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Drawn Up from Deep Places
IF YOU GO DOWN DEEP ENOUGH, YOU FIND ALL SORTS OF THINGS . . . .
In her second collection from Trepidatio Publishing, award-winning author Gemma Files takes her readers on journeys out beyond safe borders--from the trackless depths of the sea, to the empty desert frontiers of the Weird West, even to the edges of cracks between worlds. Here, in these narrow spaces between the known and the unknown, behind the paper-thin curtains of reality, lurk monsters both human and ancient: selkies and avenging revenants, voodoo priestesses and pirate sorcerers, ghosts and vampires, and the most famous murderer of all time. But however strange the things found in these deep places, what draws them up, and calls them back, are forces the human heart knows all too well: grief and vengeance, rage and loss...and, most terrible of all, love.
Published over the past fifteen years--some only available online until now--these fantasies of the darkest kind showcase the breadth and scope of Gemma Files's imagination, seamlessly blending styles, genres, themes, and atmospheres into a dark and thrilling voice like nothing else in fiction today. Newcomers and old friends both are invited to join her in these journeys...if they dare to look upon what has been--
DRAWN UP FROM DEEP PLACES
In her second collection from Trepidatio Publishing, award-winning author Gemma Files takes her readers on journeys out beyond safe borders--from the trackless depths of the sea, to the empty desert frontiers of the Weird West, even to the edges of cracks between worlds. Here, in these narrow spaces between the known and the unknown, behind the paper-thin curtains of reality, lurk monsters both human and ancient: selkies and avenging revenants, voodoo priestesses and pirate sorcerers, ghosts and vampires, and the most famous murderer of all time. But however strange the things found in these deep places, what draws them up, and calls them back, are forces the human heart knows all too well: grief and vengeance, rage and loss...and, most terrible of all, love.
Published over the past fifteen years--some only available online until now--these fantasies of the darkest kind showcase the breadth and scope of Gemma Files's imagination, seamlessly blending styles, genres, themes, and atmospheres into a dark and thrilling voice like nothing else in fiction today. Newcomers and old friends both are invited to join her in these journeys...if they dare to look upon what has been--
DRAWN UP FROM DEEP PLACES
241 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 2018
21 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Gemma Files
179 books720 followersPreviously best-known as a film critic for Toronto's eye Weekly, teacher and screenwriter, Gemma Files first broke onto the international horror scene when her story "The Emperor's Old Bones" won the 1999 International Horror Guild award for Best Short Fiction. She is the author of two collections of short work (Kissing Carrion and The Worm in Every Heart) and two chapbooks of poetry (Bent Under Night and Dust Radio). Her Hexslinger Series trilogy is now complete: A Book of Tongues, A Rope of Thorns and A Tree of Bones, all available from ChiZine Publications.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 3, 2021
It is fascinating to assess Gemma Files’ Drawn Up from Deep Places as a collection, because the book’s construction is so uniquely connective. That is, rather than reading as an assortment of individual, isolated pieces, Drawn Up from Deep Places registers as a carefully designed, cumulative whole, comprised of two re-emerging fictional sequences woven among several standalone stories. With this text, Files displays extraordinary thoughtfulness and craft, both in conceptual and formal terms.
The collection begins with the vivid, haunting “Villa Locusta,” which situates us in an apocalyptic environment laden with mythological and religious imagery. Files further demonstrates her penchant for religious allusion with “Sown from Salt” and its companion story, “A Feast for Dust”: this duo recalls Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter, injecting a somber Western narrative with Biblical and supernatural reflections.
The bulk of the collection is devoted to another ambitious, genre-crossing series of interconnected tales. These pieces (“Trap-Weed,” “Two Captains,” the title story, and the final novelette, “The Salt Wedding”) revolve around a toxic, queer, and (sometimes dangerously) magic pirate romance aboard a ship named the Bitch of Hell.
There is also a queer horror-Western populated with demonic zombies (“Satan’s Jewel Crown”), a dark, culturally-specific love story with supernatural threads (“Hell Friend”), and an assembly of screenplay-formatted tableaus set around Jack the Ripper (“Jack-Knife,” definitely my favorite). With “Jack-Knife,” Files draws adeptly on her cinephilia and film criticism background, designing a narrative that reads both thrillingly as prose fiction and convincingly as visual text.
Drawn Up from Deep Places showcases a highly talented writer who inhabits rich genre histories and always manages to reconfigure those traditions in unusual, interesting ways. Files demonstrates stunning formal dexterity here, and a total command of voice (I am in awe of the sheer range of approaches here). This is a collection meant to be consumed as a whole, carefully designed and artfully executed. Highly recommended to adventurous readers of genre fiction.
The collection begins with the vivid, haunting “Villa Locusta,” which situates us in an apocalyptic environment laden with mythological and religious imagery. Files further demonstrates her penchant for religious allusion with “Sown from Salt” and its companion story, “A Feast for Dust”: this duo recalls Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter, injecting a somber Western narrative with Biblical and supernatural reflections.
The bulk of the collection is devoted to another ambitious, genre-crossing series of interconnected tales. These pieces (“Trap-Weed,” “Two Captains,” the title story, and the final novelette, “The Salt Wedding”) revolve around a toxic, queer, and (sometimes dangerously) magic pirate romance aboard a ship named the Bitch of Hell.
There is also a queer horror-Western populated with demonic zombies (“Satan’s Jewel Crown”), a dark, culturally-specific love story with supernatural threads (“Hell Friend”), and an assembly of screenplay-formatted tableaus set around Jack the Ripper (“Jack-Knife,” definitely my favorite). With “Jack-Knife,” Files draws adeptly on her cinephilia and film criticism background, designing a narrative that reads both thrillingly as prose fiction and convincingly as visual text.
Drawn Up from Deep Places showcases a highly talented writer who inhabits rich genre histories and always manages to reconfigure those traditions in unusual, interesting ways. Files demonstrates stunning formal dexterity here, and a total command of voice (I am in awe of the sheer range of approaches here). This is a collection meant to be consumed as a whole, carefully designed and artfully executed. Highly recommended to adventurous readers of genre fiction.
October 12, 2021
Had never heard of this book. Picked it up at my local library because the back mentioned Gemma Files was an award winning author and I am so very glad I did.
It is an anthology of stories that are geniusly and seamlessly connected. Not an easy thing to do in my opinion.
It has a cursed pirate captain and wizard. Both doomed to love/lust after each other whilst looting the seas for both supernatural and material plunder and desperately seeking an end to it all. It has a voodoo sorceress and hexes. A dead cowboy who wanders a supernatural west seeking revenge for his betrayal and hunting his murderer. It takes the story of Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii and gives it a dark supernatural twist.
The stories are all such deliciously dark fantasy and told in such lyrical language. Gemma Files is yet another genius story teller or she is a voodoo sorceress herself...
Just one criticism. I feel like the cover does not do the stories inside justice. Having read the book, I get which story it is in reference to but I would probably have passed on this book had I judged it on the cover alone. That would have been a great loss for me.
It is an anthology of stories that are geniusly and seamlessly connected. Not an easy thing to do in my opinion.
It has a cursed pirate captain and wizard. Both doomed to love/lust after each other whilst looting the seas for both supernatural and material plunder and desperately seeking an end to it all. It has a voodoo sorceress and hexes. A dead cowboy who wanders a supernatural west seeking revenge for his betrayal and hunting his murderer. It takes the story of Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii and gives it a dark supernatural twist.
The stories are all such deliciously dark fantasy and told in such lyrical language. Gemma Files is yet another genius story teller or she is a voodoo sorceress herself...
Just one criticism. I feel like the cover does not do the stories inside justice. Having read the book, I get which story it is in reference to but I would probably have passed on this book had I judged it on the cover alone. That would have been a great loss for me.
November 13, 2019
Over all, a good solid collection. There was nothing that blew me a way, but a lot of good and lovely pieces.
Villa Locusta was interesting. I liked it.
Trap-Weed was interesting; I liked it too.
Sown From Salt wasn't what I expected, but was good.
Two Captains was strange, since it's set earlier than Trap-Weed. So you know what's going to happen. But it's not like they didn't know that, so they must have intended it. I liked it.
Jack-Knife was good, but I didn't like that it was written like a play. Still good though.
A Feast for Dust was lovely.
Drawn Up From Deep Places was also prior to Trap-Weed, so I know how it was going to end. I really loved it though.
Hell Friend was good. Totally different world. It was sweet in some ways.
Satan's Jewel Crown was nice. It felt like the same world as A Feast for Dust or Sown From Salt. I liked it.
The Salt Wedding was nice, and a solid entry to the Trap-Weed series.
Villa Locusta was interesting. I liked it.
Trap-Weed was interesting; I liked it too.
Sown From Salt wasn't what I expected, but was good.
Two Captains was strange, since it's set earlier than Trap-Weed. So you know what's going to happen. But it's not like they didn't know that, so they must have intended it. I liked it.
Jack-Knife was good, but I didn't like that it was written like a play. Still good though.
A Feast for Dust was lovely.
Drawn Up From Deep Places was also prior to Trap-Weed, so I know how it was going to end. I really loved it though.
Hell Friend was good. Totally different world. It was sweet in some ways.
Satan's Jewel Crown was nice. It felt like the same world as A Feast for Dust or Sown From Salt. I liked it.
The Salt Wedding was nice, and a solid entry to the Trap-Weed series.
April 25, 2022
Long-time readers of this blog might remember that I have taken to reading as much of Gemma Files’ backlist as I can. Indeed, as my previous two reviews on her work might reveal, Files’ short story work has been one of my greatest pleasures in writing for this blog. Her prose is gorgeous, and her story ideas are spectacular.
I’m sad to say, however, that Drawn Up From Deep Places is, by far, my least favorite of her work thus far. Which isn’t to say that Files’ writing is bad! Rather, what drags this collection down to the depths are a few problematic tropes involved with the characters.
Read the rest of the review here.
I’m sad to say, however, that Drawn Up From Deep Places is, by far, my least favorite of her work thus far. Which isn’t to say that Files’ writing is bad! Rather, what drags this collection down to the depths are a few problematic tropes involved with the characters.
Read the rest of the review here.
September 13, 2018
Gemma Files' new collection is a triumph of eerie, visceral horror and weirdness. Files is a gifted writer who manages the not-easy trick of writing that is beautiful, graceful, and downright creepy. It's not an accomplishment that every horror writer can master, but Files does so with this exquisite assembly of well-crafted stories. The volume is another wonderful creation from Files, well-worthy of the author who has given us such new classics in the genre as "Experimental Film" and "We Will All Go Down Together".
May 15, 2022
My introduction to this rising star of "female-fronted horror" and I was not disappointed. Gemma Files style is lyrical and richly ornamented, if I may say so. Adding to that the unusual settings of pirates and western (which I really like) and you have yourself a very fine collection of (slightly) horrifying stories with a nice bent towards the erotic at times and with a beautiful intimate edge.
June 12, 2024
Not necessarily genres I'd seek out intentionally but I just love the way the author writes
October 27, 2024
A short story collection with pronounced historical adventure, homoerotic, and horror strands woven together. There are a number of single stories, ranging from an excellent opener about a Pictish slave in Herculaneum at the point of Vesuvius' huge eruption (that one included the most direct reference in the book to cosmic elder gods, though a very pronounced flavor of weird and unapproachable powers pervades the entire book) to the weakest one to my mind, which was a riff on Jack the Ripper, written as a screenplay. It was ... okay, but felt a bit meandering. But it was short. Then there were two little mini-collections based on bonded pairs of men who entered into their relationships with greater or lesser enthusiasm, but found themselves constrained through multiple stories to work their shit out. Supernatural elements abound, and it should be noted that Files is not an author who shies away from a degree of explicitness, though she doesn't generally do it in a prurient manner. One set of stories is much more spicy than the other, because of the setting and the characters and the genre (western vs pirate). I'm going to say the theme tying all these stories together is slavery - either explicit or implicit. But the part where there is a unifying thread does not detract from the stories, which are mostly really good. Except the Jack the Ripper one. Didn't love that.
February 1, 2023
I was really pumped to get my hands on this book after loving Gemma File's novel Experimental Film, but was really surprised- whilethe majority of the stories were eerie in tone and very well written, it was like reading an entirely different author!
There were many excellent short stories in this collection, some of them connected, which was fun, but I am not generally into pirate-fantasy stuff lol.
The lgbtq twists on certain characters was fresh and excellent, but it took me much longer than I'd like to admit to get through this book.
There were many excellent short stories in this collection, some of them connected, which was fun, but I am not generally into pirate-fantasy stuff lol.
The lgbtq twists on certain characters was fresh and excellent, but it took me much longer than I'd like to admit to get through this book.
October 17, 2024
Some of these stories I really really loved, particularly the weird westerns. Other stories I didn't like nearly as well though. This is the first time I've ever given less than 5 stars to a Files collection of stories so it's a new experience to me. I can't exactly pinpoint what it is that was different about the stories that I found just average as opposed to the one's I found superlative but perhaps I'll try reading this collection at a later date and see if I can determine the difference.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews