Stephen King has Castle Rock, Charles Grant had Oxrun Station, Ray Bradbury had Green Town Illinois, Ramsey Campbell has Brichester, Josh Malerman has Goblin,,, the history of the fictional creepy town where weird things happen is long and distinguished.
The latest to join the list is Gulpepper, an out of the way coastal town in Australia with only one road out and a habit of swallowing visitors who stay too long. And too long can mean just a single night if you don't listen to advice.
As a result of this habit, it's known to the locals as The Gulp. It's the setting for this rather excellent collection of novellas by Alan Baxter.
As regular readers of this blog will know, I raved highly about his novella The Roo (what's not to love about a 9 foot demonic killer kangaroo rampaging through small town Australia) and was equally impressed by his (entirely differently styled) novella The Book Club.
I'm glad to say he's kept up the same high standards as those other books. As you might guess from the cover, this book contains five stories set in the eponymous town.
Story 1 - Out on a Rim - I do love a good punny title and this certainly qualifies in that. A pair of delivery drivers are stuck overnight in the town when they damage the wheel rim on their truck. The older driver sensibly chooses to stay in the cab. The younger driver (Rich) decides to explore. This allows Baxter to introduce us to several important locations and characters which then recur in the other stories. Suffice to say, we get a very good taste of what is to come - including at least one scene that truly made me wince. Also, we find out exactly how bad an idea it was for Rich to ignore the advice to stay in the cab.
Starting with a visitor exploring the town is an overused trope generally but Baxter does it so well here that I really don't care. If you want an object lesson in how to introduce your location and important characters, this is a great example.
Story 2 - Mother in Bloom - Two teenage siblings fail to dispose of their dead mother's body in the most spectacular and unexpected way. What starts as a straightforward "how do we get rid of her so we keep the house" story rapidly turns into a surreal and gruesome nightmare. I don't want to say too much about this one. It needs to be read cold for full impact. I bloody loved it though.
Story 3 - The Band Plays On - A group of back-packers make the mistake of staying with a local band when they're invited to the after-party. Again, I can't say too much for fear of spoilers. The atmosphere is superbly built in this tale as Patrick steadily realises that something beyond their control is happening. Can he save himself and his friends? Will they want to be saved? A refreshing take on an old monster archetype.
Story 4 - 48 to go - After a drugs runner is robbed, his boss who we met in earlier stories orders him to refund the $60k in 48 hours or face the consequences. He learns of the one place locally where he might stand a chance of raising so much so quickly... This leads to an escalation of violence which is shocking, extreme and funny in equal measures.
Story 5 - the Rock Fisher - A young man's life is changed for the Lovecraftian after he catches... something... on his early morning fishing trip. This story has stronger ties with the rest of the book, including some unexpected consequences from events in the earlier tales. This one builds brilliantly, but I wasn't a hundred percent convinced by the ending. It's only a minor quibble though and doesn't spoil the book.
Baxter achieves the holy grail of storytelling that is creepy, graphic and laced with a demonic strain of jet black humour throughout. You could argue that there's a lack of originality when you look deeply at a couple of the stories, but there's enough general weirdness going on that it all feels fresh and new in any case. It's so well written that total originality is the last thing we're looking for.
The Easter eggs that build between the tales till they become an integral part of the final story are a joy to look out for.
This book is a total blast from start to finish. Any horror fans who haven't picked up an Alan Baxter book need to do it ASAP. This is a great place to start.
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