Charlie Says by Neil Williamson

Publisher – Black Shuck Books

Published – Out now

Price – £7.99 paperback and £0.99 ebook via publisher

I don't know anyone who grew up in the 1970s who wasn't scarred by the public information safety films on British TV. Those tiny, doom-filled dramas slipped in between the cartoons were often only fifteen or thirty seconds long but, by God, they caught our attention. Don't play with matches, or old fridges. Or kites or frisbees, should you happen to be near a pylon or electricity substation. Be careful crossing the road and running along the beach. And also near ponds and lakes, or when swimming in the sea. And never, ever talk to strangers.

And then, of course, there was Protect and Survive. A full set of instructions for what to do in the event of nuclear war. Coming from a time of such existential dread, is it any wonder that those films are now considered a cornerstone of the UK's collective Horror imagination?

I'd wanted to use them in a story for a long time, but the idea lay dormant until I realized two things. Firstly, that there was an element of warding ritual and incantation to them ("Look left, look right...", "Charley says...") reminiscent of folk horror, only in the urban environment rather than the usual remote rural setting. And, secondly, that those films were what Britain was scared of fifty years ago. What I ought to be writing about was what really terrifies me about this country now."

Fantasy often revolves around bargains and warnings. Trade something for what you desire or beware the danger that lurks in the forest, spooky house or mysterious island. The folk tales of old have always warned us there is a price to be paid – via carelessness or sometimes greed. These evolved into fairy tales and beyond. But they speak to very human impulses but not always great ones. In Neil Williamson’s very powerful horror tale Charlie Says we have a story that combines these powerful magical desires with folk horror and a modern incarnation of those tales to cratea unsettling tale that also explores the darker side of life in the UK.

Charlie Mason was in the 1980s the right wing comedian guaranteed to generate complaints whenever he showed up on television; loved by the right wing press for saying the unsayable he toured the UK and various football tours to sell his jokes and commentary on the world before thugs moved into their entertainment. But over the decades Charlie had felt he’s in the wrong path and now renounced that incarnation of himself. He’s trying new material that his manager and friend Raisa thinks will get him back in the spotlight. But then Charlie gets the call that his estranged mother has died. Charlie and Raisa head to the very down on its luck town of Morsley for the funeral but soon his family say he has to repeat The Golden Path and if he does not the price will be incredibly high.

This is a fantastic, intelligent and sobering folk horror novella exploring what makes people do desperate things. Usually folk tales are about doing the right and safe things to survive and here we get in Morsley the trials Charlie has to undergo a cunning reverse of that. People take big and super dangerous risks because when they’ve got nothing to lose and you’re terrified of losing it they will do whatever it takes to survive. They’ll also ensure anyone they don’t think is part of that group is the enemy and worthless.

The Morsley Williamson creates is grimy, delapitated, racist and unkind. We feel Charlie’s uncertainty about coming back here but while usually folk horror is rural villages and remote here it’s an industrial landscape of roads, closed shops and streets that is filled with a sense of foreboding. The cunning hook Williamson uses for readers who are from the 70s and 80s is that the Trials have at source the Public Information Films that young children would regularly see on tv where kids do dangerous things like throwing frisbees at electricity pylons or running across the road and meeting a bad end. The idea being scare a child now to save it. Williamson has the Golden Path reverse this and each trial requires the follower to do the worst thing to pass - run across a road without looking but this time with HGVs going right past you. Williamson magnifies the strangeness and danger of each scenario but with an adult perspective to make it more uncomfortable. Charlie feels that as an adult he knows he’s in huge trouble as he knows the danger present that teenagers soon forget but he has no choice but to try. There is an interesting angle here that such communities out of desperation for jobs, security and a life do reckless things that can just be viewed as superstitious too - Brexit is an angle Williamson mentions too. How far you make a bargain with the devil is a running theme in the story.

Charlie is a fascinating lead character - a middle aged man now aware of his choices causing harm. Yet he still wants the spotlight of attention and he knows it’s easy to play to a crowd. At the same time he’s in conflict with his childhood past, his estranged family and the sense that what they want to do is wrong. As well as the Path this is the tale of Charlie’s own fork in the road - can be do better even if the cost is high?

This is folk horror that feels very much centred into the fears of the current era even with a glimpse of childhood nostalgia - here it’s one that haunts us forty plus years on. It’s uncomfortable and yet explored the less savoury side of communities that feel they must fight anyone for anything. The epilogue is a fantastic reminder these parts and impulses of the U.K. are still going strong. Strongly recommended and horror fans should run and get hold of this.

a grimy tower block walkway with flats in the distance