Black Static 8283 by TTA Press

Author:TTA Press [TTA Press]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror
Publisher: TTA Press
Published: 2024-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

Steve Rasnic Tem has twelve Black Static appearances under his belt, including a story in this issue. His collection THE NIGHT DOCTOR AND OTHER TALES (Macabre Ink pb, 274pp, £13.97) contains twenty five stories, four of which first appeared in the pages of Black Static and two published for the first time in this volume. Four of the stories I’ve reviewed before and as regards three of them – ‘Lost in the Garden of Earthly Delights’, ‘Half-Light’, and ‘Domestic Magic’ – I’ll reprise those reviews on the Case Notes blog at ttapress.com rather than repeat myself here.

Opening story ‘Breathing’ tells of Charlie who is haunted by his wife, or believes himself to be so, the story a heartfelt eulogy for all the things we have lost by the time we have reached our own personal end days, that time when breathing is the only difference between the living and the dead, and even that barrier grows thin. After the death of his wife and end of his employment, Tom moves to a retirement complex and ‘Apartment B’, but his existence becomes increasingly meaningless to him. It’s a touching account of a man who has lost his will and his way, who feels so deeply that he no longer has any purpose that he begins to question if he ever did. Matt’s wife Clara keeps seeing a ‘Red Rabbit’, remains left by a predator, or perhaps just a premonition of her own self-mutilation, the story building gradually, the horror of dementia conflated with very real menaces in the real world, or perhaps not.

Roger in ‘The Hanged Man’ gets into the habit of hanging himself, his failure to die a mirror image of the failed relationship he has with his family, especially son Matt who he wants to protect but feels incapable of doing so. It’s an intriguing and sad story, one where the weirdness of what is happening only serves to emphasise the ordinary, the common humanity of the moment. Advised by his physician to take up fishing as a form of relaxation, Bishop finds ‘The Fishing Hut’ and its enigmatic occupants, with the suggestion that it is a halfway house between life and death. This was an unsettling story though nothing really happens that is overtly disturbing, so that the final twist when it comes is even more of a hammer blow. In ‘A Sudden Event’ married couple Roger and Ann are haunted by an elusive sound, one that he dreads hearing in case it alters their lives forever. This is another story that confronts the theme of dementia, an invisible thief that robs us of reason and understanding.

‘Paula Breaks’ is a tale of desperation and hope, the protagonist kept prisoner in their house by her husband for her own good, though there is a weird element to what takes place emphasising how unnatural it all is. One feels for Paula, wants her to escape, but the bittersweet ending is both the thwarting and culmination of these dreams of freedom.

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