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The Light Is Alone
The light is very much alone in this inaugural collection that locates maleficence of various shades firmly in the dark. Witchery seeks justice. A school is home to diabolism. Heat worship is cultural death and a political gathering is unfailingly nefarious. The devil, in all his vile and glorious modernity, arrives. Light is finally the beacon signalling only dread.
88 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
About the author
Thomas Phillips
20 books18 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Thomas Phillips was born in 1969. A writer of fiction and theory, he is also known internationally as a composer and performer of minimalist electronic music. He has taught multidisciplinary courses on literature, music, and film at various universities in North America and Europe.
Thomas Phillips was born in 1969. A writer of fiction and theory, he is also known internationally as a composer and performer of minimalist electronic music. He has taught multidisciplinary courses on literature, music, and film at various universities in North America and Europe.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 12, 2014
Thomas Phillips presents here a masterful blend of minimalism, ambiguity, and diabolism in the space of six short pieces. This is a perfect addition to the stunningly packaged Les Éditions de l'Oubli library, each edition of which (so far) seems to fill a pre-ordained role such that the whole forms a complete statement, a singularity composed of a carefully considered variety (though I suspect that D.T. Ghetu, the curator of this gallery of rogues, works more in the way of Fellini, allowing chance and circumstance to compose themselves, requiring only the occasional adjustment to ensure that each piece falls into place as if meticulously composed.)
Not a single word is wasted within the space of these stories. We are shown what needs to be revealed and little else. At times we are able to discern the crucial elements by observing precisely what is not shown, the absence of light shedding its own particular illumination, speaking with a voice all the stronger for the fact that it remains unheard, like a composition accentuated by moments of silence.
The pieces are as follows:
Alyssa
Tea
The Light is Alone
Ov Fire and the Void
Keep Holy the Sabbath
En Attendant Le Diable : (A play for chorus in one act)
All of the stories are of a piece, some perhaps sharing a central character (we'll never know for sure), all but perhaps the titular piece being linked to the theme of an empowerment bestowed by the infernal. We are shown a kidnapping carried out by an errant priest, a nocturnal perambulation fraught with apprehension in a girl's school, a diabolical Eucharistic rite performed for the elucidation of the public, and several other wondrous things. The end papers present us with an image of a black robed figure wearing a horned animal mask which must be seen to be believed. A little further on we are given a black and white photograph of a woman half-encased in shadow. The woman's face betrays weariness, but her silhouette reveals a vibrant countenance of its own as if concealing a hidden goddess who demands nothing short of final justice. As is always the case with Ex Occidente Press volumes, the packaging perfect compliments the writing.
This is a work immaculate in its presentation and execution. It is graced by traces of Huysmans and infused with the living breath of Bataille, yet it retains a spirit all its own.
Not a single word is wasted within the space of these stories. We are shown what needs to be revealed and little else. At times we are able to discern the crucial elements by observing precisely what is not shown, the absence of light shedding its own particular illumination, speaking with a voice all the stronger for the fact that it remains unheard, like a composition accentuated by moments of silence.
The pieces are as follows:
Alyssa
Tea
The Light is Alone
Ov Fire and the Void
Keep Holy the Sabbath
En Attendant Le Diable : (A play for chorus in one act)
All of the stories are of a piece, some perhaps sharing a central character (we'll never know for sure), all but perhaps the titular piece being linked to the theme of an empowerment bestowed by the infernal. We are shown a kidnapping carried out by an errant priest, a nocturnal perambulation fraught with apprehension in a girl's school, a diabolical Eucharistic rite performed for the elucidation of the public, and several other wondrous things. The end papers present us with an image of a black robed figure wearing a horned animal mask which must be seen to be believed. A little further on we are given a black and white photograph of a woman half-encased in shadow. The woman's face betrays weariness, but her silhouette reveals a vibrant countenance of its own as if concealing a hidden goddess who demands nothing short of final justice. As is always the case with Ex Occidente Press volumes, the packaging perfect compliments the writing.
This is a work immaculate in its presentation and execution. It is graced by traces of Huysmans and infused with the living breath of Bataille, yet it retains a spirit all its own.
April 10, 2022
Unfortunately I wasn't as enarmoured with this short collection as I anticipated. I appreceate the diabolical cult-elements and malicious undertones, but overall it fell flat since neither existential horror nor (anti-)religious or societal dread really manifested. And that's what this is about, isn't it?
January 19, 2021
And the passiveness theme comes into full blossom here with a new pupil – Alice (Alyssa?) – travelling by the ultimate passiveness we are told (aeroplane) to a girls’ school in Switzerland and, with a prose style in sublime cumulative overdrive, we learn of her jetlag and a girl’s instinctive passive opening herself to forthright fate and her meeting of another girl with a dark backstory and a driver who had driven Alice to the school from the airport whom she initially called her ‘champion’…
I promise no plot spoilers as I later complete this story and this book. But I sense that as she hears explicit classical music when she arrived at the school we may be right in believing in the importance of such a leitmotif force in literature even when classical music (modern or otherwise) is not explicit.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
I promise no plot spoilers as I later complete this story and this book. But I sense that as she hears explicit classical music when she arrived at the school we may be right in believing in the importance of such a leitmotif force in literature even when classical music (modern or otherwise) is not explicit.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
April 27, 2024
Phillips, Thomas - The Light Is Alone
At first glance, the short sentences and chopped style of Phillips appears easy. It is not, this is deceptively dense.
Clipped, pared to the essence, this is the antidote to purple overdose.
From young authors with a fondness for adjectives to establish scribes with a weakness for product placement, both camps could study a story or two.
“Alyssa” resides in the apartment or boarding house. One that used to be quiet. Peaceful. Until the new arrival, young male, full of himself, his importance, heedless of requests to be more neighborly. Such is merely the launching, as the story soon shifts to the conflict between zealot and heathen. Of force and fortitude.
“Keep Holy The Sabbath” lingers on new girl Alice. New student, school, new continent for that matter. Where social norms, on the surface, appear similar. Once she is comfortable, however, and she sees under the superficial, fundamental beliefs and assumptions are rocked.
These two are the strongest tales, and perhaps act as bookends. In between are a trilogy of short works. Too short for my liking, as none gather enough momentum to get anywhere. They remind this reader of prose poems, which I am not a fan of, equating them with academic exercises.
Jonas (Zagava) has five titles by Phillips, and one can see why he champions this author.
Note: The Light Is Alone, was previously offered by another and that edition is long out of print.
At first glance, the short sentences and chopped style of Phillips appears easy. It is not, this is deceptively dense.
Clipped, pared to the essence, this is the antidote to purple overdose.
From young authors with a fondness for adjectives to establish scribes with a weakness for product placement, both camps could study a story or two.
“Alyssa” resides in the apartment or boarding house. One that used to be quiet. Peaceful. Until the new arrival, young male, full of himself, his importance, heedless of requests to be more neighborly. Such is merely the launching, as the story soon shifts to the conflict between zealot and heathen. Of force and fortitude.
“Keep Holy The Sabbath” lingers on new girl Alice. New student, school, new continent for that matter. Where social norms, on the surface, appear similar. Once she is comfortable, however, and she sees under the superficial, fundamental beliefs and assumptions are rocked.
These two are the strongest tales, and perhaps act as bookends. In between are a trilogy of short works. Too short for my liking, as none gather enough momentum to get anywhere. They remind this reader of prose poems, which I am not a fan of, equating them with academic exercises.
Jonas (Zagava) has five titles by Phillips, and one can see why he champions this author.
Note: The Light Is Alone, was previously offered by another and that edition is long out of print.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews