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Night Of The Rider
No one escapes the mythic cursed Rider and his hounds. Barnabas, fleeing London and his gambling debts, takes refuge in his family’s country home with his father and his sister, Leonie. She has her own secrets, but can she save her brother from certain death?Talking about Night Of The Rider, author Alyson Faye “I enjoy writing horror hugely, and I am drawn to the Victorian period repeatedly. I’ve read a lot about the period and enjoy the research side, probably this goes back to my roots - doing a History degree and teaching. In this story I found I could mix magic and reality in a way I’ve not done much before. I began writing it on a residential in a Castle in Yorkshire in a huge Victorian library- so that helped my mood. I do enjoy writing Victorian Gothic stories, but this time I had the idea of combining it with a magical element, the cursed, once human, Rider. I wanted to contrast the real world of Victorian London’s seedy underbelly, with life in the family’s country mansion where the myth of the Rider casts a long shadow.”(cover by Adrian Baldwin)
44 pages, Paperback
Published February 17, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 3, 2019
Intense, dark and description-rich: "...animals paused in mid-forage, faces lifted, smelling his fear-soaked sweat". This supernatural and gothic tale hits every sweet spot. Highly recommended.
May 1, 2026
Loved this!
Folk horror that turns into a type of romance story I absolutely loved this! The Rider had me in my feels and the ending warmed my heart.
So good. A must read for folk horror fans!
Folk horror that turns into a type of romance story I absolutely loved this! The Rider had me in my feels and the ending warmed my heart.
So good. A must read for folk horror fans!
September 10, 2019
My review will appear on Kendall Reviews before posting here. - www.kendallreviews.com
August 2, 2019
I enjoyed this short story. Some scenes were appalling and others were tender. It made for a nice contrast. This was my first time reading Alyson Faye, but it won’t be my last.
May 17, 2019
Gothic and Folk Horror Combined
Gothic and Folk Horror combine with a touch of romance in this short story. The mysterious Rider, a cursed creature, preys on the debt-ridden Barnabas, only for his sister, Leonie, to intervene in the worst way imaginable - or so he thinks. Whilst this is very firmly set on the gothic genre, it was good to see that Leonie was no fainting flower, her actions adding a feminist touch to the story, the rebellion of a young woman against the constraints applied by a Victorian patriarchal society,. If there is such a thing as a 'heart-warming chiller' then this is it. Read this at the end of an evening with a glass of wine - as I did.
Gothic and Folk Horror combine with a touch of romance in this short story. The mysterious Rider, a cursed creature, preys on the debt-ridden Barnabas, only for his sister, Leonie, to intervene in the worst way imaginable - or so he thinks. Whilst this is very firmly set on the gothic genre, it was good to see that Leonie was no fainting flower, her actions adding a feminist touch to the story, the rebellion of a young woman against the constraints applied by a Victorian patriarchal society,. If there is such a thing as a 'heart-warming chiller' then this is it. Read this at the end of an evening with a glass of wine - as I did.
November 2, 2019
Brilliant!
Fast pacing, great characters and brilliant plot! Loved the twist at the end!
Want to read more of the author’s work.
Fast pacing, great characters and brilliant plot! Loved the twist at the end!
Want to read more of the author’s work.
February 22, 2021
I picked this book up aeons ago, as a bit of a splurge on Short Sharp Shocks titles, planning to pick one up whenever I finished a longer work. Bizarrely though, I had been researching The Wild Hunt for another story idea when this rose to the top of my TBR. What a happy coincidence.
This is one of Faye's gothic pieces, a style that she reproduces amazingly, while still managing to shake things up with more modern sensibilities, especially in her female characters.
Though the prose takes its time, allowing the flourishes of beautiful language you might expect from this form, that ticking time bomb of the rider adds a real sense of urgency.
Highly recommended!
This is one of Faye's gothic pieces, a style that she reproduces amazingly, while still managing to shake things up with more modern sensibilities, especially in her female characters.
Though the prose takes its time, allowing the flourishes of beautiful language you might expect from this form, that ticking time bomb of the rider adds a real sense of urgency.
Highly recommended!
August 12, 2019
Set in Victorian England, this a tale about a spirit unleashed to hunt down a transgressor. It's a tale of love and sacrifice. Well-written and fast paced, it grips the reader until the final moment.
October 9, 2020
A slice of historical (and in parts faintly Dickensian) gothic, ...Rider pits the dissolute son of a rural landowner against a relentless, semi-demonic creature known only as The Rider... with unexpected consequences for both.
Linguistically, this was spot-on in its evocation of time and place (I assume later 19th-century Britain), and thematically it took me to some very unexpected places - not only in its representation of proto-feminist female autonomy and desire, but in its humanisation of its monstrous antagonist. I’m not normally a huge fan of historical gothic (... a little too much Walpole and The Monk in the ‘90s successfully inoculated me against it...). But after ... Rider and Hailey Piper's An Invitation To Darkness (another Short Sharp Shock! from Demain), I may have to revise my position!
Linguistically, this was spot-on in its evocation of time and place (I assume later 19th-century Britain), and thematically it took me to some very unexpected places - not only in its representation of proto-feminist female autonomy and desire, but in its humanisation of its monstrous antagonist. I’m not normally a huge fan of historical gothic (... a little too much Walpole and The Monk in the ‘90s successfully inoculated me against it...). But after ... Rider and Hailey Piper's An Invitation To Darkness (another Short Sharp Shock! from Demain), I may have to revise my position!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2019
Rich in atmosphere, Night of the Rider tells its story across a collision of moments and points of view. I liked the olden days feel of the setting. Small details of Barnaby's cause for trouble or how city people don't even believe the Rider exists bring the world to fantastical life. Some of the punctuation was dizzying and I had to re-read some sentences over that, but otherwise the story runs a brisk pace of near escapes and imaginative backstories. Worth a read if period piece horror is your thing.
February 13, 2020
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
I had the pleasure of recently reading Alyson Faye’s ‘Christmas Terrors: A Mini Collection of Dark Fiction’ and was absolutely blown away. I loved it so much I quickly snagged her release ‘Trio of Terror – Supernatural Tales’ and this one – which is Book 18 in Demain’s fantastic Short Sharp Shocks! series.
I simply couldn’t wait, so I read this one last night and wow, does Faye deliver again. She’s quickly wormed her way into a must-read author for me.
This is a dark fantasy with horror on the fringes. I don’t read much fantasy, really only sticking to George RR Martin and Patrick Rothfuss, but this has no problem sitting beside those two literary giants.
We follow Barnabas, a man rushing home after racking up gambling debts and then running afoul of a hunch back. He soon realizes he is being chased by the mythical Rider, out to serve justice.
What I really loved about this story was that in a short page count we get a stunning story, but also a fantastic look at the back story of the Rider. Usually, when something is this short the author will frequently leave the background details a mystery of the antagonist or monster (heavens knows I’ve done this!), but Faye tackles it full on and because of that we get a substantially deeper, richer experience.
The ending of this is superb. It wraps things up and really drives everything to a wonderfully brutal conclusion.
I’m so glad to have discovered Faye’s writing, and I can’t wait to dive into her ‘Trio of Terror’ release. She is able to weave in so much emotion, all wrapped in a super dark package.
Just really blown away and I absolutely can’t recommend her works enough.
I had the pleasure of recently reading Alyson Faye’s ‘Christmas Terrors: A Mini Collection of Dark Fiction’ and was absolutely blown away. I loved it so much I quickly snagged her release ‘Trio of Terror – Supernatural Tales’ and this one – which is Book 18 in Demain’s fantastic Short Sharp Shocks! series.
I simply couldn’t wait, so I read this one last night and wow, does Faye deliver again. She’s quickly wormed her way into a must-read author for me.
This is a dark fantasy with horror on the fringes. I don’t read much fantasy, really only sticking to George RR Martin and Patrick Rothfuss, but this has no problem sitting beside those two literary giants.
We follow Barnabas, a man rushing home after racking up gambling debts and then running afoul of a hunch back. He soon realizes he is being chased by the mythical Rider, out to serve justice.
What I really loved about this story was that in a short page count we get a stunning story, but also a fantastic look at the back story of the Rider. Usually, when something is this short the author will frequently leave the background details a mystery of the antagonist or monster (heavens knows I’ve done this!), but Faye tackles it full on and because of that we get a substantially deeper, richer experience.
The ending of this is superb. It wraps things up and really drives everything to a wonderfully brutal conclusion.
I’m so glad to have discovered Faye’s writing, and I can’t wait to dive into her ‘Trio of Terror’ release. She is able to weave in so much emotion, all wrapped in a super dark package.
Just really blown away and I absolutely can’t recommend her works enough.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews