Read This: Alone on the Borderland
Alone on the Borderland, the new anthology edited by John Linwood Grant, lures readers to some strange and unsettling places in some deeply unsettled times. Taking place in the years between the end of Victoria’s reign and the early 1920s, these seventeen stories live in the space between the gaslit past and the emerging, electrified future. The Great War hangs over all but a handful of them like a storm cloud–given the time period, there is no way it cannot. Even when it lurks in the distant background, the war’s scope touches everyone.
There are well-told traditional horror stories to be found in Alone on the Borderland, as well as tantalizing weird tales left disturbingly unresolved.
Some are grim. Some are sly. Some are heartbreaking.
All are worth reading.
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“A Light, Electric” by Terry Grimwood – modern inventions reveal how thin the veneer of polite society truly is to a wealthy and corrupt hedonist.
“Panic” by E Saxey –hints of a Saki-like wit in a story of a young woman who wants more from her life, and her complete misreading of her mother’s relationship with a neighbor. One of my favorites.
“The Dreaming Dead” by Liam Hogan –the medical curiosity and occult experiments of a gentleman scientist collide to rearrange the power structure in an unhappy marriage.
“The Aftermath of Failing To Touch A Star” by Tim Prasil –the survivor of an arctic expedition is haunted by an inconstant and deadly power that came home with him.
“Red Trunk” by David Kruegger –racism and greed provoke an extreme culture clash when a clergyman attempts to acquire a relic he has no way to understand.
“Fly in the Ointment” by Christina Ladd— Rich young men play at decadence, until one decides to follow the game to the absolute extreme. Barker would approve.
“The Bull Nose Pistol” by Tim Newton Anderson –an artist who hoped to succeed in Paris acquires a souvenier from a famed playwright–and the monster attached to it.
“Scratch” by Katie Magnusson –a shady couple move to the country, but discover that their isolated home was not completely abandoned when they moved in.
“The Monkey Box” by DJ Tyrer–a relentless curse follows the men who committed war crimes–and the men who stood by and let them happen. Another of my favorites.
“When the Sea Gives Up Her Dead” by IA Watson –a deeply troubled young boy haunted by the tragedies that killed his father and grandfather becomes an instrument of their revenge. Sad, terrible, and another favorite.
“The Blue Bench” by D Glenn Seguin –an experimental treatment given to a man disfigured in the war does far more than restore him.
“Who Is the Third?” by Nadia Steven Rysing –the love and sacrifice of a man who didn’t go to war brings back the despairing ghost of a man who did.
“Cold Hands, Warm Heart” by W L Silverwood –spiritualism, the stress of wartime, and the quest for a lost son open the door for a different lost soul to come home. Mournful, beautiful, and deeply disturbing.
“Prevailing Winds” by C A Collins –an alternate history explored by a deeply pragmatic character. It doesn’t feel far-fetched at all.
“An Indefinite Kingdom” by Josh Reynolds –a witty and evocative piece of folk horror that covers a lot of historical ground in its few pages. Another favorite.
“The Thaumatrope” by Victoria Yardley –a gentle story told in the journal of an ailing young man, haunted by the past in more ways than one.
“The Testament of Cleander” by John S McFarland–a Lovecraft-inflected tale of the weirdness a boy discovers deep in the swamps of Florida.
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Alone on the Borderland happens in a time just outside of living memory, but close enough to still feel familiar. Grant has an instinctive feel for the era, and his selections show it. Change is everywhere, inescapable, with the tension between the longing for the past and the embrace of the new acting as the thread that ties these tales together.
I highly recommend it.