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The Knife and The Wound It Deals
Thirteen tales of gothic terror, chilling suspense, and uncanny occurrences, The Knife and the Wound It Deals leaves no strange stone unturned in the journey down the extreme and disturbing pathways of the human psyche. The subtly shocking opening story introduces the terrible monsters that can determine our fate, from external realities like death and time to internal demons like madness, lust, and revenge. With a diverse range of settings, subjects, and themes, this collection connects the traditions of the gothic past to our equally disturbing present: a murder victim who refuses to stay buried; a World War II era wedding dress with a score to settle; the defeat and strange triumphs of death and bodily decay; a routine operation that reveals a horrifying secret world; an ancient burial ground that unearths a most bizarre set of corpses; the compulsions and consequences of desire, ambition, and dread… The Knife and the Wound It Deals—a dark and disturbing exploration of the lurid obsessions, strange twists of fate, and mysterious forces that haunt our darkest midnight hours, plus a sneak preview of B.E. Scully’s controversial new novel All Things Truly Wicked.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
194 pages, Paperback
First published October 5, 2012
1 person is currently reading
376 people want to read
About the author
B.E. Scully
29 books49 followersB.E. Scully lives in a haunted red house that lacks a foundation in the misty woods of Oregon with a variety of human and animal companions. Scully is the author of the critically acclaimed gothic thriller Verland: the Transformation, the short story collection The Knife and the Wound It Deals, and numerous short stories, poems, and articles. Her latest novella, The Eye That Blinds, with be released by DarkFuse Publishing in 2015. In addition, her young adult novel The Tower of Together will also be released in 2015 by Eldritch Press. Published work, interviews, and odd scribblings can be found at bescully.com.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 6, 2013
After reading Scully’s debut novel Verland: The Transformation, I was eager to dive into her second release. The Knife and The Wound It Deals is a short story collection and reflects a diverse range of styles and themes. The Gothic touch she brought to Verland: The Transformation is most definitely present, but she proves a multi-faceted talent with touches of science fiction, noir, and fantasy.
The Gothic literary tradition is her forte, and the collection opens with an eerie, atmospheric piece on, rather appropriately, death. “This Thing Lives” is an examination of a man afraid to live and when faced with death, he discovers the horrific truth about his barren existence. “Champ’s Last Round” is a rousing tale far more in the traditional horror vein than other Scully offerings. Part zombie, part Frankenstein experiment, it is disturbing and terrible in its implications. “Grief Assassins” is another highlight, reflecting Scully’s depth of writing. This story blurs the lines between science fiction, fantasy, and horror superbly. “A Simple Game of Chess” is a trip inside the mind of a madman. The twisting paths and winding roads almost left me in a state of madness, particularly after the fleeting reference to Communists and decadence that haunted me for hours afterward. Stories like “Fire Devils,” “Earth Shall Return Them,” and “The Mirror Tells a Different Tale” put Scully squarely in the forefront of modern Gothic writers.
This is not horror in the modern sense. This is Gothic literature. It’s not brutal, violent, or gore-soaked. The stories are dark, haunting, disturbing, and horrific in their implications. Scully takes the darkness of the human soul, rips it from the hiding places deep within us, and forces us to look the beast in the face. A much more frightening prospect than one more serial killer I assure you.
Originally published at Horror Novel Reviews
The Gothic literary tradition is her forte, and the collection opens with an eerie, atmospheric piece on, rather appropriately, death. “This Thing Lives” is an examination of a man afraid to live and when faced with death, he discovers the horrific truth about his barren existence. “Champ’s Last Round” is a rousing tale far more in the traditional horror vein than other Scully offerings. Part zombie, part Frankenstein experiment, it is disturbing and terrible in its implications. “Grief Assassins” is another highlight, reflecting Scully’s depth of writing. This story blurs the lines between science fiction, fantasy, and horror superbly. “A Simple Game of Chess” is a trip inside the mind of a madman. The twisting paths and winding roads almost left me in a state of madness, particularly after the fleeting reference to Communists and decadence that haunted me for hours afterward. Stories like “Fire Devils,” “Earth Shall Return Them,” and “The Mirror Tells a Different Tale” put Scully squarely in the forefront of modern Gothic writers.
This is not horror in the modern sense. This is Gothic literature. It’s not brutal, violent, or gore-soaked. The stories are dark, haunting, disturbing, and horrific in their implications. Scully takes the darkness of the human soul, rips it from the hiding places deep within us, and forces us to look the beast in the face. A much more frightening prospect than one more serial killer I assure you.
Originally published at Horror Novel Reviews
October 20, 2012
I was going to wait until I (fingers crossed) won this from Goodreads, but I'm glad I didn't. Most short story collections are a throw-away filler "novel" when authors need to release something. This one is far from that. The stories are diverse, intense and definitely creepy. There's the traditional horror style fare complete with mental institutions and crazed doctors. Then we shift gears to the ghastly fate of those who rape the land in a brilliant commentary on war and colonialism. Spooks, specters, things that might be, things that aren't but are, death, serial killers that aren't, monsters of the mind, the lure of destruction and vengeance- Scully covers them all. Really incredible collection.
November 5, 2012
This is a collection of short horror fiction. Some, like ‘Champ’s Last Round’ make me think of the Twilight Zone- they would have made great episodes. Others, like ‘Grief Assassins’, are very poignant. ‘Released’ is achingly sad. ‘A Simple Game of Chess’ could easily have been written by Poe. There is dark fantasy (‘Earth Shall Return Them’) and the author’s version of the selling your soul to the devil tale.
It’s a well rounded collection; the stories are all very distinct. Scully avoids excess gore and blood in favor of more subtle, sophisticated horror. This is a connoisseur’s anthology.
It’s a well rounded collection; the stories are all very distinct. Scully avoids excess gore and blood in favor of more subtle, sophisticated horror. This is a connoisseur’s anthology.
March 22, 2014
The Knife and The Wound it Deals is a short story collection by author B. E. Scully, I knew nothing of the author when I began to read and had purposely avoided all the information already available online.
The first story, ‘The Thing Lives’, carried me through a tram ride in an overcrowded carriage into Manchester city centre, causing me to almost miss my stop. Will Aughten is a man who doesn’t live, he merely exists, terrified that he will unleash his closely guarded secret on the world. In the end he finds a far more terrifying truth.
In ‘Age Will Be Responsible’, fate comes back to take her revenge against an aged miscreant.
‘Earth Shall Return Them’ is the type of tale passed down from generation to generation, of ancient won epic battles.
‘The Devil’s in the Details’, asks how far would you go, what would you sacrifice in order to achieve success.
There is proper psychological horror here, subtle and sharp, the type that chills you to the bone and makes your heart beat faster, your nerves ache and requires you to check that the front door is double locked one last time, as opposed to ‘Saw gore fiction’, that is meant to turn your stomach. Not all of the stories are meant to induce chills, however, in the sad but sweet,’Animal Undertaking’, an elderly lady takes charge of her own end,’ and in ‘Released’, love finds a way to transcend all barriers.
It is my opinion that someone who can pull off a great engaging short story is probably a better writer than someone who can write a decent novel. There is less room for filler, more need for the sharply observed solid character and tighter plotting required.
Fascinatingly B. E. Scully changes voice in each and every story making it seem as if each one was authored by a different writer. Each voice is as authentic as the last. So many of these stories could have been full length novels.
‘The Suffering Other’, ‘Age Will Be Responsible’ and ‘Lucky 13′ were amongst my favourites, and many of the stories lingered in my imagination for days afterwards.
This is a collection written with a deft hand, best read alone, where the floorboards creak the loudest.
I want to read it again. I will read it again.
I received this collection after being contacted by the publisher on 28th Dec 2013, freely received for an honest review. The only information I had prior to reading was that provided by the publisher.
The first story, ‘The Thing Lives’, carried me through a tram ride in an overcrowded carriage into Manchester city centre, causing me to almost miss my stop. Will Aughten is a man who doesn’t live, he merely exists, terrified that he will unleash his closely guarded secret on the world. In the end he finds a far more terrifying truth.
In ‘Age Will Be Responsible’, fate comes back to take her revenge against an aged miscreant.
‘Earth Shall Return Them’ is the type of tale passed down from generation to generation, of ancient won epic battles.
‘The Devil’s in the Details’, asks how far would you go, what would you sacrifice in order to achieve success.
There is proper psychological horror here, subtle and sharp, the type that chills you to the bone and makes your heart beat faster, your nerves ache and requires you to check that the front door is double locked one last time, as opposed to ‘Saw gore fiction’, that is meant to turn your stomach. Not all of the stories are meant to induce chills, however, in the sad but sweet,’Animal Undertaking’, an elderly lady takes charge of her own end,’ and in ‘Released’, love finds a way to transcend all barriers.
It is my opinion that someone who can pull off a great engaging short story is probably a better writer than someone who can write a decent novel. There is less room for filler, more need for the sharply observed solid character and tighter plotting required.
Fascinatingly B. E. Scully changes voice in each and every story making it seem as if each one was authored by a different writer. Each voice is as authentic as the last. So many of these stories could have been full length novels.
‘The Suffering Other’, ‘Age Will Be Responsible’ and ‘Lucky 13′ were amongst my favourites, and many of the stories lingered in my imagination for days afterwards.
This is a collection written with a deft hand, best read alone, where the floorboards creak the loudest.
I want to read it again. I will read it again.
I received this collection after being contacted by the publisher on 28th Dec 2013, freely received for an honest review. The only information I had prior to reading was that provided by the publisher.
December 19, 2012
I kind of feel bad. The Knife and The Wound It Deals is getting really high reviews from every other reader, but I found it rather meh. The stories are diverse and compelling, but I had a really hard time reading around the ARC's formatting issues. The text laid out on my ereader with a line break a few words into every second line, a handful of seemingly random words were given hyperlinks that lead nowhere, and changes in point of view or setting weren't given the slightest visual separation cue, even something as little as a new paragraph. Rather than falling immersed into Scully's stories, I spent my time paging back and forth trying to figure out if I was in a new scene or if someone new had entered a conversation.
Three stars. Scully is a writer worth following, and I suspect I would have been happier with her stories if I had encountered them in a more accommodating medium.
Note that I read an ARC PDF for this review and that the formatting issues that so bothered me might not feature in a finished copy.
My copy of this book was provided by the publisher through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.
Three stars. Scully is a writer worth following, and I suspect I would have been happier with her stories if I had encountered them in a more accommodating medium.
Note that I read an ARC PDF for this review and that the formatting issues that so bothered me might not feature in a finished copy.
My copy of this book was provided by the publisher through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.
May 9, 2013
Review from the wife.
The stories in here had some very original concepts, and a very restrained style. This isn't a gory grand guignol story collection, it's much more psychological.
She did think a few of the stories were weaker than others. The beginning one, particularly, did not hold her interest at all, because she felt that the fear of the Thing was so poorly articulated, that she did not engage with either of the characters, at all. Most of them were conceptually very strong and entertaining.
She got the sense that it could use another cleanup-there were some broken quotations, formatting errors, and proofreading errors, but she said it was a pretty small, and manageable amount. Just more than she'd like to see, especially since her other complaint was that the written tone slowed her down a bit. It wasn't as awkwardly structured as some of the books she's read, but it still didn't do the concepts justice. She said she'd love to see a tough editor tackle it, flag awkward sentences, streamline the writing a little bit. She enjoyed it a lot, she just said that it did not grip the way that it would have, if the sentence-level writing had flowed a bit more smoothly.
The stories in here had some very original concepts, and a very restrained style. This isn't a gory grand guignol story collection, it's much more psychological.
She did think a few of the stories were weaker than others. The beginning one, particularly, did not hold her interest at all, because she felt that the fear of the Thing was so poorly articulated, that she did not engage with either of the characters, at all. Most of them were conceptually very strong and entertaining.
She got the sense that it could use another cleanup-there were some broken quotations, formatting errors, and proofreading errors, but she said it was a pretty small, and manageable amount. Just more than she'd like to see, especially since her other complaint was that the written tone slowed her down a bit. It wasn't as awkwardly structured as some of the books she's read, but it still didn't do the concepts justice. She said she'd love to see a tough editor tackle it, flag awkward sentences, streamline the writing a little bit. She enjoyed it a lot, she just said that it did not grip the way that it would have, if the sentence-level writing had flowed a bit more smoothly.
December 7, 2012
This was a nice anthology. The author had a wide variety of styles that is sure to appeal to anyone who like dark tales. I have seen some comparisons to Poe and I don't think that's too far off the mark.
Well done.
Well done.
Want to read
May 3, 2013Another great FREE book. It's a collection of creepy stories.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews