NOTE: Reviews are the opinions of the individual reviewers and not necessarily those of The Chiaroscuro as an entity unto itself.
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by Ray Wallace "Chilling tales from the Great White North." So it says across the top of the front cover of Tesseracts Thirteen. "Chilling" because all of the stories presented within this collection would all be classified as "horror" or "dark fantasy." And "from the Great White North" because everyone involved with the project—including editors Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell, the twenty-three contributing authors, and the publishers themselves—are Canadian. Through brief introductions offered by both members of the rather esteemed editing duo, the reader is led to believe that there is something a bit unique in the way that Canadian literature is written, particularly horror fiction. That the landscape, climate, and legends of the area have molded its artists and influenced their works in rather particular and noticeable ways. An intriguing assertion, to be sure, one that could undoubtedly be applied to the collective creative works that have emerged from other geographical locations. An assertion that might benefit from further investigation—which it receives in a fairly lengthy and detailed essay by Robert Knowlton entitled "Out of the Barrens" which serves as the anthology’s afterword. All very interesting, in and of itself, but there is one thing that readers really want to know: A question with a rather simple answer: Yes, they are. The book is divided into three sections: Youth, Relationships, and Mythology. Tales from the first section include: "Stone Cold" by Kevin Cockle—The collection’s opening story centers around a man afflicted by a strange, debilitating disease, the support he has found in his brother’s family, and the special bond he has developed with his niece, Sandy. "Kids These Days" by Rebecca Bradley—An inexplicable, global pandemic has turned the world’s children into mindless automatons in need of constant care. "Silence" by Stephanie Short—Here we get to see the terrible ordeals endured by the children who were led away from their homes and families by the Pied Piper. "Billy and the Mountain" by Jason Ridler—A comic book writer/artist reflects on the brief childhood friendship and the moment of terrible violence that inspired his most famous characters. "The Tear Closet" by Suzanne Church—A young girl finds refuge in the same place where her mother would hide after suffering abuse at the hands of the family’s patriarch. From section two, Relationships, we get: "His One True Love" by Catherine MacLeod—A woman finds a most unwelcome, winged guest has come to her home shortly after her husband has been laid to rest. "Eurydice in the World of Light" by Andrea Schlect—With this tale we are witness to the terrible events that ensue once the legendary Orpheus succeeds in leading the beautiful Eurydice back from the underworld. "Bed of Scorpions" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia—Brother and sister scheme a way to take a sick young man’s fortune. Things do not go as planned once the sister finds that she has had a change of heart. "Overtoun Bridge" by Bev Vincent—A woman and two men set out to investigate the strange goings-on at a bridge where the town’s dogs have been leaping to their deaths. And from the last section, Mythology: "Viaticum" by Katie Harse—A slave reflects on his life and the terrible turn it has taken while he is imprisoned in the tomb of his dead master. "A Patch of Bamboo" by Jill Snider Lum—An American encounters the ghost of a woman at a Japanese garden and gets caught up in the terrible events that led to her death centuries before. "The Radejastians" by David Nickle—A pair of European immigrants attend a church that practices a very warped version of an Old World religion. "The Night Before the Storm" by Jean-Louis Trudel—An old man discovers a wholly unexpected way to fight back against an invading army that has laid siege to his beloved city. "End in Ice" by Allison Baird—A fitting finale to the collection in which the world is overcome by a new ice age. Twenty-three "Chilling tales from the Great White North." So the cover of Tesseracts Thirteen proclaims. And that’s exactly what it delivers. Nearly all of the stories presented here are subtle, reveal their horrors slowly, sometimes not until the very last paragraph or closing sentence. There are no splatter fests here. No rampaging killers. No bloodbaths. What we do get are consistently well written tales dealing with the darker side of the human condition. "Chilling" tales of youth, of relationships, of mythology. A few of which, at the very least, are sure to stick with you after the last page is turned. |
