What do you think?
Rate this book
Lost Places
Deceptively amiable, but creepy as hell—Unsworth's horror stories are all the more powerful because they're told about characters like you and me, and the evils that are hidden just out of sight of everyday. There's a humanity to this work that makes its macabre twists all the crueler. (Rob Shearman, 2008 World Fantasy Award Winner)
Vivid and creepily effective, these are gripping tales of the relentlessly pursued, twisting shadows, half-seen shapes, the goodbye kiss of a ghost, and the terror of imaginary beings. With the rustling pungence of M. R. James and the claustrophobic interiority of Ramsey Campbell, Simon Kurt Unsworth gear-shifts from innocuous to disturbing deftly enough to give the most hardened of us nightmares. (Stephen Vok, BAFTA Award-winning author of GHOSTWATCH)
Simon Unsworth possesses that elusive gift they call 'storytelling'. His main strength is that he knows intuitively how to structure a tale to keep you reading right till the end, even when that end is less than happy for his characters. Here is a writer who knows the value of his craft and he's damn well going to use it, no matter who gets hurt in the process. (Gary McMahon)
Rather than providing comfort, the soul rending humanity and beguiling sense of nostalgia which permeate these stories ultimately serve only to impenetrably blacken their dark and unforgiving hearts. An emotionally devastating debut collection from a powerful new voice in horror. (Mark Morris)
The most impressive debut from any horror writer that I have seen in a very long time. From the terrifying 'Old Man's Pantry' to the sublimely chilling 'Church on the Island' (which was rightly nominated for the World Fantasy Award), Simon Kurt Unsworth's debut collection delivers the goods in every respect. Frightening, evocative, and highly recommended! (Lawrence C. Connolly)
SIMON KURT UNSWORTH was born in 1972 and lives in the north of England, somewhere between Lancaster and Morecambe, with his gorgeous wife, exuberant son, and two dogs rescued from the local dogs' home. By profession he works for a charity as a trainer, working across the whole of the U.K., which gives him plenty of time on trains to write stories. His work has previously been published by the BBC, by Ash-Tree Press in their anthologies At Ease with the Dead and Shades of Darkness, in Gaslight Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes, and in Ellen Datlow's anthology Lovecraft Unbound. His story from At Ease with the Dead, 'The Church on the Island', was reprinted in Stephen Jones's Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #19 and was a 2008 World Fantasy Award nominee for Best Short Story. It has also been selected for inclusion in the Very Best of Best New Horror. This is his first collection.
Introduction by Barbara Roden; A Different Morecambe; Haunting Marley; The Derwentwater Shark; When the World Goes Quiet; Old Man's Pantry; Scucca; Flappy the Bat; A Meeting of Gemmologists; Where Cats Go; The Baking of Cakes; The Lemon in the Pool; Stevie's Duck; Forest Lodge; The Station Waiting Room; The Animal Game; An Afternoon with Danny; The Pennine-Tower Restaurant; The Church on the Island; Endword/Story Notes.
Vivid and creepily effective, these are gripping tales of the relentlessly pursued, twisting shadows, half-seen shapes, the goodbye kiss of a ghost, and the terror of imaginary beings. With the rustling pungence of M. R. James and the claustrophobic interiority of Ramsey Campbell, Simon Kurt Unsworth gear-shifts from innocuous to disturbing deftly enough to give the most hardened of us nightmares. (Stephen Vok, BAFTA Award-winning author of GHOSTWATCH)
Simon Unsworth possesses that elusive gift they call 'storytelling'. His main strength is that he knows intuitively how to structure a tale to keep you reading right till the end, even when that end is less than happy for his characters. Here is a writer who knows the value of his craft and he's damn well going to use it, no matter who gets hurt in the process. (Gary McMahon)
Rather than providing comfort, the soul rending humanity and beguiling sense of nostalgia which permeate these stories ultimately serve only to impenetrably blacken their dark and unforgiving hearts. An emotionally devastating debut collection from a powerful new voice in horror. (Mark Morris)
The most impressive debut from any horror writer that I have seen in a very long time. From the terrifying 'Old Man's Pantry' to the sublimely chilling 'Church on the Island' (which was rightly nominated for the World Fantasy Award), Simon Kurt Unsworth's debut collection delivers the goods in every respect. Frightening, evocative, and highly recommended! (Lawrence C. Connolly)
SIMON KURT UNSWORTH was born in 1972 and lives in the north of England, somewhere between Lancaster and Morecambe, with his gorgeous wife, exuberant son, and two dogs rescued from the local dogs' home. By profession he works for a charity as a trainer, working across the whole of the U.K., which gives him plenty of time on trains to write stories. His work has previously been published by the BBC, by Ash-Tree Press in their anthologies At Ease with the Dead and Shades of Darkness, in Gaslight Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes, and in Ellen Datlow's anthology Lovecraft Unbound. His story from At Ease with the Dead, 'The Church on the Island', was reprinted in Stephen Jones's Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #19 and was a 2008 World Fantasy Award nominee for Best Short Story. It has also been selected for inclusion in the Very Best of Best New Horror. This is his first collection.
Introduction by Barbara Roden; A Different Morecambe; Haunting Marley; The Derwentwater Shark; When the World Goes Quiet; Old Man's Pantry; Scucca; Flappy the Bat; A Meeting of Gemmologists; Where Cats Go; The Baking of Cakes; The Lemon in the Pool; Stevie's Duck; Forest Lodge; The Station Waiting Room; The Animal Game; An Afternoon with Danny; The Pennine-Tower Restaurant; The Church on the Island; Endword/Story Notes.
194 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2010
13 people are currently reading
273 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 18, 2018
Mixed bag, more so than I remembered from my initial reading of this collection years ago. Still, there are some real gems in here and, when Unsworth is at his best, he's a goddamned beast. Also, no real stinkers to be found, it is just that this goodish portion of the stories fall squarely into the mediocre/forgettable basket.
Of particular note are:
"A Different Morecambe" - son's pestering his dad about driving him to titular town. Only, they don't seem to have the same place in mind. They do end up there, and the entire town is akin to this poorly constructed, uncanny mask, all semblances of familiarity & normality slowly falling off as the story progresses. And, the town itself is not the only thing that is like a badly constructed replacement. Remarkably creepy stuff - this one would be right at home as a vintage Twilight Zone episode.
"The Lemon in the Pool" - retired woman is finding increasingly strange objects in her long wished for villa's pool. As the time goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to write them out as a mere prank. And, are they thrown IN there or... There is more going on here, too, with the protagonist's psychology and situation, and I suppose that one can follow the unpleasant pool - womb analogy if one wishes to do so (it is not as if unsworth doesn't nudge his reader in that direction).
"The Pennine Tower Restaurant" - this one is quite unusual in its contrivance. Presented as a piece of nonfiction, it consists of a series of terse, unadorned, clinically written reports of unusual incidents combined with the detailed description of the central locale's unusual architecture, all of it dully annotated. By the end, their underlying connections will become increasingly obvious (remarkably, Unsworth achieves this without any feeling of obvious artifice to it - individual incidents steel feel as something you can find in your regular anthologies of real life reports of unsolved crime and unusual phenomena) and we are lift with a picture of another reality intruding upon our own.
(also, this story kinda anticipates his excellent second collections, where the locales themselves of are often the central characters of their respective stories)
"The Church on the Island" - young woman, on a vacation with her (unlikable, arrogantly atheistic) boyfriend feels herself called to a small Greek orthodox church, oddly located on a small, remote island. There, she becomes increasingly aware of the oddity of her situation and, eventually, she finds herself at the center of conflict that exists outside of profane time.
There is an underlying theme to be found in most of this collection's stories: that of another reality existing alongside our own, to be accessed by minor transgressions or seemingly insignificant choices... or, just as likely, one that intrudes on its own. Likewise, a number of stories - "The Church on the Island", “The Station Waiting Room” - display this consistent (Manichean?) cosmology behind them.
Of particular note are:
"A Different Morecambe" - son's pestering his dad about driving him to titular town. Only, they don't seem to have the same place in mind. They do end up there, and the entire town is akin to this poorly constructed, uncanny mask, all semblances of familiarity & normality slowly falling off as the story progresses. And, the town itself is not the only thing that is like a badly constructed replacement. Remarkably creepy stuff - this one would be right at home as a vintage Twilight Zone episode.
"The Lemon in the Pool" - retired woman is finding increasingly strange objects in her long wished for villa's pool. As the time goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to write them out as a mere prank. And, are they thrown IN there or... There is more going on here, too, with the protagonist's psychology and situation, and I suppose that one can follow the unpleasant pool - womb analogy if one wishes to do so (it is not as if unsworth doesn't nudge his reader in that direction).
"The Pennine Tower Restaurant" - this one is quite unusual in its contrivance. Presented as a piece of nonfiction, it consists of a series of terse, unadorned, clinically written reports of unusual incidents combined with the detailed description of the central locale's unusual architecture, all of it dully annotated. By the end, their underlying connections will become increasingly obvious (remarkably, Unsworth achieves this without any feeling of obvious artifice to it - individual incidents steel feel as something you can find in your regular anthologies of real life reports of unsolved crime and unusual phenomena) and we are lift with a picture of another reality intruding upon our own.
(also, this story kinda anticipates his excellent second collections, where the locales themselves of are often the central characters of their respective stories)
"The Church on the Island" - young woman, on a vacation with her (unlikable, arrogantly atheistic) boyfriend feels herself called to a small Greek orthodox church, oddly located on a small, remote island. There, she becomes increasingly aware of the oddity of her situation and, eventually, she finds herself at the center of conflict that exists outside of profane time.
There is an underlying theme to be found in most of this collection's stories: that of another reality existing alongside our own, to be accessed by minor transgressions or seemingly insignificant choices... or, just as likely, one that intrudes on its own. Likewise, a number of stories - "The Church on the Island", “The Station Waiting Room” - display this consistent (Manichean?) cosmology behind them.
August 8, 2010
Horror, at its best, takes the mundane and every-day, and then corrupts it through a distorting lens beyond what it’s built to withstand. The safety of the normal world is left behind, replaced by a tangential, edgy unfamiliarity. Allied, of course, to a heightened sense of skin-crawling fear (but not necessarily gore, although it has its place, but only in the right measure). Each of the eighteen stories in Lost Places, Simon Kurt Unsworth’s first collection (from the excellent Ash-Tree Press of Canada), carves moments out of life, and then stretches them out to beyond their (and the character’s) natural endurance. (Note: in this review not every story will be touched upon, but representative examples will be highlighted instead).
At the heart of Simon Kurt Unsworth’s writing is a temporal and spatial disruption, a dislocation of reality, inflicted on characters whose worlds and realities have been fractured. The veils between this world and the one next door are often much thinner than we bargain for: Lovecraft realised this too, and very effectively utilised the idea in his Cthulhu Mythos cycle. Simon updates this device superbly, bringing home to us that it wouldn’t take much, a twist in space here and a break in the flow of time there, and chaos would surely ensue. This theme is emphatically emphasised by the opener, “A Different Morecambe”, where a simple day-trip to a familiar haunt reveals how fragile reality is: and “The Station Waiting Room”, where a village’s unknown malaise is discovered to have an origin beyond our knowledge and understanding. The disruptive influence in “The Lemon in the Pool” is the all-too human fear of rejection and of not belonging, being out of place and time: “Old Man’s Pantry” is where the veil alluded to is at its thinnest – a runner, practising his sport within a myth-infused landscape, becomes entrapped in a frightening fusion of the two worlds, when a figure out of legend is given the flesh of a terrifying, relentless, unforgiving solidity and reality.
Relational disruption figures prominently in this collection, too: in the “A Different Morecambe” story mentioned above, for example: also, that very real fear, mixed with the unholy prospect of losing someone precious (who is essentially a link to a normal, grounded life), motivates the chilling “An Afternoon with Danny” – a tale that’ll make any parent empathise with the adult character’s situation. “Flappy the Bat”, as well as charting the breakdown of a couple’s parental relationship with their young child, doubles as a cautionary tale: what effect do the programmes our children watch have on their fragile psyches? “Forest Lodge”, superficially a tale of a spectre threatening a young teenage boy, becomes a studied delineation of the fractured, fractious relationships between, principally, a husband and wife (although she’s only alluded to very briefly in the story), and secondarily, between the man and his son. Unsworth builds up the mounting atmosphere of menace magnificently in this particular story – a truly thrilling ride.
Some of them are simply good solid, scary fun, in their own macabre, horrific way. “A Meeting of Gemmologists” reminded me of a segment in an Amicus portmanteau film – fabulous stuff: “Stevie’s Duck” – preposterous as its premise might appear at first glance (a giant, menacing duck terrorising a small boy), actually made me wonder what would happen if nature decided to get its own back on our wilful rapine of its bounty. “The Animal Game” is a brutal meditation on how we see ourselves and how others see us – and yet, there is something blackly humorous about its savage dénouement and the truth of its underlying subtext. “Scucca”, a story of malign, ill-intentioned forces just out of reach of the mundane world, is simply classic horror storytelling at its best, entirely (and brilliantly) reminiscent of MR James and EA Poe.
However good these tales are, however, there are three stories which are absolutely outstanding, even in amongst what is already a marvellous set. “When the World Goes Quiet” is a sideways glance at a zombie apocalypse, but without the hordes of shambling, shuffling decaying creatures to blunt its utter hopelessness and stasis-inducing fear – how would you cope in such circumstances? “The Baking of Cakes” is, simply, one of THE best short stories this reviewer has read in a very long time – the ending packs more punch than many a book-length novel, made all the more powerful because it inspires sadness and empathy in great measure, and is a tour-de-force of compact writing. Finally, the deservedly World Fantasy Award-nominated “The Church on the Island”, is a tale of, once again, temporal and spatial disruption, but makes much more obviously, chillingly and very weightily the consequences of rending that veil which protects us from the reign of chaos that would doom humanity. Its brightly lit location only serves to highlight its chiaroscurotic nature, throwing into sharp relief just how fragile the dividing line really is, and the malignity of the forces ranged against the world.
To reiterate, horror, at its best, takes the mundane and every-day, and then corrupts it through a distorting lens beyond its prescribed limits. Every story in this collection does that and more, delivering darkly, deliciously condensed thrills and shivers. Simon Kurt Unsworth manages to even make the daylight dangerous, giving it a sharp, steely edge. In these days, where style over content is often the consensual measure of ‘quality’, it’s reassuring that there are still those who swim against the tide, producing original, thought-provoking and deeply satisfying stories. Simon, hopefully, will one day go beyond the small-press and make the jump into the mainstream – he certainly deserves to.
