Review of The New Death and Others

The New Death and Others By James Hutchings
Let me start by saying that I loved this book, but it's hardto describe exactly what it is because it doesn't really fit neatly into yourstandard fiction genres. But please, don't let that dissuade you from checkingit out. I'm mortally afraid that I'll turn potential readers off by reviewingit and my poor attempts at trying to describe exactly what it is. But imagine,if you will, that Saki (H. H. Munro) didn't die in WWI and decided to rewriteOvid's Metamorphosis and a few Lovecraftian short stories. Many of the storiesand poems in this collection had Saki's sly, often acerbic and dark, wit and adefinite mythological/phantasmagorical slant. The book is a fascinatingcollection of short stories, poems, and tiny vignettes, each small fantasyending with a Saki-esque twist. There is, quite literally, something foreveryone, as long as you have a rather mordant and morbid sense of humor.
The author describes it as dark fantasy and it is that.There is definitely a Greek myth feeing to the stories, but they tend to bemuch more amusing that the typical myths. And it isn't all fantasy. Or rather,I guess it is, but my favorite story in the collection was The Adventure ofthe Murdered Philanthropist that literally had me laughing out loud. I wasreading it in bed and my husband thought I had lost my mind. When I picked upthe book the next night to continue, he looked at me, sighed, and said, "You'renot reading that again, are you?" I was clearly disturbing his fifth reading ofone of his books on the Civil War. Or else he was aggravated that he wasn'thaving as much fun reading his book as I was reading this one. Get over it.
Anyway, The Adventure of the Murdered Philanthropist was anew Sherlock Holmes-type story, except a lot more fun, complete with murder anda brilliant consulting detective. Just to give you a taste, there is one pointin the story where one of the characters is described as the sort who makeslarge contributions to the RSPCA. Then there was a footnote defining the RSPCAas The Royal Society for the Practice of Cruelty to Atheists. That footnoteinduced one of the moments that disturbed my husband so much: I broke outlaughing. Okay, maybe you had to be there, though I'm glad you weren't becauseour bed isn't quite that large.
So there were stories like The Adventure of the MurderedPhilanthropist (I would have bought the book just to get that story—it was thatgood) which continues the Sherlock Holmes tradition; Under the Pyramids, basedon an H.P. Lovecraft story; The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune, based on a story byRobert E. Howard; The Garden of Adompha, based on a story by Clark AshtonSmith; and many, many others.As I said, there is quite literally, something for everyonewho has a sense of humor. It is difficult to convey just how much I enjoyed thevarious stories. I'm not much for poetry, but I did enjoy a few pieces justbecause of the wry humor.
I loved this book. I just wish I could convey a better feelfor this collection. If you enjoyed stories like Saki's The Open Door or TheGreat God Pan, then you will adore The New Death and Others. I hope I'veconvinced you to give it a try.
Just don't read it in a setting where they're likely to callthe men with the long-sleeved, white jackets if you start laughing insanely inpublic.
Where can you get it?The New Death and Others is available for the Kindle at: http://www.amazon.com/New-Death-others-ebook/dp/B005Q8Q8DY/ 
Happy Reading!Fiction Writing and Other Oddities