Marked to Die: A Tribute to Mark Samuels

by Justin Isis (Editor), Mark Valentine (Contributor), Brendan Connell (Contributor)

Mark Samuels—“the contemporary British master of visionary weirdness”, as Ramsey Campbell has called him—stands at the forefront of 21st century Horror, combining an unparalleled understanding of the Weird Fiction tradition with his own modern take on cosmic dread. An acknowledged influence on numerous writers in the field, his stories depict the isolation and despair of urban life giving way to vistas of universal alienation and, on occasion, spiritual transcendence.

Now, in this collection of original works inspired by Samuels’ writing, his characteristic themes are extended into previously undreamt-of settings: the hull of a Russian nuclear submarine headed to the heart of Chaos; the compound of a Japanese death cult with designs on the human race; a hospital run by the Men with Paper Faces; the Crying Rooms of London’s secret Reverse; the far reaches of the collapsed future and even the private thoughts of St. John of the Cross. Fed by the “strange tales” of the 19th and 20th centuries but firmly rooted in the present, Marked to Die is a digest of urban terror shot through with intimations of a monstrous Sublime.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Weird Fiction

452 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Justin Isis //primary succession psychic automatism citizens of teh universe publishing industry intransitive cauliflower !! Shizuka Muto's brand "Rady# is recommended International law must properly be regarded as another branch of fantastic literature

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Markitty” is the title on the front cover of the book also titled “Marked To Die” on the spine. This beautiful hardcover book is edited by Justin Isis and produced by Snuggly Books. Snuggly Books appears to have collected some of those authors who previously were published by Quentin S. Crisp’s Chomu Press.

“Marked To Die” is a tribute collection dedicated to Mark Samuels “the contemporary British master of visionary weirdness”, as Ramsey Campbell has called him. Mr. Samuels stands at the forefront of 21st century Horror. I first ran across Mark Samuels in a small little book titled “Black Altars “ published by Rainfall Books back in 2003 and was I believe his first collection of stories. To further round the circle that book was introduced by Mr. Crisp.

Now thirteen years later we see Mr. Samuels influence on the weird/horror community with “Marked To Die”. There is not a bad story in this collection. And one gets their money’s worth in this collection of over 450 pages. The aspect of the stories I enjoyed most were where Mark Samuels was either the main character in the stories, such as Justin Isis’s “The Black Mask” , Where Samuels is an author/fighter of evil fighting Lovecraftian horrors, or Brendan Connell and Quentin S. Crisp’s “A Bad un To Beat …”, where the footnote is almost as long as the story while telling it’s own story, to the amazing and touching story by Mr. Rix concerning the dangers of Slag Glass and the works of a mysterious book by Mark Samuels.

Some other highlights include the Adam Nevill story “White Light, White Heat” which had a ring of Thomas Ligotti about it and then John L. Probert’s “The Men With Paper Faces”. As with most anthologies I enjoyed some stories more than others, however Mr. Isis and his co-conspirators have raised the bar 0on just how good an anthology can be.

As of July 1 2016 there were still over a half dozen of the hardcover book available. What a fine book.


This is the hardcover of "Marked to Die" by Justin Isis which states it is limited to 100 hardcover copies, of those printed only 75 will be offered for sale to the public.". There is no numbering or no signatures.

Table of contents is :

007 - "The Shadowy Companion", foreword by Mark Valentine
013 - "Rapture" by Reggie Oliver
033 - 'The Golden Dustmen" by Colin Insole
059 - "Canticle" by Daniel Mills
069 - "White Light, White Heat" by Adam Nevill
091 - "The Black Mass" by Justin Isis
149 - "The Big-Headed People" by DF Lewis
155 - "Attraction" by John Mundy
165 - "The Early Signs of Blight" by Kristine Ong Muslim
171 - "Chaoskampf" by James Champagne
223 - "A Bad Un to Beat vs. The High Gate Waterman: It’s All About the Benjamins" by Brendan Connell and Quentin S. Crisp
241 - "Language of the City" by Thana Niveau
249 - "The Singular Quiddity of Merlin’s Ear" by Simon Clark
267 - "The Carnivore of Monsters" by Stuart Young
311 - "The Men With Paper Faces" by John L. Probert
325 - "Empty Houses" by Ralph C. Doege
341 - "Reinformation Theory" by Yarrow Paisley
355 - "Prison Inquieta, Jon Paul Rai Slag Glass Lachrimæ" by David Rix
431 - Coda
435 - About Mark Samuels and the Contributors

This is Mr. Isis talking about the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9VYZ...

