Capricious Visions

by Edward Ahern

Welcome to the entertainingly demented realities of Edward Ahern. These twenty-five stories take us one step too far-out of the world we know and into fantastic and horrifying visions. Meet the spirits, elder gods, truly predatory animals, demons and not-normal humans that populate this book. Sometimes light-hearted, sometimes eerie, sometimes abominable, capricious but always entertaining stories taken from the pages of magazines and anthologies and assembled here.

Genres: Fantasy

ebook

Published August 18, 2016

About the author

Resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. Original wife, but after fifty years we are both out of warranty.

Have had a couple hundred short stories and poems published so far, and three books. A collection of my fairy and folk tales, "The Witch Made Me Do It" is published by Gypsy Shadow Press. A novella, "The Witches' Bane," is scheduled for republication in June of 2018, and my collected fantasy/horror stories, "Capricious Visions," from Gnome on Pig Press. A chapbook of individually published poems is currently being shopped around.

Speak German, French and Japanese in that order of fluency. Lived in Germany, Japan and England, and visited over seventy countries. Dissipate my free time fly fishing and shooting.

Reviews

[Gary Inbinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The jacket copy refers to the “entertainingly demented realities of Edward Ahern.” After reading through this collection of engagingly bizarre short stories I’d agree with the “entertainingly demented” description. I’d add that Ahern has the ability to view the human condition “through a glass darkly.” Ahern’s dark vision resembles the distorted reflections of a series of fun-house mirrors. He relates these skewed images through narratives that can be hilarious, wistful, grotesque or horrifying. Many of these tales reminded me of the writings of past masters of the genre like Ray Bradbury and August Derleth, but they are all distinctively Ed Ahern.

[Alison McBain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I met Edward Ahern in person, my first introduction to his writing was in the magazine The Devilfish Review. While Devilfish always has a wonderful collection of prose and poetry, one story that stuck in my mind was Mr. Ahern's "Pest Hag" in issue eleven. It was wonderful to read the story again in the beginning of Capricious Visions, a collection of Mr. Ahern's short stories recently released by Gnome on Pig Productions.

In the story, Dr. Norberg is a helpless observer when a sudden outbreak of a flesh-eating disease puts the city into a panic. He can't find the source of the outbreak, and several of his patients become infected and die. His grandmother warns him about a Norwegian legend of a witch who spreads disease, like a supernatural Typhoid Mary. Dr. Norberg dismisses it as only a superstition, and his grandmother agrees--but she reminds him that people can spread disease, and if he finds out how the disease is being spread, then he will find out how to stop it.

Without giving away the ending, it's a page turner from the first sentence to the last, with a nicely satisfying conclusion. It's a good representative of the short stories as a whole in Capricious Visions--the tales are of a satisfying complexity, often mixing old legends with the modern day, and told in a straightforward style. They range from magical realism all the way to high fantasy, from creeping tales of horror to straight-out gorefests. Almost all the stories have been published previously, although there are a couple of new ones thrown in also.

I found the level of writing quite high. My one criticism, if I had to have one, would be that I felt the endings to one or two felt as if they came a bit too soon--I would have liked to see more. But it's not a bad thing to want more from a short story or even a novel. It reminds me of the quote by Neil Gaiman: "I think I'd just remind people of the power of stories, and why they exist in the first place. I'd like to put up the four words that anyone telling a story wants to hear. The ones that show that it's working, and that pages will be turned: '…and then what happened?' "

There were so many good stories in the collection that it is hard to pick out my favorites, although there were a few that resonated with me in particular. "Pest Hag," which I already mentioned, was one. Another one was "Touching Memory," a flash fiction about a gruesome new way to immortalize a loved one. It was one of the stories with a strong touch of humor, so it was a good change of pace. "After Taste" was a unique take on the classic ghost story, and "The Judas Goat" does a great job of combining classic Egyptian mythology with the modern day. You'll find yourself rooting against the main character in "The Initiate," and hoping for the best for the characters in "Fleurs du Mal." And the level of worldbuilding was impressive for a short story in "Notes on the Pestilence."

But I must say that my favorite story in the whole collection had to be "The Dogfisherman." It combines all the strongest elements of a well-told story--fantastic description and detail, sympathetic characters, a unique setup, and just the right touch of mystery.

Two older fishermen, Danny and Ralph, have known each other a long time from fishing at the same spot. One night, Ralph tells Danny he needs to show him something. What he shows him is a group of dogfish--long, eel-like sharks with sharp teeth--who hang around every time he comes to the water. They point him to the best fishing, and he gives them some of his catch to eat. Ralph disappears a short time later, and Danny is fishing by himself in their usual spot when a large dogfish comes up to him. Danny starts to do as Ralph did, and becomes a friend to the dogfish. But the fish can't tell him what has happened to Ralph--he only finds out when the police give him a call.

The story is told in such a beautiful, literary fashion, a leisurely-paced narrative that culminates in a final and poignant image. Although, in my opinion, I think it's the star of the work, this is a really strong collection as a whole, with stories to appeal to all readers of speculative fiction.

Mr. Ahern's greatest strengths are in his pacing and suspense. Whether used for fantasy or for horror, there is always an element of mystery that keeps the reader turning the page. And like any good story, a lot of the appeal lies in what is unsaid--Ahern does a masterful job of treading the fine line between implication and suggestion, keeping the reader guessing up until the end.

All in all, Capricious Visions is a collection I would recommend, especially to lovers of horror and fantasy. I enjoyed reading it, and I hope you will, too.

This review was originally published in the magazine Bewildering Stories, Issue # 687.

[Gabi Coatsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like the Twilight Zone, this is for you. Ed Ahern has an intriguing sense of humor, which may come from having had a career in intrigue. be that as it may, these short stories are best not read last thing at night if you have trouble sleeping - they won't help. But as perfect short reads when you need a break from the everyday, these stories about people and places who seem normal, but which have a strange twist that leaves the reader feeling a little off-kilter, I can recommend them.

[Asgrimur Hartmannsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man needs to fire his editor....
Anyway, a series of short stories that all feel like either outlines for Dean Koontz novels that have yet to be fleshed out or severely abridged version of such novels.
The style is that clipped, sometimes to the detriment of understanding. Makes me think: "that escalated quickly," a lot.
Amusing though, and great for reading during coffee-breaks.

[Alexis Allinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way the author thinks gives a whole new meaning to science fiction.