Status Updates From Lost Places

Flappy the Bat - Mr. Unsworth's right, nothing scarier than a toddler's temper tantrum

Old Man's Pantry - simple but fun.
Scucca - apparently Unsworth's very first published story? short but sweet. classic approach to horror storytelling, but in a fun way

When The World Goes Quiet - A zombie apocalypse story with a minimal amount of zombies. A bit predictable, but really atmospheric and nice. I'm usually not a fan of the zombie sub-genre of horror at all but I feel like literary horror writers are still capable of doing great things with it. The zombie story from "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky" was really good, too.

The Derwentwater Shark - A very fun story about the unreal becoming real. Love this kinda stuff.

I read A Different Morecambe and Haunting Marley last year but they didn't leave a super strong impression on me.

Church on the Island. 5. Beautiful and dreamlike. The sense of dread as she approaches the church is shattered when the apparently eccentric priest (?) appears but it then takes a much darker and mystical turn. Oppressive rather than horrific. Well done! 74.5:18

Afternoon with Danny. 2.5. Quite routine and not very engaging. Sense of panic at lost son fails to build.
Pennine Tower. 4.5. Nice little dossier story, shame that the malevolent presence seems animal-based. I suppose it’s more in keeping with the documentary aspect, and there is the compensation of the photographed faces at the window. 69.5:17

Animal Game. 4. Nice idea, and avoids being a routine albeit unusual gang fight by virtue of some nice touches, especially the final confrontation in the foyer. 62.5:15

Waiting Room. 4.5. Gloomy and effective take of a vitality-sucking village. But what brought the old man back to Low Hold after his time in Africa? Was he drawn? 58.5:14

Forest Lodge. 5. Another child’s POV. SKU manages a nice line in deflection, initially we’re sure who the ghost is, then not so much and we only fully suspect at the appropriate moment to achieve a shiver. And what a desolate sad ending. 54:13

Stevie’s Duck. 4. Good sense of seeing the world from a child’s perspective, the fears of childhood and the apparent gulf between child and adult. Grim little twist too. 49:12

Lemon in the Pool. 4.5.Retirement dream falls apart, disappointments reflected in a nightmare pool. Mounting mystery and apprehension followed by panic and regret 45:11

Baking of Cakes. 4. Short, but intense, precise and very affecting. 40.5:10

Where Cats Go 3.5. Quite minor piece, rather haunting though nothing really to hook onto 36.5:9

I have already ordered two more collections and a novel from this writer based on the strength of the first five stories alone.

Gemologists 4.5 Club story type tale, but the nature of the curse is quite surprising. Don’t think I’ve come across anything like it before. I just don’t understand the logic regarding Berry’s estate. 33:8

Flappy the Bat. 4.5. Back on form. Nice representation of childhood tantrums and parental dilemmas. I just couldn’t imagine where this one was going. In the end not full on horror - just total despondency, much more affecting. 28.5:7

Scucca 3. Feels pedestrian, unoriginal (despite some nice touches) and rushed compared to all the other stories so far. 24:6

Giving Pantry an extra 0.5 as the sighting of the effigy (or not) is sticking with me as a masterful jolt. 21:5

Old Man’s Pantry. 3.5. Tautly written atmosphere of fear and pursuit. But not much more than that. Redeemed by excellent descriptions of Cally’s dark imaginings. 20.5:5

When the World Goes Quiet. 4. I was disappointed when I realised this was going to be a living dead story. But it isn’t, not really. Like Day of the Triffids it’s more about how we rationalise threats until it’s too late and how we struggle without the things we depend on. But it’s much bleaker than DOTT in the end! 17:4