Strange Tales: Tartarus Press at 30

Strange Tales #6

by Rosalie Parker (Editor), Rebecca Lloyd, Mark Valentine

These eighteen entirely new stories have been brought together to celebrate the thirtieth year of Tartarus Press. Representing the best contemporary writing in the fields of the literary strange, supernatural, fantasy and horror, they range from the wry comic fantasy of Jonathan Preece’s "Great Dead American Authors Alive and Living in Cwmbran," to the atmospheric horror of Andrew Michael Hurley’s "Hunger."

In "Grassman" by Rebecca Lloyd, two sisters come of age during a village ceremony, while in "Meiko" by J.M. Walsh, a mysterious guest upsets the equilibrium of a country house party. Mark Valentine’s "Other Things" documents the romance and strangeness of private lore, while the search for a missing girl leads to a sinister discovery in D.P. Watt’s "The Wardian Case." Dark family secrets are gradually uncovered in Angela Slatter’s "The Three Burdens of Nest Wynne."

Founded in 1990, Tartarus Press has become known for championing both classic and contemporary writers. The stories in this volume sit proudly within that tradition.

All copies are signed by Rosalie Parker and Ray Russell

Contents:

"Tartarus Press at 30" by Rosalie Parker
"Grassman" by Rebecca Lloyd
"The End of Alpha Street" by Mark Valentine
"Hunger" by Andrew Michael Hurley
"Tell me, whacher, is it winter?" by N.A. Sulway
"The Flickering Light" by Stephen Volk
"Nervous System" by Inna Effress
"What it Says" by Ibrahim R. Ineke
"Monsieur Machine" by Eric Stener Carlson
"Great Dead American Authors Alive and Living, in Cwmbran" by Jonathan Preece
"The Women" by Tom Heaton
"Meiko" by J.M. Walsh
"The Three Burdens of Nest Wynne" by Angela Slatter
"The Gathering" by John Gaskin
"The Wardian Case" by D.P. Watt
"The Afterlife of Books" by Karen Heuler
"These Pale and Fragile Shells" by John Linwood Grant
"Collectable" by Reggie Oliver
"Flood" by Carly Holmes

284 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2020

About the author

Rosalie Parker is an author, scriptwriter and editor who runs the Tartarus Press with R.B. Russell. Parker jointly won the World Fantasy Award "Special Award: Non-Professional" for publishing in 2002, 2004 and 2012.

Reviews

[Karl]

All 200 hardcover copies are signed by Rosalie Parker and Ray Russell.

Contents:

V - ‘Tartarus Press at 30’ by Rosalie Parker
001 - ‘Grassman’ by Rebecca Lloyd
020 - ‘The End of Alpha Street’ by Mark Valentine
043 - ‘Hunger’ by Andrew Michael Hurley
044 – ‘Tell me, whacher, is it winter?’ by N.A. Sulway
058 - ‘The Flickering Light’ by Stephen Volk
070 - ‘Nervous System’ by Inna Effress
077 - ‘What it Says’ by Ibrahim R. Ineke
088 - ‘Monsieur Machine’ by Eric Stener Carlson
109 - ‘Great Dead American Authors Alive and Living, in Cwmbran’ by Jonathan Preece
129 - ‘The Women’ by Tom Heaton
146 - ‘Meiko’ by J.M. Walsh
163 - ‘The Three Burdens of Nest Wynne’ by Angela Slatter
182 - ‘The Gathering’ by John Gaskin
199 - ‘The Wardian Case’ by D.P. Watt
217 - ‘The Afterlife of Books’ by Karen Heuler
224 - ‘These Pale and Fragile Shells’ by John Linwood Grant
244 - ‘Collectable’ by Reggie Oliver
266 - ‘Flood’ by Carly Holmes
279 – Author Biographies

[Merl Fluin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars, but only just.

In terms of individual stories, there are two five-star bangers (Mark Valentine and N.A. Sulway) and one four-star charmer (Reggie Oliver). Taken together, they elevate the collection. Otherwise this might have been a two-star shrug.

Apart from those three, the stories range from the flawed but fun (intriguing set-ups and/or interesting concepts, but weak endings) to the so-so (mildly diverting but forgettable) to the borderline unreadable (prose so bad it'll rot your teeth).

I'm relatively new to Tartarus. A fellow participant in our group read told me that Tartarus stories tend to be rooted in the past, to the extent that this constitutes something of a "house style". That's part of my problem with this book: too much of it is drenched in nostalgia.

Now, in one case, nostalgia is the explicit theme. Oliver's "Collectable" is a sensitive meditation on how our own and other people's memories are lost and found, repackaged and recycled. It's beautifully done.

But in most of the other examples, the nostalgia is not for people, places or things, or for lived experience. It's for bygone styles of fiction.

The stories are set in a literary version of the past. The characters are stereotypes drawn from the classic weird canon. There are an awful lot of big country houses and/or tense social gatherings and/or furtive children and/or secretive locals. Very noticeably, no one uses the Internet. The result, intentional or otherwise, is to give everything the same patina of pastiche.

Why is that? Are "strange tales" supposed to be cosy, comforting visits to a world less weird or unsettling than the one we really live in?

[Bill Hsu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneven. 2.5 stars? Lots more notes here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Des Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worthy of thirty years of the tremendous Tartarus. Here’s to the next thirty.

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is one of its observations.

[Clare Rhoden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A celebration of thirty years of publishing with 18 all new stories which I quite liked.
If you haven't read anything from Tartarus before, this would be a good place to start to ease in to their kind of 'high-brow' style.
The stories here are not as ground-breaking as some of their other books I have read such as One Morning and House of the Flight-helpers which I completely loved.

[Paul Saarma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine collection of weird tales, all well written although a few seemed lacking in substance. I personally would have have appreciated some lengthier stories.
Highlights for me included 'Meiko' by J.M. Walsh, 'The Three Burdens of Nest Wynne' by Angela Slatter and the superb 'These Pale and Fragile Shells' by John Linwood Grant.

[Sam Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will definitely be searching out more Mark Valentine.