Stuart’s Reviews > The Spectral Book of Horror Stories > Status Update

Average score 3.55, rounded to 4. Not great but some fine highlights.

5/67.5:19. Newspaper Heart. Stephen Volk is fluent writer and this highly readable tale is a great example. Feels a bit like Ramsey Campbell with muffled minds, tendeness and bitterness and a shattering ending. Evokes 1970 very well without over-citing specific cultural references.

3.5/62.5:18. This Video Does not Exist. I can’t work out what’s going on here. A very strange premise and a gruesome prelude to a conclusion, but what has been resolved, and how? Re-reading may make things clearer - or may confirm the emptiness of the story. Nice details though. It feels real.

4/59:17. Sinister In Sunlight. Feels like a better story as it percolates barely three minutes after reading it. Misdirection upon misdirection upon misdirection and an unexpected ending even after you think you’ve reached resolution. Disappointment and anxiety are just two of the many complex ingredients to creating a monster.

4/55:15. Life Inspector. Lighthearted but somewhat vitriolic. No real horror other than of the “how would I fare in this situation” variety, but surely we’re better people than Franklin … aren’t we?

4/51:14. Outside Heavenly. I really enjoyed reading this but the premise isn’t so grand. More supernatural thriller than unsettling horror.

1.5/47:13. The Slista. Nothing new. Bunch of illiterate inbreds/mutants/cannibals in cellar and home under threat when leader dies. Nothing substantial and definitely not a novel approach to style.

4/45.5:12. October Widow. Interesting theme, season cycle, sacrificial bonfires, and a spanner in the works setting the “earth mother”’s mission back who knows how long. Nicely told and just manages to avoid descending into a fantasy/fable atmosphere.

4/41.5:12. Cures for a Sickened World. This could have been torture porn, given the core of the plot, but it’s intelligently written, has no on-screen nastiness, and makes some good points about attention-seeking pseudo criticism. Very pertinent to this world a decade on from the story.

3.5/37.5:11. Stolen Kisses. Shirt and easy read, interesting discourse, somewhat predictable ending, but still imparts a slight kick.