Monthly Archives: January 2023

A review that originally appeared in Black Static #29:- Released exclusively in e-book format, BAD BLOOD (Abaddon e-book, 135pp, £2.99) is the sequel to Chuck Wendig’s novel Double Dead, continuing the adventures of Coburn, a vampire who is trying to … Continue reading →

The first track from Elton’s 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein is the ninth novel I’ve read by Peter Ackroyd. It was published in 2009 but I picked up a copy late last year in Poundland of all places, and I’m glad that I did, since … Continue reading →

A review that originally appeared in Black Static #26:- McMahon’s other recent release didn’t beguile me in quite the same way, if beguile is the right word (and with strong emphasis on ‘quite’). THE CONCRETE GROVE (Solaris paperback, 384pp, £7.99) … Continue reading →

Goblins in the garden?

A review that originally appeared in Black Static #26:- DEAD BAD THINGS (Angry Robot paperback, 352pp, £7.99) by Gary McMahon is billed as ‘A Thomas Usher Novel’, and is also the second volume in a series. Like Charlie Parker*, Usher … Continue reading →

And here is David Bowie in his Ziggy persona performing the first track from the Aladdin Sane album, which turns fifty years old this year.

I knew the name Cliff McNish but hadn’t read anything by him when I saw Breathe going for 25p in a charity shop and was reeled in by the tag line ‘A Ghost Story’. I think I got value for … Continue reading →

A review that originally appeared in Black Static #27:- Dayna Ingram’s EAT YOUR HEART OUT (Brazenhead paperback, 135pp, $13) is the first release from the new Lethe Press imprint, whose mission statement is to publish ‘exceptional novellas of queer speculative … Continue reading →

Nobody does sentimentality and nostalgia quite as well as Speilberg.