Great British Horror 7 - Major Arcana edited by Steve J Shaw

Publisher - Black Shuck Books

Published - Out Now

Price - £11.99 paperback £1.99 ebook via Great British Horror: Major Arcana – Black Shuck Books

GREAT BRITISH HORROR 7 continues the annual series showcasing the best in modern British horror. Every year, the series will feature ten British authors, plus one international guest contributor, telling tales of this sceptered isle.

The 2022 edition, MAJOR ARCANA, features eleven more previously unpublished stories from authors at the very top of their game.

October for me always means time for the spooky season. The days are getting shorter; the night has gained a chill and we all get more concious of the approaching winter and of course Halloween. Short fiction and horror have a long history and I do love to get comfy in a big chair and slowly make myself get very worried about what I’m reading. This week I’ve had a great treat enjoying Great British Horror Vol 7 - Major Arcana edited by Steve J Smith and where a whole host of great stories have been provided by an array of authors all based around cards from the tarot deck.

Wheel of Fortune by Ida Keogh - a strong start with a tale immediately surprising us by taking us into the future and a deep space mission where something is going very very wrong. Our lead character is trying desperatly to get some clues as to what has caused nearly all her fellow crew emembers to die in strange ways. The ship’s reluctantly helpful AI tries to piece all the clues together. A facsinating well-told glimpse of how simple bad decisions can create a horrible cascade effect wrecking so many lives. I really enjoyed how this tale reminds us that science fiction can deliver horror tales too.

The Star by Anna Tarborska - This tale takes us to present day Richmond Park where something is starting to attack the many daily visitors. This tale treads a fine line between slasher tale and dark comedy as various motivations of characters are explained and we watch various lives intersect (and often end horribly).. What makes this worth the read is the eventual reveal of what is causing all the chaos and their own strange motivation. A dark messy tale that may at the wrong moment catch you smiling. I won’t tell if you don’t!

The High Priestess by Dan Coxon - A wealthy businessman finds hinself entranced by a remote countryside cottage and a hill next to it that offers both amazing views and a state of calmness he hads never felt before. I really enjoyed this story which is like Field of Dreams meets folk horror as our lead character finds himself compelled to start building on the hill to make a beautiful monument but at the cost of those he loves. Slowly explanations are revealed but the finale assures us it may be too late to escape destiny. I really loved the disturbing build up to the big explanation and the horrible feeling that our lead character is no longer of sound mind.

The Hierophant by Jonathan Sims - Now this story explores how imposter syndrome can push us into ever more dangerous positions. Nick is a working class student at a prestigious university and finds his tutor and upper class student appear constantly underline or ignore him. Sims cleverly builds on this fear that you’ll never fit in to show how exhausting it is to prove yourself but the results may never be what you want. A quiet whispered horror that feels sadly inevitable and has some things to say about higher education’s snobbery too.

The Lovers by Lynda E Rucker - A tale of someone suffering heartache and being slowly eaten up by a sense of despaur. Rucker captures someone slowly experiencing their life falling apart but also starting to be worried by a book that seems to know far too much about their own life and thoughts. A bleak powerful tale of how despair can end up consuming us.

Temperence by Gary Budden - this is definitiely one of my favourites. A man doing DIY in his future house encounters a strange winged figure who says words he cannot explain. This story feels like something terrible is going to happen all the time; we slowly also get to know our narrator who lives life fast and recklessly with drugs, alcohol and many more vices. That feeling of someone being potentially overwhelmed and the appearence of this inexplicable fugure cannot be helpful and yet this story has surprises. Horror is not always eternal and awaiting us at the end but the journey itself can be where life got horrific. Very impressive writing.

The Fool by Carly Holmes - An artist entranced by his neighbour’s dog vibrant colours soon finds himself feeding, playing and ultimately homing their dog which he names Fool. The neighbour though is not happy that their pet has been stolen. A really smart strange tale playing with reality and our opinions of who is actually at fault. Holmes surprises us several times with the directions that the story takes and carefully wraps everything up in a wonderful unsettling way.

The Chariot by Malcolm Devlin - Another very impressive story because of the way it constantly takes you into unexpected and eerie directions. We have a young mother watching over her baby while her partner is working night shifts. She revisits a memory of one night when she encountered a starnge couple and their little girl who also appeared be a grown woman. This is a tale that is very much about someone stepping outside of ordered reality (the hotel setting really adds to that displacement) and then find ing things are not as they should be but with no explanation as to why. It also has some dark thoughts about parenthood and how children are both under our control and in control of us. A wonderful eerie thoughtful read.

The Tower by Alison Moore - Another disturbing tale of a young child playing a silly set of hgame sina tower block meets a residet who has strange sights to show her. As well as the obvious danger of a youg child meeting a strange adult this story as we find out what lies in a simple biscuit tin explores what can frighten a child and then as we watch the main character age we see her life never really gets free of her past. The final scenes are both dispiriting and very very frightening. A great tale.

The Hermit by Steven J Dines - This is another highlight for me and a reminder how horror is often better placed to explore mental health issue than other genres. Jeff Strange has just seen his marriage implode and is now alone and lost in his own home. He struggles to find a way through and finds the only thing that brings comfort is buying a knife and then another one. Another smart tale that makes us incredibly fearful of what Jeff is planning to do but also explores why he is behaving this way. A main character can be both a worrying disturbing presence and someone we feel sorry for at the same time. Dines very skilfully unpeels the layers of Jeff’s mind so we ultimately understand him and there is a terrible sense that his journey ahead will be very hard. And yet despite this is story with a slight possibility of hope provided he is very lucky. Highly impressive.

The Hanged Man by Conrad Willaims - a tale of a man in a mid-life crisis facing either potentially a new relationship or one that is far too intense for him and must have end. Has an interesting use of foreshadowing that still makes us wonder where the danger will be lurking - as often the case often in ourselves.

This is a highly enjoyable collection and full of interesting tales that both remind us horror can be varied but also is a genre not afraid to face hard subjects in the eye and question how our society deals with them. Strongly recommended!