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Weird Tale, as a genre, plays host to stories of far more diversity than most other genres. It can combine elements of horror, literary fiction, historical fiction, humor, adventure, science fiction, and fantasy. Examples abound of Lovecraftian experiments in cosmic dread and Machen-esque descents into sub-realities, but no author better epitomizes the trend than Mark Samuels. Alongside Ligotti and a host of infamous small-press authors, Samuels has infused the genre with staying power, primarily by concocting reams of nightmarish visions which haunt the reader's psyche for years afterward.

This volume contains a dozen and a half tributes to the power of his storytelling. From recognized names in the sub-genres of s-f, we are treated to a lengthy sampling of gruesome and ingenious stories featuring charming cameos by "JBon" Quentin S. Crisp, and of course Samuels.

The anthology maps the human condition in all of its diverse interpretations, charting the heights of ecstasy and the pits of despair, the outskirts of human striving to the dark interior of the soul. David Rix should be commended for finishing the collection with a powerful novella about slag glass. Reggie Oliver provides another elegant foray into the subtly weird, while James Champagne embarks on a surprising and satirical quest toward an unsettling abyssal discovery.

Key notes of alienation, loneliness and piquant encounters with the unknown punctuate this eclectic grouping. Justin Isis' fiction contribution was impressive and hypnotic, as usual, but actually stood out as more straightforward than expected. Several other tales spin into startling and experimental territory such as Yarrow Paisley's. You'd have to dredge to the bottom of some of the stories to find the Mark Samuels references or influences, but they all embody the mystique in some way, and tend to culminate in spine-tingling climaxes, occasionally forsaking the technique of dénouement in favor of an aftertaste of memorable discomfort—take "The Singular Quiddity of Merlin’s Ear" for instance.

Some wacky psychedelic exercises congeal into startling imagery and a harrowing accumulation of sinister atmosphere. Having read three collections of Samuels' stories so far I can attest that the tributes do play off the general feel of the weird aesthetic and can be appreciated by readers unfamiliar with Samuels' works. Though plenty of references will go unrecognized by the uninitiated, there are many delectable riddles and unique literary panoramas to delight any connoisseur of vibrant speculative fiction.

The impressive array of authors and keen editing that went into this book produce a cohesive work which can only be fully fathomed with careful reading and open-minded enthusiasm. There were moments I doubted whether the stories could grapple with all their disparate ideas, or if they were spinning out of control, and many of them verged into quirky territory, lassoing in esoteric concepts and indulging in asides, only to swerve back on track by the end, justifying their eccentricities through sheer bravado and annihilating my preconceptions. Isis and Co. have conspired to sacrifice their time and shun easy categorization on a mission to enrich the body of literature about less conventional humans and do something different for a change.

Having read Marked to Die at a slow pace, I feel the need to revisit it. For the second half I did not want it to end, and it took more than one adjustment to orientate my reading mind. But use your peripherals, scratch past the ink with your fingernails and you'll uncover deep and mesmeric emotional resonances worthy of the label of Samuels-esque.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a Weird Fiction collection that genuinely puts the 'W' in Weird. Marked to Die: A Tribute to Mark Samuels is, as the subtitle helpfully suggests, a tribute to the unparalleled body (corpse?) of work of Mark Samuels, easily one of the best living horror/Weird Fiction writers, and it is to be hoped for that this book may earn him some new acolytes (newbies to his work should probably start with either The White Hands or The Man Who Collected Machen, though of course it's all worth seeking out, if only for the sheer elitist thrill of collecting a somewhat obscure author: I look forward to the day when I can boast to my potential future nephews that I own one of the original 150 copies of Egaeus Press' Written in Darkness). Ably edited by Justin Isis under heroic and trying conditions (sacrificed virgins penetrated in the name of Xexanoth, midnight occult rituals at Aokigahara, the occasional detour to 5th-dimensional Elfspaces), and with some valued behind-the-scenes assistance from Brendan Connell and Quentin S. Crisp, this enormous volume (450 pages!) contains 19 stories, written by a variety of diverse scribblers from all haunts and walks of life, some well-known and established, others obscure and new to the scene. Being one of these said contributors (and, in the name of transparency, a friend to some of the people involved in the book's eldritch parthenogenesis), obviously my view of this monolithic slab of spectral words is biased to some extent, but I truly feel that everyone who took part in this literary experiment brought their A game to the party. It's hard to pick a favorite story because they're all very memorable in their own way, but to name a few that I especially liked: Reggie Oliver's impeccable "Rapture" (which, somewhat perversely, contains an extremely skeptical view of religion/faith, in light of Samuels' own professed Catholicism), Adam Nevill's "White Light, White Heat" (a grim and well-done tribute to the substratum of Samuels' work that deals with Ligottian Corporate Horror), Stuart Young's highly eccentric and dream-like "The Carnivore of Monsters," Yarrow Paisley's delightfully pervy and genitalia-fixated "Reformation Theory," David Rix's epic and nuanced "Slag Glass Lachrimae," and, of course, Justin Isis' own "The Black Mass," which features Samuels himself as a main character: it's full of in-jokes and screamingly funny (I especially liked the part where, at a book signing, Samuels is briefly mistaken as the wrestler Big Show). All in all, yet another exciting work put out by Snuggly Books (easily one of the most interesting indie publishers out there today), and highly recommended to fans of both Mark Samuels and Weird Fiction/horror in general. Seriously, why read Julian Barnes when you could be reading this instead?

[Seregil of Rhiminee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Risingshadow.

Ah, what a pleasure it was to read Marked to Die: A Tribute to Mark Samuels! This anthology may well be the best weird fiction anthology of the year, because it's an excellent book filled with stories inspired by the writings of Mark Samuels. The editor, Justin Isis, has clearly done his best to gather diverse and intriguing stories that pay tribute to Mark Samuels.

Because this anthology is a tribute to Mark Samuels, who is probably a bit unknown author to several readers, here are a few words about him. Mark Samuels is one of the best and most talented authors of weird fiction ever to emerge in Britain. He has his own way of writing about cosmic horror. He is the author of such notable works as The White Hands and Other Weird Tales, Glyphotech, The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Stories and Written in Darkness.

When I began to read Marked to Die, I had high hopes concerning its quality, because I was aware how good an author the editor is. I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that all of my expectations were fulfilled and even exceeded on certain levels, because each of the stories was excellent and the authors had done their best to write memorable and strange stories.

If you're a fan of modern weird fiction and love literary strange fiction, Marked to Die should be at the top of your reading list. It's an anthology that readers of weird fiction can't afford to miss due to its stunning contents. I consider it to be a rare and unique treasure that should be read (and re-read) by every weird fiction fan.

Marked to Die will please both dedicated fans of weird fiction and newcomers to the genre. If you're a newcomer to weird fiction and are not familiar with weird stories, this anthology serves as an excellent entry point to high quality weird fiction.

This anthology contains the following stories:

- Rapture by Reggie Oliver
- The Golden Dustmen by Colin Insole
- Canticle by Daniel Mills
- White Light, White Heat by Adam Nevill
- The Black Mass by Justin Isis
- The Big-Headed People by DF Lewis
- Attraction by John Mundy
- The Early Signs of Blight by Kristine Ong Muslim
- Chaoskampf by James Champagne
- A Bad Un to Beat vs. The High Gate Waterman: It's All about Benjamins by Brendan Connell and Quentin S. Crisp
- The Language of the City by Thana Niveau
- The Singular Quiddity of Merlin's Ear by Simon Clark
- The Carnivore of Monsters by Stuart Young
- The Men with Paper Faces by John L. Probert
- Empty House by Ralph C. Hodge
- Reinformation Theory by Yarrow Paisley
- Prison Inqueita by John Paul Rai
- Slag Glass Lachrimæ by David Rix
- Coda: A View from Outside

It's possible that there are readers out there who may wonder if these stories are worth reading. I can say that all of them are worth reading, because they're extremely well written stories with an emphasis on atmospheric storytelling. Each of them is something unique and as a whole they give readers a complex and beautiful study of weirdness and cosmic dread.

These stories contain various elements ranging from religion and faith to death, isolation and sex (and some of them contain Lovecraftian horrors). The authors use these elements to emphasise certain aspects of their stories and they do it admirably without underlining anything. They also easily create a creepy and disturbing atmosphere.

There's an uncanny sense of urban isolation and alienation in some of the stories, because the authors have managed to reach the psychologically effective level of eldritch horror that is often missing from many modern stories. These glimpses into isolation and alienation are very effective and will haunt readers for a long time after they've finished reading this anthology.

When you begin to read these stories, you'll notice how much Mark Samuels' fiction means to the authors and what kind of an influence his stories have had on them (if you're familiar with stories written by Mark Samuels, you'll notice a few similarities between his fiction and these stories). If you've never read anything by Mark Samuels, I highly recommend reading his stories, because you'll do yourself a big favour by reading them.

Here's more information about the stories and my thoughts about them:

Rapture by Reggie Oliver:

- A story about Alan whose new neighbours, Tim and Marcia, are strong believers in Jesus and are heavily involved in the local church. Alan is lured into their world almost against his will...
- A well-told story with a fascinatingly strange atmosphere and an intriguing ending.

The Golden Dustmen by Colin Insole:

- A story about Miriam who researches a noted antiquary John Leland and comes across The Society of Golden Dustmen who try to locate a lost book.
- This story is one of the finest and most beautifully written weird fiction stories of the recent years.
- I'm not an expert on Colin Insole's stories, but I definitely have to read more of them, because this story is almost fully comparable to a few stories written by M.R. James, Arthur Machen and Robert Aickman.

Canticle by Daniel Mills:

- This is one of the most memorable stories in this anthology, because it has been inspired by the 'Spiritual Canticle' of the Spanish mystical poet St. John of the Cross and Mark Samuels’ essay 'Beyond the Beautiful Darkness', in which Samuels writes about things related to religion and theology.
- An excellent story with a perfect atmosphere.

White Light, White Heat by Adam Nevill:

- A story about an editor who sits in front of the computer and stares at a screen. Like many others in the company, he lives in fear of the white envelope, the arrival of which means being kicked out of the company.
- The author writes well about the protagonist's life and feelings, because he barely gets by on his salary and has to share a house with another man.
- This is an effective and memorable story with an intriguingly disturbing undertone.

The Black Mass by Justin Isis:

- This is an especially interesting piece of novella-length fiction, because the author uses Mark Samuels as the protagonist. In this story, Mark Samuels is in Tokyo and finds himself in an unexpected and strange situation involving dissolving bodies.
- A well written and interesting weird story with cosmic dread.

The Big-Headed People by DF Lewis:
- A story about a man who has a big head.
- There was something a bit Rhys Hughes-like in this story that I found interesting.
- Many readers probably know DF Lewis better as a reviewer who writes gestalt real-time reviews on his website, so it may come as a surprise to them that he's an excellent author. This story is proof of his writing skills.

Attraction by John Mundy:

- In this story, a dying Old Man tells his terrible secret to his relatives who are gathered around him.
- Because I've always liked stories in which characters reveal terrifying secrets about their pasts to others, I was impressed by this story and its strong atmosphere.
- An excellent and atmospheric story filled with captivating strangeness.

The Early Signs of Blight by Kristine Ong Muslim:

- A strange and memorable story about Ben who lives with his mother and is afraid of the bad man who reaches out of the closet at night with his blackened arm.
- After reading this story I can mention that Kristine Ong Muslim is one of those authors who deserve more publicity, because she writes excellent speculative fiction.

