The Fox

by Conrad Williams

They took their daughters to a glamping farm to escape the stresses of the city. There were chickens to feed, logs to chop and a fire to keep stoked. For a day it was fun to reconvene with nature and connect with what it meant to be wild.

But on that first night a blizzard hit and they woke up to a white world. The snow only made the blood easier to see…

Now the chickens have disappeared and there’s a dead little surprise down by the children’s playground. A warning that you can’t just wish all the bad stuff away…


“As events unfold, a knot appears in your stomach, twisting tighter and tighter until you reach the denouement.”
STARBURST MAGAZINE

“The Fox is taut, incisive, chilling and genuinely disturbing.”
GRAHAM JOYCE

“Subtle yet insidious, a foreboding permeates The Fox from its very opening line. Williams guides you into the jaws of nature with great cunning – only to abandon you there, bleeding and unable to return.”
JOSEPH D’LACEY

“Conrad Williams once again demonstrating his mastery of the short form in this whiteout of a story.”
BLACK STATIC

Genres: Horror

30 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

In 2007 Conrad Williams won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Novel for The Unblemished. In 2008 he won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella, for The Scalding Rooms. In 2010 he won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel for One.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conrad Williams raises his arm and lets fly a dart at the dart board that does not quite hit it's mark. The story concerns a family, consisting of Mom, Dad and the two children on an annual vacation. Since flying anywhere was out of the question they chose to take a camping holiday.

A sudden snowstorm hist and the first death occurs, though a minor one, which causes the Dad to reminisce about some of his indiscretions as a young man. And of course things go poorly for the family.

Everything I have read by Mr. Williams in the past I have quite enjoyed. This work appears to be a minor effort of his and is not up to his normal high standards.

I want to give congratulations to the publisher "This Is Horror" for producing such nice little chap books, so far they have produced:

"Joe & Me" by David Moody
"Thin Men with Yellow Faces" by Gary McMahon and Simon Bestwick
"The Fox" by Conrad Williams
"Roadkill" by Joseph D’Lacey
"Chalk" by Pat Cadigan
"The Elvis Room" by Stephen Graham Jones
"Water For Drowning" by Ray Cluley
"The Visible Filth" by Nathan Ballingrud

This is copy 144 of 300 signed and numbered chapbooks by Conrad Williams.

[Frank Errington · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fox is the third installment in a new, quarterly series of premium, signed, chapbooks from the UK website This Is Horror. The website is a great source of info for fans of both Horror writing and films and I figured I'd take a chance on a charter subscription and I'm glad I did. I've been more than pleased with each of the first three stories in the series, plus I've been exposed to some authors I've not read before.

The first two chapbooks were Joe & Me by David Moody, Thin Men with Yellow Faces by Gary McMahon and Simon Bestwick.

This time it's Conrad Williams, who's the author of seven novels, four novellas and a slew of short stories, and yet I'd never read any of his work before.

In The Fox, we find the protagonist and his family on a "staycation." Too busy for a real getaway, the father, his wife and two young daughters are camping out on a nearby farm where a series of events, involving a fox, lead to a genuinely scary moment. The moment, in some way related to something the father did in his youth.

I know, that's very vague, but any more and I'd likely give it all away. The ending was like a punch in the face you don't see coming and made the whole story well worth the read.

There actually may be a few subscriptions left, you can get all the details at the This is Horror website. Just Google "This Is Horror."

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The unnamed narrator, his wife Kit and their children, Megan and baby Lucy, go glamping in the New Forest. It seemed an ideal break, an escape from city stresses with chickens to feed, logs to chop and nature to be explored. But on the first night a blizzard hit and they woke to a white world that only made the blood easier to see. Now the chickens have disappeared and there’s a dead little surprise down by the children’s playground, a warning that you can’t just wish all the bad stuff away. To make my position evident, I think Conrad Williams is an excellent writer, weaving his stories with touches of lyrical beauty, a knowing sense of family life and flashes of brutality that are almost painful to bear and every one of those traits is in evidence here. The narrator is hiding a secret from his wife, a dreadful event that appears to have a bearing on current events and as the tale unfolds, you’re pulled along even though you can’t really bear to see what Williams is slowly, gradually pointing out to you. Characterisation is spot on, with family life - and the activities of small children - perfectly captured and locations are used sparingly but to great effect. With a growing, ominous sense of real danger that is almost tangible, this runs at a cracking pace and is surely a must-read for any discerning horror fan. A welcome addition to the This Is Horror chapbook range, this is very highly recommended.

[Gary Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE FOX by Conrad Williams. Fine cover, nice typesetting, good font. Williams' prose is as smart as ever: punchy, witty, mordant and lyrical. He's a real poet, cracking off onomatopoeic lines and resonant metaphor with illusory ease. The story is terse and chilling, with a brilliantly underplayed yet horrific denouement. It has a spiritual connection to the author's novella RAIN, with themes of wild nature set alongside ostensibly coherent human experience. The narrator, an academic type - those fearful strivers for order - has a world-weary knowingness yet seems inherently innocent. Like a lot of Williams' characters, he's a good guy who once made a troubling mistake (because who on earth can get through life without doing so?) which haunts him still. He didn't want to do what he did: circumstances led to it, a little of the wild in him perhaps. He was trying to play hard ball with experience, with the untamable world. Oh, but that doesn't fuck about, not with the wild permanently on its side... A quality product. Read it.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This chapbook was a quick read horror tale that takes you on a glamping trip to an unexpectedly snowy farmhouse, where a man recounts his childhood encounter with a fox. When spots of blood start replacing the farm’s animals, the tension begins to wind, and the trap is laid. But he will have to recall what happened in his past to understand his present.

There were moments near the end where the tension could have been more taut if the reasoning was deeper presented, however this was an enjoyable read for an afternoon.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nicely paced tale of tense guilt. Man often wants to feel at one with nature, but with only vague gestures and furtive single steps outside their comfort zone. Nature beckons Man out into the dark portions of the woods where the things with sharp teeth lurk.

This story was republished on Pseudopod: http://pseudopod.org/2016/11/11/pseud...

[Richard Kellum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came late to the This Is Horror Chapbook Party, but am glad I’ve discovered it, because I love the novella/novelette form. It offers more potential for depth than the short story, but can still be read in one sitting. Perfect. D.H. Lawrence excelled at this form, and since the best of his short novels is The Fox, it’s only fitting that I start with the chapbook by the same name from Conrad Williams. It’s also the most recently published of the series.

For the full review, go here:

http://elfmachines.wordpress.com/2013...

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nature. You can't control it, can you?" Really connected with the male character in this chapbook. Superb writing!