Book of Shadows

Edited by Angela Challis

Brimstone Press 2006

Web: http://www.brimstonepress.com.au/

Book of Shadows Volume One is a compendium of dark flash fiction from the first six issues of Shadowed Realms online magazine plus a selection of original stories. It features flash fiction by Poppy Z Brite, Terry Dowling, Robert Hood, Stephen Dedman, Kurt Newton, Greg Beatty, Martin Livings, Lee Battersby, Josh Rountree, Mikal Trimm, Melissa Marr, and many others. So, what exactly is “flash fiction” ? Flash fiction are tales which are under 1,000 words in length, while most fall within the traditional horror genre, it more rightly should be called Dark Fiction as it also includes some tales of which are more of a psychological and fantasy orientation.

Book of Shadows includes a wide range of genres within the “flash fiction” category, this range from tales which are more traditional to tales of sex, violence, power and psychological torment. In many ways the shorter format demands an economy of language and a preciseness of style which brings the inherent darkness of a tale to the surface and hence is more suited to the more “savage” forms of horror fiction.

The stories start with very short entrée sized pieces; these are usually meticulously engineered tales with a twist in the tale. These are a nice selection of these bite sized morsels throughout the book and they certain make you want more! Each tale is written so you cannot really appreciate what is occurring until the very last “bite” and while the content and styles varies, such tales are usually uniquely startling in what they reveal.

Personally, I found the longer tales the most appealing, 1,000 words seems to be just the right amount to create a superb story with a good plot, nice character development and a twist or turn which shocks the readers socks off ! I am actually quite surprised how much plot and character development you can get in such a small space and it really shows off the author’s skill when they can offer such complex stories in such a compact form. It is too easy to create a long tale in which things slowly are brought together, to create a succinct story which has solid plot, character development and a “dark heart”, while keeping the tale well paced until the right moment is a true art form.

There is so much to enjoy here from dark tales of psychological abuse and torment, serial killers to creatures, traditional horror to modern tales of violence and terror. Stories such as the abortion doctor who keep alive the children he had to remove as his own (deformities and all) will haunt your nightmares for some time later.

Brimstone Press is a small Australian publisher and I want to commend them for releasing such a superb anthology of such dark and challenging fiction. In these days of mass market distribution and large publishers it is imperative we get behind such ventures and give them as much support as we can, go to their website and buy a book or two today, you will be very pleased you did.