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Gaseous Clay and Other Ambivalent Tales
The ultimate digestion of insecurity in a very strange hotel. A hard-hitting fairground fever-dream. The new king of the maggots and bloody piano keys. A foul-mouthed talking mockingbird in American suburbia. A bizarre crime caper at what may just be the end of the world. And a chilling supernatural brush with a very badly made clay owl.
John Travis's writing blurs between genres, rooted in many but coming with his own unique style. His stories are weird, subtle, grotesque, emotional, intelligent, human and surreal, existing in an area somewhere between horror and outsider art. Reading them, one gets the feeling that they are connected to both British horror writing and to more experimental and unusual threads as you explore the quiet backwaters of life in the UK and elsewhere, blended with wild psychological mayhem and terrifying supernatural happenings.
This volume collects 16 stories, several never before published. Each is distinctive and individual, and together they form a spectacular example of British Slipstream writing.
John Travis's writing blurs between genres, rooted in many but coming with his own unique style. His stories are weird, subtle, grotesque, emotional, intelligent, human and surreal, existing in an area somewhere between horror and outsider art. Reading them, one gets the feeling that they are connected to both British horror writing and to more experimental and unusual threads as you explore the quiet backwaters of life in the UK and elsewhere, blended with wild psychological mayhem and terrifying supernatural happenings.
This volume collects 16 stories, several never before published. Each is distinctive and individual, and together they form a spectacular example of British Slipstream writing.
282 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2021
2 people want to read
About the author
John Travis
45 books14 followersCalled 'a writer of considerable energy' in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, John Travis is the author of six books - a short story collection, Mostly Monochrome Stories, and two novels, The Terror and the Tortoiseshell and The Designated Coconut, the former attracting the attention of several Hollywood film companies. His most recent books are a second collection of short stories, Gaseous Clay and Other Ambivalent Tales, and two chapbooks, Greenbeard and Eloquent Years of Silence.
His many short stories and novellas have been published in anthologies and journals such as Nemonymous. British Invasion and in both volumes of The Humdrumming Books of Horror Stories, his story from the second volume, 'The Tobacconist's Concession' appearing on the 2009 shortlist for a British Fantasy Award. Writing what he can, when he can, if by some miracle he ever made any money from his stories about talking animals and various haunted objects and people, he'd like to move to the country or the coast, possibly Scarborough.
His many short stories and novellas have been published in anthologies and journals such as Nemonymous. British Invasion and in both volumes of The Humdrumming Books of Horror Stories, his story from the second volume, 'The Tobacconist's Concession' appearing on the 2009 shortlist for a British Fantasy Award. Writing what he can, when he can, if by some miracle he ever made any money from his stories about talking animals and various haunted objects and people, he'd like to move to the country or the coast, possibly Scarborough.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 2, 2023
John Travis is one of the UK's most original and distinctive literary voices. His work is hard to define, weird, well that's for certain, horror, yes, but never blood-and-gore blatant, psychological, oh yes, surreal, absolutely, but there is another ingredient that is much harder to pigeonhole, much more elusive.
One thing is for certain, the stories of John Travis will always entertain. They are a delight. Often funny, always darkly tinged, sometimes a puzzle, sometimes disturbing. His latest collection, "Gaseous Clay" - loves a sharp pun, does John Travis - is the perfect showcase for his work.
The stories in here are told with a slightly wide-eyed, innocence that belies the shadows they conceal. There is a dreamlike quality to each tale. One of those dreams that seems odd at first, without threat, until the strangeness really kicks in. Within these pages, you will encounter a man pursued by a pair of shoes, a take on the old West that like no other and as for those owls...
"Gaseous Clay", unnerving, unsettling and always inventive and entertaining. Highly recommended.
One thing is for certain, the stories of John Travis will always entertain. They are a delight. Often funny, always darkly tinged, sometimes a puzzle, sometimes disturbing. His latest collection, "Gaseous Clay" - loves a sharp pun, does John Travis - is the perfect showcase for his work.
The stories in here are told with a slightly wide-eyed, innocence that belies the shadows they conceal. There is a dreamlike quality to each tale. One of those dreams that seems odd at first, without threat, until the strangeness really kicks in. Within these pages, you will encounter a man pursued by a pair of shoes, a take on the old West that like no other and as for those owls...
"Gaseous Clay", unnerving, unsettling and always inventive and entertaining. Highly recommended.
June 27, 2022
Anyone looking for an escape from the depressing reality of the world as it is right now could do a lot worse than spending some time with the stories contained within this book. A handy tip for anyone doing so is to park any ideas of straightforward, linear narratives and gritty realism at the door and to just let the surrealism and weirdness wash over you.
A problem with surreal/bizarro fiction is that sometimes the stories can be too weird, simply becoming a random set of images and ideas thrown together for effect but that’s not the case here; despite the genuine weirdness on display here, nothing is out of place, everything serves the narrative.
The writing throughout is top notch and I doff my hat to two marvellously punny titles, Gaseous Clay and Tequila Mockingbird – the latter having the last laugh, and becoming even funnier by having the story feature a mockingbird that drinks tequila. Class.
I enjoyed my time among these stores greatly, slipstream fiction at its best.
A problem with surreal/bizarro fiction is that sometimes the stories can be too weird, simply becoming a random set of images and ideas thrown together for effect but that’s not the case here; despite the genuine weirdness on display here, nothing is out of place, everything serves the narrative.
The writing throughout is top notch and I doff my hat to two marvellously punny titles, Gaseous Clay and Tequila Mockingbird – the latter having the last laugh, and becoming even funnier by having the story feature a mockingbird that drinks tequila. Class.
I enjoyed my time among these stores greatly, slipstream fiction at its best.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews