Old Devil Moon

As a fervent follower of Christopher Fowler’s Bryant & May mystery novels, it’s always a bit jarring to see him exorcising his darker demons in stories of horror and fantasy. OLD DEVIL MOON is his 10th collection of short fiction, containing 22 tales specifically designed not to be feel-good hits.

In case there’s any doubt, Fowler’s introduction paints a rather bleak portrait of the world as we know it. “How can I compete with real life?” he wondered, yet the contents sure give it a try, beginning with “The Threads,” the ill-fated vacation account I first read in the SUMMER CHILLS anthology. The only other entry I was familiar with was party piece “The Uninvited,” from INFERNO; both were highlights of those respective volumes.

“The Lady Downstairs” is a Sherlock Holmes story, told from the perspective not of Dr. Watson, but his landlady. The mystery they solve isn’t as gripping as Arthur Conan Doyle (or even Fowler’s Bryant & May series), but it’s still fun to read. “The Luxury at Harm” involves determining which horror convention attendee is a killer. Its outcome is fairly obvious, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless because of its unique setting.

I’ll never forget the ending of “Identity Crisis,” about a truly twisted sex game/prank. I had to re-read it twice immediately, just to make sure I had read it correctly. “Certainly what I think just happened didn’t just happen, did it?” I thought. Yep. It happened. Fowler, you are warped … and I salute you for it.

Another image I’ll never be able to shake occurs in “The Spider Kiss,” about people going inexplicably nuts — you know, running around naked, eating dog poo. The reason for their behavior is absolutely horrifying, toying with one of my biggest fears. The story’s title hints at it, but Fowler’s portrayal is genuinely unsettling.

Other narratives of note include “turbo-Satan,” in which one can text messages to the devil; “Let’s Have Some Fun,” involving an addictive Internet pay-to-play paintball site; and “Invulnerable,” where a woman unmasks a troubling childhood secret through her lifelong love of Superman comics.

For a dose of experimentalism, “The Night Museum” offers a work of diabolically dark humor. It’s not so much a story as it is a self-tour guidebook to a bizarre venue full of exhibits like “the Conservatory of Tropical Illnesses and Mummified Scabs.” Fowler gets equally playful in “That’s Undertainment!,” in which he reveals his distaste for Hollywood product in a series of capsule descriptions for movies that don’t actually exist, like UTOPIA DESTRUCTION, FRAT SMUT and ANTIQUES ROADSHOW — THE 3-D MOVIE.

But sometimes, experiments can blow up in your face. One such case can be found in “Unnatural Selection,” a story spelled entirely phonetically (or at least an approximation thereof). It may be only three pages long, but one can only take so much of “so we just lukd up the branjez an orl the leevs makin vis noys” before deciphering just becomes too much work. I had to throw in the towel after becoming too inpatient.

At the back exists a brief Q&A addressing Fowler’s influences, theories and writing process. More often than not, judging from OLD DEVIL MOON’s contents, they’ve served him quite well. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

“Dropping to his knees he unbuckled his jeans and slipped a hand between sweat-moistened buttocks. He could hear hoarse breathing through the fox mask, and told himself that meant she was taking pleasure from this encounter. Afterwards, as he pulled out and rolled off he saw blood, and was disgusted with himself.”

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• TEN SECOND STAIRCASE by Christopher Fowler
• THE WATER ROOM by Christopher Fowler
• WHITE CORRIDOR by Christopher Fowler