3.5
Beyond the Veil
ByPublisher Description
Beyond the Veil is the second volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window.
Contents List:
THE GOD BAG by Christopher Golden
CAKER’S MAN by Matthew Holness
THE BEECHFIELD MIRACLES by Priya Sharma
CLOCKWORK by Dan Coxon
SOAPSTONE by Aliya Whiteley
THE DARK BIT by Toby Litt
PROVENANCE POND by Josh Malerman
FOR ALL THE DEAD by Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten
THE GIRL IN THE POOL by Bracken MacLeod
NURSE VARDEN by Jeremy Dyson
IF, THEN by Lisa L. Hannett
AQUARIUM WARD by Karter Mycroft
A MYSTERY FOR JULIE CHU by Stephen Gallagher
AWAY DAY by Lisa Tuttle
POLAROID AND SEAWEED by Peter Harness
DER GEISTERBAHNHOF by Lynda E. Rucker
ARNIE’S ASHES by John Everson
A BRIEF TOUR OF THE NIGHT by Nathan Ballingrud
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF HOUSEHOLD GODS by Frank J. Oreto
YELLOWBACK by Gemma Files
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress.
Contents List:
THE GOD BAG by Christopher Golden
CAKER’S MAN by Matthew Holness
THE BEECHFIELD MIRACLES by Priya Sharma
CLOCKWORK by Dan Coxon
SOAPSTONE by Aliya Whiteley
THE DARK BIT by Toby Litt
PROVENANCE POND by Josh Malerman
FOR ALL THE DEAD by Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten
THE GIRL IN THE POOL by Bracken MacLeod
NURSE VARDEN by Jeremy Dyson
IF, THEN by Lisa L. Hannett
AQUARIUM WARD by Karter Mycroft
A MYSTERY FOR JULIE CHU by Stephen Gallagher
AWAY DAY by Lisa Tuttle
POLAROID AND SEAWEED by Peter Harness
DER GEISTERBAHNHOF by Lynda E. Rucker
ARNIE’S ASHES by John Everson
A BRIEF TOUR OF THE NIGHT by Nathan Ballingrud
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF HOUSEHOLD GODS by Frank J. Oreto
YELLOWBACK by Gemma Files
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesBeyond the Veil Reviews
3.5
“Some really good stories are included in this collection”
“It starts strong, and finishes stronger, does this, the second in what is now commonly known as 'The ABC's of horror', 4 now in print from speculative fiction forerunner Flame Tree Press with no signs of stopping.
The list of contributors should be enough to get you slavering and if you haven't read the previous volume then I hurriedly urge you to correct that oversight.
There is nary a wrong foot or even toe placed, and given the size of the anthology then you would expect at least one to not maybe have the same effect as another, but in this case, it's just not true.
So hello to old friends of many years acquaintance (Stephen Gallagher who gave me nightmares as a teen with the televised 'Chimera', Jeremy Dyson , whose mastery of the written as well as the visual word has been a part of my life for over 20 years, and Matthew Holness whose writing I am new to, but whose televisual exploits I have recently been introducing my children to).
And nice to meet you to new friends to my bookshelf, Priya Sharma who I believe I came across in another Morris edited anthology, and immediately bought her novella ''Ormeshadow',
Dan Coxon who again, I was only aware of in an editorial sense and Gemma Files, quickly becoming one of my favoruite writers.
What we have here is a tasting plate of modern horror, and whilst there is no voer arching theme, I would hesitate to suggest there is an essence of loneliness underpinning each tale which in itself is horrifically prescient, landing the year which Covid really turned our world upside down.
And yet, there is a respite offered in each tale of the macabre, the stinging twist that makes you double back to see if you could have guessed it, the gasp evinced from a throat raw and dry from shuddered breath, the prickle down the back bone that is the essential after effect, of this reader, from ending with 'Yellowback' by Gemma Files. That left wounds I tell you.
Here are tales of loss and grief, the manifestation of want and desire , the scar tissue that runs a little thin the closer to the surface that you get.
It's a compilation of stories with author bios which send you eagerly searching for more, and it's quite incredible that such a plethora of authors offered their works to create an unsettling mix which is never predictable, never boring.
I would say that out of the 20 stories, my favourites were 'Caker's Man', by Matthew Holness and 'Nurse Varden' by Jeremy Dyson alongside the aforementioned 'Yellowback'. I think anyone who reads it would say they react in a different way to the running list, some will dip in and others, like me , will read it front to back , with a notepad, to list new books to look for by authors I had not heard before.
What I enjoyed the most was that I could not tell the commissioned from the new tales, all were presented with equal aplomb and I think there may be a little bit of magic in how the tales veer so much off each other, yet run together so well, if that makes any sense?
So bravo for another offering to the elder gods , thank you Mark for choosing tales which disturbed my peace, each one took me away from reality and out me somewhere different, somewhere dark and where monsters lie. The worst of them have human faces...”
About Mark Morris
Mark Morris has written and edited almost forty novels, novellas, short story collections and anthologies. His recent work includes the official movie tie-in novelizations of The Great Wall and (co-written with Christopher Golden) The Predator, the Obsidian Heart trilogy (The Wolves of London, The Society of Blood and The Wraiths of War), the anthologies New Fears (winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology) and New Fears 2 and many more.
Other books by Mark Morris
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