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Tales From the Gulp #2
The Fall
Strange things happen in The Gulp. The residents have grown used to it.
The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper is not like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone who lives there calls it The Gulp. The place has a habit of swallowing people.
A man enjoying early retirement makes the mistake of visiting The Gulp. A fishing boat crew find themselves somewhere entirely unexpected. A farmer has an argument with his wife that turns violent and then entirely catastrophic. A Venture Scout troop from Enden travel a little too far on their bush excursion.
Everything that’s been getting stranger than usual in The Gulp begins to run completely out of control.
Five more novellas. Five more descents into darkness.
Welcome to The Gulp, where nothing is as it seems.
The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper is not like other places. Some maps don’t even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone who lives there calls it The Gulp. The place has a habit of swallowing people.
A man enjoying early retirement makes the mistake of visiting The Gulp. A fishing boat crew find themselves somewhere entirely unexpected. A farmer has an argument with his wife that turns violent and then entirely catastrophic. A Venture Scout troop from Enden travel a little too far on their bush excursion.
Everything that’s been getting stranger than usual in The Gulp begins to run completely out of control.
Five more novellas. Five more descents into darkness.
Welcome to The Gulp, where nothing is as it seems.
320 pages, Paperback
Published April 12, 2022
12 people are currently reading
398 people want to read
About the author
Alan Baxter
134 books533 followersMy book rating system:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Brilliant, I bloody loved it!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really good, highly recommended.
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyable, well worth a read.
I don't talk about ⭐⭐ and ⭐ reads because I only talking up the good stuff. That's why my Goodreads rarely has anything under a ⭐⭐⭐.
Bio: Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, dark fantasy, and crime. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among the valleys of southern Tasmania.
Fond him online at www.alanbaxter.com.au
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Brilliant, I bloody loved it!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really good, highly recommended.
⭐⭐⭐ - Enjoyable, well worth a read.
I don't talk about ⭐⭐ and ⭐ reads because I only talking up the good stuff. That's why my Goodreads rarely has anything under a ⭐⭐⭐.
Bio: Alan Baxter is a British-Australian multi-award-winning author of horror, supernatural thrillers, dark fantasy, and crime. He’s also a martial arts expert, a whisky-soaked swear monkey, and dog lover. He creates dark, weird stories among the valleys of southern Tasmania.
Fond him online at www.alanbaxter.com.au
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
February 20, 2026
Dreams of the Fall...
The Big Gulp...
THE FALL
Tales From The Gulp Book #2
by Alan Baxter
5 stars. Most maps don't even show the tiny seaside town of Gulpepper, the Gulp as it is known to residents...
... for its habit of swallowing unwary or visiting people...
People who grew up in the Gulp have dreamed of The Fall by the time they're adolescents...
At least once...
That explains why people are buried facedown in Gulpepper's municipal cemetery. Facedown burial will keep the deceased from dreaming of The Fall...
In their eternal rest...
This second visit to The Gulp is told in 5 novellas, each not only connect to one another but tie into the novellas from the first book about The Gulp. They are all 5 star stories...
GULPEPPER CURIOS
Andrew McDermott, on a motorcycle holiday, is heading for Enden when, against the advice of a fellow motorist, takes a fork in the road, which will take him through Gulpepper...
Forks in the road, eh... there's always choices...
CATHEDRAL STACK
Just like Gilligan's Isle, the 7 crew members of The Gulping Mermaid, a fishing trawler, get caught in a storm and are marooned on the rocks of a landmark known as Cathedral Stack off the coastal cliffs of Gulpepper...
... locals have heard a lot of weird stories about The Stack...
THAT DAMNED WOMAN
husband and wife Clem and Virginia are having another of their regular arguments because Ginnie wants to leave The Gulp and Clem's ancestral farm...
... when Clem accidentally kills Ginnie... then Clem's troubles really begin...
EXCURSION TROOP
Six high school teens and their scout leader go camping in the bush of The Gulp. They make camp and begin foraging for food in the forest. They find some choice mushrooms to add to their freeze-dried noodles...
But those who partook in this meal bit off more than they could chew, and their digestion was murder...
THE FALL
The Fall was coming to The Gulp, and Carter (from the first Gulp installment) could feel its vibes. All over town, bottomless sink holes appeared, and they were black as night. Something big and old was emanating energy...
Will Carter be able to prevent The Fall (the big Gulp) and thus prevent The Becoming?...
This was an excellent second installment of the TALES FROM THE GULP Series. I sincerely hope there will be a third!
The first installment, THE GULP, was also a very good collection of stories about the weird little bush town of Gulpepper.
Recommended!
The Big Gulp...
THE FALL
Tales From The Gulp Book #2
by Alan Baxter
5 stars. Most maps don't even show the tiny seaside town of Gulpepper, the Gulp as it is known to residents...
... for its habit of swallowing unwary or visiting people...
People who grew up in the Gulp have dreamed of The Fall by the time they're adolescents...
At least once...
That explains why people are buried facedown in Gulpepper's municipal cemetery. Facedown burial will keep the deceased from dreaming of The Fall...
In their eternal rest...
This second visit to The Gulp is told in 5 novellas, each not only connect to one another but tie into the novellas from the first book about The Gulp. They are all 5 star stories...
GULPEPPER CURIOS
Andrew McDermott, on a motorcycle holiday, is heading for Enden when, against the advice of a fellow motorist, takes a fork in the road, which will take him through Gulpepper...
Forks in the road, eh... there's always choices...
CATHEDRAL STACK
Just like Gilligan's Isle, the 7 crew members of The Gulping Mermaid, a fishing trawler, get caught in a storm and are marooned on the rocks of a landmark known as Cathedral Stack off the coastal cliffs of Gulpepper...
... locals have heard a lot of weird stories about The Stack...
THAT DAMNED WOMAN
husband and wife Clem and Virginia are having another of their regular arguments because Ginnie wants to leave The Gulp and Clem's ancestral farm...
... when Clem accidentally kills Ginnie... then Clem's troubles really begin...
EXCURSION TROOP
Six high school teens and their scout leader go camping in the bush of The Gulp. They make camp and begin foraging for food in the forest. They find some choice mushrooms to add to their freeze-dried noodles...
But those who partook in this meal bit off more than they could chew, and their digestion was murder...
THE FALL
The Fall was coming to The Gulp, and Carter (from the first Gulp installment) could feel its vibes. All over town, bottomless sink holes appeared, and they were black as night. Something big and old was emanating energy...
Will Carter be able to prevent The Fall (the big Gulp) and thus prevent The Becoming?...
This was an excellent second installment of the TALES FROM THE GULP Series. I sincerely hope there will be a third!
The first installment, THE GULP, was also a very good collection of stories about the weird little bush town of Gulpepper.
Recommended!
January 16, 2023
The Fall: Tales from the Gulp 2 is the second book set in Australia's most infamous, most abominable and dangerous, yet strangely funny and appealing (fictional) seaside town Gulpepper.
If you have read the first book good for you, because many loose ends are being tied here, even those you may not have realized were indeed loose ends – the town's problem with fungi, the ulterior motives and quests of the town's mafia (I told you it's dangerous), the ever present and sinister rock band Blind Eye Moon and whatever the Fall (a time when all inhabitants of the Gulp fell from the sky – everybody still dreams about it but nobody remembers it) is all about. While there are plenty new characters, especially the ones who get stuck or are being held captive and can't leave, there's a ton of familiar faces and fun to discover Easter eggs too. Make no mistake, though – you really need to have read the first book because this is definitely a sequel.
A very minor point of criticism would be that the mini glossary for Australian English is in the back of the book and gets overlooked easily, I was very surprised to discover it even exists. Good thing I read lots of Baxter and became a kind of expert by now, so I don't even need to look those words up anymore. Still, it would have been nice to have that in the front.
Thrilling was the afterword in which the author announces there will be more stories set in the Gulp in the future, and by the sound of it this whole thing is expanding into a full blown universe and that's just a very exciting concept for me which makes me happy. Can't wait for even more stories from Gulpepper, the weirdest town Down Under.
If you have read the first book good for you, because many loose ends are being tied here, even those you may not have realized were indeed loose ends – the town's problem with fungi, the ulterior motives and quests of the town's mafia (I told you it's dangerous), the ever present and sinister rock band Blind Eye Moon and whatever the Fall (a time when all inhabitants of the Gulp fell from the sky – everybody still dreams about it but nobody remembers it) is all about. While there are plenty new characters, especially the ones who get stuck or are being held captive and can't leave, there's a ton of familiar faces and fun to discover Easter eggs too. Make no mistake, though – you really need to have read the first book because this is definitely a sequel.
A very minor point of criticism would be that the mini glossary for Australian English is in the back of the book and gets overlooked easily, I was very surprised to discover it even exists. Good thing I read lots of Baxter and became a kind of expert by now, so I don't even need to look those words up anymore. Still, it would have been nice to have that in the front.
Thrilling was the afterword in which the author announces there will be more stories set in the Gulp in the future, and by the sound of it this whole thing is expanding into a full blown universe and that's just a very exciting concept for me which makes me happy. Can't wait for even more stories from Gulpepper, the weirdest town Down Under.
January 31, 2022
I had the pleasure and honor of beta reading this, so I won't be offering up a normal longer review.
BUT
I will say this - with The Gulp, Baxter created a stunning setting and entwined stories that creeped me out and had me riveted. With The Fall, Baxter manages to keep the setting/town as bonkers as ever, while delivering even BETTER stories than the first. And that's saying something.
This was outstanding.
BUT
I will say this - with The Gulp, Baxter created a stunning setting and entwined stories that creeped me out and had me riveted. With The Fall, Baxter manages to keep the setting/town as bonkers as ever, while delivering even BETTER stories than the first. And that's saying something.
This was outstanding.
March 13, 2022
Alan Baxter returns to his fictional town of Gulpepper and brings us another exemplary selection of tales (fice more novellas) that add to the epic story that is unfolding.
The Gulp was exceptional, The Fall is equally as good - but the thing is, they’re not two separate collections, they compliment each other so well that it’s almost the same book but told a year apart from their publication… it’s remarkable and I for one bloody love it.
Give these books the time of day they deserve… you’ll be changed!
Gulpepper Curios - Andrew McDermott is taking some time off since retiring from his job. He’s spending a few months touring in his BMW motorbike. As he’s on his way he comes across the Gulp and decides to swing by and check it out. He’s warned not to by a passing motorist, but the allure of going someplace uncharted and not on his map fills his mind with curiosity.
Baxter treats the reader to a short tour of the town (if you’re a returning visitor to the Gulp, some of these places you’ll remember, but he also mixes it up with new shops and sights, which will keep you enthralled as you try to imagine what’ll come of that place later on). I really enjoyed the way Baxter opens the town up to us again, his descriptions further add to his work in The Gulp and work in cementing this eerie little town in our minds.
Andrew McDermott finds himself visiting a few shops: a restaurant, a bookshop and the Gulpepper Curios - we soon discover that things are not quite what they seem and we find ourselves slipping back into the crazy, small town horror vibe that Baxter masterfully delivered in The Gulp, this is The Fall and trust me the drop into this collection is bottomless. Forget all you know - what happens in the Gulp stays in the Gulp.
A fabulous way to bring new readers into this strange little town. I also enjoyed how Baxter throws his arms wide open and welcomes his readership back who are returning to the place that nightmares are born - a few characters we met previously are here, the dreams of the fall still plague the townsfolk, there are also the haunting landmarks that became familiar but begged to know more about… will we get our answers as we return to the Gulp, your guess is as good as mine. Awesome opening, it’s like I’ve never been away!
Cathedral Stack - with Cathedral Stack we’re treated to a story in two parts (I also liked the symmetry with this story and the one from The Gulp - with a portion of it set at sea).
Our protagonists Harry and Kate are mates of a boat and Harry harbours (like what I did there) feelings for Kate which he’s never expressed. That is until today as they head out to fish before a big storm rolls in and they’re forced out of the sea.
Before the storm arrives their boat gets into trouble and something rocks their precious little world and what was supposed to be another day on the water turns into a life and death struggle.
The way Baxter writes this first part reminded me of the brilliance of Peter Benchley and what he’s done so we’ll in his books Jaws and The Island - getting that sense of being at sea and the vastness of it all was remarkable - I felt like I was there with them.
They soon become stranded on Cathedral Stack a formation of rocks that have an eerie presence and many a tale that has been spun about their nature. Are the stories to be believed or rubbished as just that, stories.
As our protagonists and other crew members seek refuge in a cave from the storm we soon discover that Cathedral Stack is to be feared for a reason.
There is a particular scene that had me thinking of Alien and the descriptions of what happens are out of this world. A great little story and I enjoyed how it played out, but I was so captivated by Baxter’s work on the water that I wished he’d kept them at sea and we discovered more about the thing that lurked in the deep!
That Damn Woman - I absolutely loved this story, it had some great du Maurier vibes and also reminded me of the work of Tracy Fahey. Here we’re treated to two lifers of The Gulp, one who wants to stay one that wants to go, flee the place like their two grown children have done.
Their disagreement comes to a head one evening and things spiral out of control. What we’re treated to after that is a fascinating story that pulls you right into the thick of the crazy that’s spiralling around you.
Our protagonist struggles to right a wrong in his own deluded way and some of the scenes that involve him getting into a disguise are expertly written and I had to wonder of the brilliance of Baxter’s imagination at this and the whole flipping story.
As the story develops and evolves we find out that something’s not quite right and what ensues is a crazy trip towards discovery, as suspicion of his actions pulls the focus on him even more. It’s a stunning little story and I also enjoyed some of the threading in of other stories, and it’s these things that make this town come alive, that make this not just a snapshot of a moment but a fully immersive panorama of life in the Gulp.
I won’t go into much more as the beauty of this story is in the reading - but I will say that some of the descriptions in this one will be staying with me for some time - the stem of the glass for example.
Excursion Troop - what a fabulous little tale of survival. A group of teens are in the woods, working on their survival skills, they are isolated, have only the clothes on their backs and a few meagre possessions as they rely on their knowledge and bush craft skills to survive the next few days.
I loved how Baxter was able to bring all of these characters to life in such a short space of time. You felt a connection to each of them so when things turn dark, you’re invested, you want them to run, hide and survive.
But Baxter has other plans, hideous things await our youngsters as they flee through the woods as something and someone pursues them, but how are they always one step ahead of the group, why have they changed and what is up with their eyes.
This story also weaves in a few story elements from the previous tales and the pay off is pretty spectacular and when these things fall into place I can’t help but sit back smile and applaud the way Baxter weaves his words and stories - if you’re an invested reader you’ll love it - for best results read the stories in order (don’t be crazy and try mixing them up, because you’ll miss the subtle layering Baxter has no doubt painstakingly been threading through these stories).
This had some heart racing moments, some grisly scenes and some awesome descriptions of gore and injury detail - and I loved it! I also loved how fully immersive the story is and how I felt like I was running for my life with these characters, the sights the smells, the heat and the fear was palpable, excellent work!
The Fall - well what an ending. This story is a culmination of the two books, and as the afterword states, this is a novel over two collections and that is something to stand back and applaud.
What Baxter manages to conjure here in this story alone is nothing short of remarkable. Baxter brings all the threads to a close (for now) and we get to view the rich tapestry he’s been weaving since the first story in The Gulp. All roads lead to here and the journey has been spectacular.
Baxter populates this story with a cast of characters we know and their stories from The Gulp, and also weaves into it some of the lives we’ve just been spending time with. The result is a pulse pumping finale that really keeps the reader hostage until we see where we end up.
This last story is just a perfect ending to this chapter of The Gulp and I was delighted to read that Baxter has more ideas and stories to tell in expanding one of the best fictional towns every put to page. I love this place, the absurdity of it, the strangeness of it, the horror that dwells in it… I could read these stories forever and not be bored!
These two books are a masterpiece of small town horror and show a writer who is at the top of their game. Buy the books, take the ride and enjoy this slice of Australian small town horror… you won’t regret it!
The Gulp was exceptional, The Fall is equally as good - but the thing is, they’re not two separate collections, they compliment each other so well that it’s almost the same book but told a year apart from their publication… it’s remarkable and I for one bloody love it.
Give these books the time of day they deserve… you’ll be changed!
Gulpepper Curios - Andrew McDermott is taking some time off since retiring from his job. He’s spending a few months touring in his BMW motorbike. As he’s on his way he comes across the Gulp and decides to swing by and check it out. He’s warned not to by a passing motorist, but the allure of going someplace uncharted and not on his map fills his mind with curiosity.
Baxter treats the reader to a short tour of the town (if you’re a returning visitor to the Gulp, some of these places you’ll remember, but he also mixes it up with new shops and sights, which will keep you enthralled as you try to imagine what’ll come of that place later on). I really enjoyed the way Baxter opens the town up to us again, his descriptions further add to his work in The Gulp and work in cementing this eerie little town in our minds.
Andrew McDermott finds himself visiting a few shops: a restaurant, a bookshop and the Gulpepper Curios - we soon discover that things are not quite what they seem and we find ourselves slipping back into the crazy, small town horror vibe that Baxter masterfully delivered in The Gulp, this is The Fall and trust me the drop into this collection is bottomless. Forget all you know - what happens in the Gulp stays in the Gulp.
A fabulous way to bring new readers into this strange little town. I also enjoyed how Baxter throws his arms wide open and welcomes his readership back who are returning to the place that nightmares are born - a few characters we met previously are here, the dreams of the fall still plague the townsfolk, there are also the haunting landmarks that became familiar but begged to know more about… will we get our answers as we return to the Gulp, your guess is as good as mine. Awesome opening, it’s like I’ve never been away!
Cathedral Stack - with Cathedral Stack we’re treated to a story in two parts (I also liked the symmetry with this story and the one from The Gulp - with a portion of it set at sea).
Our protagonists Harry and Kate are mates of a boat and Harry harbours (like what I did there) feelings for Kate which he’s never expressed. That is until today as they head out to fish before a big storm rolls in and they’re forced out of the sea.
Before the storm arrives their boat gets into trouble and something rocks their precious little world and what was supposed to be another day on the water turns into a life and death struggle.
The way Baxter writes this first part reminded me of the brilliance of Peter Benchley and what he’s done so we’ll in his books Jaws and The Island - getting that sense of being at sea and the vastness of it all was remarkable - I felt like I was there with them.
They soon become stranded on Cathedral Stack a formation of rocks that have an eerie presence and many a tale that has been spun about their nature. Are the stories to be believed or rubbished as just that, stories.
As our protagonists and other crew members seek refuge in a cave from the storm we soon discover that Cathedral Stack is to be feared for a reason.
There is a particular scene that had me thinking of Alien and the descriptions of what happens are out of this world. A great little story and I enjoyed how it played out, but I was so captivated by Baxter’s work on the water that I wished he’d kept them at sea and we discovered more about the thing that lurked in the deep!
That Damn Woman - I absolutely loved this story, it had some great du Maurier vibes and also reminded me of the work of Tracy Fahey. Here we’re treated to two lifers of The Gulp, one who wants to stay one that wants to go, flee the place like their two grown children have done.
Their disagreement comes to a head one evening and things spiral out of control. What we’re treated to after that is a fascinating story that pulls you right into the thick of the crazy that’s spiralling around you.
Our protagonist struggles to right a wrong in his own deluded way and some of the scenes that involve him getting into a disguise are expertly written and I had to wonder of the brilliance of Baxter’s imagination at this and the whole flipping story.
As the story develops and evolves we find out that something’s not quite right and what ensues is a crazy trip towards discovery, as suspicion of his actions pulls the focus on him even more. It’s a stunning little story and I also enjoyed some of the threading in of other stories, and it’s these things that make this town come alive, that make this not just a snapshot of a moment but a fully immersive panorama of life in the Gulp.
I won’t go into much more as the beauty of this story is in the reading - but I will say that some of the descriptions in this one will be staying with me for some time - the stem of the glass for example.
Excursion Troop - what a fabulous little tale of survival. A group of teens are in the woods, working on their survival skills, they are isolated, have only the clothes on their backs and a few meagre possessions as they rely on their knowledge and bush craft skills to survive the next few days.
I loved how Baxter was able to bring all of these characters to life in such a short space of time. You felt a connection to each of them so when things turn dark, you’re invested, you want them to run, hide and survive.
But Baxter has other plans, hideous things await our youngsters as they flee through the woods as something and someone pursues them, but how are they always one step ahead of the group, why have they changed and what is up with their eyes.
This story also weaves in a few story elements from the previous tales and the pay off is pretty spectacular and when these things fall into place I can’t help but sit back smile and applaud the way Baxter weaves his words and stories - if you’re an invested reader you’ll love it - for best results read the stories in order (don’t be crazy and try mixing them up, because you’ll miss the subtle layering Baxter has no doubt painstakingly been threading through these stories).
This had some heart racing moments, some grisly scenes and some awesome descriptions of gore and injury detail - and I loved it! I also loved how fully immersive the story is and how I felt like I was running for my life with these characters, the sights the smells, the heat and the fear was palpable, excellent work!
The Fall - well what an ending. This story is a culmination of the two books, and as the afterword states, this is a novel over two collections and that is something to stand back and applaud.
What Baxter manages to conjure here in this story alone is nothing short of remarkable. Baxter brings all the threads to a close (for now) and we get to view the rich tapestry he’s been weaving since the first story in The Gulp. All roads lead to here and the journey has been spectacular.
Baxter populates this story with a cast of characters we know and their stories from The Gulp, and also weaves into it some of the lives we’ve just been spending time with. The result is a pulse pumping finale that really keeps the reader hostage until we see where we end up.
This last story is just a perfect ending to this chapter of The Gulp and I was delighted to read that Baxter has more ideas and stories to tell in expanding one of the best fictional towns every put to page. I love this place, the absurdity of it, the strangeness of it, the horror that dwells in it… I could read these stories forever and not be bored!
These two books are a masterpiece of small town horror and show a writer who is at the top of their game. Buy the books, take the ride and enjoy this slice of Australian small town horror… you won’t regret it!
March 17, 2022
The nitty-gritty: Cosmic horror, shocking violence, colorful characters and black humor come together in Alan Baxter’s follow-up to The Gulp, a delightfully dark bunch of tales that will put you on edge—and keep you there.
“There’s interesting and there’s fucked, mate. Nothing good ever came out of Gulpepper.”
Is it possible to be fond of a town where mostly bad things happen? Well that’s the case with me and the Australian seaside town of Gulpepper, or the Gulp as the locals call it. The Fall is the second of the Tales from the Gulp, and I loved it even more than the first book, which I reviewed last year. The Fall consists of five stories, which at first seem to be separate from each other, with different characters and situations. But look closer and you��ll see interesting connections. Characters briefly cross over into other stories or are mentioned in passing, or past events from the previous story might be discussed by a couple of new characters in another. These tantalizing connections are sort of like the strange white fungal threads that infect this entire collection—just one of many weird elements you’ll find in these pages.
Here is a brief run-down of the five stories:
GULPEPPER CURIOS
Andrew McDermott is a fifty-year-old who has decided to celebrate his early retirement by taking an extended road trip on his motorcycle. But a fork in the road leads him to an important decision. Keep going towards Monkton? Or take the beat up path towards Gulpepper? Unfortunately—and against the advice of a passing stranger—Andrew chooses Gulpepper.
At first he’s charmed by the quaint, seaside fishing village. But then things turn weird, and a visit to the local curio shop turns into Andrew’s worst nightmare.
This was a fantastic story to open the collection. Like Andrew, new readers have no idea what they’re in for, but little by little the oddness that is Gulpepper creeps in as Andrew comes to realize that perhaps he made the wrong choice…
CATHEDRAL STACK
Captain Colley and his crew of five fishermen take off early one morning as usual, but when their ship, the Gulping Mermaid, strays too close to Cathedral Stack—a treacherous rock formation said to be haunted—the six sailors find themselves without a ship and forced to swim for the Stacks.
The less said about this story the better! If I had to choose a favorite in the bunch, it would probably be this one. Cathedral Stack was unique and creepy, terrifying and disgusting, and I loved every bit of it. Full of crazy WTF moments and gothic nightmares, I loved the ocean setting and the gruesome twists.
THAT DAMN WOMAN
Clem and his wife Ginnie are having yet another fight. Ginnie wants nothing more than to get out of the Gulp, but Clem refuses to leave his farm. The fight turns ugly and Ginnie winds up dead. Now Clem has to figure out a way to hide the body. And that’s just the first of many mistakes Clem makes…
This story had a lot of tension and was actually pretty scary! I felt so bad for Clem. Let’s just say things do not go well for him (well now that I think about it, things do not go well for anyone in Gulpepper!)
EXCURSION TROOP
Six high schoolers join troop leader Darren Walker on their last Venture Scouts outing before they graduate. But when one of the kids discovers some wild mushrooms, and Darren and Sonya decide to eat them, well you can guess where this is going.
Bloody and violent and full of disturbing imagery, Excursion Troop is a fast-paced “pick ‘em off one by one” story that had me cringing in parts and breathless in others.
THE FALL
The final story was a surprise in that Baxter brings everything together and finally gives his readers some answers about what the hell is going on in Gulpepper. Carter is the unofficial “protector” of Gulpepper, sniffing out supernatural trouble and working with a local woman named Ingrid Blumenthal to combat the evil before it gets out of hand. And things are getting out of hand. But Ingrid is missing, and bodies are clawing their way out of graves and walking around town. It’s up to Carter to save the day—or is the Gulp too far gone for that?
I loved the way Baxter brought back characters from the first four stories as well as some from the first book. It was a great way to tie everything together. I especially loved that local band Blind Eye Moon makes an appearance in the final story—if you’ve read The Gulp, you’ll know exactly who I’m talking about! The ending is suitably weird and creepy, and there’s even a sense of closure, but Baxter mentions in his Afterword that he’s probably not done with Gulpepper yet, which makes me very happy. I’ve no doubt his fans will be clamoring for more by the end of this book. Highly recommended!
Big thanks to the author for providing a review copy.
Read my review of The Gulp
“There’s interesting and there’s fucked, mate. Nothing good ever came out of Gulpepper.”
Is it possible to be fond of a town where mostly bad things happen? Well that’s the case with me and the Australian seaside town of Gulpepper, or the Gulp as the locals call it. The Fall is the second of the Tales from the Gulp, and I loved it even more than the first book, which I reviewed last year. The Fall consists of five stories, which at first seem to be separate from each other, with different characters and situations. But look closer and you��ll see interesting connections. Characters briefly cross over into other stories or are mentioned in passing, or past events from the previous story might be discussed by a couple of new characters in another. These tantalizing connections are sort of like the strange white fungal threads that infect this entire collection—just one of many weird elements you’ll find in these pages.
Here is a brief run-down of the five stories:
GULPEPPER CURIOS
Andrew McDermott is a fifty-year-old who has decided to celebrate his early retirement by taking an extended road trip on his motorcycle. But a fork in the road leads him to an important decision. Keep going towards Monkton? Or take the beat up path towards Gulpepper? Unfortunately—and against the advice of a passing stranger—Andrew chooses Gulpepper.
At first he’s charmed by the quaint, seaside fishing village. But then things turn weird, and a visit to the local curio shop turns into Andrew’s worst nightmare.
This was a fantastic story to open the collection. Like Andrew, new readers have no idea what they’re in for, but little by little the oddness that is Gulpepper creeps in as Andrew comes to realize that perhaps he made the wrong choice…
CATHEDRAL STACK
Captain Colley and his crew of five fishermen take off early one morning as usual, but when their ship, the Gulping Mermaid, strays too close to Cathedral Stack—a treacherous rock formation said to be haunted—the six sailors find themselves without a ship and forced to swim for the Stacks.
The less said about this story the better! If I had to choose a favorite in the bunch, it would probably be this one. Cathedral Stack was unique and creepy, terrifying and disgusting, and I loved every bit of it. Full of crazy WTF moments and gothic nightmares, I loved the ocean setting and the gruesome twists.
THAT DAMN WOMAN
Clem and his wife Ginnie are having yet another fight. Ginnie wants nothing more than to get out of the Gulp, but Clem refuses to leave his farm. The fight turns ugly and Ginnie winds up dead. Now Clem has to figure out a way to hide the body. And that’s just the first of many mistakes Clem makes…
This story had a lot of tension and was actually pretty scary! I felt so bad for Clem. Let’s just say things do not go well for him (well now that I think about it, things do not go well for anyone in Gulpepper!)
EXCURSION TROOP
Six high schoolers join troop leader Darren Walker on their last Venture Scouts outing before they graduate. But when one of the kids discovers some wild mushrooms, and Darren and Sonya decide to eat them, well you can guess where this is going.
Bloody and violent and full of disturbing imagery, Excursion Troop is a fast-paced “pick ‘em off one by one” story that had me cringing in parts and breathless in others.
THE FALL
The final story was a surprise in that Baxter brings everything together and finally gives his readers some answers about what the hell is going on in Gulpepper. Carter is the unofficial “protector” of Gulpepper, sniffing out supernatural trouble and working with a local woman named Ingrid Blumenthal to combat the evil before it gets out of hand. And things are getting out of hand. But Ingrid is missing, and bodies are clawing their way out of graves and walking around town. It’s up to Carter to save the day—or is the Gulp too far gone for that?
I loved the way Baxter brought back characters from the first four stories as well as some from the first book. It was a great way to tie everything together. I especially loved that local band Blind Eye Moon makes an appearance in the final story—if you’ve read The Gulp, you’ll know exactly who I’m talking about! The ending is suitably weird and creepy, and there’s even a sense of closure, but Baxter mentions in his Afterword that he’s probably not done with Gulpepper yet, which makes me very happy. I’ve no doubt his fans will be clamoring for more by the end of this book. Highly recommended!
Big thanks to the author for providing a review copy.
Read my review of The Gulp
May 14, 2022
Gulpepper, or as its inhabitants call it, The Gulp, is a quaint little coastal town in Australia where normal things don't happen very often. After the sterling first entry,
The Gulp
, Alan Baxter is back to show how to do a collection right. This is a follow-up to The Gulp, with many elements returning, along with characters. There's Rich, the aimless truck driver recruited into the operation of affable crime boss Mr. Carter. And Carter and his daughter Chrissy, local fixtures of the community.
You can read Zach's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
You can read Zach's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
March 15, 2022
Follows up from The Gulp seamlessly. I have a real thing for interlocking short stories, and this comes together really well. I highly recommend this series and will pre order anything in this series from now on!
April 14, 2022
The Fall, second in Alan Baxter's Tales From the Gulp series, collects five interconnected short stories to produce a terrific mosaic novel about Australia's strangest small-town. The Gulp is short for Gulpepper, a harbor town that outsiders are rightfully leery of, and its status as a local, living urban legend are rightfully earned. Its the type of place where the dead are buried face down, in honor of the nightly dreams of falling that haunt the Gulp's life-long inhabitants and passing-through visitors (or, more accurately, visitors who hope they're only passing through...) - and that's only the start of this place's weirdness.
Building off the first five stories readers were introduced to in The Gulp, The Fall further expands on the lore and legends of this seaside horror town. If Gulpepper is Baxter's very own Castle Rock, then Gulpepper Curios is surely his Needful Things. After being warned away from the town by a helpful motorist, retiree Andrew decides to make it the next stop on his motorcycle tour of the outback. Once settled in, he's drawn to the antique shop in the hopes he can find something valuable being sold for cheap, and has his fortune told by a curious machine inhabited by a lifelike prognosticator the shop-owner calls Mother. It takes a bit of time to build some steam, but "Gulpepper Curios" is ultimately a nifty morality tale, one that smartly illustrates how even the smallest of choices can have massive consequences in a town as shady as the Gulp.
By the time we get to the second story, "Cathedral Stack," The Fall is at a righteous boil and sets an excellent pace and dark edginess that Baxter is able to maintain over the subsequent entries. Here, the survivors of a doomed fishing boat find shelter in a crevice of rocks, only to discover a far worse fate than whatever was in the water that sank their ship. "Cathedral Stack" sets up several important plot points that recur of over the course of the next few entries, but taken on its own it's just a damn good story that hit several particular sweet spots for me. I loved the chemistry of the lovestruck couple at this story's core, but the sea terrors and fungal horrors positively clinched it.
The latter element, of course, plays a hugely significant role in the succeeding entries as Baxter begins to reveal the Gulp's biggest growing concern. "That Damn Woman" draws in a number of social issues, like domestic violence and suicide, as a heated argument between farmer Clem and his wife, Virginia, leads to an accidental murder and the attempted cover-up. While digging a new dam cum hidden burial site, Clem discovers some odd growths threaded through the soil - but that's the least of his worries as the locals, and his children, begin to note Virginia's mysterious absence.
"Excursion Troop" revolves around a camping expedition that takes a disastrous, and exceedingly violent, turn following the ingestion of mushrooms. This, of course, leads up to the book's closer, "The Fall," in which the fate of all of Gulpepper and its strange, and sometimes wicked, inhabitants is to be determined.
While The Fall makes for an awesome collection of stories in their own right, it's each piece's various layers of interconnectedness that really make this entry a standout read. I loved the growing levels of references, recurring characters, and callbacks each successive story makes to what came before, illustrating how complete and joined various aspects of the Gulp are to one another. This makes for a richer "shared world" narrative and allows readers to more fully inhabit this peculiar town and get to know their neighbors here. It also makes for a terrific (in both its common and more archaic senses of the word) sense of community, and taken part and parcel with The Gulp, we get a truly elaborate view of this odd corner of the world.
Although it's been a bit since I read Baxter's introduction to these tales, I can only imagine how much richer the reading experiencing would be to tackle both Tales from the Gulp books back-to-back. Of course, you don't have to be a physic to figure a third book is in the offing - there's so much left to this town and its characters to explore yet - but it'd certainly help ease the wait for any future installments!
Building off the first five stories readers were introduced to in The Gulp, The Fall further expands on the lore and legends of this seaside horror town. If Gulpepper is Baxter's very own Castle Rock, then Gulpepper Curios is surely his Needful Things. After being warned away from the town by a helpful motorist, retiree Andrew decides to make it the next stop on his motorcycle tour of the outback. Once settled in, he's drawn to the antique shop in the hopes he can find something valuable being sold for cheap, and has his fortune told by a curious machine inhabited by a lifelike prognosticator the shop-owner calls Mother. It takes a bit of time to build some steam, but "Gulpepper Curios" is ultimately a nifty morality tale, one that smartly illustrates how even the smallest of choices can have massive consequences in a town as shady as the Gulp.
By the time we get to the second story, "Cathedral Stack," The Fall is at a righteous boil and sets an excellent pace and dark edginess that Baxter is able to maintain over the subsequent entries. Here, the survivors of a doomed fishing boat find shelter in a crevice of rocks, only to discover a far worse fate than whatever was in the water that sank their ship. "Cathedral Stack" sets up several important plot points that recur of over the course of the next few entries, but taken on its own it's just a damn good story that hit several particular sweet spots for me. I loved the chemistry of the lovestruck couple at this story's core, but the sea terrors and fungal horrors positively clinched it.
The latter element, of course, plays a hugely significant role in the succeeding entries as Baxter begins to reveal the Gulp's biggest growing concern. "That Damn Woman" draws in a number of social issues, like domestic violence and suicide, as a heated argument between farmer Clem and his wife, Virginia, leads to an accidental murder and the attempted cover-up. While digging a new dam cum hidden burial site, Clem discovers some odd growths threaded through the soil - but that's the least of his worries as the locals, and his children, begin to note Virginia's mysterious absence.
"Excursion Troop" revolves around a camping expedition that takes a disastrous, and exceedingly violent, turn following the ingestion of mushrooms. This, of course, leads up to the book's closer, "The Fall," in which the fate of all of Gulpepper and its strange, and sometimes wicked, inhabitants is to be determined.
While The Fall makes for an awesome collection of stories in their own right, it's each piece's various layers of interconnectedness that really make this entry a standout read. I loved the growing levels of references, recurring characters, and callbacks each successive story makes to what came before, illustrating how complete and joined various aspects of the Gulp are to one another. This makes for a richer "shared world" narrative and allows readers to more fully inhabit this peculiar town and get to know their neighbors here. It also makes for a terrific (in both its common and more archaic senses of the word) sense of community, and taken part and parcel with The Gulp, we get a truly elaborate view of this odd corner of the world.
Although it's been a bit since I read Baxter's introduction to these tales, I can only imagine how much richer the reading experiencing would be to tackle both Tales from the Gulp books back-to-back. Of course, you don't have to be a physic to figure a third book is in the offing - there's so much left to this town and its characters to explore yet - but it'd certainly help ease the wait for any future installments!
January 30, 2022
Read this book in one sitting. Couldn’t stop. Alan Baxter hit it out of the park again with his continuing stories about the sinister and mysterious town of Gulpepper, or the Gulp as town citizens call it.
I would suggest reading book 1 before reading this. The books can be read as stand alone, but are much richer read in order.
I highly recommend this book. Once you enter the Gulp you won’t want to leave.
I would suggest reading book 1 before reading this. The books can be read as stand alone, but are much richer read in order.
I highly recommend this book. Once you enter the Gulp you won’t want to leave.
March 8, 2022
The Fall by Alan Baxter is the incredible follow up to The Gulp, and in this collection of five new tales, the twisted web drawing the town further and further into chaos is getting stickier!
Horror readers, this is another book by Mr. Baxter that you cannot miss. Go preorder your copy today and get ready to roll back into the bizarre town known as The Gulp! Just be careful you don’t stay too long…
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
More here: https://www.ericarobynreads.com/book-...
Horror readers, this is another book by Mr. Baxter that you cannot miss. Go preorder your copy today and get ready to roll back into the bizarre town known as The Gulp! Just be careful you don’t stay too long…
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
More here: https://www.ericarobynreads.com/book-...
December 8, 2022
I loved this.
I read this book straight after the first, because I loved it so much, and I loved this one even more, the stories are a collection of intertwined stories, all with a modern Lovecraftian feel, with a unique Australian flavour.
If Alan Baxter writes anymore in this twisted place, (and I really hope he dose)
I'm automatically going to get them.
I read this book straight after the first, because I loved it so much, and I loved this one even more, the stories are a collection of intertwined stories, all with a modern Lovecraftian feel, with a unique Australian flavour.
If Alan Baxter writes anymore in this twisted place, (and I really hope he dose)
I'm automatically going to get them.
April 11, 2022
Wow.
I loved the stories of The Gulp so much, but now that I’ve read The Fall, The Gulp seems merely an introduction.
The Gulp and The Fall are both short story collections that are based on a coastal Australian town called Gulpepper. Those local to the area avoid it at all costs, but visitors seem drawn in to the quaint town. Yet strange things keep happening in The Gulp.
Andrew McDermott, retired early and ready to explore, ends up in The Gulp and is immediately taken in by Gulpepper Curios, a Needful Things-esque shop. Harrison Lin and his fellow fishermen take refuge in a cave that’s straight out of a fever dream. Clem Belfield is tired of his wife, but Virginia is not yet ready to go on. Darren Walker takes his scout troop into the Australian Outback where a spontaneous snack creates chaos. And lastly, it all comes together with Carter’s sixth sense going off. What is going on at Blumenthal Manor?
All of the stories in both collections are unique, yet all tie in together. I was very happy to see some nods from The Fall to The Gulp. The Fall goes into more detail about what may be going on in Gulpepper, which gives some more explanation to all the previous stories. The stories all add to the last ones and allow such a wide viewpoint of the town.
One of my favorite bits of The Gulp continued on to The Fall. Alan Baxter must have heard my very loud wishes for this book, because he delivered. I’m sure he heard my squealing all the way in Australia. What a fun-gi.
Thank you to Alan Baxter for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Gulp!
CW for death, blood, body horror/gore, suicidal thoughts
I loved the stories of The Gulp so much, but now that I’ve read The Fall, The Gulp seems merely an introduction.
The Gulp and The Fall are both short story collections that are based on a coastal Australian town called Gulpepper. Those local to the area avoid it at all costs, but visitors seem drawn in to the quaint town. Yet strange things keep happening in The Gulp.
Andrew McDermott, retired early and ready to explore, ends up in The Gulp and is immediately taken in by Gulpepper Curios, a Needful Things-esque shop. Harrison Lin and his fellow fishermen take refuge in a cave that’s straight out of a fever dream. Clem Belfield is tired of his wife, but Virginia is not yet ready to go on. Darren Walker takes his scout troop into the Australian Outback where a spontaneous snack creates chaos. And lastly, it all comes together with Carter’s sixth sense going off. What is going on at Blumenthal Manor?
All of the stories in both collections are unique, yet all tie in together. I was very happy to see some nods from The Fall to The Gulp. The Fall goes into more detail about what may be going on in Gulpepper, which gives some more explanation to all the previous stories. The stories all add to the last ones and allow such a wide viewpoint of the town.
One of my favorite bits of The Gulp continued on to The Fall. Alan Baxter must have heard my very loud wishes for this book, because he delivered. I’m sure he heard my squealing all the way in Australia. What a fun-gi.
Thank you to Alan Baxter for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Gulp!
CW for death, blood, body horror/gore, suicidal thoughts
February 10, 2022
As with the previous book, The Gulp, Baxter has meticulously crafted a dizzying narrative of interlocking stories that paint a cosmically horrific image. In a small coastal NSW town, charming in appearance, the tension is rising like the tide and, like the tide, it’s bringing things the sea ought to have swallowed.
Eldritch beings and places superimposed over every day Australian folks and routine is refreshingly jarring. My absolute favourite story was “Excursion Troop” but to say that I’m obsessed with Gulpepper and it’s inhabitants is an understatement. I cannot wait for more about this town.
Eldritch beings and places superimposed over every day Australian folks and routine is refreshingly jarring. My absolute favourite story was “Excursion Troop” but to say that I’m obsessed with Gulpepper and it’s inhabitants is an understatement. I cannot wait for more about this town.
February 9, 2022
Alan found a way to add hints from the gulp here and there into other stories.
When I read book one I had just moved to a town of 6,000 .
Having lived in a town of 6000 for over a year .
I can't say some of this stuff could past as a normal day 😂 .
Ever heard of a little town called cracow that's basically CQ "The Gulp".
Either way Alan does it again
When I read book one I had just moved to a town of 6,000 .
Having lived in a town of 6000 for over a year .
I can't say some of this stuff could past as a normal day 😂 .
Ever heard of a little town called cracow that's basically CQ "The Gulp".
Either way Alan does it again
April 9, 2022
With last year’s release of The Gulp, Alan Baxter introduced us to a small coastal town in Australia where weird is the norm. Of course, people will draw parallels to Castle Rock, but at least Castle Rock pretends to be normal. Gulpepper is a place to be avoided and tries to warn outsiders by staying off their maps. Because once you’re there… Oh boy.
Continuing in the style of a mosaic novel, The Fall kicks off with “Gulpepper Curios”. Once again, we see the town through the eyes of an outsider first, taking the reader on a tour of the town, see the sights, and witness first hand an ever-expanding cast of the Gulp’s denizens. Where Baxter excels in a story like this is making it weird but pulling back a few layers at time, while ultimately not giving too much away. It gives the illusion that the storyteller is learning about the stark horror of this town right alongside you, the reader. And just like real life, there are some mysteries that remain shrouded to all.
The premise of “Cathedral Stack” works as an exploration of a place even the residents of the Gulp are afraid of. For good reason, it turns out. Isolation drizzles fear like gasoline, leaving the tale vulnerable to ignite at any second, and ignite it does. The characters just want to get back to shore, but the stack has other ideas.
“That Damn Woman” may be the strongest story in The Fall, if not the whole Gulpepper saga. Baxter makes no qualms about addressing social issues through his fiction and this story highlights rural Australia’s problems with both domestic abuse and suicide. It does so in a tactful way while telling an intriguing, suspenseful story about a man trying to get away with murder.
Here, we enter the realm of mild spoilers. “Excursion Troop” shares a few commonalities with “Cathedral Stack”, but its strength lies within Baxter’s ability to pull back the curtain to reveal that these interconnected novellas share a little more than just a mycelial network. It’s at this point the reader realizes that the titular story won’t serve as just a final entry, but a neat bow to tie not five, but ten, novellas together. The more left for the reader to discover about the final story, the better, but it’s a fitting ending to the collection.
If you enjoyed The Gulp, you’ll find a lot to like in The Fall; a more than worthy sequel and a phenomenal opportunity for readers to set foot in this horrifying little town-by-the-sea without having to risk life and limb… or so you may think.
Continuing in the style of a mosaic novel, The Fall kicks off with “Gulpepper Curios”. Once again, we see the town through the eyes of an outsider first, taking the reader on a tour of the town, see the sights, and witness first hand an ever-expanding cast of the Gulp’s denizens. Where Baxter excels in a story like this is making it weird but pulling back a few layers at time, while ultimately not giving too much away. It gives the illusion that the storyteller is learning about the stark horror of this town right alongside you, the reader. And just like real life, there are some mysteries that remain shrouded to all.
The premise of “Cathedral Stack” works as an exploration of a place even the residents of the Gulp are afraid of. For good reason, it turns out. Isolation drizzles fear like gasoline, leaving the tale vulnerable to ignite at any second, and ignite it does. The characters just want to get back to shore, but the stack has other ideas.
“That Damn Woman” may be the strongest story in The Fall, if not the whole Gulpepper saga. Baxter makes no qualms about addressing social issues through his fiction and this story highlights rural Australia’s problems with both domestic abuse and suicide. It does so in a tactful way while telling an intriguing, suspenseful story about a man trying to get away with murder.
Here, we enter the realm of mild spoilers. “Excursion Troop” shares a few commonalities with “Cathedral Stack”, but its strength lies within Baxter’s ability to pull back the curtain to reveal that these interconnected novellas share a little more than just a mycelial network. It’s at this point the reader realizes that the titular story won’t serve as just a final entry, but a neat bow to tie not five, but ten, novellas together. The more left for the reader to discover about the final story, the better, but it’s a fitting ending to the collection.
If you enjoyed The Gulp, you’ll find a lot to like in The Fall; a more than worthy sequel and a phenomenal opportunity for readers to set foot in this horrifying little town-by-the-sea without having to risk life and limb… or so you may think.
April 14, 2022
THE FALL
Alan Baxter
13th Dragon Books
Cover art by Halinka Orszulok
Set on the Australian coast, THE GULP, introduced us to the secluded and bizarre town of Gulpepper. There, locals and tourists alike find the charm a bit too welcoming and the ability to leave a bit too difficult.
In THE FALL, Alan Baxter’s follow up to THE GULP, we get five more stories about the inhabitants and a few newcomers.
“Gulpepper Curios'' gives us a Goosebumpesque story about a fortune telling machine and the black magic that keeps it fed. We meet out-of-towner Andrew McDermott as he rides across AUS on his BMW and his curiosity killed, well not a cat, but someone.
“Cathedral Stack” takes us out into the open water of the Gulp. A fishing crew is stranded during a storm and seeks shelter in underwater caves. Baxter returns with the weird fungi and we fall down a dark hole of chaos.
“That Damn Woman” starts as an average estranged couple and moves into what I like to call a Hitchcock coverup (Clem just felt like Jimmy Stewart) that eventually proves to be an utter failure.
“Excursion Troop” is an extension of the movie Shrooms. Look, don’t eat anything in nature that you aren’t completely sure isn’t going to make you a homicidal maniac.
“The Fall” shows us that contrary to local legend, being buried face down does not give you peace during your eternal sleep. The ending created some unlikely heros, but I want to know, did the Doc get out in time?
Alan Baxter
13th Dragon Books
Cover art by Halinka Orszulok
Set on the Australian coast, THE GULP, introduced us to the secluded and bizarre town of Gulpepper. There, locals and tourists alike find the charm a bit too welcoming and the ability to leave a bit too difficult.
In THE FALL, Alan Baxter’s follow up to THE GULP, we get five more stories about the inhabitants and a few newcomers.
“Gulpepper Curios'' gives us a Goosebumpesque story about a fortune telling machine and the black magic that keeps it fed. We meet out-of-towner Andrew McDermott as he rides across AUS on his BMW and his curiosity killed, well not a cat, but someone.
“Cathedral Stack” takes us out into the open water of the Gulp. A fishing crew is stranded during a storm and seeks shelter in underwater caves. Baxter returns with the weird fungi and we fall down a dark hole of chaos.
“That Damn Woman” starts as an average estranged couple and moves into what I like to call a Hitchcock coverup (Clem just felt like Jimmy Stewart) that eventually proves to be an utter failure.
“Excursion Troop” is an extension of the movie Shrooms. Look, don’t eat anything in nature that you aren’t completely sure isn’t going to make you a homicidal maniac.
“The Fall” shows us that contrary to local legend, being buried face down does not give you peace during your eternal sleep. The ending created some unlikely heros, but I want to know, did the Doc get out in time?
April 10, 2022
Oh my goodness..Can Baxter do no wrong?! This was an amazing follow up to THE GULP. Just wow.
THE FALL is the second book about a very weird town nicknamed The Gulp. Unexplainable, creepy, horrifying things happen daily but things seem to only be getting weirder. The citizens are concerned and action needs to happen.
I was beyond thrilled when I saw that the author wrote another book continuing the chaos from the first one. I really loved the first so I fell head first into the second and was so quickly back into the lives of the town. Just like before, I really had fun with all of the five different stories in this one. They each had their own way of being spooky, weird and scary--all ranging from mystery, bloody, body horror and environmental horror. SO MUCH FUN!
I typically don't find myself liking a sequel to a book/movie but this is not that type of situation at all. Baxter has such an elegant way of intertwining all the stories together that I am just blown away at how talented he is in his craft--one of the best in my opinion.
One of my favorite stories in this one involves a group of teens going to the woods with their "troop leader" to take their final outdoors test but things quickly go awry. (This story is what inspired my review photo).
I do have to say, you need to read the first book THE GULP in order to understand/follow some of the storylines in this one and the repeated characters. I forgot a lot of the names of the characters and had to browse through the first book to refresh my memory (it's been a year since I read it). But once I remembered it felt like visiting an old friend and solving some old mysteries from THE GULP.
The ending was absolutely wild and one specific scene will forever be burned in my mind. It was so visceral and horrifying. Everything I love and more.
I recommend this to people who obviously enjoyed the first book, love horror in general and crazy endings. In movie form, this book would be like if the Tales from the Crypt got together with Slither and had a baby who enjoyed torturing people.
I really can't wait to see what else the author comes up with next when it comes to the misadventures of a town called The Gulp.
*A bunch of content warnings, so message me if you want to know them.
*Thank you to the author for an e-arc in exchange to my honest opinion.
THE FALL is the second book about a very weird town nicknamed The Gulp. Unexplainable, creepy, horrifying things happen daily but things seem to only be getting weirder. The citizens are concerned and action needs to happen.
I was beyond thrilled when I saw that the author wrote another book continuing the chaos from the first one. I really loved the first so I fell head first into the second and was so quickly back into the lives of the town. Just like before, I really had fun with all of the five different stories in this one. They each had their own way of being spooky, weird and scary--all ranging from mystery, bloody, body horror and environmental horror. SO MUCH FUN!
I typically don't find myself liking a sequel to a book/movie but this is not that type of situation at all. Baxter has such an elegant way of intertwining all the stories together that I am just blown away at how talented he is in his craft--one of the best in my opinion.
One of my favorite stories in this one involves a group of teens going to the woods with their "troop leader" to take their final outdoors test but things quickly go awry. (This story is what inspired my review photo).
I do have to say, you need to read the first book THE GULP in order to understand/follow some of the storylines in this one and the repeated characters. I forgot a lot of the names of the characters and had to browse through the first book to refresh my memory (it's been a year since I read it). But once I remembered it felt like visiting an old friend and solving some old mysteries from THE GULP.
The ending was absolutely wild and one specific scene will forever be burned in my mind. It was so visceral and horrifying. Everything I love and more.
I recommend this to people who obviously enjoyed the first book, love horror in general and crazy endings. In movie form, this book would be like if the Tales from the Crypt got together with Slither and had a baby who enjoyed torturing people.
I really can't wait to see what else the author comes up with next when it comes to the misadventures of a town called The Gulp.
*A bunch of content warnings, so message me if you want to know them.
*Thank you to the author for an e-arc in exchange to my honest opinion.
March 25, 2022
I had waited impatiently to return to the unusual town of Gulpepper to be guided through more of its secrets and this volume did not disappoint. Baxter's writing captures the feeling of a small Australian town very well and enhances it with his own visions of horror. There is great pleasure in luxuriating in the suspense and fear of these stories, finding onself rapt long past bedtime and unable to settle to sleep.
The Australian lexicon and manner of speaking used in The Fall (and The Gulp, The Roo) is really a lovely thing. I often find even Australian writers go too far, perhaps in hopes of living up to the expectations of foreign readers who are attuned to the Hollywood version of Aussie English, but Baxter is dead to rights in getting the mix just right. I appreciate the sense of reality added by the inclusion of some real concerns of rural Australians in the conversations in these stories as well. The realism at the core of the charachters really enhances the horror as we discover their fates and what awful force is behind them.
Full disclosure: As I had the good fortune to order my copy directly from the author, I was able to read this book in advance of its official release.
The Australian lexicon and manner of speaking used in The Fall (and The Gulp, The Roo) is really a lovely thing. I often find even Australian writers go too far, perhaps in hopes of living up to the expectations of foreign readers who are attuned to the Hollywood version of Aussie English, but Baxter is dead to rights in getting the mix just right. I appreciate the sense of reality added by the inclusion of some real concerns of rural Australians in the conversations in these stories as well. The realism at the core of the charachters really enhances the horror as we discover their fates and what awful force is behind them.
Full disclosure: As I had the good fortune to order my copy directly from the author, I was able to read this book in advance of its official release.
June 5, 2022
The Fall: Five more tales from Alan Baxter's fictional town of Gulpepper. Another set of 5 great stories somewhat interconnected with each other and the stories from the first book. Really enjoy these stories in this creepy town.
May 25, 2023
The Fall by Alan Baxter is a continuation of his epic short story collection “The Gulp,” it contains five seriously messed up stories, all of which are set in the incredibly creepy town of Gulpepper Australia. The use of Aussie slang throughout both books makes them really fun, as well as the variety of delightfully depraved events that occur in the Gulp. The title story “The Fall,” (which appears last) beautifully ties together the loose ends across the other 9 stories set in Gulpepper and absolutely blew my mind.
The other four stories in this one are:
Gulpepper Curios- Andrew, newly retired from an illustrious banking career, stops at the harbour town of Gulpepper during his 3 month motorcycle tour of Australia. During his stay he comes across an antique shop, where he has his fortune read by a creepy Zoltar machine “Mother,” and buys a valuable watch as-well as a book of Wordsworth poetry… in this book he discovers an old worn postcard, containing his name and address. He returns to the shop to confront creepy owner, Stanley Frost, and finds himself imprisoned there.
Cathedral Stack- After Paul Colley’s boat is hit and begins to sink, Paul, Kate, Harrison, Jenny and Benito are stranded near the infamous Cathedral Stack, shrouded in folklore and mystery. The five of them discover a cave in which they try to shelter from the approaching storm… however after entering and failing to find the entrance they walked through moments before they’re forced to question will the crew make it back out alive?
That Damn Woman- Despite Virginia’s best efforts, her and her husband Clem have never left their farm in The Gulp. After Clem returns from drinking at the Bowlo, a heated argument begins, one that will change the course of one of their lives forever.. and end the life of the other. After a murder takes place in the gulp, can the consequences be escaped?
Excursion Troop- A venture scout troop find themselves deep in the woods. After consuming some foraged mushrooms, scout leader Darren and Sonja both begin to seize- before turning slowly insane and turning on the remaining scouts. Can the remaining 5 find their own way out of the woods? And at what cost?
Overall this was a very enjoyable collection. Did it quite top the first collection for me? No- but it was still very fun, and the last story provided a real sense of closure.
The other four stories in this one are:
Gulpepper Curios- Andrew, newly retired from an illustrious banking career, stops at the harbour town of Gulpepper during his 3 month motorcycle tour of Australia. During his stay he comes across an antique shop, where he has his fortune read by a creepy Zoltar machine “Mother,” and buys a valuable watch as-well as a book of Wordsworth poetry… in this book he discovers an old worn postcard, containing his name and address. He returns to the shop to confront creepy owner, Stanley Frost, and finds himself imprisoned there.
Cathedral Stack- After Paul Colley’s boat is hit and begins to sink, Paul, Kate, Harrison, Jenny and Benito are stranded near the infamous Cathedral Stack, shrouded in folklore and mystery. The five of them discover a cave in which they try to shelter from the approaching storm… however after entering and failing to find the entrance they walked through moments before they’re forced to question will the crew make it back out alive?
That Damn Woman- Despite Virginia’s best efforts, her and her husband Clem have never left their farm in The Gulp. After Clem returns from drinking at the Bowlo, a heated argument begins, one that will change the course of one of their lives forever.. and end the life of the other. After a murder takes place in the gulp, can the consequences be escaped?
Excursion Troop- A venture scout troop find themselves deep in the woods. After consuming some foraged mushrooms, scout leader Darren and Sonja both begin to seize- before turning slowly insane and turning on the remaining scouts. Can the remaining 5 find their own way out of the woods? And at what cost?
Overall this was a very enjoyable collection. Did it quite top the first collection for me? No- but it was still very fun, and the last story provided a real sense of closure.
September 17, 2023
Really enjoyed this, a darker delve into ‘the Gulp’ - nicely interlinked short stories. Some great set pieces and scenes, Mother was pretty frightening and I’m not sure I’ll look at a mushroom in the same way
January 3, 2023
Loved it as much if not more than The Gulp, great characters, cracking dialogue, twisted horror - can’t wait to see what happens next.
September 26, 2023
This book gave me even more reasons why I don’t mess with fungi. It’s got more body horror than the previous collection, and it’s fun to see the author building on the weirdness in The Gulp. I also learned more Aussie slang like “daks” (& there are definitions in the back).
March 3, 2022
Another outstanding read by Alan Baxter, The Fall takes you on a journey back to Gulpepper, otherwise known as The Gulp. The Gulp won't be found on any maps and has a population of 8,000.
The Fall can be read as a stand alone but I highly recommend reading The Gulp first.
This painstakingly detailed concoction of cosmic horror tales had me hooked from the get go. Each unique story had well fleshed characters and suspense that turned my knuckles white!
My favourite story if I had to pick would have to be "Excursion Troop". Never have I read something so visceral and daunting since Nick Cutter's The Troop.
On sale April 12th or pre order now.
The Fall can be read as a stand alone but I highly recommend reading The Gulp first.
This painstakingly detailed concoction of cosmic horror tales had me hooked from the get go. Each unique story had well fleshed characters and suspense that turned my knuckles white!
My favourite story if I had to pick would have to be "Excursion Troop". Never have I read something so visceral and daunting since Nick Cutter's The Troop.
On sale April 12th or pre order now.
March 19, 2022
Right before I read this I read the other great Australian small-town horror classic Wake In Fright, and as such, my brain couldn’t help but to compare the two. For someone who professes to not like Australian literature as much as I do, I sure have been reading a lot of it latetly. Also for some reason my brain kept wanting to refer to The Fall as “The Yell” so Alan, if you’re thinking of writing a third one of these and are stuck on a title: you’re welcome.
Unlike that other town of great Australian horror – the Yabba – The Gulp is afforded some level of civilisation. Perhaps this simply because it is situated on the coast rather than the inhospitable red centre of hell itself; perhaps it is due to the deep alien intelligence that lurks in the periphery of its stories. Gulpepper is every small town on the coast of New South Wales and none of them. Unlike in towns of the interior, the water of the coast is ever-present, in creeks and dams and waves. It is not just a memory but a real and vicious presence haunted by things beyond our understanding. And with La Niña wreaking havoc on so much of the east coast at the moment, the presence of water lurks in the back of people’s minds and reminds us that while Australia is a land nurtured and harrowed by fire, water is both a precious and inundating commodity. Yet, perched in a precarious strip of bushland between the water and a hard place (one road in, one road out is enough to send a shiver down the spine of any in a country of sweeping fires) the Gulp doesn’t cling to existence, it thrives, and in its thriving echoes the hubris of every colonial settler. Because it does not belong here, the town itself is as unnatural as every single event that takes place in it.
“The Gulp swallows people up, but every now and then it spits someone back out.” The stories vary from the perspectives of outsiders swallowed up by the Gulp, to those long residents who have escaped its teeth until now, and their process of being chewed and swallowed by the town they live in. After a short while, asevents ramp up to their chilling conclusion, “Things are always wierd in the Gulp” starts to ring like “I didn’t think the leopards would eat my face”. The Gulp has been a known evil to its residents for so long that they are used to the strangeness, and this complacency becomes the downfall for many.
Alan Baxter’s background in martial arts comes through strongly in the fight scenes he writes. The weight of each punch hits heavily and bloodily, and in a world of slick, clean MARVEL superhero fights it’s nice to have a little bit of tension surrounding a fight. This type of fight scene lends itself well to the surrounding horror because in a series of supernatural events, it can be easy to forget that humans are perfectly capable of committing violence on one another. It also reminds us that these are not hero’s but flesh and blood and they have the same strengths and limitations as any of us. The human body can be surprisingly strong, but it can also be surprisingly fragile.
From the very first page of this book I knew I was in for a treat. I am a total sucker for lighthouses so the black and white lighthouse image splashed large over the page had me hooked right away. Yes, sometimes it’s as simple as that. Each story takes you a little further into the lore of the Gulp, and each weaves itself into a large plot arc that ultimately culminates in the final short story, aptly named “The Fall”. It’s at this point that I should probably mention that I hadn’t yet read The Gulp and while I didn’t find this to be a huge problem, there are a few references to the first book. I went back and read The Gulp after and so many pieces fell into place and I had some reverse “oh shit” moments. So while I definitely think you don’t have to have read The Gulp to enjoy The Fall, I think if you do, maybe you will have your “oh shit” moments in the right places (though is there truly a right moment to have the scales fall from your eyes?)
“Gulpepper Curious” was a delightful introduction to the Gulp and it felt very fitting that it was told from the perspective of an outsider like us readers. For the length of the collection, we too are trapped in the Gulp and so must go through the same rights of passage in order to be held there. I don’t generally like to give too many spoilers but I will say that one point in the story had me cheering as it mirrored the prison scene in Shanghai Noon, which was one of my favourite films as a kid, so that’s a little tidbit of trivia from my life for you.
As soon as I started reading “Cathedral Stack” I was sure it was going to be my favourite. This is primarily because it started on a boat and I am a huge sucker for the ocean and ocean-related horror. Later in the story glowing killer mushrooms are also introduced so I was absolutely thrilled to have two of my special interests included in the one story. This story was incredibly gross and I loved it, and it married gore with creeping horror very well since not only did you know these people one hundred percent shouldn’t go into the stack, you didn’t know why. “Cathedral Stack” also reminded me a little of Annihilation in a few parts, especially the winding staircase down into the stack which had the back of my brain saying “where lies the strangling fruit…”
Having just said that I knew “Cathedral Stack” would be my favourite, I was absolutely not prepared to have my socks blown off by “That Damn Woman”. There were just so many little innocuous details that somehow all came together at the very end in a way that was so incredibly satisfying that even while terrible horrible spooky things were happening, I couldn’t help but cheer and turn the page because honestly, this story is a masterwork. To mention a minor spoiler the particular detail of the wine glass going through Ginnie’s eye and effectively replacing it is *chefs kiss* – the devil is in the details and Alan Baxter is the very devil himself. The story also manages to get a handle on that strange horror trope of the man in the dress. While so many stories attempt to pathologise the trans women they feature, this story is so matter of fact about the husband dressing as his wife, inspired by his daughters trans girlfriend, and clearly shows his line of thinking, I feel like I can confidently say that this is one of the better representations of cross dressing in horror. All the men concerned about one anothers mental health due to high rates of suicide in the country is such a wonderful and healing representation of the often toxic ideal of good old fashioned aussie “mateship” and yet, even this, is just one more peice of the puzzle in this story. In fact there are so many small pieces that you will be on edge wondering where the final stroke will fall from, and when it does… oh but the catharsis is divine!
By the time I got to “Excursion Troop” I had very much learned that mushrooms in and around the Gulp are not to be touched, eaten, or otherwise messed with. So when one of the kids in the troop had a special interest in mushrooms (and slime moulds and, I assume, lichens) I knew that this was not going to end well. I liked how this story built on the previous one, going into a little more detail on some of the mentioned elements, and perfectly setting up the last story in the collection.
As the final story in the collection, “The Fall”, wraps things up neatly but leaves a lot unsaid. It is also the culmination of everything that has happened in the Gulp since the first collection of the same name, and it was this that gave me the most “oh shit” moments when I went back to read The Gulp, so I would assume that if you did things in the correct “order” this would be the chapter that would do just that for you. But frankly it was full of those moments even without having read the first collection, which only proves how deeply satisfying it is.
The Fall is like if Round the Twist was way, way, worse in the best of ways. This collection made me regret very much that I slept on picking up anything by Alan Baxter earlier, and so I was all the more grateful to get to read it. It deeply pleases me that Australian horror is alive and well and this incredibly satisfying.
I received an ARC of The Fall from the author in exchange for an honest review. The Fall is available in paperback and kindle formats and is currently available for preorder. It is due to be published on 12 April.
Find this review and more at my website StrangeQueerThings
Unlike that other town of great Australian horror – the Yabba – The Gulp is afforded some level of civilisation. Perhaps this simply because it is situated on the coast rather than the inhospitable red centre of hell itself; perhaps it is due to the deep alien intelligence that lurks in the periphery of its stories. Gulpepper is every small town on the coast of New South Wales and none of them. Unlike in towns of the interior, the water of the coast is ever-present, in creeks and dams and waves. It is not just a memory but a real and vicious presence haunted by things beyond our understanding. And with La Niña wreaking havoc on so much of the east coast at the moment, the presence of water lurks in the back of people’s minds and reminds us that while Australia is a land nurtured and harrowed by fire, water is both a precious and inundating commodity. Yet, perched in a precarious strip of bushland between the water and a hard place (one road in, one road out is enough to send a shiver down the spine of any in a country of sweeping fires) the Gulp doesn’t cling to existence, it thrives, and in its thriving echoes the hubris of every colonial settler. Because it does not belong here, the town itself is as unnatural as every single event that takes place in it.
“The Gulp swallows people up, but every now and then it spits someone back out.” The stories vary from the perspectives of outsiders swallowed up by the Gulp, to those long residents who have escaped its teeth until now, and their process of being chewed and swallowed by the town they live in. After a short while, asevents ramp up to their chilling conclusion, “Things are always wierd in the Gulp” starts to ring like “I didn’t think the leopards would eat my face”. The Gulp has been a known evil to its residents for so long that they are used to the strangeness, and this complacency becomes the downfall for many.
Alan Baxter’s background in martial arts comes through strongly in the fight scenes he writes. The weight of each punch hits heavily and bloodily, and in a world of slick, clean MARVEL superhero fights it’s nice to have a little bit of tension surrounding a fight. This type of fight scene lends itself well to the surrounding horror because in a series of supernatural events, it can be easy to forget that humans are perfectly capable of committing violence on one another. It also reminds us that these are not hero’s but flesh and blood and they have the same strengths and limitations as any of us. The human body can be surprisingly strong, but it can also be surprisingly fragile.
From the very first page of this book I knew I was in for a treat. I am a total sucker for lighthouses so the black and white lighthouse image splashed large over the page had me hooked right away. Yes, sometimes it’s as simple as that. Each story takes you a little further into the lore of the Gulp, and each weaves itself into a large plot arc that ultimately culminates in the final short story, aptly named “The Fall”. It’s at this point that I should probably mention that I hadn’t yet read The Gulp and while I didn’t find this to be a huge problem, there are a few references to the first book. I went back and read The Gulp after and so many pieces fell into place and I had some reverse “oh shit” moments. So while I definitely think you don’t have to have read The Gulp to enjoy The Fall, I think if you do, maybe you will have your “oh shit” moments in the right places (though is there truly a right moment to have the scales fall from your eyes?)
“Gulpepper Curious” was a delightful introduction to the Gulp and it felt very fitting that it was told from the perspective of an outsider like us readers. For the length of the collection, we too are trapped in the Gulp and so must go through the same rights of passage in order to be held there. I don’t generally like to give too many spoilers but I will say that one point in the story had me cheering as it mirrored the prison scene in Shanghai Noon, which was one of my favourite films as a kid, so that’s a little tidbit of trivia from my life for you.
As soon as I started reading “Cathedral Stack” I was sure it was going to be my favourite. This is primarily because it started on a boat and I am a huge sucker for the ocean and ocean-related horror. Later in the story glowing killer mushrooms are also introduced so I was absolutely thrilled to have two of my special interests included in the one story. This story was incredibly gross and I loved it, and it married gore with creeping horror very well since not only did you know these people one hundred percent shouldn’t go into the stack, you didn’t know why. “Cathedral Stack” also reminded me a little of Annihilation in a few parts, especially the winding staircase down into the stack which had the back of my brain saying “where lies the strangling fruit…”
Having just said that I knew “Cathedral Stack” would be my favourite, I was absolutely not prepared to have my socks blown off by “That Damn Woman”. There were just so many little innocuous details that somehow all came together at the very end in a way that was so incredibly satisfying that even while terrible horrible spooky things were happening, I couldn’t help but cheer and turn the page because honestly, this story is a masterwork. To mention a minor spoiler the particular detail of the wine glass going through Ginnie’s eye and effectively replacing it is *chefs kiss* – the devil is in the details and Alan Baxter is the very devil himself. The story also manages to get a handle on that strange horror trope of the man in the dress. While so many stories attempt to pathologise the trans women they feature, this story is so matter of fact about the husband dressing as his wife, inspired by his daughters trans girlfriend, and clearly shows his line of thinking, I feel like I can confidently say that this is one of the better representations of cross dressing in horror. All the men concerned about one anothers mental health due to high rates of suicide in the country is such a wonderful and healing representation of the often toxic ideal of good old fashioned aussie “mateship” and yet, even this, is just one more peice of the puzzle in this story. In fact there are so many small pieces that you will be on edge wondering where the final stroke will fall from, and when it does… oh but the catharsis is divine!
By the time I got to “Excursion Troop” I had very much learned that mushrooms in and around the Gulp are not to be touched, eaten, or otherwise messed with. So when one of the kids in the troop had a special interest in mushrooms (and slime moulds and, I assume, lichens) I knew that this was not going to end well. I liked how this story built on the previous one, going into a little more detail on some of the mentioned elements, and perfectly setting up the last story in the collection.
As the final story in the collection, “The Fall”, wraps things up neatly but leaves a lot unsaid. It is also the culmination of everything that has happened in the Gulp since the first collection of the same name, and it was this that gave me the most “oh shit” moments when I went back to read The Gulp, so I would assume that if you did things in the correct “order” this would be the chapter that would do just that for you. But frankly it was full of those moments even without having read the first collection, which only proves how deeply satisfying it is.
The Fall is like if Round the Twist was way, way, worse in the best of ways. This collection made me regret very much that I slept on picking up anything by Alan Baxter earlier, and so I was all the more grateful to get to read it. It deeply pleases me that Australian horror is alive and well and this incredibly satisfying.
I received an ARC of The Fall from the author in exchange for an honest review. The Fall is available in paperback and kindle formats and is currently available for preorder. It is due to be published on 12 April.
Find this review and more at my website StrangeQueerThings
April 9, 2022
Alan Baxter is just one of those authors you know is going to give you a great ride. I gobbled up THE GULP a month or so ago to be caught up for THE FALL, but it would work just fine as a standalone. A reader might miss a few references, and the tension is for sure heightened by the previous exploration of The Gulp, but this follow up is skillfully crafted to be accessible regardless. Baxter is never cliche - he never takes the direction you're expecting, and the result is a wild and creepy ride. Absolutely loved it, and will grab up all future Gulp oriented works (who am I kidding, it's Alan Baxter, I'm getting everything of his.)
February 11, 2022
Just as good as the first installment. It was great to get back to The Gulp. Full Review coming soon to horrorbound.net.
March 16, 2026
A couple of years ago I read Alan Baxter's The Gulp, a collection of five interlinked novellas set in the rural Australian coastal town of Gulpepper. I had a horrifically wonderful time visiting, with the stories covering everything from insidious fungus, a metal band with more than you might expect going on below their corpse paint, and a shared Lovecraftian dream – or more accurately, a nightmare – that comes to all the town's inhabitants at night. With The Fall, Baxter takes us to check back in to The Gulp, where things have only gotten stranger...
Despite being made up of another five novellas, I wouldn't recommend starting with The Fall. While you could follow and enjoy the stories in isolation, the richness of Gulpepper shines through if you've read The Gulp beforehand. Characters come and go between stories, across books, sometimes in the background, just as often playing a major part in our look at somebody else's life. Incidents from the previous book are referenced; things we saw from one perspective are recontextualised in conversations here. You can almost consider the two books as a sort of intertwined novel, with the ten different plotlines coalescing into a narrative with the town itself as the central character. I was surprised how well I remembered the first set of novellas despite it being 18 months or so since I read them, which I think speaks to how effectively they got under my skin.
As for the stories here, they're at least on par with those in The Gulp, and perhaps even better. All 5 were a lot of fun to read, some of them along similar lines to previous novellas, others approaching the town from a new angle. Highlights include an early retiree on a motorcycle trip that takes an unfortunate detour into the town, a small fishing boat that gets scuttled, forcing the crew to swim to an allegedly haunted rock formation for safety, and the title story, in which everything we've learned about Gulpepper comes together in an incendiary finale.
I can't recommend The Fall, and therefore The Gulp, enough. Alan Baxter has created his own version of King's Castle Rock, of Malerman's Goblin, a town with an already fully formed mythology and endless directions in which he can take it in the future. The third book, The Rise, is out now, and I can guarantee I'll be reading it much sooner than later.
Despite being made up of another five novellas, I wouldn't recommend starting with The Fall. While you could follow and enjoy the stories in isolation, the richness of Gulpepper shines through if you've read The Gulp beforehand. Characters come and go between stories, across books, sometimes in the background, just as often playing a major part in our look at somebody else's life. Incidents from the previous book are referenced; things we saw from one perspective are recontextualised in conversations here. You can almost consider the two books as a sort of intertwined novel, with the ten different plotlines coalescing into a narrative with the town itself as the central character. I was surprised how well I remembered the first set of novellas despite it being 18 months or so since I read them, which I think speaks to how effectively they got under my skin.
As for the stories here, they're at least on par with those in The Gulp, and perhaps even better. All 5 were a lot of fun to read, some of them along similar lines to previous novellas, others approaching the town from a new angle. Highlights include an early retiree on a motorcycle trip that takes an unfortunate detour into the town, a small fishing boat that gets scuttled, forcing the crew to swim to an allegedly haunted rock formation for safety, and the title story, in which everything we've learned about Gulpepper comes together in an incendiary finale.
I can't recommend The Fall, and therefore The Gulp, enough. Alan Baxter has created his own version of King's Castle Rock, of Malerman's Goblin, a town with an already fully formed mythology and endless directions in which he can take it in the future. The third book, The Rise, is out now, and I can guarantee I'll be reading it much sooner than later.
November 30, 2023
I absolutely loved the first Tales From The Gulp and this second volume gives us even more of all that Gulpepper gruesomeness.
These are novellas that are interconnected and all of them take place in a fictional Australian coastal town called Gulpepper, though everyone just calls it the Gulp. This is a very weird town and I use that word in the most horrifying sense. Things happen there that defy explanation. People who grew up there seem to accept it somewhat but visitors are often caught up in things that leave them missing, dead, or forever changed in one form or another. These are some of those stories.
I was thrilled to see some returning characters from the first volume. You don't HAVE to read that one to get the effects of this book but I really recommend you do. You'll get more out of it within the context the first one provides.
These are some truly frightening tales. From a man taking a cross country roadtrip and, unfortunately for him, ignores warnings to stay out of the Gulp, to a ship sinking off a mysterious formation in the middle of the sea and the things they'll find inside a cave there, to a fungus whose threads are found throughout these stories causing people to turn into bloodthirsty cannibals. All that and more await you in Gulpepper.
And don't forget to stop and say hello to Mother at the antique store...I dare you!
This is another great book from Alan Baxter and I highly recommend it. Be sure to pick up the first one also!
These are novellas that are interconnected and all of them take place in a fictional Australian coastal town called Gulpepper, though everyone just calls it the Gulp. This is a very weird town and I use that word in the most horrifying sense. Things happen there that defy explanation. People who grew up there seem to accept it somewhat but visitors are often caught up in things that leave them missing, dead, or forever changed in one form or another. These are some of those stories.
I was thrilled to see some returning characters from the first volume. You don't HAVE to read that one to get the effects of this book but I really recommend you do. You'll get more out of it within the context the first one provides.
These are some truly frightening tales. From a man taking a cross country roadtrip and, unfortunately for him, ignores warnings to stay out of the Gulp, to a ship sinking off a mysterious formation in the middle of the sea and the things they'll find inside a cave there, to a fungus whose threads are found throughout these stories causing people to turn into bloodthirsty cannibals. All that and more await you in Gulpepper.
And don't forget to stop and say hello to Mother at the antique store...I dare you!
This is another great book from Alan Baxter and I highly recommend it. Be sure to pick up the first one also!
October 3, 2022
This is a return to the world of The Gulp, the five-story collection of interwoven stories from Alan Baxter that tells of the bad town of Gulpepper, where reality warps and twists so hard it will choke the life out of an unwary visitor.
The first book introduced us to the world, and this visit again sees stories bumping into one another's locations as Bad Things begin to happen.
This time round, the greater evil at the heart of the town starts to show itself. But not so quickly. Baxter takes his time to show his hand. First we have a curio shop that ensnares an outsider with its weird magic. Then there's the fishing boat that takes us to a place even local residents are afraid of. Then there's the disintegration of a farmer's life and the extent he goes to in order to cover up a crime he has committed. And a group of scouts who find themselves pursued by horror and forced to seek refuge in the one town they shouldn't set foot in. All that before the grand finale itself.
Think of it as a series of Twilight Zone one-shots that wind together in the end, but with an Australian accent and a satisfying squelch as a shotgun blasts a whole in something that used to be flesh.
Warped. Twisted. Fabulous.
The first book introduced us to the world, and this visit again sees stories bumping into one another's locations as Bad Things begin to happen.
This time round, the greater evil at the heart of the town starts to show itself. But not so quickly. Baxter takes his time to show his hand. First we have a curio shop that ensnares an outsider with its weird magic. Then there's the fishing boat that takes us to a place even local residents are afraid of. Then there's the disintegration of a farmer's life and the extent he goes to in order to cover up a crime he has committed. And a group of scouts who find themselves pursued by horror and forced to seek refuge in the one town they shouldn't set foot in. All that before the grand finale itself.
Think of it as a series of Twilight Zone one-shots that wind together in the end, but with an Australian accent and a satisfying squelch as a shotgun blasts a whole in something that used to be flesh.
Warped. Twisted. Fabulous.
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