I've been honoured to be asked to beta read a new novella by Simon Bestwick. As this isn't published yet there's no cover art so you can have a picture of the man himself looking pensive. Or like he needs to use the bathroom - I'm not entirely certain.
I won't say too much as it's very much an early draft still and likely to change before a publisher gets his or her grubby mitts on it.
A group of housemates crowded into a slum in the terraces of London wake one day to find the city is on fire. Soon they find themselves attacked by a gang of right-wing thugs. They escape, only to run into a much worse danger of supernatural origin.
The story is told at breakneck pace. It's not as atmospheric as some of Simon's work, but it's just not that type of story. This one depends on the sense of panic and confusion, with a large dollop of demonic terror thrown in for good measure.
It never lets up for a minute as our steadily decreasing cast move from pantry to frypan to fire, to firestorm, to deep pit of fiery lava, etc and hope becomes a long dreamed of memory.
There's enough of Bestwick's normal political undertones to really piss off the right-wingers. The chase is genuinely exciting and the characters are fleshed out enough that we hope they'll make it to the end without being char-grilled.
For most of the rest of you, you'll have to wait till it's formally published. You've got a damned good read waiting for you. I look forward to reading the finalised version myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment