a knowing noah
Saturday 21 March 2015–
DEAD HARVEST,
folk horror,
horror fiction,
Mark Parker,
Scarlet Galleon,
short stories
I received my contributor’s copy of DEAD HARVEST this week,
and I have to say it’s an impressive beast. When the anthology’s editor MarkParker said he had high ambitions for the book he wasn’t joking. This is a
really well done book, tightly bound, neatly set out, and with great cover art
that’s strikingly displayed to full effect in the trade-paperback edition.
To make things even better, there’s some seriously good
writers involved in the project too. How about reading work by, among others,
these guys:
I’m in there too, but I don’t think I spoil things too
badly. My piece is called “A Knowing Noah” and comes in at about 15 pages long.
Not too painful in a collection of 50 stories that tops out at 700 pages in
length.
I suppose the anthology as a whole is – with tales leaning
heavily on the autumn/fall season and for the most part featuring rural
settings, rows of corn and creepy woods and totems – a folk horror collection.
As far as I know, Mark Gatiss coined the term folk horror in his BBC4 horror
film series when describing The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. It’s as
good a description as I can think of to fit these tales.
The book is available in a trade-paperback edition as well
as in e-book format. If you have the money, I’d say you should shell out the
extra for the paperback. It’s a beautiful thing, chunky and generous, and I
think the publishers Scarlet Galleon have a big future ahead of them.
The trade paperback is available here in the UK.
The trade paperback is available here in the USA.
And you can get it in all e-formats here at Smashwords.
And if you want something special, some copies have been
signed by contributors Richard Chizma and his son Billy Chizmar here at
Cemetery Dance Publications.
The book has been out a while now, and is racking up some
impressive reviews. If you’re into horror of a more rural bent, this is one to
gather up. Recommended.
