The Beard and Other Weirdness

by Steve Dillon

Features novellas, short stories, and poems by Steve Dillon, former President of the Australian Horror Writers Association and editor and publisher of the Things in the Well series of anthologies. Contents include: The Beard, The Weirdness of Bliss, Circus Runner, Little Bastard, The Heat is on, The Memory Man, Leaf-Fall, Nature’s Ways…, Broken, Nyctophobia, Shhh… and more!Plus a selection of dark poems...

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2019

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steve Dillon living now in Melbourne, Australia is the visionary behind the Refuge Collection. Steve is series editor, sponsor, publisher and a contributor as both a writer and artist.

Reviews

[Elise Histed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a book finds you just at the right time – I needed an easy to pick up book with short stories to rest my brain from one big long task. Here it was – a collection of long, short, tiny, all kinds of horror stories that made me amazed at the author’s fountain of ideas. It's not the slow build-up horror - most of the stories are too short to allow much of that, it's more the 'turn you around suddenly' horror - the thing you didn't expect changing your outlook. The first set of stories is loosely set around the township of Bliss, some complete, some incomplete, come merely fragments. Various stories circle round the township, plunge in for a moment, then emerge changed by the place. It is a strange experience reading them all and recognising elements of the theme in completely different stories. Is Spectre See the key? Perhaps partially.

The Beard is the longest – well written, but there were others that I found more thought-provoking. Little Bastard with its eerie setting disturbs, as does Circus Runner. But, for my preference My Name Is with its complete switch of ideas and total surprise ending is the best: that’s where you find the ground you were standing on has been completely cut away without you noticing and you're standing in mid air. I was suspicious of reading ‘horror poetry’, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying the offerings. Much to read, much to enjoy.

[Cameron Trost · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bag of licquorice allsorts for readers of weird tales. A novelette, short stories, flash, and poetry. The title story, "The Beard", is the longest tale, and while not my favourite, it certainly explains the hipster phenomenon... well, that was my take. "Little Bastard" was my pick, somehow combining the atmosphere of Doyle's "The Ring of Thoth" with King's "Christine" and yet standing on its own as a highly original tale. I was particularly creeped out by "Spectre-See", a tale about a writer dead set on getting some words down, "Nature's Way...", a chilling tale about a pregnant woman camping, and "Leaf-Fall", a tale with a twist. There was some dark humour too, and a little naughtiness involving an encounter fuelled by horniness and Tourettes. Weird goodies.

[Naomi Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a interesting collection. I really liked the mix of novellas, short stories, and poems.

[Jim Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off I just want to say this man has some great talent and I want to read more of his stuff. This is a great collection of short stories by Steve Dillon, but I will have to say that the Beard (and this is just my opinion), is not the best story in this book. Most of them I loved. One or two were just not for me but all in all I loved it. Very well written and I love his warped mind and sense of humor in some of them. Very dark in others which I love. I would recommend this book to anyone who love horror.

[Crastinator · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems to be a highly introspective account of weirdnesses, however, the mix of stories and lengths doesn't work. The first longer story is boring and because it's difficult to move beyond it to the next story (see below), I stopped reading for a long time before going back in. I haven't found a compelling story yet, mainly because there's too much backstory too early in the story. Shorts don't need so much backstory. They need forward motion, the character taking the stage and doing stuff to get somewhere. The vignettes don't cut it. Stories need to be complete enough. Let the characters have some agency. And I hate scenes/openings that start with a character waking up or end with a character falling asleep.
None of the stories have a clear shape and it makes them hard to sink into. The ebbs and flows have no sense of change or need, no purpose.
I want to find out the why from being the who and compelled to follow the path despite the ups and downs. I want to share the story as it's shown, not be told about it like an after-effect. I want the emotional connection to the person in the story.

This is an anthology, yet none of the stories are titled in such a way that the reader can access them from the contents listing. The purpose of an anthology is to pick a title, go to that story, and read. Can't do that without proper formatting, ie use of heading styles or an active list of contents. eBooks don't need page numbers. They do need active links to the author sites/pages. That's three stars lost for lazy eBook formatting.

[Chuck McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable collection of tales from a stalwart of the Australian horror fiction community.