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Text of the page (random words):
t taken directly to heaven to meet god but rather the first step in an elimination of the human race by extraterrestrial visitors bent on well there s the thing the motivation behind the annihilation is never elucidated because the story unfolds via the viewpoint of karl ordinary unexceptional and directionless as the book s blurb describes him a masterstroke by the author as it serves to increase the sense of confusion and dread the events of the first night and then the subsequent days instil in him and thus vicariously the readers there s no mention here of any government scientific or military response although given the present incumbents of the houses of parliament that response would probably let s see if it blows over or more likely how can we make money from this this limited third person approach is hugely effective distilling presumably global events down to the individual level karl somehow survives the apocalyptic event and there follow a number of hugely atmospheric scenes in which he wanders the now deserted landscapes of his home town scenes which bring to mind cinematic examples of the same scenario such as the various film versions of richard matheson s i am legend 28 days later and of course romero s dead films all of these of course have the added bonus of rampaging hordes of monsters added to the mix and such is the case with all the fiends of hell bizarre creatures now roam the deserted streets hunting down those who survived the initial cull in order to kill them cue some thrilling set pieces in which karl witnesses attacks by the creatures as well as some derelictions in which he discovers the aftermath of the attacks the terrifying prospect of being hunted by the monsters is made even more so by the way in which they carry out the killings despite obviously having access to the advanced technology which brought about the initial rapture and to get into earth s orbit in the first place the hunters resort to physical violence snapping necks in order perform their duty worse still the bodies of those despatched are arranged into hideous displays this latter suggests a true malevolence to the invaders an inference that they enjoy the act of killing and are proud of it despite its sci fi trappings all the fiends of hell is most definitely a horror story indeed the original cull of victims also hints at this malevolence despite the lack of violence involved the novel opening with karl surrounded by his family gently encouraging him to join them outside the implication that something lovely awaits them there the horror here is decidedly cosmic it s a seam adam has mined on many previous occasions but fiends differs from his other novels in that rather than the horror being confined to an individual or small group of people here it involves the entire planet this is epic terror the cosmic awe is skilfully created and enhanced by the imagery of the book a red pall filling the sky moving inexorably south and bringing with it the murderous fiends within those red skies a huge black object one can imagine denis villeneuve having a field day transferring these visions to film but reading these passages i was put in mind of the apocalyptic paintings of john martin and in particular his the great day of his wrath incidentally this painting was apparently inspired by a trip to the black country an area of the midlands not far from where the opening chapters of the novel are set comparisons can be drawn with adam s earlier novel lost girl both are apocalyptic novels although that event is still awaiting completion in the earlier book but something else which binds the two together is the theme of a father daughter relationship whereas in lost girl that relationship was a real one here it s the bond between karl and an orphaned girl he discovers on his travels along with her brother and who becomes his charge which provides much of the narrative thrust of the novel when the girl hayley is abducted it becomes karl s mission alongside finding safety of course to track her down much in keeping with lost girl the question of how far he will go to save her plays a big part in proceedings and as with the earlier novel the answer is startling and horrific whilst the scale of all the fiends of hell albeit seen through the lens of individual experience differentiates it from his other novels there is still much of the nevillesque on display here descriptions of smells which elicit childhood memories in karl provide a hugely effective opening to the novel and it s the distinctive aroma of chlorine which indicates the presence of the fiends the fiends are classic nevill creations too although in many cases their forms are not entirely visible something which only adds to their strangeness what can be seen fits nicely into the nevill template established in his earlier novels the villain of the piece bob who provides a human element of horror to proceedings speaks with a heavy accent reminiscent of the scum of the earth the father came across in lost girl and one of adam s foulest creations knacker mcguire of no one gets out alive and of course the colour red plays a prominent role with the ominous pall that covers the sky and marks the progress of the alien invaders casting its ruddy illumination over the world creating an image of hell on earth cosmic awe and existential dread make fine bedfellows and rarely have the two been combined to such devastating effect as in all the fiends of hell come story s end the invaders remain as enigmatic and unknowable as they were at the outset something which only adds to their horror whilst the book s opening played with the idea of faith the hints at some kind of rapture type event are overt the chance of salvation presented here relies entirely upon it with little more than rumours that the sea offers a means of escape driving the characters to the south coast it s a book that in one regard shows the power of the human spirit whilst at the same time demonstrating humanity s insignificance in the grand cosmic scheme of things it s a fine addition to adam s oeuvre and one i thoroughly recommend posted by anthony watson at 09 39 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels adam nevill all the fiends of hell review ritual limited tuesday 24 october 2023 the good unknown the good unknown is a new collection of eleven stories by stephen volk and is published by tartarus press the collection spans twenty five years of stephen s writing career with the oldest story to feature first published in 1998 and also contains three new stories unrecovered is the opening story and concerns project orinoco a scheme by which ex members of the armed forces are given experience in new trades and skills which they can hopefully use for future employment the project also has a rehabilitation aspect to it the participants victims of both physical and psychological trauma resulting from their time in combat zones around the world in this case the work experience is an archaeological dig and the story is told in first person narration by zoe the dig s supervisor the title of the story is the official term for the bodies of the dead which are left on the battlefield an account of which occurs within this tale one rendered in disturbing detail but as all good titles are is applicable to so many other facets of the story most notably it s a perfect description of the soldiers themselves traumatised by what they ve witnessed and still recovering from the impact of those horrors it s also applicable to zoe herself still in recovery from pre cancerous changes in her breast the chemotherapy she is undergoing and the brain fuzz it causes adding a nice note of ambiguity to the scenes in which she catches glimpses of ghostly figures as her relationship with the soldiers and one in particular progresses fittingly the dig unearths a military burial site soldiers discovering soldiers the wounds on the excavated bodies are still obvious although only skeletal vestiges remain a potent reminder that conflict and its outcomes has always been a part of human existence as the finds are uncovered so too are the layers of the soldiers stories subtexts are revealed alongside the subsoil until the ghosts of the ancient past the recent past and the present come together in a denouement which is as moving as it is profound there s a first person narration in the second story of the collection too in the waiting room that voice belongs to thomas frank heaphy a painter of miniatures who shares the narrative with a slightly more famous artist of the time charles dickens the use of real people in fictionalised encounters is a feature of stephen s work of course most notably in his wonderful dark masters trilogy which features peter cushing alfred hitchcock and dennis wheatley as well as aleister crowley the waiting room has an added air of authenticity by dint of it being based on a real incident an accusation of plagiarism by heaphy against dickens for publishing a story that was identical to one he had himself written based on his own encounter with a ghostly figure in a train the story is a marvellously rendered pastiche the voice employed entirely authentic with suitably dickensian names for the supporting cast such as erasmus egg and one which you can imagine being read out in front of a roaring fire at a gentlemen s club the ghost story at its core is suitably creepy but there s more to it than simply being a spooky tale with ruminations on art as a psychic ability whatever the medium forming a discussion between the protagonists it also has something to say about the power of storytelling specifically its ability to act as a release that term used here in a most literal sense three fingers one thumb is the third story in the collection and continues the trend set by the first two with its first person narration this is the story which was originally published in 1998 making it the oldest of the collection and it s also the shortest coming in at under 1500 words it s also the first story of stephen s that i read though probably a few years after its initial publication i remember how impressed i had been at the time amazed at how much could be achieved with such a small word count and my feelings about it reading it again are exactly the same this is a truly wonderful short story its construction is brilliant setting the scene in the first couple of paragraphs before tracking back in time to provide a back story that tells you everything you need to know about the protagonists before a lovely segue returns you to the here and now and the drama which is about to unfold the skill of the writing which precedes it means that the final line is landed perfectly and what a line it is the horror of its implication hitting you not once but twice masterful stuff first person narration 4 is brought to you by the next story 31 10 in about as meta a way as you can get the narrator turns out to be stephen himself here to tell all about the making of ghostwatch 2 return to studio 1 which of course never happened or did it no it didn t but given the whole controversy over the original ghostwatch was due to people thinking it was real rather than scripted and acted it seems only fitting that this story should play on that motif presenting itself as reality rather than fiction reality being a key word it s fair to say that this story is an attack on the vacuousness of modern tv programming the story was written in 2006 but things have not improved have actually even gotten worse since then with its reliance on reality shows rather than original drama indeed ghostwatch 2 is pitched as a reality show with celebs including the author himself returning to the studio where it was filmed with cameras there to record what happens in much the same way that the upbeat the sidewinder sleeps tonite feels out of place amid the otherwise melancholy atmosphere of rem s automatic for the people album so 31 10 feels a little out of step with the rest of the collection with its sardonic humour and it has to be said a fair bit of venting by the author that said it is hugely enjoyable and is again a very cleverly constructed story which mirrors the original ghostwatch with its slowly accumulating horrors leading to a dramatic climax the good unknown the story which gives the collection its title breaks away from the first person narrative format into third person allowing access to both of the tale s protagonists veteran actor karen berg and davy praed making his film debut alongside her plucked from obscurity this major role makes him the unknown but as with the opening story unrecovered there s much more that can be read into the title this story is very much a meditation on death the last great unknown a key scene in the film being praed s character s suicide the filming of which is preceded by a discussion on his motivation for carrying out the act in common with the waiting room there are also insights into art and its creation at one point karen remembers being told art has to have a pattern because life does not and during his audition davy is told to stop reading the book on which the film is based read the script the book won t give you any answers the book is just reality that s an important just the previous story 31 10 made no secret of its opinions on reality tv and the way in which it erodes the concept of creativity art is hugely important it allows us to explore concepts and emotions which the strictures of real life prevent the film being made is based on real events but it s the creative flair of the writer director and actors which will bring it to life and death of course the flickering light introduces us to piet and bell who are hosting a dinner party for their friends demis roussos forever and ever might not be playing on the home stereo but there s a definite abigail s party vibe to this story exposing as it does the shallowness of the middle class supping their prosecco and consuming artisan bread from the local bakery in an extension of the art reality theme which has run through the preceding stories there s a real sense that the characters here are playing parts lacking the skill or imagination to create their own versions of themselves to be individuals they have instead become stereotypes the ageing hippy hilton in his hawaiian shirt the fashionably late jacquetta in her faux fur coat the superficiality and artificiality of their personas means that those characteristics apply to their relationships too most significantly in the case of piet and bell at one point he demonstrated smiling a sentence which perfectly describes his character which is a controlling one perhaps piet is a reference to piet mondrian best known for his geometrical designs in which everything is neat and tidy and in its place of all of them it s bell who is the most grounded and real also the most romantic and imagin...