Grimdark Magazine #25, January 2021

“The Only Cure” by Hûw Steer

“The Dead Man” by Jack van Beynen

“Winter Sweet, Winter Grieve” by Kaaron Warren

Reviewed by Tara Grímravn

This latest issue of Grimdark Magazine brings three original tales to the table for reader enjoyment. The central theme to each one is the same—every action one takes has consequences. Some are immediate, some are not, but the message is clear: the outworking of one’s deeds, whether for good or ill, will eventually come home to roost.

“The Only Cure” by Hûw Steer

Plague has taken the city. Many have already died, the sickly scent of decay wafting from their corpses as the Doctor picks her way through the streets to her first house visit for the day. After providing the ailing man (and presumably her other house-bound patients) with “medicine”—a mixture of ground glass and arsenic—she returns to her covered wagon to serve those still able to stand in line. Her next patient, though, is one for whom she is not prepared.

While still an engrossing read, I consider Steer’s story to be more of a character study than anything else. The narrative focuses very narrowly on the Doctor, her motives for doing what she does, and how her actions and encounters affect her. Everything else is just window dressing for her own internal conflict. At first, it’s very easy to dislike this anti-hero protagonist, but upon learning more about her, she becomes much more relatable. Again, it’s a very good read, one I thoroughly enjoyed.

“The Dead Man” by Jack van Beynen

Crane Sweet-mouth, a well-known dashing mercenary, is now a deserter from the royal army. When he first arrives back in the city he left only ten months ago, his first thought is to see his lover, the married Countess Sofia, who tells him they must break off their forbidden romance or else her husband’s sorcerer will reveal their affair. Disheartened, the mercenary heads off to a local inn for a drink, where he encounters a former friend, Athel, who accuses him of ruining his relationship with a young woman the night before Crane’s company left for the war. Crane agrees to set things straight with the girl, but as he leaves to do so, he’s accosted by another “old acquaintance.” This is just not shaping up to be Crane’s night.

I like the style in which this story is written. The observations and interjections made by the unseen narrator go a long way towards establishing Crane’s character and history. By the end of the story, one really begins to feel for the man. Although it’s clear he was a bit of an arrogant jerk before he left for the war, he’s returned with a very different perspective on things, and he’s finding out now that he can’t run from his past. And the night he has in this story, a night where everything that can possibly go wrong does, is something to which we can all relate. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the tangible exhaustion and frustration Crane experiences after his horrendous ordeal at the war’s front, his ordeal would almost be humorous.

Also worth noting in this story is the framing device. At first, the narrator just seems like any other disembodied omniscient voice telling a story, but the last few lines of the tale reveal that’s not the case. They also drive a delightful little sliver of ice into one’s veins. This story is well worth a read.

“Winter Sweet, Winter Grieve” by Kaaron Warren

Two trees grow on either side of the old church, one called Winter Sweet and the other Winter Grieve. Felicity, owner and cook of the restaurant that now occupies the church, named her business after the former. Tonight, it is business as usual—twelve patrons are booked for the dinner service, and she and her assistant, Owen, are the only ones working. A charming older man, Owen seduces Felicity into a romantic tryst after the diners leave. Little does Felicity know, however, that his intentions are far less than honorable and will trigger a series of unfortunate events.

For the most part, I liked Warren’s story. The bits and pieces of local folklore are intriguing, and I like how they are incorporated into the narrative. The ending, too, while somewhat sad, is satisfying enough. That said, the story as a whole has a few problems.

While I understand that some of the details provided are needed to set the scene, some of them are superfluous. Why did we need to know about the couple taking Felicity’s spare room at the church? That bit of detail is added as if it has some bearing on her decision to sleep with Owen or the events to follow, but it doesn’t whatsoever that I can tell. I spent a fair bit of time trying to ferret out exactly what was being conveyed here, but not a single detail in the paragraph that states “…if they had stayed at the local hotel instead of taking Felicity’s room…Even if they’d left home a day later, she would not have been sleeping in the church that night…” makes sense in relation to the events taking place. It only ends up being confusing, as one is left to wonder whether other people were present in the church that night sleeping in some other room—people who may have died that evening and no one knew or cared.

The final two sentences of the story present the same issue. They don’t make sense in relation to the rest of the story. Why would the soup suddenly taste like old bones from time to time? I get the final situation with the graveyard, Owen, Nate, and Felicity, but there is not a single event or detail in the story to make the soup tasting like old bones make sense. It never had done before, so why is this a thing now?

All in all, it’s an okay story. It’s lacking a bit in terms of emotional connection due to the rather dreamy, detached style in which it’s written, but it’s still an okay read.