edited by
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
(NeoParadoxa books, kindle, pb, May 2025, 266 pp.)
“The Whitby Light” by James Chambers
“The Last Priestess” by David Lee Summers
“A Fearsome Tail” by Aaron Rosenberg
“The Immoral Immortal” by Keith R.A. DeCandido
“A Sad and Bitter World” by Hildy Silverman
“The Man Who Was Not Me” by Doc Coleman
“The Year Without a Summer” by Jessica Lucci
“Imagination Unbound” by Dana Fraedrich
“Notre Dame de Linceul” by Ef Deal
“A Legacy of Fangs (A Van Helsing Tale)” by Teel James Glenn
“A Clockwork Heart” by Christine Norris
“To Those Who Are Ancient” by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
“Evil Obscura” by Rachel A. Brune
“The Lambton Wyrm – A Story in the Clockwork Chronicles Universe” by Michelle D. Sonier
“To Feel the Sun Again” by John. L. French
Reviewed by Mina
The book begins with excerpts from Dracula and Frankenstein. Each story has an anatomically correct brain/heart ornamentation to set the mood. It is truly enjoyable to see epistolary letters (that endangered species!) used as literary devices in some of these short stories, as well as dashes of steampunk. A collection of good, old-fashioned, Gothic creep and chill.
“The Whitby Light” by James Chambers is well-written, striking a good balance between more formal and old-fashioned language and the sensibilities of the modern reader (as do all the tales in this tome). A scientist enlists the help of two other scientists in his attempts to turn a powerful searchlight into something more: “between concept and practice yawns an abyss to shame the widest ocean.” At the same time, we learn of the strange affliction besetting his daughter. Throw in a vampiric mastiff and we’re all set for this enjoyable take on gothic monsters.
In “The Last Priestess” by David Lee Summers, two scientists are experimenting with resurrecting mummies in Mexico. Dinella is a spiritualist who accompanies them as they awaken a mummy: “My grandmother was the last priestess of the Spider Woman. She taught me her ways and placed my feet upon the great web of time. I have danced along its strands. I have seen the varied paths humanity has taken. There are dangers on every one, but the path you are on is especially perilous.” The mummy proceeds to show them a possible future. And behind it all is the image of time in the form of a Möbius loop. Not a lot happens in the end but the world building was very good.
“A Fearsome Tail” by Aaron Rosenberg follows a Parisian inspector, his subordinate and his crow on the search for a missing woman. Their search leads them to the village of Queues Poilues (Furry Tails), which is overrun by rats. A fun…tail.
“The Immoral Immortal” by Keith R.A. DeCandido is short and entirely made up of one letter written during WWI. A Captain Agrippa sacrifices ten of his men against the Germans. When questioned, he claims to be immortal and shows a total lack of care for mortals, who he sees as interchangeable in their pitifully short lives. Immortality would seem to come with a loss of compassion and the need to quote Macbeth.
“A Sad and Bitter World” by Hildy Silverman begins with a letter to Victor Frankenstein from his brother Ernest, who muses: “I am convinced that the dead continue to exist, albeit transfigured and transported to an alternate plane, upon which our living realm is superimposed. A palimpsest of existences if you will.” Ernest is experimenting with a Faraday cage turned “ghost cage.” It attracts the angry spirit of Justine, wrongfully executed for a murder she did not commit. Ernest’s experiment does not go quite as planned and the final letter is wonderfully chilling. The tale does the title justice.
“The Man Who Was Not Me” by Doc Coleman is a proper horror story leading to its horrifying end. A desperate man keeps running into someone who looks like him but is not him. The doppelgänger tells him a tale of an alternate timeline, but can they be trusted? A clever play on the tropes being followed by this book.
“The Year Without a Summer” by Jessica Lucci begins with a man, Bernard Prideaux, murdering his wife and child in cold blood, for money. The point of view then shifts to a reporter, Frances, covering the trial, who is horrified at the “not guilty” verdict. The jury has clearly been bought off. Frances sees the ghosts of the mother and daughter asking for vengeance and she is determined to seek justice with the help of her cousin, Avery, who has been experimenting with dead bodies. Can Frances’ idealism withstand scientific zeal? The ending comes with a helping of horror.
The setting for “Imagination Unbound” by Dana Fraedrich is suitably creepy, a dilapidated funfair. A party of men enters the fairground: Robert is present as a city surveyor for the developer wishing to turn the area into luxury flats. They suddenly find themselves running for their lives from monsters. But is everything what it seems in a game of smoke and mirrors?
“Notre Dame de Linceul” by Ef Deal is set in a steampunk Montmartre and the details are fun for anyone who knows Paris and speaks French. Two grave robbers get more than they bargained for when they release an ancient evil from a stone sarcophagus. Good old-fashioned creepy.
In “A Legacy of Fangs (A Van Helsing Tale)” by Teel James Glenn, an old man writes an account for his grandson. He remembers his days as a constable, seeking the killer of four young girls, when Van Helsing was sent to help his village. Van Helsing tells the constable of an evil called the “loup garo.” He also tells the monster at the heart of the tale that “knowledge without moral compass is evil.” The story skilfully weaves mad scientists, Egyptian myths and monsters, the Irish Laignech Fáelad werewolves, and a debate on good and evil, into a pleasing whole. A delight to read.
“A Clockwork Heart” by Christine Norris begins with Marie wondering why she has been kidnapped. She is locked in a room by Mr Fuguet who believes she has the gift of “Technomancy” and is set an impossible task. A mysterious boy with a magical gadget helps Marie bring a clockwork bird to life but he leaves her in the locked room. The next night, the challenge is a clockwork rabbit. The boy helps her again, using the gadget and Aether, promising to return the next day. The next day, Marie is asked to reanimate a clockwork man, with a human brain. A delightful tale that blends clockwork wonders, Rumpelstiltskin, evil scientists, compassion and courage.
In “To Those Who Are Ancient” by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Aleta serves as Santa Muerte’s angel, shepherding wayward souls, but she has met tatters of spirits she cannot help. Looking through her father’s diaries and books, she learns of the “cloud people,” said to intercede on behalf of the dead. She travels to a shrine where she realises that one of the Cihuateteo (the spirit of a mother dying in childbirth) has not crossed over fully. She must help the mother’s spirit complete her journey before Santa Muerte can help the damaged souls. A fascinating look at Aztec beliefs on the afterlife.
“Evil Obscura” by Rachel A. Brune recounts a little-known incident of the Crimean War involving a tactical combat officer of a Troop of Light Airships, Lady Marta. She is sent a charm by her grandmother to pin to her clothes in her mission to rescue the Duchess Ygritte. She reports on finding the bodies of her enemies, gruesomely slaughtered and bearing the “evil eye.” When she finally meets the monster, a blend of clockwork and demon, only her grandmother’s charm stands between her and death. A gripping tale, very well-structured, using a blend of documents and styles. Calling PTSD “the fatigue of soldier’s heart” was a nice touch.
“The Lambton Wyrm – A Story in the Clockwork Chronicles Universe” by Michelle D. Sonier begins with Arabella, a technomantic witch, receiving a message from her sister, Amelia, delivered by raven. The letter bears a geas forcing her to travel to Lambton. Once there, she finds that the problem is a wyrm that has been half transformed with mechanical parts. The two witches pursue and fight the cyborg wyrm—an interesting creation.
In “To Feel the Sun Again” by John. L. French, Frankenstein’s heir, Caroline, decides to continue his experiments. She repeatedly fails to revive dead bodies, and dead brains in clockwork bodies, until Vlad the vampyre comes to call. He wants to feel the sun again and is willing to help Caroline with creating a living mechanical man. Gruesome but gripping.