GREAT BRITISH HORROR 5 continues the annual series showcasing the best in modern British horror. Every year, the series will feature ten British authors, plus one international guest contributor, telling tales of this sceptered isle.
The 2020 edition, MIDSUMMER EVE, features eleven more previously unpublished stories from authors at the very top of their game.
The best comes close to the end in this collection of 13 stories all confusingly titled Midsummer Eve. Jenn Ashworth's story of a couple's unravelling honeymoon at a luxury resort is an eerie and brilliant evocation of the earliest days of the pandemic and the fate of the Diamond Princess cruise ship. My next favourite was Simon Clark's story of of a man reconstructing the music of a vanished composer. The combination of time slip, hostile tribespeople and weird electronic sounds was strangely reminiscent of classic Dr Who. The rest are a mixed bag, inventive and creepy, but not all living up to the folk horror vibe promised by the cover.