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Thread of the Infinite
What is industrial horror? Is it smoke stacks and gas towers? Is it the metal cranes of the shipyards turned golem? The stuff of our nightmares has been evolving since the industrial revolution and the rise of the machines…
Machines aren’t our friends. We were told they would bring freedom and leisure time, three day weeks and the like, but what they brought was redundancy, replacement, and the scrap heaps of life. How can you not look for horror in something capable of so much wholesale destruction of hope?
And that’s what’s waiting for you in here, the wholesale destruction of hope at the hands of twisted industrial landscapes, smoke stacks and gas towers and metal golems that have no souls, no spirits, and can so easily drape themselves in our skins and walk in our shoes, doing everything we can do, faster, and with ruthless efficiency, removing the need for us. That’s the world these stories live in, and it’s a bleak place.
Machines aren’t our friends. We were told they would bring freedom and leisure time, three day weeks and the like, but what they brought was redundancy, replacement, and the scrap heaps of life. How can you not look for horror in something capable of so much wholesale destruction of hope?
And that’s what’s waiting for you in here, the wholesale destruction of hope at the hands of twisted industrial landscapes, smoke stacks and gas towers and metal golems that have no souls, no spirits, and can so easily drape themselves in our skins and walk in our shoes, doing everything we can do, faster, and with ruthless efficiency, removing the need for us. That’s the world these stories live in, and it’s a bleak place.
230 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 9, 2021
Enjoyed this book. Read it in a couple of hours. My personal favourites were the poetic In the city of Concrete Dandelions by Cate Gardner, the dread-propagating 'Transcending Nature' by Stephanie Ellis, and the cultastically eery 'The Harvest' by Phil Sloman.
Recommend to all horror fans looking for a collection of great shorts.
Recommend to all horror fans looking for a collection of great shorts.
November 11, 2021
It's easy to see how horror can be found in industry and the march forward in technology. A lot of people raise red flags over social media and how we all seem to be absorbed by it all. I'm not afraid of technological advances, but it's not hard to find out how they can be used for ill will (the atomic bomb anyone?).
I picked this one up because an author I follow on Twitter who also post lots of photos of birds and mushrooms has a story in it. But, also, I do love horror anthologies. I absolutely love short stories because most often that's all I have time for, and a book full of them is the answer to my desire to read and my brain's lack of remembering where we were last in a novel.
The stories run the gamut of past, present and future horrors (or futures reminiscent of the past). Some make quite the statement about our reliance on tech, and some are really quite beautiful even as the horror unfolds.
There were two stories I didn't quite get the ending of, but still enjoyed reading. Overall, though, it was a really good read.
I picked this one up because an author I follow on Twitter who also post lots of photos of birds and mushrooms has a story in it. But, also, I do love horror anthologies. I absolutely love short stories because most often that's all I have time for, and a book full of them is the answer to my desire to read and my brain's lack of remembering where we were last in a novel.
The stories run the gamut of past, present and future horrors (or futures reminiscent of the past). Some make quite the statement about our reliance on tech, and some are really quite beautiful even as the horror unfolds.
There were two stories I didn't quite get the ending of, but still enjoyed reading. Overall, though, it was a really good read.
September 26, 2023
Not knowing what exactly 'industrial horror' was I was excited to give this collection a read.
Overall I enjoyed it but while I really liked some of the stories others I just couldn't wait to be over. While I understand that that's always going to be the case in a short story collection I rarely find the variance in enjoyment to be so stark.
None of them are badly written and all have an interesting idea or neat motif. I especially liked the stories that focussed on the concept of industry rather than exclusively industrialised-mechanical monsters or other horrors. Those that combined both, truly excellent but few of them.
The concepts of grinding progress and the drive for profit and development at the expense of the human spirit are ripe mining for horror stories and for all its faults this book has succeeded in piquing my interest into industrial horror. I would highly recommend it as an introduction to industrial horror, as its also quite short, making it a quick read and small time investment.
Overall I enjoyed it but while I really liked some of the stories others I just couldn't wait to be over. While I understand that that's always going to be the case in a short story collection I rarely find the variance in enjoyment to be so stark.
None of them are badly written and all have an interesting idea or neat motif. I especially liked the stories that focussed on the concept of industry rather than exclusively industrialised-mechanical monsters or other horrors. Those that combined both, truly excellent but few of them.
The concepts of grinding progress and the drive for profit and development at the expense of the human spirit are ripe mining for horror stories and for all its faults this book has succeeded in piquing my interest into industrial horror. I would highly recommend it as an introduction to industrial horror, as its also quite short, making it a quick read and small time investment.
August 12, 2022
3.5, or thereabouts.
Some hits and some misses, which is to be expected. The stories run the gamut from past to future, enigmatic to concrete. There's a connecting thread of technology and loss of humanity between them which verge into sci-fi, especially in the present and futuristic stories. The connections to industrialization are sometimes vague, but that may be on me as a reader for missing some hints or subtext.
Some hits and some misses, which is to be expected. The stories run the gamut from past to future, enigmatic to concrete. There's a connecting thread of technology and loss of humanity between them which verge into sci-fi, especially in the present and futuristic stories. The connections to industrialization are sometimes vague, but that may be on me as a reader for missing some hints or subtext.
April 26, 2023
Was originally going to give this a 3/5 because some of the stories in here were a bit dull and as someone else said in their review “a bit hit or miss” but I found the last story was really captivating. Was a nice overall read
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews