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The Terrible Changes
Sewn hardcover, limited to 300 copies, 147 pp (xii,131),with end papers and frontispiece.
In midwinter, an aspiring politician finds himself suddenly deprived of human contact. A group of newcomers to a town are strangely reminiscent of people lost in a recent flood. In a world where grief is forbidden, a young man builds a mound to commemorate his lover. An obsessive reader of Poe enters the world of his idol's stories. Demonstrators on a peace march see the faces of sleeping children in the snow. A failed musician meets his own ancestors getting off a midnight train.
Joel Lane's short stories combine the supernatural with themes of human loss, passion, solitude and despair. The complexity of the urban landscape provides a background to stories in which nothing can be relied upon. Ghosts and visions are an inevitable part of a reality where facts are uncertain, loyalties are divided, and the unknown is always close at hand. In Lane's fiction, the weird is a symbolic language that expresses the chilling beauty, sadness and mystery of real life.
From "The Brand" (written in 1983) to "Alouette" (written in 2008), these stories are selected from a quarter-century of writing. Twelve previously uncollected stories are reprinted from magazines and anthologies, bridging various strands of the weird fiction genre: urban horror tales, elegiac ghost stories, erotic reveries and psychological fugues. Two brief new tales offer different perspectives on the theme of mortality. Influences on these stories include Robert Aickman, John Metcalfe, Ramsey Campbell, M. John Harrison, Jean Genet, Sylvia Plath and Robert Smith.
The Terrible Changes is a journey through a shadow-realm between reality and dream, between clarity and madness, between the living and the dead. Enjoy.
Contents
Introduction
After the Flood
Power Cut
Empty Mouths
The Last Cry
Every Form of Refuge
The Hard Copy
Face Down
Tell the Difference
Blue Train
The City of Love
All Beauty Sleeps
The Brand
Alouette
The Sleepers
In midwinter, an aspiring politician finds himself suddenly deprived of human contact. A group of newcomers to a town are strangely reminiscent of people lost in a recent flood. In a world where grief is forbidden, a young man builds a mound to commemorate his lover. An obsessive reader of Poe enters the world of his idol's stories. Demonstrators on a peace march see the faces of sleeping children in the snow. A failed musician meets his own ancestors getting off a midnight train.
Joel Lane's short stories combine the supernatural with themes of human loss, passion, solitude and despair. The complexity of the urban landscape provides a background to stories in which nothing can be relied upon. Ghosts and visions are an inevitable part of a reality where facts are uncertain, loyalties are divided, and the unknown is always close at hand. In Lane's fiction, the weird is a symbolic language that expresses the chilling beauty, sadness and mystery of real life.
From "The Brand" (written in 1983) to "Alouette" (written in 2008), these stories are selected from a quarter-century of writing. Twelve previously uncollected stories are reprinted from magazines and anthologies, bridging various strands of the weird fiction genre: urban horror tales, elegiac ghost stories, erotic reveries and psychological fugues. Two brief new tales offer different perspectives on the theme of mortality. Influences on these stories include Robert Aickman, John Metcalfe, Ramsey Campbell, M. John Harrison, Jean Genet, Sylvia Plath and Robert Smith.
The Terrible Changes is a journey through a shadow-realm between reality and dream, between clarity and madness, between the living and the dead. Enjoy.
Contents
Introduction
After the Flood
Power Cut
Empty Mouths
The Last Cry
Every Form of Refuge
The Hard Copy
Face Down
Tell the Difference
Blue Train
The City of Love
All Beauty Sleeps
The Brand
Alouette
The Sleepers
148 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Joel Lane
128 books58 followersJoel Lane was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, critic and anthology editor. He received the World Fantasy Award in 2013 and the British Fantasy Award twice.
Born in Exeter, he was the nephew of tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott. At the time of his death, Lane was living in south Birmingham, where he worked in health industry-related publishing. His location frequently provided settings for his fiction.
Born in Exeter, he was the nephew of tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott. At the time of his death, Lane was living in south Birmingham, where he worked in health industry-related publishing. His location frequently provided settings for his fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 16, 2025
In the introduction to this collection, first published in 2009, Joel Lane explains that its contents were selected according to his own criteria. They ‘needed to have an internal narrative, not just a plot’; each story ‘had to communicate something’ and meant something to the author personally. Lane’s work has always had a personal aspect, but this book is, inevitably, more intimate and private. Sometimes I felt that while a story might have had a clear meaning to its author, it was obscure and illegible to me as a reader. I often didn’t know what to make of the stories – in the weaker entries this can seem a failure of storytelling; in the best, a feature rather than a bug.
The stories date from between 1985 and 2009; most are from the 90s and early 2000s, while two were written specifically for this collection. Some are classic Lane: frozen city streets, fractured psyches, strange sexual encounters (‘After the Flood’, ‘The Hard Copy’, ‘Tell the Difference’). Others feel like he was experimenting, either because he hadn’t yet established a signature style (1985’s ‘The Brand’) or because he was trying something different. ‘City of Love’, with its Lynchian tale of an amnesiac actress in Paris, takes us far away from the author’s usual desolate West Country-scapes; ‘The Last Cry’ is characteristically bleak, but provides a vision of the twisted future instead of the hopeless present. ‘All Beauty Sleeps’ amps up the gothic with a gloomy, disturbingly romantic tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, while ‘Face Down’ is more of a straightforward ghost story than we usually get from Lane.
Two stand out as favourites, and I had exactly the same experience with both. I started off unsure where the story was going, and I’m not actually sure I ever figured it out, but I liked it more and more as I went along. In ‘Every Form of Refuge’, we watch the slow unravelling of a couple through the eyes of a bystander who’s somehow both too close and too far away. The level of detail – office scenes, nights out – adds to both the story’s realism and its deep oddness. ‘Empty Mouths’ starts off vague and slippery, resolving into a sequence of standard Lane ingredients: an urban winter, an obsessive and disjointed fling, a strange apparition. A lot of good lines, imagery and symbolism, so vivid it made me feel cold.
What does it all mean? Is it even possible to join the dots? In ‘Empty Mouths’, Claire tries to dredge up a memory and can only recall disjointed images: ‘Vampires. Alcohol. Loneliness. Children. Frost. Scars.’ That string of words is a decent encapsulation of The Terrible Changes, which is even harder to penetrate than Lane’s work tends to be. These are the kind of stories that made me want to go back and reread just to see if I missed something important. And I probably did. And that’s probably the point.
The stories date from between 1985 and 2009; most are from the 90s and early 2000s, while two were written specifically for this collection. Some are classic Lane: frozen city streets, fractured psyches, strange sexual encounters (‘After the Flood’, ‘The Hard Copy’, ‘Tell the Difference’). Others feel like he was experimenting, either because he hadn’t yet established a signature style (1985’s ‘The Brand’) or because he was trying something different. ‘City of Love’, with its Lynchian tale of an amnesiac actress in Paris, takes us far away from the author’s usual desolate West Country-scapes; ‘The Last Cry’ is characteristically bleak, but provides a vision of the twisted future instead of the hopeless present. ‘All Beauty Sleeps’ amps up the gothic with a gloomy, disturbingly romantic tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, while ‘Face Down’ is more of a straightforward ghost story than we usually get from Lane.
Two stand out as favourites, and I had exactly the same experience with both. I started off unsure where the story was going, and I’m not actually sure I ever figured it out, but I liked it more and more as I went along. In ‘Every Form of Refuge’, we watch the slow unravelling of a couple through the eyes of a bystander who’s somehow both too close and too far away. The level of detail – office scenes, nights out – adds to both the story’s realism and its deep oddness. ‘Empty Mouths’ starts off vague and slippery, resolving into a sequence of standard Lane ingredients: an urban winter, an obsessive and disjointed fling, a strange apparition. A lot of good lines, imagery and symbolism, so vivid it made me feel cold.
What does it all mean? Is it even possible to join the dots? In ‘Empty Mouths’, Claire tries to dredge up a memory and can only recall disjointed images: ‘Vampires. Alcohol. Loneliness. Children. Frost. Scars.’ That string of words is a decent encapsulation of The Terrible Changes, which is even harder to penetrate than Lane’s work tends to be. These are the kind of stories that made me want to go back and reread just to see if I missed something important. And I probably did. And that’s probably the point.
June 13, 2025
OMG, the new Influx edition is finally out! No more drooling at the limited edition hardcover.
"After the Flood": that library, whew. What a concept.
"Power Cut" is a good example of Lane's approach. With a few words here and there, the identity of the narrator, a politician who opposes AIDS funding, is quickly established. We follow his misadventures and disturbing (but non-violent and ultimately satisfying) comeuppance. No preaching, but the late 90s sociopolitical milieux is an essential component of the story. Nice.
"Empty Mouths": the depressing backdrops, troubled friendships/liaisons, and uncanny intrusions are familiar. Lane is so good at depicting this sort of awkward, but often tender and darkly funny encounter:
The reconciliation of the ending is quietly disturbing:
"The Last Cry" starts with the protagonist dealing with the terminal illness and death of his partner. Lane's world-building is (as usual) so economical: a sentence here and there establishes clearly the environmental ruin of the setting. The sanitization of illness and death is a theme, also imagery of birds and flying. The protagonist journeys outside the safe city to a forbidden zone (reminiscent somewhat of "Echoland"?); a strange ritual seems to help him transcend the sanitization, and reach a dark but oddly satisfying resolution.
"Hard Copy" touches on familiar themes: indie rock bands and fans, troubled and obsessive relationships, hints of political oppression. The brief supernatural (?) sequence is fleeting and disturbing. So harsh, so sad.
I'm less enthusiastic about the stories near the middle of the collection. Then "City of Love", a weird tale about a holiday gone horribly wrong at the end; the narrator's disorientation and delirium are nicely depicted.
"All Beauty Sleeps" was written for a Poe-themed anthology, about Poe's problematic relationship with dying women. This kind of story is in itself problematic, but Lane is relatively tongue-in-cheek regarding the narrator's excesses, and manages to pull it off. Finally, "The Sleepers" was chilling, and not just because of the wintry backdrop. The narrator travels to London with a group, to participate in a big anti-war protest. He worries that this is futile, and symbols of war fatalities are everywhere. Unfortunately these days many of us can relate to all this.
So a bit of an uneven collection, but there are enough of Lane's dark, disturbing, and thoughtful stories to make it worth the wait. Now I can start checking Influx's website obsessively for the publication of Lane's last novel.
"After the Flood": that library, whew. What a concept.
"Power Cut" is a good example of Lane's approach. With a few words here and there, the identity of the narrator, a politician who opposes AIDS funding, is quickly established. We follow his misadventures and disturbing (but non-violent and ultimately satisfying) comeuppance. No preaching, but the late 90s sociopolitical milieux is an essential component of the story. Nice.
"Empty Mouths": the depressing backdrops, troubled friendships/liaisons, and uncanny intrusions are familiar. Lane is so good at depicting this sort of awkward, but often tender and darkly funny encounter:
Andrew's chest was smooth, the flesh tight over the bones. His prick jutted out at an oblique angle; she kept knocking into it by mistake. Claire wondered how it felt to have this blunt knife attached to your lower body, neither a part of yourself nor a part of the outside world.
The reconciliation of the ending is quietly disturbing:
As their sweat cooled in the draughty room, Claire felt something pass out of her into Robert. It left her vacant, her senses dull. For the rest of the night, she slept unevenly; while Robert lay facing the wall, his whole body tense, not sleeping at all.
"The Last Cry" starts with the protagonist dealing with the terminal illness and death of his partner. Lane's world-building is (as usual) so economical: a sentence here and there establishes clearly the environmental ruin of the setting. The sanitization of illness and death is a theme, also imagery of birds and flying. The protagonist journeys outside the safe city to a forbidden zone (reminiscent somewhat of "Echoland"?); a strange ritual seems to help him transcend the sanitization, and reach a dark but oddly satisfying resolution.
"Hard Copy" touches on familiar themes: indie rock bands and fans, troubled and obsessive relationships, hints of political oppression. The brief supernatural (?) sequence is fleeting and disturbing. So harsh, so sad.
I'm less enthusiastic about the stories near the middle of the collection. Then "City of Love", a weird tale about a holiday gone horribly wrong at the end; the narrator's disorientation and delirium are nicely depicted.
"All Beauty Sleeps" was written for a Poe-themed anthology, about Poe's problematic relationship with dying women. This kind of story is in itself problematic, but Lane is relatively tongue-in-cheek regarding the narrator's excesses, and manages to pull it off. Finally, "The Sleepers" was chilling, and not just because of the wintry backdrop. The narrator travels to London with a group, to participate in a big anti-war protest. He worries that this is futile, and symbols of war fatalities are everywhere. Unfortunately these days many of us can relate to all this.
So a bit of an uneven collection, but there are enough of Lane's dark, disturbing, and thoughtful stories to make it worth the wait. Now I can start checking Influx's website obsessively for the publication of Lane's last novel.
July 18, 2019
There is no doubt that Joel Lane is an excellent writer. This is a powerful collection of short stories, which reminded me of Ramsey Campbell’s best work. Lane focuses on the squalor, loneliness and alienation of British urban existence, magnifying its dystopian elements, with pretty bleak and harrowing results. ‘Empty Mouths’ and ‘After the Flood’ are perhaps the best moments. This is exemplary ‘Weird’ fiction, but perhaps best not read in one sitting – it could be a relentlessly demoralising experience!
June 13, 2011
This one was a mercifully short collection of short "stories". I say "mercifully short" not because the writing was poor or the narrative was unreadable... quite the contrary. I have never read Lane before, but I certainly recognize the strength of his crisp and direct prose and the depths of pathos that he has plumbed and served up to the reader. Well done on that account.
Oddly though, what simply left me unfullfilled about this collection were the stories themselves. I have had about 8 days to read this book and marinate over it, and strangely enough, I only have a vague recollection of what actually happened. Why is that? Were the characters forgettable or boring...? Absolutely not. Lane's approach to characterization is his strong suite. His characters are real and very disturbing to read about.
I think I only have a vague grasp of these stories (if you even want to call them stories) because Lane's very real characters are presented as part of phantom-esque naratives, filled with nothing more than whispers and shadows. All we have here are glimpses into the lives of these characters without any real direction or purpose. Lane presents a gritty urban landscape filled with dispair, depression, grief, and alienation. In reading this collection, I was left with an overwhelming sense of sadness and melancholy, very similar to a Braunbeck story.
Unfortunately, while there was action and things happening in these stories, the narative didn't feel like it went anywhere. Time after time I would reach the end of a "story" and then wonder what the hell just happened.
Perhaps Lane's writing is just not my cup of tea...
I'm kinda torn on evaluating the merit of this collection. Overall, terrific mood, setting, and characterization, all presented without a real shell of a story. All in all, I think this collection left me feeling frustrated and underwhelmed and really wishing that Lane would have spent a bit more time and effort in developing a stronger sense of plot and direction.
Oddly though, what simply left me unfullfilled about this collection were the stories themselves. I have had about 8 days to read this book and marinate over it, and strangely enough, I only have a vague recollection of what actually happened. Why is that? Were the characters forgettable or boring...? Absolutely not. Lane's approach to characterization is his strong suite. His characters are real and very disturbing to read about.
I think I only have a vague grasp of these stories (if you even want to call them stories) because Lane's very real characters are presented as part of phantom-esque naratives, filled with nothing more than whispers and shadows. All we have here are glimpses into the lives of these characters without any real direction or purpose. Lane presents a gritty urban landscape filled with dispair, depression, grief, and alienation. In reading this collection, I was left with an overwhelming sense of sadness and melancholy, very similar to a Braunbeck story.
Unfortunately, while there was action and things happening in these stories, the narative didn't feel like it went anywhere. Time after time I would reach the end of a "story" and then wonder what the hell just happened.
Perhaps Lane's writing is just not my cup of tea...
I'm kinda torn on evaluating the merit of this collection. Overall, terrific mood, setting, and characterization, all presented without a real shell of a story. All in all, I think this collection left me feeling frustrated and underwhelmed and really wishing that Lane would have spent a bit more time and effort in developing a stronger sense of plot and direction.
September 26, 2010
The recent demise of Ex Occidente Press, means that my signed copy of this beautiful book may be destined to be something of a rarity. I take little pleasure in that however, because this short story collection deserves a much wider audience than the 300 copy print-run can possibly allow. To call these stories “Horror” would be (to me at least, perhaps revealing a prejudice I apologise for) to miss their point and their wider significance. These are not witty contrivances, not Victorian parlour games written from a comfortable armchair to titillate bored teenagers. They are, at their best, magnificent literature, which take the gritty authentic details of urban life and raises them, through some kind of vital alchemy, to the level of metaphysical meditations on the state of the human soul.
Some contemporary urban writers (ex-genre) try to emulate the “dirty realism” of Raymond Carver, Richard Ford or Charles Bukowski, while others (in-genre) try to recreate the convulsive dreams of Edgar Allan Poe or JG Ballard. Few writers manage to combine the two, but Joel Lane succeeds at this and the result surely is a dignification of modern life as we truly live it, not just a record but a revelation, a window into the numinous worlds that swirl around us every minute, that we try so hard to deny.
The predominance of winter and chill is as striking throughout these stories as the decayed urban landscapes, canals and post-industrial wreckage, cold dereliction as a metaphor for the writer’s battered soul. Two phrases stand out from my reading, as Lane’s own unconscious summary of his own intent:
At the conclusion of “The Hard Copy”:
“What I’m in love with is memory itself… We never give up trying to pin down the essence of life: a dried pupa, a stained tissue. To make it permanent. And then make it live again.”
And in “Blue Train” talking about Coltrane’s jazz:
“… Even A Love Supreme didn’t transcend the grime of reality, it just prayed for a chance to do so.”
If there are shivers on your spine now, then you have a foretaste of the magic of this book. A recently flooded town, where memories of the drowned manifest themselves in debris and the recursive lives of the survivors, a gay politician hypocritically estranged from the candlelit protestors who haunt the streets of his dreams, a woman in an expired relationship who picks up casual lovers amid urban squalor until a drunken revelation of bones is shown to her by an enigmatic stranger. A woman whose compulsive lying and multiple identities lead the narrator to a mysterious café that can only be found by the lost.
It would be pointless to list them all, and to risk spoiling the reader’s wonder as they unfold. Suffice to say these stories don’t just entertain, they expand your consciousness of your lot in this world, with an unforgettable poetry.
Of the fourteen stories in the collection, only a couple towards the end seem to lose a little of Lane’s fundamental connection with the grit of real life, that being the thing that sets him head-and-shoulders above so many of his contemporaries. But his less-goods are probably better than everybody else’s brilliants. Call it Slipstream or Metaphysical Horror or whatever you like, but here is a form of writing and subject matter that can speak urgently to all of us, with something to say about the melancholy beauty whose heart still beats at the ruined centre of our damaged world. This is one of the finest short story collections of the last ten years, written by a writer who should have been a household name decades ago. Joel Lane isn’t writing Horror to amuse you, he’s living it, and in that terror of death and love and loss, you will recognise yourself and be strangely healed.
Some contemporary urban writers (ex-genre) try to emulate the “dirty realism” of Raymond Carver, Richard Ford or Charles Bukowski, while others (in-genre) try to recreate the convulsive dreams of Edgar Allan Poe or JG Ballard. Few writers manage to combine the two, but Joel Lane succeeds at this and the result surely is a dignification of modern life as we truly live it, not just a record but a revelation, a window into the numinous worlds that swirl around us every minute, that we try so hard to deny.
The predominance of winter and chill is as striking throughout these stories as the decayed urban landscapes, canals and post-industrial wreckage, cold dereliction as a metaphor for the writer’s battered soul. Two phrases stand out from my reading, as Lane’s own unconscious summary of his own intent:
At the conclusion of “The Hard Copy”:
“What I’m in love with is memory itself… We never give up trying to pin down the essence of life: a dried pupa, a stained tissue. To make it permanent. And then make it live again.”
And in “Blue Train” talking about Coltrane’s jazz:
“… Even A Love Supreme didn’t transcend the grime of reality, it just prayed for a chance to do so.”
If there are shivers on your spine now, then you have a foretaste of the magic of this book. A recently flooded town, where memories of the drowned manifest themselves in debris and the recursive lives of the survivors, a gay politician hypocritically estranged from the candlelit protestors who haunt the streets of his dreams, a woman in an expired relationship who picks up casual lovers amid urban squalor until a drunken revelation of bones is shown to her by an enigmatic stranger. A woman whose compulsive lying and multiple identities lead the narrator to a mysterious café that can only be found by the lost.
It would be pointless to list them all, and to risk spoiling the reader’s wonder as they unfold. Suffice to say these stories don’t just entertain, they expand your consciousness of your lot in this world, with an unforgettable poetry.
Of the fourteen stories in the collection, only a couple towards the end seem to lose a little of Lane’s fundamental connection with the grit of real life, that being the thing that sets him head-and-shoulders above so many of his contemporaries. But his less-goods are probably better than everybody else’s brilliants. Call it Slipstream or Metaphysical Horror or whatever you like, but here is a form of writing and subject matter that can speak urgently to all of us, with something to say about the melancholy beauty whose heart still beats at the ruined centre of our damaged world. This is one of the finest short story collections of the last ten years, written by a writer who should have been a household name decades ago. Joel Lane isn’t writing Horror to amuse you, he’s living it, and in that terror of death and love and loss, you will recognise yourself and be strangely healed.
March 31, 2025
The last of the six collections of short fiction by Joel Lane to appear in a reasonably accessible edition, this is definitely not the strongest, perhaps because some of the material is very early. But there are some unmissable treasures here, the hideous and powerful 'Alouette' clinging especially tightly to the fight-or-flight recesses of my brain. Expect the inexplicable, the ghoulish and sometimes the heartbreakingly sad. To my knowledge, Joel Lane was the best writer of short stories in English since Angela Carter. And he 'gets' Birmingham England in a way no other author ever has.
September 1, 2022
Review 12: The Terrible Changes by Joel Lane
1. After the Flood
Matthew's town just suffered a debilitating flood while he was away. But the worse news is that his girlfriend, Karen, has gone missing, probably drowned. Matthew is rendered a wreck: he constantly revisits their favorite haunts as well as his favorite memories of her. One night, he meets a new girl, Terri, and she reminds him so much of Karen. But why? And what lurks in her flooded basement?
Lane's first story is unassuming in its approach to horror, and it is much better because of it. The reader knows once the parallels to Karen start appearing that something must be wrong, but they can't figure it out. Does it make sense in the end? Not logically, but it packs an emotional wallop. And Lane's prose is clean and crisp, always a plus in my book.
Appears in: The Darker Side: Generations of Horror
2. Power Cut
A politician named David Lake feels something is off with his life: his favorite male prostitute is giving him the cold shoulder (for ominous reasons), and his doctor seems to be always unavailable to talk to him. These circumstances force him to solicit another prostitute named Gary. But when he visits his decrepit flat, he finds odd newspaper clippings on the walls, something that would be eerie for anyone to find.
From the haunting beginning depicting the town procession with candles to its enigmatic, dark end, POWER CUT astonishes. Again, Lane succeeds in marrying the drab and the ordinary filth of human life with the inexplicable. It's as if the supernatural gives reality more meaning! Anyway, this short was acclaimed back in the day and made an appearance in Stephen Jones' BEST NEW HORROR series. Lane's approach feels right for those who want a chilling story without the baggage of too much supernatural detail. Creepy images, ambiguity, and clean prose win you over.
Appears in: Best New Horror 3
3. Empty Mouths
Claire is living a humdrum existence. When she's not engaging in ephemeral relationships with a never-ending string of boyfriends, she's droning in the ditzy pubs of her neighborhood with her equally ennui-stricken friends. This all changes when she sees what seems to be a young boy with an open mouth feeding on a drunk man. Later, she's suddenly drawn into the arms of a stranger named Andrew. "Stranger" is the appropriate term to describe him since he's constantly shady as if he's hiding something. Is he? Does he have a connection with the apparition?
If you thought that the first two tales were ambiguous, then nothing can prepare you for the levels of cryptic storytelling present here. Questions like "Who is Andrew" and "What does the boy represent (if he represents something)" are left to your poor brain to answer, and I bet if you ask people who have read this story, each will give a different answer. Anyway, Lane's approach is still the same: start the story with the familiar and squalid atmosphere most people can relate to, add a tiny supernatural element, and top it off with a shocking and ambiguous ending. Did it succeed? For me, it did, but largely because of the last paragraph, which suggests there is more to this than Claire's damaged psyche making stuff up. Having told you that, however, I have spoiled nothing for I'm sure you will have a different interpretation of the ending, too.
Appears in: Exuberance, Winter 1991/1992
4. The Last Cry
Ian is having nightmares, specifically of scavenger birds feasting on dead bodies. This predicament might seem odd but not when you consider the time and place of the story: it's set in the polluted future, where most of the world is in fear of cancer/tumors. The government has taken measures to make sure the people don't grieve, erasing all symbolism attached to death and grieving. But Ian (who recently lost his lover, Tony) is haunted by the idea of death, so he goes to the forbidden zone to meet his nightmares.
THE LAST CRY is a mood piece, more of a meditation on the need of humans to process death to live than an ambiguous horror story. The conclusion is predictable but is the only logical conclusion of all that has gone before. The writing is evocative, though, and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Appears in: Roadworks, Summer 2001
5. Every Form of Refuge
Tim is caught right in the middle of the tumultuous relationship between Matt and Kathleen, his officemates in the publishing house. In their many sojourns to the pubs and bars, Tim notices weird stuff about Kathleen: why do some of her stories change when she's telling them to another person? Who is behind the establishment (Blind Moon) that she called that supposedly doesn't exist? Before anybody can make sense of anything, Kathleen disappears. Tim tries to look, but what horror will he find?
EVERY FORM OF REFUGE* is another gripping headscratcher from Lane. Lane's M. O. remains the same: start with the real and familiar, add sprinkles of weird from time to time, and end with the palpably horrific. The ending where Tim discovers Kathleen's fate is stunningly weird, ambiguous, and creepy at the same time.
*If you didn't know, the title is taken from the Eagles' famous ballad of a cheating woman "Lyin' Eyes". Lane had me singing the song throughout the entire time I was reading the story. THERE AINT NO WAY TO HIDE YOUR LYIN' EYES
6. Hard Copy
The main character narrates his experience with his gay lover during the height of discrimination in the 60s. Tragedy ensues and they both take separate paths in their lives. Fast forward to 1992, the M. C. receives a package containing a single photograph of his lover and a dried pupa. Who sent this package? And what lies in the address found at the back of the photograph?
Just like most of Lane's short stories, the supernatural is restricted to a single element, and this element is still considered vague and confusing by all who read it. Thankfully, Lane provides his thoughts in the final passages of the story, making one think that this story is much more personal than it seems. Less horror here, more commentary on lost love and the ill effects of social discrimination.
Appears in: The Third Alternative, Autumn 2002
7. Face Down
The unnamed main character finds a body of an eighteen-ish boy floating face down while he was crossing the bridge. Thinking it to be a dead body, the main character contacts the police, only to be told that the body in question is nowhere to be found. But when he gets home one night, there's a surprise at the doorstep.
Creeping ambiguous terror. This is what Lane's story achieves. Is it all in the character's mind? Or is he being stalked by a ghost? What you need to know is that it works; what could be more terrifying than a seemingly harmless element/thing/person gradually invading your life until you can't escape? This reminds me of the slow-moving box in Terry Lamsley's " The Break." Good stuff, even though I still don't know what it means.
8. Tell the Difference
Chris is a woman whose relationship with her boyfriend, Jamie, is on the rocks. What better time, then, to get emphatic powers? Her latest abilities let her see the damage inflicted by individuals on themselves, manifesting in nightmarish images. When her supposed reconciliation with Jamie takes a turn for the worse, it leads her to encounter a lonely man at a bar. What will nightmare will she see next?
Stories about people with vision powers are, frankly, hard to manage. To create stories about them, these characters must always lower their guard and expose themselves to the world, despite the heightened danger brought about by their abilities. Lane's story is no different. Could it be that she sought out contact because she was damaged by her relationship? Lane ponders on the contradictory nature of humans, seeking out things that they have little to no control over. But I wish this story had a more discerning protagonist, one that considers the consequences of his or her actions before jumping into the void.
Appears in: Skeleton Crew, January 1991
9. Blue Train
Lewis is dying. When he's not getting mugged in a near-future dystopia, he spends the rest of his time listening to and writing about jazz. (hence the title) Being close to death doesn't change his views on the afterlife, as he prefers writing a book as a way of preserving his identity in this world. Wanting to go to a jazz club on the other side, he takes goes to a station. What he doesn't anticipate is a blue-grey train with an unusual set of passengers.
This story is more of a meditation on death and dying than a horror story. Lane asks: would a glimpse of the supernatural change a hardened worldview? What if it were an emotionally-charged experience? Lane's ending will surprise you. Not much horror, but the final words of one of the characters will send a chill up your spine.
Appears in: At Ease with the Dead
10. The City of Love
Simon and Belinda are on a vacation in Paris to make a film. There, they take their sweet time, shopping, visiting iconic landmarks, and... making the film? Before she knows it, Belinda wakes up confused and hysterical: Simon assures her that they indeed made the movie. What happened to Belinda?
Finally! We are out of the bleak landscape of industrial U. K. Bad news is we traded it all for the gloom of Paris, a city (depicted by Lane) to be filled with unknown dangers just simmering amidst its pretty faces and places. This is the type of story that leaves you in anxious despair: why are we expecting something bad to happen, and why hasn't it happened yet? Another atmospheric chiller from Lane with a cruel, sadistic ending.
Appears in: Summer Chills: Tales of Vacation Horror
11. All Beauty Sleeps
Our unnamed narrator has been obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe all his life. His obsession gradually takes a turn for the worst, with him trying to find "Poe's women" in everyday life. He searches the whole world to consummate this bizarre desire only to be disappointed by the results. He realizes he has to go back home, to the viaduct where he originally envisaged Poe's classics. Who or what will he meet?
ALL BEAUTY SLEEPS* is perhaps Lane's love letter to Edgar Allan Poe. What if someone so young, so impressionable thought that Poe's work and ideals should be the world instead? (The character even disses Lovecraft, as a "hapless Poe wannabe") The ending delivers bizarre imagery in spades, and I couldn't help but be reminded of the ending of the movie MEN (2022). Oh, and someone makes a surprise appearance at the end. Great stuff.
*The title is taken from Poe's poem THE SLEEPER
Appears in: Evermore
12. The Brand
This is one of Lane's earliest works. I do not wish this story upon my worst enemy. That is all I have to say.
Appears in: Dark Dreams, Spring 1985
13. Alouette
Our unnamed main character is receiving video messages on his cellphone (his Nokia cellphone, haha) from a cult-like gang of youth holding a procession while singing the famous children's song "Alouette". The video ends with the youth beating an unnamed person to death. He fears going to the police for lack of evidence (ah, cellphones back then) and for fear that he might be hallucinating the entire thing. Soon, his friend, Richard, also receives the video messages. What do they mean, and will our main character suffer the same fate as the people in the video?
Lane rebounds with this disturbing, creepy tale that reminded me of an EVEN MORE ambiguous version of Michael Haneke's Cache (2005). And just like in that movie, there are social messages on the surface; in this one, I think, it's about the lack of government control over peace and order. I know it sounds farfetched for the normal reader, but let us remember that Lane was a political activist AND a horror writer.
Appears in: Subtle Edens: An Anthology of Slipstream Fiction
14. The Sleepers
Michael, a socialist activist, begins noticing figures of sleeping faces trapped in the frozen River Thames after attending an anti-war rally. (Hence, the title). But it's not just him, as other people begin seeing the figures in the snow.
Apart from the ending promising a sort of apocalypse, there is little to no horror in Lane's last story. What this is is Lane using the genre to air out his frustrations on the then-current politics of war. That's it; there is no other explanation.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Aickman would have been proud of Mr. Lane. The stories are not for those seeking a traditional type of horror story: expect a lot of ambiguity and hidden messages. The best quality of Lane is he engages the reader, making sure that the story before you is not tedious, no matter how head-scratchingly difficult it may be to interpret its ending.
1. After the Flood
Matthew's town just suffered a debilitating flood while he was away. But the worse news is that his girlfriend, Karen, has gone missing, probably drowned. Matthew is rendered a wreck: he constantly revisits their favorite haunts as well as his favorite memories of her. One night, he meets a new girl, Terri, and she reminds him so much of Karen. But why? And what lurks in her flooded basement?
Lane's first story is unassuming in its approach to horror, and it is much better because of it. The reader knows once the parallels to Karen start appearing that something must be wrong, but they can't figure it out. Does it make sense in the end? Not logically, but it packs an emotional wallop. And Lane's prose is clean and crisp, always a plus in my book.
Appears in: The Darker Side: Generations of Horror
2. Power Cut
A politician named David Lake feels something is off with his life: his favorite male prostitute is giving him the cold shoulder (for ominous reasons), and his doctor seems to be always unavailable to talk to him. These circumstances force him to solicit another prostitute named Gary. But when he visits his decrepit flat, he finds odd newspaper clippings on the walls, something that would be eerie for anyone to find.
From the haunting beginning depicting the town procession with candles to its enigmatic, dark end, POWER CUT astonishes. Again, Lane succeeds in marrying the drab and the ordinary filth of human life with the inexplicable. It's as if the supernatural gives reality more meaning! Anyway, this short was acclaimed back in the day and made an appearance in Stephen Jones' BEST NEW HORROR series. Lane's approach feels right for those who want a chilling story without the baggage of too much supernatural detail. Creepy images, ambiguity, and clean prose win you over.
Appears in: Best New Horror 3
3. Empty Mouths
Claire is living a humdrum existence. When she's not engaging in ephemeral relationships with a never-ending string of boyfriends, she's droning in the ditzy pubs of her neighborhood with her equally ennui-stricken friends. This all changes when she sees what seems to be a young boy with an open mouth feeding on a drunk man. Later, she's suddenly drawn into the arms of a stranger named Andrew. "Stranger" is the appropriate term to describe him since he's constantly shady as if he's hiding something. Is he? Does he have a connection with the apparition?
If you thought that the first two tales were ambiguous, then nothing can prepare you for the levels of cryptic storytelling present here. Questions like "Who is Andrew" and "What does the boy represent (if he represents something)" are left to your poor brain to answer, and I bet if you ask people who have read this story, each will give a different answer. Anyway, Lane's approach is still the same: start the story with the familiar and squalid atmosphere most people can relate to, add a tiny supernatural element, and top it off with a shocking and ambiguous ending. Did it succeed? For me, it did, but largely because of the last paragraph, which suggests there is more to this than Claire's damaged psyche making stuff up. Having told you that, however, I have spoiled nothing for I'm sure you will have a different interpretation of the ending, too.
Appears in: Exuberance, Winter 1991/1992
4. The Last Cry
Ian is having nightmares, specifically of scavenger birds feasting on dead bodies. This predicament might seem odd but not when you consider the time and place of the story: it's set in the polluted future, where most of the world is in fear of cancer/tumors. The government has taken measures to make sure the people don't grieve, erasing all symbolism attached to death and grieving. But Ian (who recently lost his lover, Tony) is haunted by the idea of death, so he goes to the forbidden zone to meet his nightmares.
THE LAST CRY is a mood piece, more of a meditation on the need of humans to process death to live than an ambiguous horror story. The conclusion is predictable but is the only logical conclusion of all that has gone before. The writing is evocative, though, and it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Appears in: Roadworks, Summer 2001
5. Every Form of Refuge
Tim is caught right in the middle of the tumultuous relationship between Matt and Kathleen, his officemates in the publishing house. In their many sojourns to the pubs and bars, Tim notices weird stuff about Kathleen: why do some of her stories change when she's telling them to another person? Who is behind the establishment (Blind Moon) that she called that supposedly doesn't exist? Before anybody can make sense of anything, Kathleen disappears. Tim tries to look, but what horror will he find?
EVERY FORM OF REFUGE* is another gripping headscratcher from Lane. Lane's M. O. remains the same: start with the real and familiar, add sprinkles of weird from time to time, and end with the palpably horrific. The ending where Tim discovers Kathleen's fate is stunningly weird, ambiguous, and creepy at the same time.
*If you didn't know, the title is taken from the Eagles' famous ballad of a cheating woman "Lyin' Eyes". Lane had me singing the song throughout the entire time I was reading the story. THERE AINT NO WAY TO HIDE YOUR LYIN' EYES
6. Hard Copy
The main character narrates his experience with his gay lover during the height of discrimination in the 60s. Tragedy ensues and they both take separate paths in their lives. Fast forward to 1992, the M. C. receives a package containing a single photograph of his lover and a dried pupa. Who sent this package? And what lies in the address found at the back of the photograph?
Just like most of Lane's short stories, the supernatural is restricted to a single element, and this element is still considered vague and confusing by all who read it. Thankfully, Lane provides his thoughts in the final passages of the story, making one think that this story is much more personal than it seems. Less horror here, more commentary on lost love and the ill effects of social discrimination.
Appears in: The Third Alternative, Autumn 2002
7. Face Down
The unnamed main character finds a body of an eighteen-ish boy floating face down while he was crossing the bridge. Thinking it to be a dead body, the main character contacts the police, only to be told that the body in question is nowhere to be found. But when he gets home one night, there's a surprise at the doorstep.
Creeping ambiguous terror. This is what Lane's story achieves. Is it all in the character's mind? Or is he being stalked by a ghost? What you need to know is that it works; what could be more terrifying than a seemingly harmless element/thing/person gradually invading your life until you can't escape? This reminds me of the slow-moving box in Terry Lamsley's " The Break." Good stuff, even though I still don't know what it means.
8. Tell the Difference
Chris is a woman whose relationship with her boyfriend, Jamie, is on the rocks. What better time, then, to get emphatic powers? Her latest abilities let her see the damage inflicted by individuals on themselves, manifesting in nightmarish images. When her supposed reconciliation with Jamie takes a turn for the worse, it leads her to encounter a lonely man at a bar. What will nightmare will she see next?
Stories about people with vision powers are, frankly, hard to manage. To create stories about them, these characters must always lower their guard and expose themselves to the world, despite the heightened danger brought about by their abilities. Lane's story is no different. Could it be that she sought out contact because she was damaged by her relationship? Lane ponders on the contradictory nature of humans, seeking out things that they have little to no control over. But I wish this story had a more discerning protagonist, one that considers the consequences of his or her actions before jumping into the void.
Appears in: Skeleton Crew, January 1991
9. Blue Train
Lewis is dying. When he's not getting mugged in a near-future dystopia, he spends the rest of his time listening to and writing about jazz. (hence the title) Being close to death doesn't change his views on the afterlife, as he prefers writing a book as a way of preserving his identity in this world. Wanting to go to a jazz club on the other side, he takes goes to a station. What he doesn't anticipate is a blue-grey train with an unusual set of passengers.
This story is more of a meditation on death and dying than a horror story. Lane asks: would a glimpse of the supernatural change a hardened worldview? What if it were an emotionally-charged experience? Lane's ending will surprise you. Not much horror, but the final words of one of the characters will send a chill up your spine.
Appears in: At Ease with the Dead
10. The City of Love
Simon and Belinda are on a vacation in Paris to make a film. There, they take their sweet time, shopping, visiting iconic landmarks, and... making the film? Before she knows it, Belinda wakes up confused and hysterical: Simon assures her that they indeed made the movie. What happened to Belinda?
Finally! We are out of the bleak landscape of industrial U. K. Bad news is we traded it all for the gloom of Paris, a city (depicted by Lane) to be filled with unknown dangers just simmering amidst its pretty faces and places. This is the type of story that leaves you in anxious despair: why are we expecting something bad to happen, and why hasn't it happened yet? Another atmospheric chiller from Lane with a cruel, sadistic ending.
Appears in: Summer Chills: Tales of Vacation Horror
11. All Beauty Sleeps
Our unnamed narrator has been obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe all his life. His obsession gradually takes a turn for the worst, with him trying to find "Poe's women" in everyday life. He searches the whole world to consummate this bizarre desire only to be disappointed by the results. He realizes he has to go back home, to the viaduct where he originally envisaged Poe's classics. Who or what will he meet?
ALL BEAUTY SLEEPS* is perhaps Lane's love letter to Edgar Allan Poe. What if someone so young, so impressionable thought that Poe's work and ideals should be the world instead? (The character even disses Lovecraft, as a "hapless Poe wannabe") The ending delivers bizarre imagery in spades, and I couldn't help but be reminded of the ending of the movie MEN (2022). Oh, and someone makes a surprise appearance at the end. Great stuff.
*The title is taken from Poe's poem THE SLEEPER
Appears in: Evermore
12. The Brand
This is one of Lane's earliest works. I do not wish this story upon my worst enemy. That is all I have to say.
Appears in: Dark Dreams, Spring 1985
13. Alouette
Our unnamed main character is receiving video messages on his cellphone (his Nokia cellphone, haha) from a cult-like gang of youth holding a procession while singing the famous children's song "Alouette". The video ends with the youth beating an unnamed person to death. He fears going to the police for lack of evidence (ah, cellphones back then) and for fear that he might be hallucinating the entire thing. Soon, his friend, Richard, also receives the video messages. What do they mean, and will our main character suffer the same fate as the people in the video?
Lane rebounds with this disturbing, creepy tale that reminded me of an EVEN MORE ambiguous version of Michael Haneke's Cache (2005). And just like in that movie, there are social messages on the surface; in this one, I think, it's about the lack of government control over peace and order. I know it sounds farfetched for the normal reader, but let us remember that Lane was a political activist AND a horror writer.
Appears in: Subtle Edens: An Anthology of Slipstream Fiction
14. The Sleepers
Michael, a socialist activist, begins noticing figures of sleeping faces trapped in the frozen River Thames after attending an anti-war rally. (Hence, the title). But it's not just him, as other people begin seeing the figures in the snow.
Apart from the ending promising a sort of apocalypse, there is little to no horror in Lane's last story. What this is is Lane using the genre to air out his frustrations on the then-current politics of war. That's it; there is no other explanation.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Aickman would have been proud of Mr. Lane. The stories are not for those seeking a traditional type of horror story: expect a lot of ambiguity and hidden messages. The best quality of Lane is he engages the reader, making sure that the story before you is not tedious, no matter how head-scratchingly difficult it may be to interpret its ending.
May 4, 2011
If I can afford it I'll get this one. It's a limited edition (only 300 copies, beautifully produced) of Joel's uncollected (sorry Not, know you don't like the word) stories. I have seen quite a few of the stories as he's brought them along to the group, but at least half are new to me. Cost around 30 quid. (40 dollars). It's worth every penny.
...finally got hold of a copy. I'd love to recommend it to other GRers, but don't order it! I only got this copy from the author who finally got some complimentary copies from the publisher. Due to me Beverly Jackson spent money on this and didn't get a copy. I feel bad about that...update - she got her money back.
I'm biased but these stories are worth 5 stars I reckon. All but one creeped me out. Themes of illness, sex (many different kinds), death, politics (prejudice, repression and state violence) and the desperate search for meaning and connection are illuminated by Lane’s use of the weird or supernatural. Latent forces break through at times or threaten to, eg in 'The Sleepers' anti war protesters attend a rally in London, and fall victim to aggressive police tactics but start to see faces in the icy Thames and then later through a freezing winter The faces were everywhere: on car roofs, in shop windows, even underfoot.. their silence underlay every sound. Some stories like this one are overtly political, and all - despite many having supernatural or metaphysical touches - are grounded in a ‘dirty realism’ of canals and stations and factories and offices and commuters and pubs that makes the use of the weird all the more powerful and unsettling.
Leamington Spa strangely appears a few times: that genteel town will appear different to me now such weird Lane-things have happened there (eg there’s a flood there in the first story which appears to change people’s behaviour and cause the isolation of the hero: his girlfriend disappears and her replacement leads him to an odd kind of communion).
A terrific imagination is at work here, with memorable images - in The Hard Copy (again set in Leamington) a gay lover leaves his bloodied impression on (bed)sheets, in ‘Face Down’ a corpse seen in the canal begins to haunt the protagonist until it appears beside him everywhere and the ending, when he tries to turn the body round is deeply disturbing. I like the images that Lane conjures, eg a vibrating phone shivered in my hand like a tiny bird (Alouette); The aeroplane lurched like an ice dancer with food poisoning (City of Love).
It’s best not to read too many of them at a time you might get giddy or sick. That’s a good thing.
The only one I didn’t like so much was ‘The Brand’, I seemed to lose my way in it (but noted that it was the earliest in the collection from 1985).
...finally got hold of a copy. I'd love to recommend it to other GRers, but don't order it! I only got this copy from the author who finally got some complimentary copies from the publisher. Due to me Beverly Jackson spent money on this and didn't get a copy. I feel bad about that...update - she got her money back.
I'm biased but these stories are worth 5 stars I reckon. All but one creeped me out. Themes of illness, sex (many different kinds), death, politics (prejudice, repression and state violence) and the desperate search for meaning and connection are illuminated by Lane’s use of the weird or supernatural. Latent forces break through at times or threaten to, eg in 'The Sleepers' anti war protesters attend a rally in London, and fall victim to aggressive police tactics but start to see faces in the icy Thames and then later through a freezing winter The faces were everywhere: on car roofs, in shop windows, even underfoot.. their silence underlay every sound. Some stories like this one are overtly political, and all - despite many having supernatural or metaphysical touches - are grounded in a ‘dirty realism’ of canals and stations and factories and offices and commuters and pubs that makes the use of the weird all the more powerful and unsettling.
Leamington Spa strangely appears a few times: that genteel town will appear different to me now such weird Lane-things have happened there (eg there’s a flood there in the first story which appears to change people’s behaviour and cause the isolation of the hero: his girlfriend disappears and her replacement leads him to an odd kind of communion).
A terrific imagination is at work here, with memorable images - in The Hard Copy (again set in Leamington) a gay lover leaves his bloodied impression on (bed)sheets, in ‘Face Down’ a corpse seen in the canal begins to haunt the protagonist until it appears beside him everywhere and the ending, when he tries to turn the body round is deeply disturbing. I like the images that Lane conjures, eg a vibrating phone shivered in my hand like a tiny bird (Alouette); The aeroplane lurched like an ice dancer with food poisoning (City of Love).
It’s best not to read too many of them at a time you might get giddy or sick. That’s a good thing.
The only one I didn’t like so much was ‘The Brand’, I seemed to lose my way in it (but noted that it was the earliest in the collection from 1985).
May 5, 2025
I'm afraid that once you've read one Joel Lane short story collection, you've read them all. This one was saved by two stand outs- The Hard Copy, which does exactly what I want from a Joel Lane story thematically, plotwise, characters, writing, etc. and All Beauty Sleeps, which was so different in vibe and feeling from the average Joel Lane story but still really enjoyable. Also shout out to The Last Cry, I thought the ending was a bit rushed but otherwise it was also very enjoyable despite being a post-apocalyptic story.
Overall, I think my main issue with latter day Joel Lane is the overfocus on politics which make most of his work slightly alienating to me, who does not live the UK and does not care even the slightest bit about UK politics because why would I. If I were to rank his collections, the order would be:
The Earth Wire and Other Stories
Scar City
The Terrible Changes
The Lost District (I literally cannot remember this collection at all and if I did not have proof on my iPad that I read it I would not believe myself)
Where Furnaces Burn- I hate this one
Overall, I think my main issue with latter day Joel Lane is the overfocus on politics which make most of his work slightly alienating to me, who does not live the UK and does not care even the slightest bit about UK politics because why would I. If I were to rank his collections, the order would be:
The Earth Wire and Other Stories
Scar City
The Terrible Changes
The Lost District (I literally cannot remember this collection at all and if I did not have proof on my iPad that I read it I would not believe myself)
Where Furnaces Burn- I hate this one
January 11, 2021
And talking of planets, the twin balanced forces of astrological harmonics I noted before in London and Birmingham now truly meet, with the countryside lanes between by-passed, as if with the click of a button on a mobile phone or on a computer keyboard.
I shall ever be stalked by gestalts and leitmotifs. There is no escape.
But a book review must end with the book itself. And it does. A book that’s more than itself. It’s a wonderful Horror symphony, at times dincopated and at others smooth. The Lark Descending.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
I shall ever be stalked by gestalts and leitmotifs. There is no escape.
But a book review must end with the book itself. And it does. A book that’s more than itself. It’s a wonderful Horror symphony, at times dincopated and at others smooth. The Lark Descending.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
April 16, 2018
perfect collection. a must have!
Read
September 11, 2021love that cover art!
November 14, 2012
This collection of stories leaves a taste; an echo of a feeling; strands of characterisation that linger.. More so than the imagery the stores create, or the plot (always minimal) that they follow, it is these afterthoughts that mark out this book as something both undefinable and 'a bit special'.
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