Dark bleatings, my beloved tribe! This week, we’re talking about another ‘Shadows’ collection from Black Shuck Books. Littlewood offers up 6 stories of peculiar fiction/horror, so let’s dive in to each one!
The Zoetrope: A girl’s mother gives her a zoetrope, and it becomes an object that keeps them connected, even in impossible circumstances. A spooky tale about generational trauma and the forewarning of history repeating itself. Loved it!
The Marvellous Talking Machine: A disturbing Man vs God story about a scientist capable of creating avatars that can be used by the dead. Really freaked me out.
Meet Me at the Frost Fair: A take on the classic character of Jack Frost. You could describe it as a… chilling tale.
The Ballad Box: A story about how greed corrupts, and how morality shifts with perspective (and excuses). But there are always consequences…
The Winter Tree: Thematically, this one runs deep. A man breaks a serious commitment, thinking the grass is greener elsewhere. Little does he know that the particular grass he’s eyeing up might already be crunchy.
There’s no grass in this story, by the way. That’s just my attempt at being cryptic. Littlewood is much better at that than I am, don’t worry.
The Flowering: A first-person narrative (which I love), with the story told from the perspective of some dickhead who clearly views his wife as inferior to him. The language in this story is lovely, riddled with gorgeous metaphors.
Overall, a great collection. I’d recommend it to people who enjoy the slightly quieter side of horror, and certainly to people who enjoy the strange and unusual. If you’d like to get a copy, or check out the author or publisher, I’ve popped the links below for you:
Happy Goat Horror 
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