Tag: richard gavin

This Collection includes: “Banishments” • “Fragile Masks” • “Neithernor” • “Deep Eden” • “The Patter of Tiny Feet” • “The Rasping Absence”• “Scold’s Bridle: A Cruelty” • “Crawlspace Oracle” • “After the Final” • “The Sullied Pane” • “Cast Lots”• “Notes on the Aztec Death Wistle” • “Headsman’s Trust: A Murder Ballad” • “Chain of Empathy” • “Three Knocks on a Buried Door” • “Ten of Swords: Ruin”

This review covers the third, short story titled Neithernor, inside of the collection of stories titled grotesquerie. This is not a a review for the whole book.

In my review for the first story in grotesquerie titled Banishments, I don’t think I mentioned, but these stories are mostly written in a classical form. It’s one that you don’t see often these days. It is a bit heavier of reading, sometimes I had to go back over things, but with this comes a reward. What is also rewarding about these stories is, albeit not excessive, that their are gems. Gems in the form of interesting words, gems in the form of complex thought, gems in the form of references to other mediums of art, etc. I really can’t say enough about how I value gems in all books, not just this short story. Things that make you think, wonder and research to learn and grow. I fear that a lot of modern books won’t put gems in a book for reasons I can only assume, but I think it is a mistake, especially when warranted. I haven’t read a lot of classic literature, even in the horror genre such as H.P. Lovecraft or similar, not enough to speak about it. But, if I were to assume what it would be like and to recall a solid memory about it, it would be close in form to what Gavin has done here. This is classy horror, no cussing or vulgarities in that respect. It’s intellectual reading.

“Companionship always puts one more at ease with one’s own eccentricities. Alone, one’s compulsions can become forces of anguish and alienation. Betrothed, they twist into endearing quirks in the eye of one’s lover. This of course is so much easier than the futile quest to entirely remake one’s self to fit an ideal.”

© 2020, Richard Gavin

This Collection includes: “Banishments” • “Fragile Masks” • “Neithernor” • “Deep Eden” • “The Patter of Tiny Feet” • “The Rasping Absence”• “Scold’s Bridle: A Cruelty” • “Crawlspace Oracle” • “After the Final” • “The Sullied Pane” • “Cast Lots”• “Notes on the Aztec Death Wistle” • “Headsman’s Trust: A Murder Ballad” • “Chain of Empathy” • “Three Knocks on a Buried Door” • “Ten of Swords: Ruin”

This review covers the first story within the grotesquerie collection titled Banishments, which is apart of my Halloween reading list. I chose to review the short story instead of reviewing the whole book because I am treating this as somewhat of a study to identify the core elements and atmosphere in writings. This book can be considered heavier reading, but I knew what I was getting myself into before I started.

Banishments is a truly interesting story with murky elements and emotional ties in setting to a broken home, but more importantly what is found floating down a stormy, rushing river. And the writings here in Banishments has a classical type feel that left me in somewhat of a confused state when certain elements were finally introduced. However, I feel like that is not at fault of the writer, but my own as my assumptions led me to believe, based on what was presented that at first had me thinking this story took place in some distant world.