Chaoskampf by James Champagne:

- A brilliant story about a Russian submarine called Crimson November which is on a secret mission to find superweapons developed by the Third Reich. What they find is something altogether different and very disturbing...
- There were a few elements in this story that slightly reminded me of Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October, the classic submarine film Das Boot and the sci-fi horror film Event Horizon (starring Sam Neill), in which a starship's gravity drive has opened a gateway into a foreign dimension.
- I'm not very familiar with the works of James Champagne, but I definitely have to read more of his works, because this story impressed me.

A Bad Un to Beat vs. The High Gate Waterman: It's All about Benjamins by Brendan Connell and Quentin S. Crisp:

- This is another story in which Mark Samuels is a protagonist. In this story, he kills Cathars and meets Quentin S. Crisp.
- Brendan Connell and Quentin S. Crisp have never failed to impress me, because both of them write excellent stories that are something out of the ordinary and defy easy classification. This collaboration intrigued me, because it offers plenty of entertainment to readers.
- There's a charming amount of inventiveness and whimsiness in this story, and the footnotes are entertaining.

The Language of the City by Thana Niveau:

- In this story, the protagonist is plagued by nightmares and visions when she visits a city. She believes that cities are hostile and want to harm her.
- An excellent and atmospheric story.
- I think that this story will impress many readers who prefer countryside to cities.

The Singular Quiddity of Merlin's Ear by Simon Clark:

- A story about Nick, who is married to Constance and has a mute stepson Adam, and a structure called Merlin's Ear, which was built during Second World War.
- I found this story fascinating, because it was a bit different from 'normal' weird fiction.
- The ending is excellent.

The Carnivore of Monsters by Stuart Young:

- A story about a man who suffers from pancreatic cancer. Phones have helped him survive and have eased his pain.
- This is one of the most powerful and memorable stories I've read this year. Once you've read this story, you won't be able to stop thinking about its contents.
- The author writes excellently about the relationship between the protagonist and Tayshia.
- I intend to take a closer look at Stuart Young's fiction, because I enjoyed this story and liked its atmosphere.

The Men with Paper Faces by John L. Probert:

- This is an exceptionally intriguing and satisfyingly disturbing story about humanoid beings who wear paper faces.
- I enjoyed reading about how the protagonist found out about another world that exists beneath ours and how he began to see the humanoid beings.
- This story has an excellent atmosphere that immediately grabs hold of the reader.

Empty House by Ralph C. Hodge:

- In this story, a man visits his childhood district and meets a man who resembles his father.
- I like the way the author lets the story unfold towards the ending, because the events are interesting.
- This is an excellent and well written weird fiction story.

Reinformation Theory by Yarrow Paisley:

- An intriguing story about a being made from cloth who serves at the pleasure of the Institute.
- I like the author's unique vision of the future, because he has plenty of imagination and a bit twisted sense of humour.
- This is one of the most unique science fiction based weird fiction stories I've ever read.

Prison Inqueita by John Paul Rai:

- A story about Jasen who has gotten stranded in the jungle wilderness after an uncontainable fire in his boat.
- The author has created an interesting story about a survivor who tries to find a way back to civilization, but ends up in a scary place and witnesses horrifying acts of violence.
- This is a memorable story that gains momentum towards the end. I can guarantee that readers won't easily forget this story and its ending.

Slag Glass Lachrimæ by David Rix:

- In this excellent novella-length story, a young woman called Feather is bicycling when she notices something strange on the beach. She sees black fragments as sharp as broken glass strewn everywhere and becomes intrigued by them. Soon she makes jewels out of them and finds herself in Camden Town Crying Room...
- What happens to Feather's friend, Leah, is handled well. I won't reveal details about her fate, but I'll mention that the author writes well about her.
- This is one of the most rewarding stories I've read this year, because it's something different and the author writes compellingly about Feather and the happenings.

Coda: A View from Outside:

- The events in this coda take place in the far future.
- This is an excellent and approriately dark ending to this anthology.

Reggie Oliver's 'Rapture' is one of the most intriguing stories about religious rapture that I've ever read, because the author has come up with an interesting vision of the End Times and battle against the Antichrist. I like the author's way of building up the atmosphere by writing about what happens to Alan and how he gets more and more involved in Tim and Marcia's church. What happened to Alan was so mesmerising that it was impossible for me to turn my gaze away from the gradually unfolding story.

Daniel Mills' 'Canticle' is a brilliantly told tale, because it reveals the private thoughts of the Spanish mystical poet St. John of the Cross. The author evokes a strong sense of spellbinding strangeness in this story. For a while now, I've considered Daniel Mills to be one of the most important new authors of weird fiction and this story verifies my beliefs, because it's a brilliant story.

Adam Nevill's 'White Light, White Heat' is a masterpiece of striking storytelling, because the author has created a bleak and sufficiently dark vision of working for a company that exploits their workers and kicks them out when they're not useful anymore. There was a dark religious undertone in this story that I found intriguing, because the author wrote about how the protagonist got some pleasure and consolation out of an artifact that emitted heavenly light.

Justin Isis' 'The Black Mass' deserves a special mention as a well written and wonderfully contructed weird story. By setting the story in Tokyo and using Mark Samuels as the protagonist, the author manages to bring a touch of additional fascination to the story. His depictions of cosmic dread are satisfyingly descriptive and memorable.

I enjoyed reading James Champagne's 'Chaoskampf', because it's a gradually unfolding story with an impressive ending. The author's vision of a Russian submarine and its crew feels vivid and surprisingly realistic, because he writes fluently about Captain Karnov and his relationship with his crew. It was intriguing for me to read what Captain Karnov found at the bottom of the ocean and what happened to him and the crew.

Thana Niveau's 'The Language of the City' is a fascinatingly weird story, because it's a well written account of what happens to a woman who believes that cities are hostile to her. There was something old-fashioned yet modern about it that I found compelling.

I was impressed by John L. Probert's 'The Men with Paper Faces', because the author wrote about another world that is beneath ours and how humanoid beings have been able to hide themselves from being detected by us. It was fascinating to read about how the protagonist gained the ability to see the hidden world after recovering from injuries and how he coped with what he was able to see.

David Rix's 'Slag Glass Lachrimæ' is an excellent and beautifully written story. I found it to be a satisfying addition to the cycle of stories about the mysterious Feather, because it was something different (these stories have intrigued me ever since I read Feather: Tales of Isolation and Descent). I enjoyed reading about what the author wrote about London's Crying Rooms and how Feather found out about them. The author has developed a lot as an author over the years and writes confidently and convincingly about Feather and her life (it's genuinely mesmerising to read about Feather).

Brendan Connell and Quentin S. Crisp's 'A Bad Un to Beat vs. The High Gate Waterman: It's All about Benjamins' deserves a special mention for its atmosphere and storyline. I also want to mention that I was deeply impressed by Stuart Young's 'The Carnivore of Monsters' and Yarrow Paisley's 'Reinformation Theory', because both of them were skillfully written stories.

The authors write beautiful, striking and effective prose that impresses everyone who loves the literary side of weird fiction (they have their own distinct voices that they use to their advantage). To be honest, I was a bit amazed at how well each of the stories was written and constructed, because I found no faults in them.

If you want to read quality stories that have style and substance, please read Marked to Die as soon as possible (trust me, you won't regret it). It's a significant addition to weird fiction and literary strange fiction, because the stories are excellent and have literary values that exceed those of many other stories.

Highly recommended!

[Des Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a serious tribute, it is also an absurd satire of such tributes. It is a book of great weird fiction along that same spectrum. It is about the status quo, and also transcending that status quo with transmission static and the smoking gun of human frailty and faith.

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.

CAVEAT; I have a short work in this book.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is good. Has stories innit. Are weird and stuff.

Stories by Daniel Mills, James Champagne and David Rix are easily the best of the bunch, though entire collection of exceedingly high quality.

[Tim Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoying this greatly. The cover photography is also excellent.

[Robert Parkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really remarkable collection of fiction.