Munky

by Brian Catling, Dave McKean (Cover Art)

"There hadn't been monks at the abbey since 1600. Not living ones, that is."When the puckish spirit of a monk begins haunting the storied village of Pulborough, known for its ancient abbey, Maud Garner, manager of the Coach and Horses Inn, arranges for the famous ghost hunter, Walter Prince, to come investigate. And from there, things spiral out of control.Peopled with richly drawn Dickensian grotesques and filled with bizarre and comical incident, Munky is as compelling as it is antic. Catling transports the reader to an interwar England in the throes of change. Part bizarre ghost story, part whimsical farce, part idiosyncratic literary experiment, it could be described as P. G. Wodehouse collaborating with Raymond Roussel, with a dash of M. R. James, if it weren't so uniquely its own thing.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Novella

116 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2020

About the author

Also publishes as B. Catling.

Brian Catling was born in London in 1948. He was a poet, sculptor and performance artist, who made installations and painted egg tempera portraits of imagined Cyclops. He was commissioned to make solo installations and performances in many countries including Spain, Japan, Iceland, Israel, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Germany, Greenland and Australia. He also wrote novels.

He was Professor of Fine Art at The Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art, University of Oxford, and a fellow of Linacre College.

Reviews

[Karl]

This hardcover is numbered 82 of 100 and is signed by Brian Catling and Dave Nckean and also arrived with a series of numbered postcards, and bookmark.

[Patrick.G.P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightfully quirky characters and strange appiritions written with a wonderful sense of place an humour. A perfect little winter-read.

[Mark Redman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone familiar with B. Catling’s work—particularly The Vorrh trilogy—will know he writes in a surreal, darkly lyrical style. Munky is no exception. In this compact novella of just 100 pages, Catling continues to blur the lines between myth, fantasy, and the poetic. The story follows a monstrous yet oddly sympathetic protagonist, Munky, as he moves through a dreamlike landscape filled with strange rituals, fractured time, and haunting encounters.

Catling’s prose is dense, painterly, and hallucinatory. Every page drips with rich imagery and uncanny juxtapositions, offering more atmosphere than plot. Longtime readers will recognise his signature blend of weird fiction and allegory, while newcomers may find the narrative challenging but also hypnotic.

Munky won’t be for everyone—its meaning is elusive, and its story unfolds more like a fever dream than a conventional narrative. But for those drawn to the avant-garde and the unsettling, this is a short, strange gem that lingers long after the final page.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore B. Catling’s prose!

[Alex Mullane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short novella from the late, great Brian Catling. The plot concerns the ghost of a monk turning up in a small Home Counties village , and the various people this upsets, including the church's prudish custodian, the corpulent local pub landlord and a ghost hunter with, er, questionable proclivities.

That's basically all there is to it, as the plot doesn't really go anywhere, and it just sort of finishes quite abruptly after a hundred or so pages, making it more of a weird snapshot of a situation rather than a full story. There are a lot of elements that are mentioned once, and then never touched again, as intriguing as they are.

But at the end of the day, it's Catling, so naturally it's still a giddy delight to read, filled with grotesque Britishness, fabulous humour, dazzling prose, and a lot of vivid imagery. Munky is an oddly charming little curio, and even in a more spare and lightweight novella, there's nobody quite like Catling. I'm very sad he's no longer around to produce more.

[Yórgos St. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grotesque and funny! A story about Britain and its people (dead and alive), its ghosts and myths that are so linked with the buildings and the general landscape. Although the story is rather short (and that's my only complaint) the writing is dense and the themes many. Highly recommended.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite read of the year! Vivid, grotesque and humorous, a delightful combination. Highly recommend.

[Corbin Talley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm somewhat embarrassed to write this as I feel I missed something and perhaps a re-read would be more revealing. I really liked the story, the writing, and most of the characters, especially Maudy, but I feel the mystery was never satisfactorily revealed. It was hinted at and alluded to without being fully flushed out and I feel in the end that I "didn't get it" which is not where I like to be at the end of a story.
Regarding the book itself, it's beautifully rendered by Swan River Press. I love the wrap around jacket art by Dave McKean as well as the pictorial boards which have different artwork. 5/5 stars for book production.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a spectral monk appears in a local pub "The Couch and Horses Inn," the manager arranges for a famous ghost Hunter to investigate the supernatural phenomenon. What follows is an extremely English cavalcade of characters like something from P.G Wodehouse novel with a healthy does of M.R James and Raymond Roussel.

[Murmur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost as weird as it is well-written. Strange read but enjoyable!

[kian ଳ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Catling, you are sorely missed 🥲