At the heart of Simon Kurt Unsworth’s writing is a temporal and spatial disruption, a dislocation of reality, inflicted on characters whose worlds and realities have been fractured. The veils between this world and the one next door are often much thinner than we bargain for: Lovecraft realised this too, and very effectively utilised the idea in his Cthulhu Mythos cycle. Simon updates this device superbly, bringing home to us that it wouldn’t take much, a twist in space here and a break in the flow of time there, and chaos would surely ensue. This theme is emphatically emphasised by the opener, “A Different Morecambe”, where a simple day-trip to a familiar haunt reveals how fragile reality is: and “The Station Waiting Room”, where a village’s unknown malaise is discovered to have an origin beyond our knowledge and understanding. The disruptive influence in “The Lemon in the Pool” is the all-too human fear of rejection and of not belonging, being out of place and time: “Old Man’s Pantry” is where the veil alluded to is at its thinnest – a runner, practising his sport within a myth-infused landscape, becomes entrapped in a frightening fusion of the two worlds, when a figure out of legend is given the flesh of a terrifying, relentless, unforgiving solidity and reality.
Relational disruption figures prominently in this collection, too: in the “A Different Morecambe” story mentioned above, for example: also, that very real fear, mixed with the unholy prospect of losing someone precious (who is essentially a link to a normal, grounded life), motivates the chilling “An Afternoon with Danny” – a tale that’ll make any parent empathise with the adult character’s situation. “Flappy the Bat”, as well as charting the breakdown of a couple’s parental relationship with their young child, doubles as a cautionary tale: what effect do the programmes our children watch have on their fragile psyches? “Forest Lodge”, superficially a tale of a spectre threatening a young teenage boy, becomes a studied delineation of the fractured, fractious relationships between, principally, a husband and wife (although she’s only alluded to very briefly in the story), and secondarily, between the man and his son. Unsworth builds up the mounting atmosphere of menace magnificently in this particular story – a truly thrilling ride.
Some of them are simply good solid, scary fun, in their own macabre, horrific way. “A Meeting of Gemmologists” reminded me of a segment in an Amicus portmanteau film – fabulous stuff: “Stevie’s Duck” – preposterous as its premise might appear at first glance (a giant, menacing duck terrorising a small boy), actually made me wonder what would happen if nature decided to get its own back on our wilful rapine of its bounty. “The Animal Game” is a brutal meditation on how we see ourselves and how others see us – and yet, there is something blackly humorous about its savage dénouement and the truth of its underlying subtext. “Scucca”, a story of malign, ill-intentioned forces just out of reach of the mundane world, is simply classic horror storytelling at its best, entirely (and brilliantly) reminiscent of MR James and EA Poe.
However good these tales are, however, there are three stories which are absolutely outstanding, even in amongst what is already a marvellous set. “When the World Goes Quiet” is a sideways glance at a zombie apocalypse, but without the hordes of shambling, shuffling decaying creatures to blunt its utter hopelessness and stasis-inducing fear – how would you cope in such circumstances? “The Baking of Cakes” is, simply, one of THE best short stories this reviewer has read in a very long time – the ending packs more punch than many a book-length novel, made all the more powerful because it inspires sadness and empathy in great measure, and is a tour-de-force of compact writing. Finally, the deservedly World Fantasy Award-nominated “The Church on the Island”, is a tale of, once again, temporal and spatial disruption, but makes much more obviously, chillingly and very weightily the consequences of rending that veil which protects us from the reign of chaos that would doom humanity. Its brightly lit location only serves to highlight its chiaroscurotic nature, throwing into sharp relief just how fragile the dividing line really is, and the malignity of the forces ranged against the world.
To reiterate, horror, at its best, takes the mundane and every-day, and then corrupts it through a distorting lens beyond its prescribed limits. Every story in this collection does that and more, delivering darkly, deliciously condensed thrills and shivers. Simon Kurt Unsworth manages to even make the daylight dangerous, giving it a sharp, steely edge. In these days, where style over content is often the consensual measure of ‘quality’, it’s reassuring that there are still those who swim against the tide, producing original, thought-provoking and deeply satisfying stories. Simon, hopefully, will one day go beyond the small-press and make the jump into the mainstream – he certainly deserves to.
January 13, 2021
The church and its environs are exquisitely told within a great Horror story that stands on its own. But, for those who work towards it, as I have, it carries hope and peace, too. A calm sinking back into the loving arms of death. When the world goes quiet. Only religion has the last whisper.
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.
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.
November 22, 2022
Horror comes in many shades. The more outre they are, usually they are more enjoyable— because we know that such things can never happen to any of us, right?
But as they come closer, the feelings invoked by them gets mixed with real places, present time, known characters— especially near & dear ones. The sense of unease grows until the very wall behind us becomes suspicious.
This is a book which does exactly that.
Apart from 'Foreword' and 'Endword', it contains eighteen stories. They are~
1. A Different Morecambe;
2. Haunting Marley;
3. The Derwentwater Shark;
4. When the World Goes Quiet;
5. Old Man's Pantry;
6. Scucca;
7. Flappy the Bat;
8. A Meeting of Gemmologists;
9. Where Cats Go;
10. The Baking of Cakes;
11. The Lemon in the Pool;
12. Stevie's Duck;
13. Forest Lodge;
14. The Station Waiting Room;
15. The Animal Game;
16. An Afternoon with Danny
17. The Pennine Tower Restaurant;
18. The Church on the Island
Afficionados would be able to recall most of these stories. Originally published more than a decade ago, they are nuanced & gentle, almost evoking a Jamesian sense of 'Pleasing Terror' in the present, until they suddenly grab you and pull you into their gaping maws.
To sum up, this is a rich, varied and enjoyable collection of horror stories.
Highly recommended.
But as they come closer, the feelings invoked by them gets mixed with real places, present time, known characters— especially near & dear ones. The sense of unease grows until the very wall behind us becomes suspicious.
This is a book which does exactly that.
Apart from 'Foreword' and 'Endword', it contains eighteen stories. They are~
1. A Different Morecambe;
2. Haunting Marley;
3. The Derwentwater Shark;
4. When the World Goes Quiet;
5. Old Man's Pantry;
6. Scucca;
7. Flappy the Bat;
8. A Meeting of Gemmologists;
9. Where Cats Go;
10. The Baking of Cakes;
11. The Lemon in the Pool;
12. Stevie's Duck;
13. Forest Lodge;
14. The Station Waiting Room;
15. The Animal Game;
16. An Afternoon with Danny
17. The Pennine Tower Restaurant;
18. The Church on the Island
Afficionados would be able to recall most of these stories. Originally published more than a decade ago, they are nuanced & gentle, almost evoking a Jamesian sense of 'Pleasing Terror' in the present, until they suddenly grab you and pull you into their gaping maws.
To sum up, this is a rich, varied and enjoyable collection of horror stories.
Highly recommended.
November 28, 2010
World Fantasy Award nominee Simon Kurt Unsworth releases Lost Places, his first collection of wide ranging, supernatural and fantastic tales.
Unsworth is a competent and confident writer who comfortably manages to immerse and captivate the reader in highly articulate prose and in a series of stories that maintain an unsettling and macabre charm throughout. This collection is a veritable mixed bag of themes and tales exploring the darker side of the human and, perhaps, not-so-human psyche.
Highlights for this reviewer are: A Different Morecombe, where a jaunt to a seaside town slips into the sinister as the safe and familiar is slowly eroded; The Baking of Cakes is an exquisite study of analogy and loss that truly gives forum to Unsworth's melancholy narrative, and the taut When the World Goes Quiet, where the only true escape from the undead may require the ultimate sacrifice. Plenty more linger in the psyche, but this reviewer will leave the reader to decide which tale cuts deepest.
The question one is left pondering at the end of this tome is: will the sparkling prose and intelligent story telling transcend to the mass market? Sadly, one does not necessarily lead to the other. Yet, perhaps this is not its aim. Perhaps the collection intends to appeal to the kind of audiences who relish the traditionalist ethos prevalent in the works of Edgar Alan Poe or HP Lovecraft since both influences can be seen here. Ultimately time will tell. Here at least it is hoped that, like Poe and Lovecraft before him, Unsworth's kind of storytelling permeates beyond the niche and into the mainstream. It is certainly deserving of such an accolade.
Highly Recommended.
Simon Kurt Unsworth Website: http://simonkurtunsworth.wordpress.com/
LOST PLACES at ASH TREE PRESS: http://www.ash-tree.bc.ca/atp145lostp...
Unsworth is a competent and confident writer who comfortably manages to immerse and captivate the reader in highly articulate prose and in a series of stories that maintain an unsettling and macabre charm throughout. This collection is a veritable mixed bag of themes and tales exploring the darker side of the human and, perhaps, not-so-human psyche.
Highlights for this reviewer are: A Different Morecombe, where a jaunt to a seaside town slips into the sinister as the safe and familiar is slowly eroded; The Baking of Cakes is an exquisite study of analogy and loss that truly gives forum to Unsworth's melancholy narrative, and the taut When the World Goes Quiet, where the only true escape from the undead may require the ultimate sacrifice. Plenty more linger in the psyche, but this reviewer will leave the reader to decide which tale cuts deepest.
The question one is left pondering at the end of this tome is: will the sparkling prose and intelligent story telling transcend to the mass market? Sadly, one does not necessarily lead to the other. Yet, perhaps this is not its aim. Perhaps the collection intends to appeal to the kind of audiences who relish the traditionalist ethos prevalent in the works of Edgar Alan Poe or HP Lovecraft since both influences can be seen here. Ultimately time will tell. Here at least it is hoped that, like Poe and Lovecraft before him, Unsworth's kind of storytelling permeates beyond the niche and into the mainstream. It is certainly deserving of such an accolade.
Highly Recommended.
Simon Kurt Unsworth Website: http://simonkurtunsworth.wordpress.com/
LOST PLACES at ASH TREE PRESS: http://www.ash-tree.bc.ca/atp145lostp...
November 23, 2010
A simply awesome book, published again by the good folks at Ash Tree Press, which deserves to be hailed as the best debut collection in the field of supernatural horror in quite some time. His next collection from PS publishing is eagerly awaited by me because of his own fault, i.e. since he wrote such high-quality stories in the very first collection.
November 15, 2025
This was a surprisingly refreshing read as the stories felt fresh but also provided nostalgia with masters of the macabre, Lovecraft and Poe. Also as my version was an updated printing with reflections from the author on his collection, it gave an extra level of depths to the reading of the story. Here are my rankings with my reflections to what made the stories special.
1. The Church on the Island - although a few others could easily tie for first, this had the best flow and atmosphere of all the stories. I had an idea of where the story was heading based on my knowledge of St. John of Patmos, but it was still deliciously written as Catherine decides to swim across to the small island explore this ignored church.
2. Old Man’s Pantry - although I liked the next few stories better, the fear and panic of a jogger running through these areas was so well done. I felt I was running right alongside him and was glad I was in the comfort of my reading chair.
3. Forest Lodge - a solid ghost story that did well with the narrative twist and leaves you with a bittersweet feeling. This one I sat and reflected on the most of all the stories.
4. A Different Morecambe - I had to Google Morecambe and I was a bit thrown off by the age and voice of the child, Lennie, but this story had the most Lovecraftian feel and reminded me of playing Silent Hill. The anthology starts with this story and is a strong start to get readers excited for the rest of the stories.
5. Scucca - great atmosphere and enjoyed the narrative with the Uncle and his random obsession with taxidermy. The ending had me wanting more though and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
6. A Meeting of Gemmologists - I liked the idea of gemmologists meeting similar to adventurers meeting at an explorer’s lodge. Although there could have been more depth with the cursed ruby storyline, it worked well for a short story.
7. The Pennine Tower Restaurant - it alleges it is a true story and for that being the case, it deserves to be one of the highest rated pieces. I look forward to researching this further to fill the blanks this short story didn’t fill for me.
8. When the World Goes Quiet - zombies feel overdone, but I loved the inner monologue as it’s hard for any reader to ask themselves “would I be any different in this scenario?” Also, I felt the desolation and hopelessness of the world that surrounded the narrator.
9. The Lemon in the Pool - an odd little story that becomes Lovecraftian much to my delight.
10. The Station Waiting Room - anyone who has had a corporate job or had long commutes will definitely relate to this story. The only reason it wasn’t higher is because the ending just wasn’t where it could have been.
11. Stevie’s Duck - somewhat bizarre and made me wonder how big this duck really was, but strangely creepy as well.
12. The Derwentwater Shark - when a small fib takes on a life of its own. Also my love of cryptids definitely made this one an enjoyable read.
13. Where Cats Go - this one had the most Poe-esque feel to it as the narrator becomes obsessed with these suicidal cats. Would have been higher on the ranking, but the ending falls a bit flat for what feels like a build up.
14. Haunting Marley - this was the most humorous of the stories which was odd because most of the humor is the hatred between the characters.
15. Animal Game - what animal are you? Choose wisely. I would have liked more variety in the different characters but made for some interesting mental visuals reading through this one.
16. Flappy the Bat - reminds me of the Peppa Pig controversy but I enjoyed the journey taken to address problematic lessons for children.
17. The Baking of Cakes - I give the author a lot of credit for attempting a story like this and it was really well done although it was difficult for me. The ending is very bittersweet as well and does cause a moment of reflection.
18. An Afternoon With Danny - I enjoyed the concept, but I felt let down on the execution as too much is reliant on the reader to fill the gaps. Yet, still a terrifying story for any young parents out there.
What was your ranking?
1. The Church on the Island - although a few others could easily tie for first, this had the best flow and atmosphere of all the stories. I had an idea of where the story was heading based on my knowledge of St. John of Patmos, but it was still deliciously written as Catherine decides to swim across to the small island explore this ignored church.
2. Old Man’s Pantry - although I liked the next few stories better, the fear and panic of a jogger running through these areas was so well done. I felt I was running right alongside him and was glad I was in the comfort of my reading chair.
3. Forest Lodge - a solid ghost story that did well with the narrative twist and leaves you with a bittersweet feeling. This one I sat and reflected on the most of all the stories.
4. A Different Morecambe - I had to Google Morecambe and I was a bit thrown off by the age and voice of the child, Lennie, but this story had the most Lovecraftian feel and reminded me of playing Silent Hill. The anthology starts with this story and is a strong start to get readers excited for the rest of the stories.
5. Scucca - great atmosphere and enjoyed the narrative with the Uncle and his random obsession with taxidermy. The ending had me wanting more though and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
6. A Meeting of Gemmologists - I liked the idea of gemmologists meeting similar to adventurers meeting at an explorer’s lodge. Although there could have been more depth with the cursed ruby storyline, it worked well for a short story.
