Number 13 A - I can taste the blood - Vision 1 - Josh Malerman

A couple of years back I had an idea for an anthology where all the stories had the same title and the contents page would just be a list of the authors names. Sadly I didn't have the time, funds, energy or contacts to do anything about it.  I was quite excited to find out that someone has done it for me.

This book contains five novellas all under that rather bloody good title you see in the picture.

I'll be posting my thoughts on each in turn as I read them.

First up is Josh Malerman.  As those of you who've read my run-down of last year's books will know, I'm a big fan of Mr Malerman (indeed his name attached was my entire reason for ordering this -before I knew the set up of the collection)

His story here is a little belter.  Slightly more stylised writing than I think I've seen from him before.  There's a very mannered feel to the prose.In just over 40 pages he makes the desert into as much of a character and mythic location as the Trail was in Unbury Carol last year.

The story involves a family in their house in the desert who answer the door to a stranger with a horrible tale to tell of a demonic presence following him. To say much more would be to give spoilers. But from this pretty standard plot device, Josh weaves a hypnotic story with a gut punch at the ending. The tension is allowed to build as gradually as the short pagecount will allow. There's myth and allegory, puppets and demons, and that endless desert. The world building here is remarkable.

Minor quibbles - maybe the typsetting should have been italicised for the storytelling segments just for clarity's sake. And there is a misuse of "you're" when it should have been "your".  The editor needed a better proofreader.

But other than that, another excellent piece of writing from one of the best new talents out there.

Oh, and he's also the guy who sings this.
Shameless USA theme song
A talented guy all round.

I bought this from Amazon but there may still be copies available through Grey Matter Press