A series of micro-collections featuring a selection of peculiar tales from the best in horror and speculative fiction.
From Black Shuck Books and Dave Jeffery comes Mood Swings, the thirty-sixth in the Black Shuck SHADOWS series.
Dark bleatings, my moody tribe! I’m here today to talk about Dave Jeffery’s contribution to the Shadows collection. As you’ll all know by now, I’m a huge fan of Dave’s longer works, so let’s see how I get on with his shorter stories.
Restoring Scarlet
This story is nice and comforting in some ways, but also reeeeeal creepy when you really think about it. A mortician is considered a genius in their field because of their ability to make up dead bodies, no matter how horrifically damaged or disfigured, so they look presentable and like themselves for family viewings and open-casket funerals. But there’s a reason this person is so talented…
Once
I was creeped. Creeped right out. We have a lovely, picturesque couple, but the atmosphere is unsettling and something’s just…wrong!
Last Rose of Summer
I know the author personally and let me tell you, he is one of the nicest people on this planet. Which is why I simply CAN NOT BELIEVE he wrote something as horrible as this story! It’s bloody heinous, but so well written.
“The same razor that will put a smile on her throat.”
A serial killer sets his sights on an unsuspecting lady, but it seems there’s a rival murderous asshole in town with similar crosshairs.
Masquerade
This is the best story of its particular kind that I’ve ever read. A guy dwelling in purgatory/Hell (I didn’t make notes on this one and can’t quite remember the specific) escapes his current torment when he connects with a woman through a mirror and manages to free himself by penetrating the world of the living again. But if he thinks that’s the end of that, he has another think coming…
Where There’s A Will
This aptly and humorously named story is one of my favourites in this collection. A man on his deathbed is forced to confront the hitherto unacknowledged fact that he was not, in fact, a good dad. But there’s soooo much more to this story, and I was delighted by each new revelation.
Disturbia
I think there is a definitive answer to what’s actually going on in this story, but also I guess it’s open to interpretation, and I choose to interpret it so that it’s nice. A man suffering with anxiety is living through a quarantine situation in his neighbourhood, the only company a truck that rolls up once a week. I know that doesn’t sound nice, you’ll just have to take my word for it until you read it yourself.
Different
This is another one that I can’t believe came from the mind of lovely, sweet Dave. Henry, the scumbag, had an affair, and his poor wife couldn’t cope and ended her life. Henry feels guilty enough about this to try to…er…rectify things. That would already be bad enough, but good lord, the ending! I loved it. It’s hideous.
And Your Fear Shall Define You
I love this one too! It feels very much like a twinner story to Thinner by Stephen King/Richard Bachman. A guy is cursed and not only develops a taste for something…ew…just, no, but also keeps growing with each meal. What a fun end to a brilliant collection.
It will probably not come as a shock at all that I, of course, wholeheartedly recommend this book to horror fans, especially if you’re after something short and sweet, as the Shadows books are.
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you.
Bleeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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