications of unknown abysses. Perhaps Griffin does not favor abjection as much as I thought he would. I just didn't feel the tangible horror in almost none of the stories.

[John Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Michael Griffin brings in his debut collection, The Lure of Devouring Light, is a deep imagination tethered to the quiet side of horror and weird fiction genres. Yet in saying that, weird and horror might just be touchstones, as his real strength is characterization. Nobody, I repeat, nobody does relationships, couples in all stages of their time together, like Griffin does. He’s particularly adept with couples who’ve got some years under their belt, like in the masterful “Far from Streets,” which I’ve previously reviewed and consider a modern weird fiction classic (and is included here). Another high point for Griffin is his use of pacing. I think it shows Griffin has confidence in his abilities as a storyteller, putting trust his instincts. Layering with finesse. Atmosphere is key as well...so what I’m saying is Griffin brings a jam-packed writers' toolbox, and uses everything for optimum impact. With his exquisite explorations and word-building, he’s painting a big picture, even as it might be intimate, as in the outstanding short (mystery leading into hallucinogenic terror into...?) novel that ends this collection, “The Black Vein Runs Deep.” That intimacy, especially in this tale, is brought to the forefront as the reader occupies Colm’s mindspace as he contemplates possible connections with Adi, as well as the underlying mystery. It’s good stuff, honest, never backing away, before the reality Griffin has built tumbles into a fantastical place…that might just be an illusion. Or is it cosmic and epic? The ambiguity leaves the reader contemplating what exactly just happened…in a satisfying way. The harrowing between-death (post-death?) tale, “The Accident of Survival,” left me disorientated, perhaps because I could relate to the confusion the narrator was experiencing. “No Mask to Conceal Her Voice” carries on with a different kind of disorientation as Hollywood train-wreck, Lily Vaun, looks to kick-start her derailed career, accepting an invitation to be in a film by the strange director, Leer Astor, leading to a surprising revelation in the finale.

All of this combines to introduce the readers to a writer who has a full grasp of his talents, yet also invites speculation on where he will go next. Griffin is one of those writers whose storytelling demands a large canvas. I can see many novels in his future. No matter what, more Griffin will always be welcomed by this reader.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

complicated relationships, distortions in the perceptions of time, alienation from the conventional. These are the themes that keep these otherwise separate stories tied together.

Some of these stories fell flat with me, others were strongly moving. But the key takeaway is that there are three in here whose presence alone justify the price of admission:

Far From Streets

Diamond Dust

and Black Veins Run Deep.

Those three, *especially* the final one which is a novella that takes up the latter third of the entire collection, are some of the most stellar weird fiction published in the last few years.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

If all the stories here were as good as "Far from Streets," this book would be an easy five. That story has haunted the edges of my sleep since I finished it. Really superb.

I admire what Mr. Griffin aims for, the submersion of exposition beneath symbol, fragmentary images, and suggestion, words turned to new ends in the best passages. But, inevitably, in nearly all the stories, exposition creeps back in and pulls me right out of the spell. Still, this is a collection of remarkable tales by a stylist still sharpening his technique. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in weird fiction as literature.

I fully expect to read something utterly amazing from this guy someday. "Far from Streets" is a terrific start.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Far From Streets and The Black Vein Runs Deep. I blasted through Black Vein in one night because I had to know what happened. Very well done.

[ᚱᛟᛒᛖᚱᛏ ᚴᛟᛉᛚᛖᛏᛋᚴᚤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal collection. Short stories have become a favorite of mine. Each story here ebbs and flows like a fragmented dreamscape. Then it evolves into a nightmare.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worthy debut collection. Good enough that I will keep an eye out for the author in the future and also make a point of perusing other offerings both present and future from the publisher, Word Horde, whose slogan is "Weird. Redefined."

Griffin's fragmentary prose is lyrical, almost poetic. At times ushering the reader through the action and at other times lingering like a piano refrain. And speaking of refrains, the motif of Oregon, and Portland specifically, resonates in almost every story.

In both writing and music, timing is everything. Individuals will have to judge the merits of his style based on their own personally calibrated tuning fork, but all will agree that he stands out. Not jaggedly, not brutally, but in the way the quality of the weather colors the world around us. Like it or not, it's noticeable.

I described Ligotti as "The Painter of the Dark," (or very nearly described him as such). The Lure of Devouring Light is more nearly a study of clouds, and comfortably contains itself within the monochromatic spectrum of the new weird, from whispy off-white through gray matte and on to near-black. Though, from time to time, a hint of wan sunlight shines through the rain.

The two biggest drawbacks I found were the aforementioned rhythm of the prose (sometimes I felt it worked better than others) and the tendency to be too self-aware of the setting. Surely Michael Griffin knows and loves his home city and home state as only a poet can know and love it. And that truly stands out, both for better and for worse.

To dive more specifically, The first and eponymous story of the collection has a raw horror feel, followed by a softer touch in Dreaming Awake in the Tree of the World. Far From Streets is an excellent example of ratcheting the tension and sense of other-worldliness while only dabbling a toe into terror.

I will not go further into all the stories - you need to discover some things for yourself after all. Don't worry, his characters are often discovering them right along with you. But I will say that I have a fondness for his stories inspired by other celebrated authors of the genre, namely Thomas Ligotti (Dreams of Diamond Dust) and Robert Chambers (No Mask to Conceal Her Voice).

Pick up a copy, and see what you think of this one little corner of the new weird.

[Jordi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lectura hipnótica.

Primera colección de ficción corta del escritor de terror/weird Michael Griffin, aunque en realidad estas etiquetas se le quedan pequeñas. Es verdad que la ascendencia de Lovecraft está ahí, pero hay una intensidad emocional en estas historias poco común en el género. De hecho, horrores cósmicos aparte, las relaciones de pareja tienen siempre un papel central - desde la electricidad del enamoramiento (en “Arches and Pillars” o la novella The Black Vein Runs Deep) al estancamiento con el tiempo y la rutina (“The Jewel in the Eye”, “Diamond Dust”). Ahora bien, esto no es una novela mainstream, amigos: la realidad está aquí extrañada. En algunos casos de forma extrema, hasta el punto de no saber muy bien dónde estamos (“Dreaming awake in the Tree of the World”, “The Book of Shattered Mornings”). Incluso cuando creemos partir de unas coordenadas cotidianas, la cosa se confunde rápidamente y el tiempo y la realidad se distorsionan (Far From Streets, “The Accident of Survival”).

Más que dar miedo, embruja, es un opiáceo en toda regla. Hay una mezcla rara de horror y belleza, que culmina en una especie de inversión del molde lovecraftiano: en lugar de huida ante lo que desafía la cordura, los personajes se ven atraídos irremisiblemente hacia ello, y en muchos casos simplemente lo abrazan efusivamente, como si lo que dejan atrás fuera simplemente una ilusión.

Quizá la novella que cierra la colección resulte un poco más convencional (sobre todo después de haber leído todo lo anterior), pero el nivel general de la colección es brillante. Muy recomendable.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

i just could not connect with Griffin's prose affects... so much of it came across as homework for a writing class, and not in a good way... the guilty parties:

: The Lure of Devouring Light - the power of musical genius, assisted?
: Dreaming Awake in the Tree of the World - what is reality? what we make it? can we separate what-is from what-we-want? why the experiments?
: Far From Streets - some kind of statement about a relationship, with monsters?
: The Book of Shattered Mornings - never connected with the style.
: Arches and Pillars - some sort of time loop thing? pretty dismal.
: Diamond Dust - ugh. trying too hard.
: The Accident of Survival - no idea what that was. none.
: No Mask to Conceal Her Voice - overthought, rather humdrum.
: The Jewel in the Eye - huh?
: The Need to Desire - huh?, redux.
: The Black Vein Runs Deep - DNF

wouldn't recommend this to anyone... extremely confused with the glowing reviews... hmph.

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can only echoe the praise for this volume. His prose is short and precise and at the same time dreamlike. Relationships are in the foreground of all of these stories, told with care and sober look for the details. IN the background lurks the horror, often intermingled with wonder. Nature is at the core of it, a comicism witch is rather chthonic than astral (as in Lovecraft).

Beeing a collection of stories, this one too has to be somewhat uneven. My favourites were "The Lure of Devouring Light" and the final "The Black Vein runs deep". Seeing the different choices of highlights with different readers it only highlights the accomplishment which is this collection.