Possession, Obsession and a Diesel Compression Engine

by Gerard Brennan

Possessed by the Devil. Obsessed with Rock and Roll. Under the spell of a charismatic Ford Focus driven by a diesel compression engine and a thirst for motor oil. This little collection of horror stories spruced up by a healthy splash of Northern Irish smart arsery revisits some classic themes and tips its hat to some new ones. You’ll laugh, gasp and cringe, at times all at once.

48 pages, chapbook

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Gerard Brennan's latest novel is Disorder, Published by No Alibis Press. His short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies; including three volumes of The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime and Belfast Noir. He co-edited Requiems for the Departed, a collection of crime fiction based on Irish myths which won the 2011 Spinetingler Award for best anthology. His novella, The Point, was published by Pulp Press in October 2011 and won the 2012 Spinetingler Award for best novella. His novels, Wee Rockets and Fireproof, were published as ebooks by Blasted Heath in 2012. He graduated from the MA in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast in 2012 and is currently working on a PhD.

Reviews

[GlenK · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun (and very short) collection of stories. They fall, I would say, into the irreverent horror genre with nods in tone to such as Sandman Slim and Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. Even some Kinky Friedman can be detected in the off the wall dialogue. All in all, pretty much of a delight.

[Keith Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possession… is a collection of six lightly interlinked short (mild) horror stories.

I’ve been lucky enough to be reading quite a lot of Gerard Brennan recently (for example the previously reviewed Fireproof). I’ve realized that Gerard likes to launch his stories with an eye-opening bang and none of these little gems disappoint. Each story is short (the entire book is under 11,000 words in length) so the author hits hard and hits fast.

For example there’s the opening short called Blood Bath which it literally is. The Devil likes to bathe in, yes, blood. He says:

The best bathing blood had to be extracted from frightened accountants. The easy part had always been scaring them; you just told them there was a problem with the bottom line or gave them a debit-heavy Balance Sheet. The tough part was catching them…

The other stories are about an obsession with rock ‘n’ roll, a possessed car (with a hilarious Thelma & Louise take), a ‘trip’ down memory lane, a deal with the devil and my personal favourite, An Irish Possession. The latter regards a boy possessed by an imp and his exorcism. This example describes the Irish priest carrying out the extraction process:

Aye, I know he had a mouth on him like a sailor. Well, compared to other priests, I mean. I never heard him say the F word, but he always said bastard and shite and all the not-so-bad curses. Plus I saw him hit wee Fra’ McGuinness from Dunville Street when he caught him smoking in the Chapel car park. It wasn’t a wee tap to embarrass him either. It was a right hook, and the wee fellah fell on his backside.

All the stories are based in Ireland with varying degrees of local dialect. This creates a strong sense of place. The dialogue is tight. The challenge in a good short is to use every word to its fullest effect. Gerard does this brilliantly.

**Previously reviewed on Books and Pals Blog. May have received free copy.**

[Brandon Nagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different offering of shorts than what I usually expect from Brennan. Interesting stories. Recommended for those who want to see another side of Brennan.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

sorry Gerard It's one of those I read intermitantly and promise I will finish a let you know what I think of it..

[Heath Lowrance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrifically fun stories. Mr Brennan, you are one mad wee bastard.