Folk Horror Revival: Corpse Roads -Revised Edition

Folk Horror Revival

by Andy Paciorek (Editor), Grey Malkin (Editor), Richard Hing (Editor)

A revised and improved edition of the classic Corpse Roads - a voluminous anthology of haunting poetry by past masters and contemporary talents. Fully illustrated throughout by a wealth of atmospheric photography by various artists.

Includes additional poetry, photography, new cover art and refined layout design.

Sales profits from this book are charitably donated The Wildlife Trusts environmental conservation and community projects.

Genres: Poetry, Horror, Nonfiction

690 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2016

About the author

Creator of Strange Lands, Human Chimaera, Black Earth, the Beautiful-Grotesque, Folk Horror Revival, Urban Wyrd Review & other peculiar things.

Drawn mainly to the worlds of myth, folklore, symbolism, decadence, curiosa, anomaly, dark romanticism and otherworldly experience, and fascinated both by the beautiful and the grotesque and the twilight threshold consciousness where these boundaries blur. The mist-gates, edges and liminal zones where nature borders supernature and daydreams and nightmares cross paths are of great inspiration.

Reviews

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is as anthology of poetry illustrated profusely with black and white photos from various contributors. It’s published by Wyrd Harvest Press under the Folk Horror Revival banner. FHR is a Facebook page dedicated to the strangeness of the English landscape with its ancient myths, relics and symbols that populate it. Robert MacFarlane’s article in the Guardian on this subject expresses it well:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
But if you’ve ever read Arthur Machen whose work is inspired by this facet of the English cultural experience then you’ll probably already know what I mean.
The title Corpse Roads, comes from the ancient tradition of carrying a corpse by the straightest route possible to the church or churchyard which had burial rights. Small, Isolated churches in tiny hamlets or villages were often affiliated to a mother church which had these rights. The roads to these churches were clearly designated corpse roads and were always known as such. Over the centuries many legends and eerie tales have grown up about them and great care was taken so that the spirit of the departed couldn’t return.
This is a big book at 561 pages and is a POD venture with all profits donated to charity. There is a lovely, atmospheric photo on the cover which sets the scene for the book’s contents. These are divided roughly into 23 sections with a further section about the contributors at the very end.
Corpse Roads begins with poems from Charlotte Bronte and John Clare, then move into War poets and then the rest of the book features contemporary poets all interspersed with black and white photographic illustrations. (2 of which are mine!). This is a book to dip in and out of it and if you don’t care for one poem you are soon likely to find one or two that you do. I read it in its entirety for the purposes of thisreview but will undoubtedly return to re-read at later. Subject matters range from witches, nature, legends, death and many others and it was undoubtedly a labour of love for the two editors, Andy Paciorek and Katherine Beem. Terrific job guys!
The book is a great re-introduction to poetry for those like me who haven’t read it much since leaving school and also to some wonderful images. ‘The Vampire of Croglin Grange’by Robert A Read was a standout poem on this first reading as was ‘Pendle Hill’.
It will undoubtedly be best read on a winter’s evening as the curtains are drawn and the countryside comes in a little closer…

[Susan Wands · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling collection of old favorites and new discoveries of classic dark toned literature.