The Language of Beasts

by Jonathan Oliver

In a slaughterhouse a group of men find they can tell fortunes from entrails; an invisible shark haunts a children's book author; redemptive magic is discovered in the ancient chalk horse of the Oxfordshire hills; a woman vicar is possessed by the soul of a reactionary priest—in these seventeen stories of the weird, uncanny and fantastical, British Fantasy Award winner Jonathan Oliver takes the reader into imagined lives and worlds.

Horrifying, weird and darkly humorous, The Language of Beasts is the first collection of stories from this critically acclaimed editor.

392 pages, Hardcover

Published August 18, 2020

About the author

Jonathan Oliver is the British Fantasy Award winning editor of Magic, House of Fear, End of the Line, End of the Road, World War Cthulhu, Five Stories High and Dangerous Games. He is the author of the collection The Language of Beasts, out now from Black Shuck Books.

Reviews

[Jonathan Nevair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky to read an ARC of Language of the Beasts. Oliver’s anthology of short stories is a unique blend of horror, fantasy and science fiction. The tension of uncanny disturbances in the primary world is used to great effect and the collection feels deeply personal and authentic while taking readers into the world of fantasy/horror. Themes of spirituality, struggle with trauma, grief, and the question of life’s purpose come through in strange and interesting settings and characters.
Oliver’s long tenure as an editor can’t be overlooked in making these so readable. They’re polished to literary perfection in terms of voice, with solid pacing and description. The language is lean, sparing and yet evocative. The author has a gift for transitions – between places, time periods and realities (“Reel People” did this extremely well, I thought). What I enjoyed most about these stories was the sense that something was always lurking just ahead of the current story horizon, making me want to finish each one in a sitting. I don’t often lean towards horror as a genre, but these straddled fantasy and science fiction and appealed to my interest, and will appeal to a wide audience interested in those genres. *(Caution that some of the stories contain difficult and heavy content, including the topic of abuse.) Very good 4.5.

[Lyn Lockwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A varied mixture but some fantastic story telling here. Fantasy, horror, surrealism, sci-fi, humour. A really confident and stylish set of stories.

[MT Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good. Loved the Black Mirror feel to it. Equal measures of disturbia and sly wit conveyed with immaculate prose. Highly recommended.