Black Static Issue 10 Reviewed
Britain's Premier Magazine of Dark Fantasy and Horror From TTA Press
Apr 30, 2009
Black Static is Britain's premier magazine of dark fantasy. In its fiction section the April-May 2009 issue paints a disturbing vision of today's childhood, superbly evoked by David Gentry, while the usual commentary columns by Christopher Fowler, Stephen Volk and Mike O'Driscoll focus on the imaginative failures of film and television programme commissioners.
Christopher Fowler
The fiction kicks off with Fowler's fiction debut in BS, 'Piano Man,' in which a hack reporter sent to post-Katrina New Orleans falls in with feuding bar owners, semi-retired witches and the titular piano. Told in a seemingly effortless noir style, it's variation on voodoo and the conjured monster has plenty of nice touches. Recommended.
Less involving, although still commendably dark is Gary McMahon's 'The Chair.' Ben has been abandoned by his father to the care of a mother who is barely functional herself, and at night dreams of an old dining chair placed out in the street. In a moment of adolescent rebellion Ben flushes his tablets away, and as the story climaxes his world becomes increasingly hallucinatory as their effect wears off.
In 'Washer Woman' by Scott Lambridis a group of conscripts in Vietnam begin to unravel under the constant bombardment of the enemy surrounding them, their nerves stretched still further by the constant singing of one of their number from his book of Celtic myths. The narrator reads of the washer woman, who washes the armour of her enemies. Like the Fowler, it ends with the narrator resigned to his fate. Highly Recommended.
A Thing of Beauty
'Vic' by Maura McHugh opens with "Vic's room was small and awkward, just like him." From this simple yet elegant hook the reader accompanies Vic on his journey into the world, of trees and basketball hoops and a beautiful girl. beyond the window of his room. At first pitiable, by the end Vic achieves a sort of pathetic -in the most literal sense- grandeur by protecting the only friend he will ever have. It's lyrical, joyful and ultimately poignant, and packs more into a few thousand words than do some novels. Outstanding.
James Cooper's 'Because Your Blood Is Darker Than Mine' suffers by comparison, although it's well written. While the three strands, the bagging of dead animals and the consequent visit to the beehive, familial abuse, and Grandma's crazed construction of an effigy of Grandpa do come together by the end, the narrative feels as if they've been forced together, perhaps reflecting the stitches locking Grandpa's persona into place. .
Ending the issue is 'Eastlick' by Shannon Page, the last of four evocations of childhood. This time the protagonist is Laura, child of divorce in late seventies / early eighties California, moving into a new neighbourhood with her single mother, and painfully aware of boys. Page beautifully evokes the awkwardness of adolescence and from the moment the guy invites Laura to a party the reader has the requisite foreboding. Recommended.
Case Notes by Peter TennantIn this issue Tennant reviews two new books by Charlie Huston, Brian Keene, Tom Picirilli and Allyson Bird, as well as Thomas Ligotti and Ellen Datlow, both of whom are also interviewed, while Tony Lee reviews DVD/Blu-ray releases of the Feast trilogy, Mutant Chronicles, Saw V and many others.
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