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Octoberland
Thana Niveau's stories feature people on the edge - the edge of death, the edge of sanity, the edge of reality. In this diverse collection, two sisters leave a trail of bodies behind them as they go on the run, desperate to outrun the dark secrets of their past. A film fan is haunted by the actress whose brutal horror films he can't stop watching. A child hears a ghostly voice through the radio reciting only numbers. And a young woman revisits the place she and her brother loved above all else—Octoberland—the strange amusement park that tore their world apart. Horror wears many faces here, from creeping dread to apocalyptic devastation, and no one escapes its dark touch.
Between summer and winter, between night and day, between good and evil, lies Octoberland.
Where the old Gods go to die
I got the feeling that the figures in the carvings weren’t wearing masks, that the ugly, snarling expressions were meant to be actual faces.
Where modern evils lurk ...
The subtitles only translated the spoken dialogue, so Alex had no idea what the words carved into her flesh meant.
Where the world rebels against us ...
The snow swirled like ocean currents, like the avalanche in her dream that had drowned the world.
Where both land ...
The labyrinth is sevenfold, each turn leading deeper inside, winding towards the raised centre.
... and sea ...
They found him lying in the surf, ranting about a black abyss the dolphins had shown him.
...are mysteries we may be better off never understanding.
Thana Niveau invites you to tour Octoberland, a place where hidden horrors lurk, love can be found in the most unusual places, and nothing is ever as it seems.
Between summer and winter, between night and day, between good and evil, lies Octoberland.
Where the old Gods go to die
I got the feeling that the figures in the carvings weren’t wearing masks, that the ugly, snarling expressions were meant to be actual faces.
Where modern evils lurk ...
The subtitles only translated the spoken dialogue, so Alex had no idea what the words carved into her flesh meant.
Where the world rebels against us ...
The snow swirled like ocean currents, like the avalanche in her dream that had drowned the world.
Where both land ...
The labyrinth is sevenfold, each turn leading deeper inside, winding towards the raised centre.
... and sea ...
They found him lying in the surf, ranting about a black abyss the dolphins had shown him.
...are mysteries we may be better off never understanding.
Thana Niveau invites you to tour Octoberland, a place where hidden horrors lurk, love can be found in the most unusual places, and nothing is ever as it seems.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2018
4 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Thana Niveau
56 books22 followersThana Niveau lives in a crumbling gothic tower in Wicker Man country. She shares her life with fellow horror scribe John Llewellyn Probert, in a Victorian library filled with arcane books and curiosities.
All her life Thana has been drawn to the darker aspects of life. She was a fearful child, plagued by nightmares and anxiety. Horror saved her. Scary films gave her an outlet for all that darkness and fear became her friend. Jason and Freddy were her childhood companions. On the literary side, Poe was her first great horror love, followed swiftly by Stephen King and Ramsey Campbell. Their stories frightened her while at the same time inspiring her. She still had nightmares, but now they were more like visits from a slightly sadistic muse. Writing all the scary stuff down turned it from a curse into a blessing.
All her life Thana has been drawn to the darker aspects of life. She was a fearful child, plagued by nightmares and anxiety. Horror saved her. Scary films gave her an outlet for all that darkness and fear became her friend. Jason and Freddy were her childhood companions. On the literary side, Poe was her first great horror love, followed swiftly by Stephen King and Ramsey Campbell. Their stories frightened her while at the same time inspiring her. She still had nightmares, but now they were more like visits from a slightly sadistic muse. Writing all the scary stuff down turned it from a curse into a blessing.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 1, 2020
“And then we were alone. Octoberland was ours.”
Nothing is more disappointing than a book that has a GORGEOUS cover and a very promising introduction, where the author’s writing and story-telling is highly praised... only for it to fall into the mediocre category. Unfortunately I found this short story collection to be mostly unimpressive.
I’ll start with some positivity. The story Octoberland was fantastic, the author truly saved the best for last as you had to mostly wade through 24 other stories to get to this one at the end. It’s about a young woman revisiting an amusement park that her and her brother loved, but where their lives were changed forever.
Another story that has stayed with me was Guinea Pig Girl - a disturbing AF Japanese horror story, combining body horror and erotica. It was CREEPY. Oh! And how did I almost forget Tentacular Spectacular - a really interesting Lovecraftian tale.
The variety and range of sub-genres that Niveau covers is another plus for me. If all the stories in a collection have a similar theme, they can easily become indecipherable from each other if not handled properly. However, you really get everything in Octoberland - erotic romance, steampunk, J-horror, quiet horror... the list goes on. It’s just a shame I found them utterly forgettable and somewhat tedious to get through (for the most part).
Although I wouldn’t personally recommend this collection, I would suggest reading the story Octoberland if you can find a way to! Same goes for Guinea Pig Girl and Tentacular Spectacular. I just wish Niveau’s other stories were as impactful and memorable. 2.5 stars.
Nothing is more disappointing than a book that has a GORGEOUS cover and a very promising introduction, where the author’s writing and story-telling is highly praised... only for it to fall into the mediocre category. Unfortunately I found this short story collection to be mostly unimpressive.
I’ll start with some positivity. The story Octoberland was fantastic, the author truly saved the best for last as you had to mostly wade through 24 other stories to get to this one at the end. It’s about a young woman revisiting an amusement park that her and her brother loved, but where their lives were changed forever.
Another story that has stayed with me was Guinea Pig Girl - a disturbing AF Japanese horror story, combining body horror and erotica. It was CREEPY. Oh! And how did I almost forget Tentacular Spectacular - a really interesting Lovecraftian tale.
The variety and range of sub-genres that Niveau covers is another plus for me. If all the stories in a collection have a similar theme, they can easily become indecipherable from each other if not handled properly. However, you really get everything in Octoberland - erotic romance, steampunk, J-horror, quiet horror... the list goes on. It’s just a shame I found them utterly forgettable and somewhat tedious to get through (for the most part).
Although I wouldn’t personally recommend this collection, I would suggest reading the story Octoberland if you can find a way to! Same goes for Guinea Pig Girl and Tentacular Spectacular. I just wish Niveau’s other stories were as impactful and memorable. 2.5 stars.
February 21, 2019
"Octoberland" is full of Thana Niveau's love for horror in all its incarnations (including Japanese horror movies, Giallo, Aickman, Lovecraft, Machen, Wheatley, shapeshifters, zombies and Halloween) without feeling derivative.
My personal favourites are "Going to the Sun Mountain", "Guinea Pig Girl", "Tentacular Spectacular", "Behind the Wall" and "The Things That Aren't There".
My own holy grail in writing is the short short-story. To write something with true brevity, with the story focused on a pin, is a real skill. One which eludes me. That's why I am particuarly envious of "The Things That Aren't There". It's not the flashiest story in the collection but it's clean and timeless. For my money, Thana shows real clout here. That's not to deride her other work in any way, but I just love this one. Six pages of brilliance.
My personal favourites are "Going to the Sun Mountain", "Guinea Pig Girl", "Tentacular Spectacular", "Behind the Wall" and "The Things That Aren't There".
My own holy grail in writing is the short short-story. To write something with true brevity, with the story focused on a pin, is a real skill. One which eludes me. That's why I am particuarly envious of "The Things That Aren't There". It's not the flashiest story in the collection but it's clean and timeless. For my money, Thana shows real clout here. That's not to deride her other work in any way, but I just love this one. Six pages of brilliance.
"At first you can only see them when you're not looking. Like if you have to go to the loo at night and it's dark. They're right behind you but if you turn around to look, they slide back into the shadows. They live in the places where you've just been."
- The Things That Aren't There
March 12, 2020
Niveau’s collection has everything under the sun: human horror, cosmic horror, and great tales of speculative fiction.
I only came across Thana Niveau when she was recommended by Ramsey Campbell in this article: https://horrordelve.com/2015/10/25/13.... Then I realized that she had been writing for a long time already and I apparently missed her stuff. But I am here to remedy that with this collection. There are 26 stories in here, but, again, I can’t discuss everything due to the word limit. Suffice to say, these first nine (9) tales are worth the price of purchase and I have enjoyed each tale. (Maybe not “CAERDROIA” since that one requires an intimate knowledge of the works of Arthur Machen)
1. GOING TO SUN MOUNTAIN
Glacia and Lys are on a road trip and they are leaving behind corpses in their wake. They haunt one motel after the other, running away from their crimes and a very shady past. It appears that they always attract the wrong kind of men; this leads to them killing these ruffians who attack them or thinking of attacking them. As the body count rises, the girls decide to go further north in search of a place filled with snow. But will their past catch up with them or is it already with them now?
I wish this story were longer. The disturbing relationship between Glacia and Lys was addictive to read since one is obviously having the upper hand but doesn’t take advantage of it. (because of her innocence?) Regardless, this is a tale that engages you from the start and tries to make you sympathize with these two naïve murderers who may or may not be victims of a truly evil person. If this were stretched into novella length, it might actually be more memorable. Not the best tale, but good enough to start the collection.
2. THE FACE
“Nature’s full of weird stuff.”
While tagging her friends in a batch of photos of their recent trip to the waterfall Pistyll Rhaeadr, Harrie is surprised when the software asks “WHO IS THIS?”, referring to a detail in the waterfalls resembling a face. She becomes more perturbed when the software asks the same question in the next photo. She investigates and tries to isolate the “face” hoping to get to the bottom of the mystery. She discovers that this phenomenon has been reported by people before as the “waterfall face”. She tells her friends about this and they are naturally dismissive of such tomfoolery. But as they return to the waterfalls for the winter, they will know that the last thing they have to fear from the falls is its visage…
This is a solid and creepy entry. Niveau does the Ramsey Campbell trick of making the mundane parts of life seem sinister and dangerous. You have to admit that there is something inherently scary in manually spotting weird stuff in photos; imagine having your computer doing that for you! The climax is tragic and haunting, with the mystery of the face nowhere near being solved. Sometimes nature is just evil.
3. XIBALBA
Camille and her twin brother Sebastian are enticed by her best friend Rosamund for a getaway to Cancun. They both agree since this would be their last time to go out of the country before college. They decide to bring along Sebastian’s snotty girlfriend Phoebe along with them. The plan was that they would camp out in the ruins of Tulum, a Mayan ghost town on the coast of the Yucatan coast. While in ruins of Tulun, they discover first-hand the creepy temples and learn of the mythology of Kulkulan, the descending god. While exploring the nearby forest, Phoebe falls through a hole in the forest floor. They try to rescue her and in the process discover another side to the story of how the people in Tulum were wiped out. Forced to make their way out of a network of caves, they realize that fate has something grand in store for them. But will the survivors be the lucky ones?
Niveau ramps up the horror with this tale of an exotic trip gone horribly wrong. “Traveler’s horror” is always a favorite horror subgenre of mine, as attested by my love of Simon Strantzas’ “ Burnt Black Suns”, Mark Samuels’ “Xapalpa”, and other similar tales (So many!) Add a sprinkling of claustrophobic horror and an unknown creature stalking the characters and you have a very effective and efficient horror tale.
For more Mayan horror, check out Grant Morrison’s Nameless
4. THE THINGS THAT AREN’T THERE
12-year-old Emma is tasked with looking after her mom’s best friend’s s 6-year-old kid Chloe. Emma thinks this will be another boring and uneventful night. That is until Chloe tells her that she can see “things that aren’t there” and is always keeping the light on to save herself. Chloe tells Emma that these beings can only be seen “when you’re not looking”. Emma dismisses it as nonsense. But as the night progresses, she notices figures sliding back into the shadows, as if avoiding her sight. Can Emma see them, too?
This is first-class creepy goodness. The simple premise of being able to see the unseen is expertly used to accentuate the terrors in this story. You do not know which is worse: is it knowing that something is there or is it the anticipation of something to come out of the shadows? Short and simple, this scary tale achieves greatness in its exceptional delivery. Oh, and is that ending a nod to Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw?
5. WORM CASTS
First, there were the ugly, smelly, and unknown flowers. Then came the furrows, as if dug by a small child. Who—or what—is sabotaging Nicole’s garden? A lucky guess would be that it has something to do with the face that appears in the center of the garden. But what do these events have to do with Nicole’s latest troubles? Is there something digging itself out of the garden?
Niveau’s next chiller is highly dependent on the mental state of the protagonist: is she just imagining the strange occurrences in her garden? Is this driven by guilt, sadness, or revenge, or is it the real thing? The intrusion later of realistic elements break this mystery and turns this into a grotesque crime-horror story with a very unlikeable (and unusual) villain. The climax is satisfying but I thought it should have been more hard-hitting considering the circumstances.
6. THE LANGUAGE OF THE CITY
You’ve heard of being haunted by ghosts. You’ve read of cases of haunted houses. You’ve even heard of the supposed effects of these hauntings on people, ranging from possession to lifetime psychological problems. But have you heard of being haunted by… a city? Our main character in this short discovered at an early age that she can sense them and that they apparently want her, too. This has led her to avoid cities all her life. But when a personal tragedy strikes her, she is convinced that the cities are calling for her again. And there is that mold that seems to be growing on her wall…
This one is interesting and unique: I seldom see cities as antagonists in horror fiction but here it is! This was written for the Mark Samuels’ tribute anthology (Marked to Die: A Tribute to Mark Samuels) and if you read my review of The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Weird Tales you know the man can get more than trippy with his stories. The themes here replicated and explored by Niveau are gradual cosmic “infection” (read Samuels’ “The Contaminated Text”) and the individual who is blessed (cursed) to perceive what others (read: everyone else) cannot (read “The Tower”). I must say I enjoyed this preposterous tale since Niveau is an engaging storyteller; she just tells it as it is. There are no instances of literary posturing for some haughty Lovecraft critic. This makes this tale readable and enjoyable despite its outlandish premise.
7. THE CALL OF THE DREAMING MOON
Sunoyi is on a mission for the life of her tribe. After having a vivid nightmare involving strange creatures (creepiest fish ever) and a moth-like man (Mothman?), she is told the village medicine man that she had been to “The Edge of the World” and that the “dreaming moon” called her to witness something in that realm. After a ritual reminiscent of the one is Altered States , Sunoyi is armed and ready for the sights beyond this world, but will she make it back?
A fine mix of Native American mysticism and Lovecraftian terrors. The weird variations of earth creatures were creepy and memorable and reminded me of the creatures in Masterton’s The Wells Of Hell and S. Craig Zahler’s The Narrow Caves . These two works owe a lot to Lovecraft, so thank the culturally-embattled figure again. And yes, I love being reminded of my favorite Ken Russell film, Altered States.
8. GUINEA GIRL
“Her anguish was so excruciatingly real. He couldn’t tune it out, couldn’t un-see it. And he couldn’t help the effect it had on him.”
Alex is infatuated with Yuki. But Yuki isn’t just some girl he met in the street, she’s the popular star of many simulated “snuff” films from Japan. Alex loves how she reacts from being brutally tortured as if she were experiencing some form of sexual anguish. Alex has found the love of his life and all he has to do is watch her suffer in the various DVDs provided to him by his friend Josh. All is well until Alex is greeted one night by an all-too-real vision, one that will haunt him for the rest of his waking life. Has love found Alex?
This is Niveau’s foray into the world of snuff films a la David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Not real snuff films, (say, Serbian Film) but the effect of simulated torture and suffering on the human mind. The main character is disturbed (he loves Yuki and wants to see her get tortured but is eventually sickened by it) but he is the epitome of the modern viewer: a person who enjoys brutal suffering predicated on the fact that it’s all make-believe. Hey, some of us are like this yet I don’t want to experience horrific visions afterward. This is what makes this tale a great work of speculative fiction.
If Thana Niveau or her friends are reading this, please tell her that the Japanese Guinea Pig movies are great movies; only the first two have a feeling of being like Snuff films. The rest are wildly gory but imaginative and unforgettable stories. (Especially the third one “Mermaid in a Manhole”)
9. THE QUEEN
“Each individual bee had its purpose but together the hive functioned as a perfect whole.”
After her husband Jake was killed in a violent mugging, Angie desires some time alone with nature, with no one to bother her. She finds affinity with a nearby colony of bees, enamored by their monotonous but efficient way of life. When she steps on the stinger of a dead bee, she wakes up and discovers a new horrific meaning to being one with nature.
Another horrific tale of metempsychosis gone wrong. I reckon this is more terrifying and disturbing than the previous tale about simulated snuff films. If you thought your life was dangerous, wait until you become a queen bee. Highly recommended and very effective.
I only came across Thana Niveau when she was recommended by Ramsey Campbell in this article: https://horrordelve.com/2015/10/25/13.... Then I realized that she had been writing for a long time already and I apparently missed her stuff. But I am here to remedy that with this collection. There are 26 stories in here, but, again, I can’t discuss everything due to the word limit. Suffice to say, these first nine (9) tales are worth the price of purchase and I have enjoyed each tale. (Maybe not “CAERDROIA” since that one requires an intimate knowledge of the works of Arthur Machen)
1. GOING TO SUN MOUNTAIN
Glacia and Lys are on a road trip and they are leaving behind corpses in their wake. They haunt one motel after the other, running away from their crimes and a very shady past. It appears that they always attract the wrong kind of men; this leads to them killing these ruffians who attack them or thinking of attacking them. As the body count rises, the girls decide to go further north in search of a place filled with snow. But will their past catch up with them or is it already with them now?
I wish this story were longer. The disturbing relationship between Glacia and Lys was addictive to read since one is obviously having the upper hand but doesn’t take advantage of it. (because of her innocence?) Regardless, this is a tale that engages you from the start and tries to make you sympathize with these two naïve murderers who may or may not be victims of a truly evil person. If this were stretched into novella length, it might actually be more memorable. Not the best tale, but good enough to start the collection.
2. THE FACE
“Nature’s full of weird stuff.”
While tagging her friends in a batch of photos of their recent trip to the waterfall Pistyll Rhaeadr, Harrie is surprised when the software asks “WHO IS THIS?”, referring to a detail in the waterfalls resembling a face. She becomes more perturbed when the software asks the same question in the next photo. She investigates and tries to isolate the “face” hoping to get to the bottom of the mystery. She discovers that this phenomenon has been reported by people before as the “waterfall face”. She tells her friends about this and they are naturally dismissive of such tomfoolery. But as they return to the waterfalls for the winter, they will know that the last thing they have to fear from the falls is its visage…
This is a solid and creepy entry. Niveau does the Ramsey Campbell trick of making the mundane parts of life seem sinister and dangerous. You have to admit that there is something inherently scary in manually spotting weird stuff in photos; imagine having your computer doing that for you! The climax is tragic and haunting, with the mystery of the face nowhere near being solved. Sometimes nature is just evil.
3. XIBALBA
Camille and her twin brother Sebastian are enticed by her best friend Rosamund for a getaway to Cancun. They both agree since this would be their last time to go out of the country before college. They decide to bring along Sebastian’s snotty girlfriend Phoebe along with them. The plan was that they would camp out in the ruins of Tulum, a Mayan ghost town on the coast of the Yucatan coast. While in ruins of Tulun, they discover first-hand the creepy temples and learn of the mythology of Kulkulan, the descending god. While exploring the nearby forest, Phoebe falls through a hole in the forest floor. They try to rescue her and in the process discover another side to the story of how the people in Tulum were wiped out. Forced to make their way out of a network of caves, they realize that fate has something grand in store for them. But will the survivors be the lucky ones?
Niveau ramps up the horror with this tale of an exotic trip gone horribly wrong. “Traveler’s horror” is always a favorite horror subgenre of mine, as attested by my love of Simon Strantzas’ “ Burnt Black Suns”, Mark Samuels’ “Xapalpa”, and other similar tales (So many!) Add a sprinkling of claustrophobic horror and an unknown creature stalking the characters and you have a very effective and efficient horror tale.
For more Mayan horror, check out Grant Morrison’s Nameless
4. THE THINGS THAT AREN’T THERE
12-year-old Emma is tasked with looking after her mom’s best friend’s s 6-year-old kid Chloe. Emma thinks this will be another boring and uneventful night. That is until Chloe tells her that she can see “things that aren’t there” and is always keeping the light on to save herself. Chloe tells Emma that these beings can only be seen “when you’re not looking”. Emma dismisses it as nonsense. But as the night progresses, she notices figures sliding back into the shadows, as if avoiding her sight. Can Emma see them, too?
This is first-class creepy goodness. The simple premise of being able to see the unseen is expertly used to accentuate the terrors in this story. You do not know which is worse: is it knowing that something is there or is it the anticipation of something to come out of the shadows? Short and simple, this scary tale achieves greatness in its exceptional delivery. Oh, and is that ending a nod to Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw?
5. WORM CASTS
First, there were the ugly, smelly, and unknown flowers. Then came the furrows, as if dug by a small child. Who—or what—is sabotaging Nicole’s garden? A lucky guess would be that it has something to do with the face that appears in the center of the garden. But what do these events have to do with Nicole’s latest troubles? Is there something digging itself out of the garden?
Niveau’s next chiller is highly dependent on the mental state of the protagonist: is she just imagining the strange occurrences in her garden? Is this driven by guilt, sadness, or revenge, or is it the real thing? The intrusion later of realistic elements break this mystery and turns this into a grotesque crime-horror story with a very unlikeable (and unusual) villain. The climax is satisfying but I thought it should have been more hard-hitting considering the circumstances.
6. THE LANGUAGE OF THE CITY
You’ve heard of being haunted by ghosts. You’ve read of cases of haunted houses. You’ve even heard of the supposed effects of these hauntings on people, ranging from possession to lifetime psychological problems. But have you heard of being haunted by… a city? Our main character in this short discovered at an early age that she can sense them and that they apparently want her, too. This has led her to avoid cities all her life. But when a personal tragedy strikes her, she is convinced that the cities are calling for her again. And there is that mold that seems to be growing on her wall…
This one is interesting and unique: I seldom see cities as antagonists in horror fiction but here it is! This was written for the Mark Samuels’ tribute anthology (Marked to Die: A Tribute to Mark Samuels) and if you read my review of The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Weird Tales you know the man can get more than trippy with his stories. The themes here replicated and explored by Niveau are gradual cosmic “infection” (read Samuels’ “The Contaminated Text”) and the individual who is blessed (cursed) to perceive what others (read: everyone else) cannot (read “The Tower”). I must say I enjoyed this preposterous tale since Niveau is an engaging storyteller; she just tells it as it is. There are no instances of literary posturing for some haughty Lovecraft critic. This makes this tale readable and enjoyable despite its outlandish premise.
7. THE CALL OF THE DREAMING MOON
Sunoyi is on a mission for the life of her tribe. After having a vivid nightmare involving strange creatures (creepiest fish ever) and a moth-like man (Mothman?), she is told the village medicine man that she had been to “The Edge of the World” and that the “dreaming moon” called her to witness something in that realm. After a ritual reminiscent of the one is Altered States , Sunoyi is armed and ready for the sights beyond this world, but will she make it back?
A fine mix of Native American mysticism and Lovecraftian terrors. The weird variations of earth creatures were creepy and memorable and reminded me of the creatures in Masterton’s The Wells Of Hell and S. Craig Zahler’s The Narrow Caves . These two works owe a lot to Lovecraft, so thank the culturally-embattled figure again. And yes, I love being reminded of my favorite Ken Russell film, Altered States.
8. GUINEA GIRL
“Her anguish was so excruciatingly real. He couldn’t tune it out, couldn’t un-see it. And he couldn’t help the effect it had on him.”
Alex is infatuated with Yuki. But Yuki isn’t just some girl he met in the street, she’s the popular star of many simulated “snuff” films from Japan. Alex loves how she reacts from being brutally tortured as if she were experiencing some form of sexual anguish. Alex has found the love of his life and all he has to do is watch her suffer in the various DVDs provided to him by his friend Josh. All is well until Alex is greeted one night by an all-too-real vision, one that will haunt him for the rest of his waking life. Has love found Alex?
This is Niveau’s foray into the world of snuff films a la David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Not real snuff films, (say, Serbian Film) but the effect of simulated torture and suffering on the human mind. The main character is disturbed (he loves Yuki and wants to see her get tortured but is eventually sickened by it) but he is the epitome of the modern viewer: a person who enjoys brutal suffering predicated on the fact that it’s all make-believe. Hey, some of us are like this yet I don’t want to experience horrific visions afterward. This is what makes this tale a great work of speculative fiction.
If Thana Niveau or her friends are reading this, please tell her that the Japanese Guinea Pig movies are great movies; only the first two have a feeling of being like Snuff films. The rest are wildly gory but imaginative and unforgettable stories. (Especially the third one “Mermaid in a Manhole”)
9. THE QUEEN
“Each individual bee had its purpose but together the hive functioned as a perfect whole.”
After her husband Jake was killed in a violent mugging, Angie desires some time alone with nature, with no one to bother her. She finds affinity with a nearby colony of bees, enamored by their monotonous but efficient way of life. When she steps on the stinger of a dead bee, she wakes up and discovers a new horrific meaning to being one with nature.
Another horrific tale of metempsychosis gone wrong. I reckon this is more terrifying and disturbing than the previous tale about simulated snuff films. If you thought your life was dangerous, wait until you become a queen bee. Highly recommended and very effective.
June 27, 2020
Octoberland is the second collection that I have read by Thana Niveau this year (not ever - I read her mini collection from Black Shuck books a couple of years ago).
Having read From Hell to Eternity earlier this year, I was excited when Dom, my number generator, picked this collection for me to read.* Released by PS Publishing in 2018, it has a superb introduction by Alison Littlewood, and is signed to my Bestwick. We did have words as to why most books he buys are signed to only him, while books I buy are signed to both of us, which also brought up the incident where I was signing at an anthology release and asked him to go along the line to get it signed for me and most signed it to him. A wee domestic.
The stories (excellent, of course). In Going to the Sun Mountain Lis is obsessed with the sharpness of letters, with numbers, and with never being touched, which can cause her to rub her skin raw. This is a journey of two sisters, of how one controls the other, of a fatality that will eventually consume them. It made a sound like a broken song when it hit the rocks.
In the atmospheric The Face, a face in the rocks behind a frozen waterfall in Wales leads to a tense and disturbing revelation. We have torture porn in Guinea Pig Girl where a man is obsessed with a girl in the 'guinea pig' movies and how they become too much even for him.
But I didn't like the way the palm trees tossed their heads as though they were laughing, or the way the darkened openings of temples seemed to watch us like eyes. Oh my, Xibala, has Mayan Gods, a terrifying journey through an unknown wonderland and insect overlords. Tense, tense, tense. I've only just unclenched my limbs.
Emma is left to babysit a six-year-old who can see things that live in the dark spaces in The Things That Aren't There. A short and brutal tale. As an aside, I looked after four-year old twins and their young brother when I was 9 or 10 (the 70s man) and nearly burnt their house down.
The Queen is absolutely horrifying. After the violent death of her partner, Angie becomes one with the bees, transformed by grief. This story sang to and stung my fears, such a hard (but excellent) read. The fantastical Tentacular Spectacular (a title worthy of Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge) sees Cthuluian (forgive me if I have that wrong) monsters, a stage show and corsets. Terrifyingly wonderful.
I'm sure I'm not mentioning every story, but by jove, I seem to be mentioning most. This truly is as spectacular as From Hell to Eternity.
First and Last and Always is a fresh take on a love spell story. Bad Faith is a collaboration with the late Joel Lane. Told in the form of letters Vile Earth, to Earth Resign is a story of a blossoming romance during a zombie apocalypse. There is a fatalistic vein running through this story, a feeling of the inevitable. I love stories that are told in letter, diary or report form.
Two Five Seven is a haunting story of a little girl's voice trapped in the radio and a deadly family secret. I recall Thana reading this at World Fantasy Con back in 2013. We have another zombie story with Sweeter than to Wake. More visceral this time. Death Walks En Pointe is Niveu's Black Swan. A tale of murder and maiming backstage at the ballet. Excellent stuff.
Finally we have the title story Octoberland, a poignant tale of siblings, of memories, of a horror that occurred during their childhood. A wonderful ending for a rollercoaster ride that kept climbing up and up with no dips between.
The cover art is by the wonderful Daniele Serra.
Roll on her next collection
Having read From Hell to Eternity earlier this year, I was excited when Dom, my number generator, picked this collection for me to read.* Released by PS Publishing in 2018, it has a superb introduction by Alison Littlewood, and is signed to my Bestwick. We did have words as to why most books he buys are signed to only him, while books I buy are signed to both of us, which also brought up the incident where I was signing at an anthology release and asked him to go along the line to get it signed for me and most signed it to him. A wee domestic.
The stories (excellent, of course). In Going to the Sun Mountain Lis is obsessed with the sharpness of letters, with numbers, and with never being touched, which can cause her to rub her skin raw. This is a journey of two sisters, of how one controls the other, of a fatality that will eventually consume them. It made a sound like a broken song when it hit the rocks.
In the atmospheric The Face, a face in the rocks behind a frozen waterfall in Wales leads to a tense and disturbing revelation. We have torture porn in Guinea Pig Girl where a man is obsessed with a girl in the 'guinea pig' movies and how they become too much even for him.
But I didn't like the way the palm trees tossed their heads as though they were laughing, or the way the darkened openings of temples seemed to watch us like eyes. Oh my, Xibala, has Mayan Gods, a terrifying journey through an unknown wonderland and insect overlords. Tense, tense, tense. I've only just unclenched my limbs.
Emma is left to babysit a six-year-old who can see things that live in the dark spaces in The Things That Aren't There. A short and brutal tale. As an aside, I looked after four-year old twins and their young brother when I was 9 or 10 (the 70s man) and nearly burnt their house down.
The Queen is absolutely horrifying. After the violent death of her partner, Angie becomes one with the bees, transformed by grief. This story sang to and stung my fears, such a hard (but excellent) read. The fantastical Tentacular Spectacular (a title worthy of Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge) sees Cthuluian (forgive me if I have that wrong) monsters, a stage show and corsets. Terrifyingly wonderful.
I'm sure I'm not mentioning every story, but by jove, I seem to be mentioning most. This truly is as spectacular as From Hell to Eternity.
First and Last and Always is a fresh take on a love spell story. Bad Faith is a collaboration with the late Joel Lane. Told in the form of letters Vile Earth, to Earth Resign is a story of a blossoming romance during a zombie apocalypse. There is a fatalistic vein running through this story, a feeling of the inevitable. I love stories that are told in letter, diary or report form.
Two Five Seven is a haunting story of a little girl's voice trapped in the radio and a deadly family secret. I recall Thana reading this at World Fantasy Con back in 2013. We have another zombie story with Sweeter than to Wake. More visceral this time. Death Walks En Pointe is Niveu's Black Swan. A tale of murder and maiming backstage at the ballet. Excellent stuff.
Finally we have the title story Octoberland, a poignant tale of siblings, of memories, of a horror that occurred during their childhood. A wonderful ending for a rollercoaster ride that kept climbing up and up with no dips between.
The cover art is by the wonderful Daniele Serra.
Roll on her next collection
March 8, 2021
An exceptional collection. I'm beginning to admire her work more and more.
October 27, 2021
Some of these stories have the potential to haunt me for the rest of my life. Fantastic book! The perfect October read 👻
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