Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Monday, January 20, 2014
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
Happy New Year
It's a brand new year and what better way to start than to discover that an anthology of black magic stories has received a good review. It's true. Hellforge loves Demons & Devilry.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Spare Parts review
Review of Spare Parts from Philip K Dick Award-winning novelist Simon Morden.
Stuart Young’s Spare Parts dwell on the fantastic which grows from the ordinary: if this wasn’t genre, posh reviewers in mainstream magazines would call it magical realism. Young serves up six stories -atmospherically illustrated by Bob Covington and Dave Bezzina – on the theme of love and loss, and the quiet desperation of ordinary lives suddenly transformed by accidental magic.
"Boxes" is about memory: Peter is ditched by girlfriend Elaine for a newer model, and all he’s left with are his memories. An experimental drug leaves him with total recall, but being able to remember everything he’s ever seen or said or done has a catastrophic effect on his sanity. "Midnight in a Perfect World" is a classic story of destructive co-dependency, made possible by a mantelpiece clock that is able to keep a relationship new and exciting, just so long as the hands on the face are set right. "Spirits of Darkness and Light" is a ghost story – a dead Royal Flying Corps pilot appears to a colleague, asking him to finish what he started. But just what is the ghost’s mission? When the life expectancy of a new pilot is measured in minutes, taking deliberate risks is the kiss of death. "Swamp Gator Blues", "Face at the Window" and the title story "Spare Parts" complete the collection – not quite as strong as the other three, but still fine stories in their own right. Perhaps Young has yet to find his own unique voice, but his range and depth of storytelling is already well crafted.
Stuart Young’s Spare Parts dwell on the fantastic which grows from the ordinary: if this wasn’t genre, posh reviewers in mainstream magazines would call it magical realism. Young serves up six stories -atmospherically illustrated by Bob Covington and Dave Bezzina – on the theme of love and loss, and the quiet desperation of ordinary lives suddenly transformed by accidental magic.
"Boxes" is about memory: Peter is ditched by girlfriend Elaine for a newer model, and all he’s left with are his memories. An experimental drug leaves him with total recall, but being able to remember everything he’s ever seen or said or done has a catastrophic effect on his sanity. "Midnight in a Perfect World" is a classic story of destructive co-dependency, made possible by a mantelpiece clock that is able to keep a relationship new and exciting, just so long as the hands on the face are set right. "Spirits of Darkness and Light" is a ghost story – a dead Royal Flying Corps pilot appears to a colleague, asking him to finish what he started. But just what is the ghost’s mission? When the life expectancy of a new pilot is measured in minutes, taking deliberate risks is the kiss of death. "Swamp Gator Blues", "Face at the Window" and the title story "Spare Parts" complete the collection – not quite as strong as the other three, but still fine stories in their own right. Perhaps Young has yet to find his own unique voice, but his range and depth of storytelling is already well crafted.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Tennant's Extra
As Stumar Press have released Spare Parts as an ebook here's Peter Tennant's review of the original paperback edition from Rainfall Books. He says some very nice things, including this comment: "Young’s writing is never less than rewarding, while at his best he is thought provoking and capable of genuinely moving the reader."
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Alt-Zombie reviews
Alt-Zombie has been getting some good reviews. It's "highly recommended" and "an absolute win" and "a book that definitely needs to be on your horror bookshelf".
My contribution to the anthology has been doing okay too. Dark Musings describes it as one of the highlights, Shattered Ravings marks it as "one of my favourite stories in the book" Ginger Nuts of Horror says it's "fresh and full of bite" and The Zombie Librarian calls it "the best of the lot."
And just for good measure here's another review of the anthology, by Trevor Denyer. "This was a well written, professionally presented anthology, but I'm not convinced that the zombie stories were that alternative. At the end of the day, they were all shuffling, rotting, re-animated corpses. I found that this aspect of the book became repetitive and tiresome. Having said that, there were some outstanding contributions, namely: 'Thus Spoke Lazarus' by Gary McMahon (an interesting take on the Lazarus fable), 'White Light, Black Fire' by Stuart Young (horror with a tongue-in-cheek humour that I love about this guy's writing) and 'Acceptable Genocide' by Shaun Hamilton (in my view, the best story in the collection. Chilling and deeply moving). All in all, a very acceptable collection of good stories, best read sparingly and not altogether."
My contribution to the anthology has been doing okay too. Dark Musings describes it as one of the highlights, Shattered Ravings marks it as "one of my favourite stories in the book" Ginger Nuts of Horror says it's "fresh and full of bite" and The Zombie Librarian calls it "the best of the lot."
And just for good measure here's another review of the anthology, by Trevor Denyer. "This was a well written, professionally presented anthology, but I'm not convinced that the zombie stories were that alternative. At the end of the day, they were all shuffling, rotting, re-animated corpses. I found that this aspect of the book became repetitive and tiresome. Having said that, there were some outstanding contributions, namely: 'Thus Spoke Lazarus' by Gary McMahon (an interesting take on the Lazarus fable), 'White Light, Black Fire' by Stuart Young (horror with a tongue-in-cheek humour that I love about this guy's writing) and 'Acceptable Genocide' by Shaun Hamilton (in my view, the best story in the collection. Chilling and deeply moving). All in all, a very acceptable collection of good stories, best read sparingly and not altogether."
Saturday, June 09, 2012
THHHB review
Rather spiffing review of The Mask Behind the Face at The Horrifically Horrifying Horror Blog courtesy of Gary Swindley.
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Another Alt-Dead review
Another review of the Alt-dead anthology.
Anthony Watson describes it as "a strong collection and one that I'd recommend." More importantly he says my story -- which is obviously the only story anyone cares about -- is "an excellent piece of writing that brilliantly captures the frustrations of those having to deal with mental illness. It's a story about loss and grief for sure, but it's also about guilt. The ending is horrifying and heart-breaking."
Anthony Watson describes it as "a strong collection and one that I'd recommend." More importantly he says my story -- which is obviously the only story anyone cares about -- is "an excellent piece of writing that brilliantly captures the frustrations of those having to deal with mental illness. It's a story about loss and grief for sure, but it's also about guilt. The ending is horrifying and heart-breaking."
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Where the Heart Is review
Matthew Fryer has some kind words for my story, A Killing on the Market, from the Where the Heart Is anthology saying that it "delivers plenty of seamlessly real dialogue, but don’t be lured by the reassuring humour and warmth, because you’re in for a real horror finale."
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Catastrophia review
Tangent Online has just described my contribution to the Catastrophia anthology as "An out-there story with a completely unexpected ending."
I think that means they liked it.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Invasion of the Seagal Snatchers
As I'm sure you're all suffering withdrawal symptoms due to me not bragging about how wonderful my stories are for a while here's a quick snippet from a review of 'Bliss' in Black Static #8:
"Young tells it like a retread of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Steven Seagal in the lead role. The result is something eminently readable and engaging, a plot driven narrative with dollops of sex and violence, but dig beneath the surface and you discover that he is addressing some serious and genuine concerns about the nature of human existence and the values that we cherish."
"Young tells it like a retread of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Steven Seagal in the lead role. The result is something eminently readable and engaging, a plot driven narrative with dollops of sex and violence, but dig beneath the surface and you discover that he is addressing some serious and genuine concerns about the nature of human existence and the values that we cherish."
Sunday, November 16, 2008
WFTG review
Nice review of We Fade to Grey up at Matthew Fryer's blog.
He also compares 'Bliss' to "an ultra-violent, X-rated episode of Doctor Who." Which I feel is a pretty fair comment.
He also compares 'Bliss' to "an ultra-violent, X-rated episode of Doctor Who." Which I feel is a pretty fair comment.
Monday, September 01, 2008
We Fade to Grey review
Chris Teague has just pointed me towards We Fade to Grey's first review at http://www.horrorworld.org/reviews.htm
Scroll about halfway down the page for Mario Guslandi's comments on the book.
And for those too lazy to do that here's the most important part of the review:
"Stuart Young contributes "Bliss"a novella graced by excellent characterization and smooth narrative flow featuring two brothers facing the shocking reality of a surreptitious alien invasion of human bodies."
Scroll about halfway down the page for Mario Guslandi's comments on the book.
And for those too lazy to do that here's the most important part of the review:
"Stuart Young contributes "Bliss"a novella graced by excellent characterization and smooth narrative flow featuring two brothers facing the shocking reality of a surreptitious alien invasion of human bodies."
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