Rating:
5/5 Grasping Tentacles
Give me the short version:
Do you like your “normality” with its skin peeled off?
It’s near impossible for me to pick a favourite from this collection of characters so unashamedly real, with ambitions so naked you can glimpse bone.
Tubby’s Big Swim, for example, is a breathtaking piece of narrative voice I’ll still be reading and marveling over when I’m ninety. A young boy, so alienated he’s practically a step outside reality, and his pet cephalopod. How perfect is that? But Return of the Prodigy takes the cake as one of the best short stories I’ve ever happened upon. Gary’s reluctant honeymoon deliciously blends crawling unease with near-slapstick and decidedly unkind satire. The Nameless Dark is definitely a collection for the discerning horror fan who’s tired of the same old, who wants to venture into dark places without knowing what might happen …
Favourite bit:
"Even with the underpinnings of black sand, the surrounding sea just beyond the breakers seemed darker than most volcanic islands in the South Pacific, hinting at an unusual depth, positioning the island of Walakea as just the tip of a capacious ebony spear thrust fast and hard from the sea floor."