Review: An Exciting New Talent on the Horror Scene
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 23, 2014
D R Gordon displays the populist touch in a collection of horror and dark fantasy stories that is eminently readable. ‘From Darkness’ is an impressive debut.Gordon kicks off in high style with ‘The Suitor’ a baroque tale with a twist on a well-known literary figure. 'The Portrait' maintains the Gothic tradition in a nod to Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Grey.' 'Club Diablo' comes next, perhaps my favourite inclusion: a perfectly timed contemporary tale with a great twist. 'The Dark Man' is an effective chiller replete with dollhouse, disfigured mannequin and the dark man of the title. 'Karnak's Rest' has the cosmic dimension of horror to be found in Lovecraft; although Gordon's take seems to be an allegory about today's earth and the potential man-made crisis threatening it. 'Terrible Beauty' (the phrase borrowed from Yeats' 'Easter' perhaps?) is an appropriately nasty little vignette, sharp as a knife. 'Mountain Air', a longer story, had about it for me that effortlessly involving style of Stephen King's. (Indeed, as a general point, Gordon has an enviably accessible  and effortless style, sure to garner him an even wider readership than the one he has so far amassed.)'Reddening Tide' continues a well-respected literary tradition of stories dealing with doubles (one thinks of Fyodor Dostoyevsky). 'The Bird' is a deceptively innocuous title for a tale about an avian menace. The next two offerings, 'Witches' and 'The Beast’, demonstrate Gordon's range to great effect, the first in his handling of ‘olde worlde’ vernacular and the theme of mob insanity (and sanity at the last minute), the second in its apparent borrowings of science fiction tropes – a tale that reminded me of Ray Bradbury. 'Alice' also highlights Gordon's inventiveness, and is perhaps his most serious inclusion. What begins as an amusing riff on a famous children's book soon steps into a very real world of abominable crimes committed on children. Perhaps the most disturbing in the collection.'In The Woods' was the first tale of Gordon's I read, which a friend shared from D R Gordon's facebook page. Gordon had the clever idea of asking his facebook fans to suggest story ideas or opening sentences which he then weaved complete tales from. It was great to see with 'In The Woods' that the young’uns are still reading the old masters of weird tales like Algernon Blackwood and taking inspiration from them.'Zombies' puts on display another facet of Gordon's writing I've so far neglected to mention: his humour. 'The Fairy' does not deal with a benign fairy, of course, and 'The Wo'gey' successfully continues a trick up Gordon's sleeve of leading the reader to believe he is writing about one thing, before pouncing with another. 'The Tail' is a good choice to round out the collection, amusing and upbeat.In a collection of short stories one might expect some filler. But these are all carefully crafted and highly inventive pieces. ‘From Darkness’ has deservedly already proved a hit. I eagerly await, as I’m sure many do, Gordon's first novel. It's sure to be a feverishly imaginative and surprising treat.