7. The Pennine Tower Restaurant - it alleges it is a true story and for that being the case, it deserves to be one of the highest rated pieces. I look forward to researching this further to fill the blanks this short story didn’t fill for me.
8. When the World Goes Quiet - zombies feel overdone, but I loved the inner monologue as it’s hard for any reader to ask themselves “would I be any different in this scenario?” Also, I felt the desolation and hopelessness of the world that surrounded the narrator.
9. The Lemon in the Pool - an odd little story that becomes Lovecraftian much to my delight.
10. The Station Waiting Room - anyone who has had a corporate job or had long commutes will definitely relate to this story. The only reason it wasn’t higher is because the ending just wasn’t where it could have been.
11. Stevie’s Duck - somewhat bizarre and made me wonder how big this duck really was, but strangely creepy as well.
12. The Derwentwater Shark - when a small fib takes on a life of its own. Also my love of cryptids definitely made this one an enjoyable read.
13. Where Cats Go - this one had the most Poe-esque feel to it as the narrator becomes obsessed with these suicidal cats. Would have been higher on the ranking, but the ending falls a bit flat for what feels like a build up.
14. Haunting Marley - this was the most humorous of the stories which was odd because most of the humor is the hatred between the characters.
15. Animal Game - what animal are you? Choose wisely. I would have liked more variety in the different characters but made for some interesting mental visuals reading through this one.
16. Flappy the Bat - reminds me of the Peppa Pig controversy but I enjoyed the journey taken to address problematic lessons for children.
17. The Baking of Cakes - I give the author a lot of credit for attempting a story like this and it was really well done although it was difficult for me. The ending is very bittersweet as well and does cause a moment of reflection.
18. An Afternoon With Danny - I enjoyed the concept, but I felt let down on the execution as too much is reliant on the reader to fill the gaps. Yet, still a terrifying story for any young parents out there.
What was your ranking?
February 19, 2023
Having already enjoyed Simon Kurt Unsworth other work, Quiet Houses, I was intrigued at this more varied collection of short tales. Like most narrative selection boxes, it contains hits and misses, but the former are more prevalent and the misses are only slight. Of course, the main attraction comes in the final two tales: The Pennine Tower Restaurant and The Church on the Island, both of which are exquisite told tales that chill and enrapt respectively. Kudos also to A Different Morcambe, The Derwentwater Shark, and The Lemon in the Pool, which all contain unknown horrors that leave you tantalised. Overall, a good read, and recommended.
November 15, 2022
More uneven than some of his other collections (mostly from his earlier stories) but overall another excellent read from Unsworth who I think is quietly one of the best short horror fiction writers going right now. It also includes his best work, and what I personally hold as an all time favorite short story, The Pennine Tower Restaurant. I am very rarely scared by horror writing anymore (not any sort of brag, just comes with the territory when you experience so much of it) but this one still manages to give me a little shudder every time I read it.
December 30, 2022
So happy to finally have "The Pennine Tower Restaurant" on paper. It's an incredible story that helped me get back into reading after a long absence. Unsworth rarely misses, and this was another strong collection.
December 1, 2025
Can’t stop thinking about a lot of these stories. I love how easily Unsworth is able to see and describe horror in the mundane/banal. This is a very underrated collection, and one I’ll go back to often in my life. The lodge ghost story was particularly haunting.
May 11, 2025
This is a really well crafted collection of creepy short stories. Many of these tales are set in places from my local area, so it was especially fun to read an eerie take on these every day places.
August 15, 2014
I think readers who enjoy supernatural fiction would enjoy this book.
Besides the horror stories in this book, the book has an introduction by the editor Barbara Roden, and story notes by Simon Kurt Unsworth. The story notes section is about how he came up with the ideas for these stories. Some of these stories were inspired by incidents in real life, for example something that his son said or did.
All these stories are well worth reading; these are the ones I thought highly of:
A Different Morecambe
A creepy, Twilight-zone style story. A father is going back to his hometown with his son, but his son wants to go to a "different Morecambe." But is it really his son, and did they arrive in Morecambe?
Flappy The Bat
This story was inspired by the author's son. A children's television show has a deleterious effect on children who watch the show.
The Baking of Cakes
Naturalistic horror. The tone and style of the story reminded me of Kafka. The narrator is a baker of cakes. He describes how he makes certain cakes for certain occasions, one type for joyous occasions, another type for sad occasions, for example. The ending of the story is an unexpected punch in the gut.
The Station Waiting Room
I think one of the signs of a excellent horror writer is that they wrote a fine horror story involving trains. Grabinski is one; Mark Samuels is another. In this story, the narrator is at a train stop, and is told a story by another person at the train stop about a supernatural being who sucks the life out of the surrounding area; the people who live there are lethargic, and even the vegetation is not well. This story has an unexpected and incredible plot point, which I'm not going to reveal. One of my favorite weird fiction stories.
The Pennine Tower Restaurant
This story, written in a documentary style, with footnotes (I fancy that Borges would like this story) is a recounting of the supernatural events at the Pennine Tower Restaurant. There is an actual Pennine Tower, now closed to the public.
The Church on the Island
This story was a 2008 World Fantasy Award nominee for Best Short Story. A woman on a beach sees an island, with a church, in swimming distance. When she arrives at the island, she learns of a secret religious order which keeps evil beings at bay.
Besides the horror stories in this book, the book has an introduction by the editor Barbara Roden, and story notes by Simon Kurt Unsworth. The story notes section is about how he came up with the ideas for these stories. Some of these stories were inspired by incidents in real life, for example something that his son said or did.
All these stories are well worth reading; these are the ones I thought highly of:
A Different Morecambe
A creepy, Twilight-zone style story. A father is going back to his hometown with his son, but his son wants to go to a "different Morecambe." But is it really his son, and did they arrive in Morecambe?
Flappy The Bat
This story was inspired by the author's son. A children's television show has a deleterious effect on children who watch the show.
The Baking of Cakes
Naturalistic horror. The tone and style of the story reminded me of Kafka. The narrator is a baker of cakes. He describes how he makes certain cakes for certain occasions, one type for joyous occasions, another type for sad occasions, for example. The ending of the story is an unexpected punch in the gut.
The Station Waiting Room
I think one of the signs of a excellent horror writer is that they wrote a fine horror story involving trains. Grabinski is one; Mark Samuels is another. In this story, the narrator is at a train stop, and is told a story by another person at the train stop about a supernatural being who sucks the life out of the surrounding area; the people who live there are lethargic, and even the vegetation is not well. This story has an unexpected and incredible plot point, which I'm not going to reveal. One of my favorite weird fiction stories.
The Pennine Tower Restaurant
This story, written in a documentary style, with footnotes (I fancy that Borges would like this story) is a recounting of the supernatural events at the Pennine Tower Restaurant. There is an actual Pennine Tower, now closed to the public.
The Church on the Island
This story was a 2008 World Fantasy Award nominee for Best Short Story. A woman on a beach sees an island, with a church, in swimming distance. When she arrives at the island, she learns of a secret religious order which keeps evil beings at bay.
September 9, 2024
This is a mixed bag, which might have got 3 were it not for the briiliant final story and the final pages of 'The Animal Game' . There are a lot of great ideas, some of which are realized in creepily effective ways. It's quite refreshing to see a male weird writer tackling issues around parenting and the family - Unsworth is original and at times, poignant here. I particularly liked 'Flappy Bat' in which the parents are gradually losing their child to the sinister influence of an anarchic TV character, but several other stories shine a twisted light on matters domestic, too. I'm with other reviewers regarding the most successful pieces in the collection.
At his best, Unsworth is able to bring horror to resolutely mundane settings in ways which recall Ramsey Campbell - he has a good eye for the unexpectedly odd and the subtly menacing. What curbed my enthusiasm was the style. Most of his first-person narrators have the same sort of voice, his dialogue is only functional, and some of the stories here might have been better left on the hard drive. At times, a promising idea is over-stretched, let down by a stodgy paragraph or a moment of redundant emotional revelation. I wondered if more interventionist editing would sharpen them up and bring out their occluded qualities.
There are some memorable and effective stories here, not least the final story, 'The Church on the Island,' which is wonderfully atmospheric and thought-provoking, too...it's well worth visiting those lost places...
At his best, Unsworth is able to bring horror to resolutely mundane settings in ways which recall Ramsey Campbell - he has a good eye for the unexpectedly odd and the subtly menacing. What curbed my enthusiasm was the style. Most of his first-person narrators have the same sort of voice, his dialogue is only functional, and some of the stories here might have been better left on the hard drive. At times, a promising idea is over-stretched, let down by a stodgy paragraph or a moment of redundant emotional revelation. I wondered if more interventionist editing would sharpen them up and bring out their occluded qualities.
There are some memorable and effective stories here, not least the final story, 'The Church on the Island,' which is wonderfully atmospheric and thought-provoking, too...it's well worth visiting those lost places...
October 12, 2014
Blimey! It took me such a long time to track down a copy (finally sourcing one from the author himself!) but it was definitely worth the wait. This is one of the most satisfying collections of short stories I have read in quite a while.
The Pennine Tower Restaurant is one of the most sublimely creepy pieces I have read in quite some time, and yes, I did end up Googling!
Highly recommended.
The Pennine Tower Restaurant is one of the most sublimely creepy pieces I have read in quite some time, and yes, I did end up Googling!
Highly recommended.
April 10, 2011
This collection of short stories gave me the creeps, simple as that. Simon Kurt Unsworth has an ability to take the mundane and twist it into something unreal, but hauntingly familiar. He's an excellent storyteller with an eye for the macabre.
November 27, 2010
A near perfect parcel of short story telling.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews