{"id":729,"date":"2012-12-12T11:27:16","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T09:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/?p=729"},"modified":"2012-12-12T11:33:44","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T09:33:44","slug":"the-ninth-black-book-editor-charles-black-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/?p=729","title":{"rendered":"The Ninth Black Book: Editor Charles Black – reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Contents
\nJohn Llewellyn Probert – The Anatomy Lesson
\nCraig Herbertson – The Mall
\nSimon Bestwick – Salvaje
\nGary Fry -Pet
\nDavid Williamson – Ashes To Ashes
\nAnna Taborska – The Apprentice
\nSam Dawson – Life Expectancy
\nPaul Finch – What’s Behind You?
\nGary Power – Ben\u2019s Best Friend
\nThana Niveau – The Things That Aren’t There
\nTom Johnstone – Bit On The Side
\nMarion Pitman – Indecent Behaviour
\nKate Farrell – His Family
\nJohn Forth – A Song, A Silence
\nMarc Lyth – The Man Who Hated Waste
\nDavid A. Riley – Swan Song<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s horror on horror here with no punches spared and several right on the jaw. The Ninth Black Book<\/strong> edited by Charles Black<\/strong> is not for the squeamish. It begins with John Llewellyn Probert\u2019s The Anatomy Lesson<\/em> and I almost wish it didn\u2019t. The author is at his most sickeningly nasty when he deals with medical subjects and this story of a twisted anatomist meeting another \u2018entertainer\u2019 is only marred by the impossibility of identifying with the main protagonist when the denouement arrives \u2013 which is in itself a testament to just what a damned good horror writer John Llewellyn Probert is.<\/p>\n

The Mall<\/em> takes a step into the commercialized Hell of Christmas while Gary Fry\u2019s \u00a0Pet<\/em> deals with a rather incestuous family and their\u2026pet.\u00a0 Simon Bestwick\u2019s Salvaje<\/em> is a well constructed story of the facisistic franquistas<\/em> picking on the wrong girl. David Williamson, veteran of Pan Horror come out with a good tale of a man falling to bits in Ashes To Ashes<\/em> and demonstrates that the later Pan Horror authors definitely still have the mojo. Anna Taborska in The Apprentice<\/em> gives us an accomplished effort with a man who is clever at making bread and dishing out unwarranted violence. A short story I particularly liked is Sam Dawson\u2019s Life Expectancy<\/em>, which has an old phone bringing a bleak message to a poor lady.<\/p>\n

As one might expect Paul Finch\u2019s What’s Behind You?<\/em> is a definite highlight. What I like about Finch is that he often tries to stretch the boundaries of the form and, in this case, one is vaguely lulled into a pattern before a moment of real psychological horror creeps up on you, after which, the denouement shocks again with its unexpectedness. Would make a very good short film.<\/p>\n

Gary Power\u2019s Ben\u2019s Best Friend<\/em> provides a warning leaflet about picking your friends carefully, a good story of external terror but for me Thana Niveau\u2019s The Things That Aren’t There<\/em>\u00a0 is a standout piece of brilliant childhood horror that really captures the essence of inner terror reminiscent of the kind of fear that Ray Bradbury so eloquently unveiled in his early work.<\/p>\n

Tom Johnstone\u2019s Bit On The Side<\/em> and John Forth\u2019s A Song, A Silence<\/em> are enjoyable, creative and well told but as with Marion Pitman\u2019s Indecent Behaviour<\/em> seem to lack a little credibility \u2013 although in the latter, being haunted by a hand was rather neat. His Family<\/em> by Kate Farrell provided a sickly disquieting image of hospital life but I felt the ending was almost unnecessary. Marc Lyth\u2019s\u00a0 The Man Who Hated Waste<\/em> is short and humorous.<\/p>\n

Finally, the veteran, David A. Riley, provides us with Swan Song,<\/em> another highlight of this edition. Riley\u2019s work has the bleakness of P.K. Dick and he is the master of the almost Ballardian antihero. No holds barred here in a grim unrelenting tale of three old nasties about to have a last evil fling \u2013 with unexpected and awful consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Contents John Llewellyn Probert – The Anatomy Lesson Craig Herbertson – The Mall Simon Bestwick – Salvaje Gary Fry -Pet David Williamson – Ashes To Ashes Anna Taborska – The Apprentice Sam Dawson – Life Expectancy Paul Finch – What’s Behind You? Gary Power – Ben\u2019s Best Friend Thana Niveau […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hell","category-horror","category-reviews-hell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=729"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heavenmakers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}