by Ray Cluley
Bloodcloth
Every writer needs to do a vampire story (it’s like a rule or something) and this is one of mine. I was inspired by a wonderful film called The Fall, directed by Tarsem Singh and based on Valeri Petrov’s Bulgarian screenplay. There’s this one scene where a character wipes blood from his hands onto a giant curtain and it begins to soak up the fabric in long streaks, which makes for a very striking image. I wondered, what if the blood was his own? And what if this was how you fed the curtain? The title was originally some awful punny thing, “The Curtain’s Call” or something, but I changed it to “Bloodcloth” for more impact and it made me think of, well, certain feminine products, shall we say? I kept it though, and redrafted the story to give it a very female focus. You could also read this as a political story, I suppose, regarding the tributes and the colour red, maybe. That said, I’m sort of with Jack Finney regarding this kind of thing—I think Stephen King wrote somewhere that when Finney was asked about the communist symbolism in Invasion of the Body Snatchers he apparently said he just wanted to write a cool story with aliens in it. I’ve tried to do that, too.
The Tilt
A trip to Carcassonne inspired this one, can you tell? And the very real, very disturbing, torture museum they have there. That, plus an awful story I’d read ages ago (thankfully mostly forgotten now) about a man becoming gay, the homosexuality providing the horror element of the story. I just flipped it, looking at the horrors of heterosexuality. Okay, maybe not—it’s supposed to look at the complexities of sexuality in general really, as well as what can happen if you (try to) cross that invisible friendship line with someone. I went a bit Freudian with some of the sexual imagery and symbolism but hopefully it doesn’t get in the way of the story.
By the way, Carcassonne really is gorgeous.
Bones of Crow
I’m not a big fan of urban stories but I thought I’d have a go and this is what happened. I’d been toying with an idea based around a nest made of street debris that I’d found but it kept stalling. Then I read Ted Hughes’s ‘Crow’ poems and voila, it all came together. I’m hoping there’s enough ambiguity here to suggest the bird might not be real, that it’s all in her mind, just as it’s also supposed to represent a distorted and monstrous home life. At the same time I thought I’d use it on a metaphorical level for the cancer spreading inside her. Plus a group of crows is called a murder, right? So it also provides another possibility regarding Maggie’s involvement in her father’s death. This story was picked up by Ellen Datlow for Best Horror of the Year.
Pins and Needles
This one was a while coming together as well. It was inspired by an event at work where I saw a drawing pin quite deliberately left pin-side up on a wall where people often sat and I thought—there’s a story there. It was only when I was thinking about another story I was struggling with about a guy obsessed with rocket ships that I realized the two ideas belonged together. It received some very good feedback when it first came out, but was also the first of my stories to receive some really bad comments too (the poor reader EVEN USED BLOCK CAPITALS AND EVERYTHING TO TELL ME HOW CRAP IT WAS!). I think it’s because of the presentation of James. The thing is, he’s a little bit of me, that guy (just a little, of course, I’ve never done . . . that), and I was writing very much with my tongue in my cheek regarding the stereotypes I exploited. Guess you can’t please everybody (as James well knows).
Gator Moon
I love this part of America. At least, I love the look of it and how it’s used in fiction. I wrote this after a bit of a James Lee Burke phase. I didn’t even try to do what he does of course (the man’s brilliant—read some if you haven’t already), I just thought I’d have a go with the setting. Nate and Bo came to life pretty much whole and immediately, while the ambiguity regarding the ending kind of evolved. I originally planned to play it as a straight swamp-noir but I just can’t help adding a (potentially) supernatural possibility, it seems.
Where the Salmon Run
National Geographic inspired this one. It was going to be a crime story originally, Ana found dead with her belly open and stuffed with roe, but the story wanted to go somewhere else and any effort to change it would’ve been, well, like swimming upstream. I couldn’t kill Ana in the end anyway, I liked her too much. So it became a story about a phantom pregnancy, a woman haunted by the loss of her child. The supernatural element is only slight, but it’s there if you want it to be.
I learnt waaay too much about salmon researching this, but thankfully my brain does this thing where it dumps all the info once I’ve written the story. Gotta say, though, Kamchatka looks like an absolutely amazing place. There are images of that landscape I hope to remember for a long time, and maybe one day I’ll even go and see some of it.
Indian Giver
A bit of a break from the norm. I wanted to write one of those “gentlemen’s club” style stories (but not, you know, in a gentlemen’s club) and this is what happened. I blame Charles Frazier a bit because I’d just read Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons and that’s why I stole his name for the story. My Frazier, though, that’s Sam Elliott. Ain’t nothing gonna change that in my head.
A Mother’s Blood
My genuine absolute fear of children. Not in general—other people’s are okaaay (though usually never as great as the parents seem to think)—but the thought of having any of my own? Makes me shudder just to think about it.
I’m kidding. They’re adorable.
I’m not kidding.
The Travellers Stay
Dreams versus reality via insect transformation while tipping an antenna to Kafka. It was the term “roach motel” that brought this one scurrying out of my brain and once I’d added moths I had my tension between those who run from the light and those who fly to it. I’d become one of those people who talked about their dreams (writing) but didn’t try as hard as they could or should to make a proper go of it. This is the story I wrote to explore what I saw as a personal flaw, one that I have since learned to address.
No More West
I love weird westerns. Funny thing, but growing up I used to hate westerns with a passion. Now that I’m older I rather love them. There’s a simplicity to them that appeals which also allows for a stripped down form of story telling. And I like that.
Beachcombing
Possibly my favourite story, for a few reasons. It was the easiest to write, for starters. I sat down with no idea other than a pile of folded clothes on a beach and all of a sudden Tommy came running to say hello (though he’s usually quite shy). A few hours later I had a complete first draft, all in one sitting, and over the next day or two merely tidied it up a little. That had never happened before (or since, for that matter, but fingers crossed . . .). Tommy, though, is the main reason I love it so much; he returns in my novel Sullivan Dunn. “Beachcombing” was the first story to get me direct emails from readers who liked it, and that was a massive boost that I very much needed at the time. So thanks, Tommy. And everyone who sent such kind words.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks go to various people for helping me bring this collection to life (“It’s alive! It’s aliiiiive!”). The “writing club” that is Mitch Larney and Victoria Leslie played a major part in pulling this together. Between them they have read almost all of these stories, so if there’s one here you didn’t like, chances are good it’s one I didn’t give them first. Thanks you two. I forget whose turn it is for the coffees but the next round’s on me.
Thanks as well go to all the editors who have published or republished my stories; you’ve all encouraged me in ways you may not have realized. Particular thanks go to Andy Cox of TTA Press for getting me started and for keeping me going, and to Michael Kelly of Undertow Books who gave insightful advice and whose introduction to ChiZine made this book possible. Ellen Datlow and Steve Berman have both selected material f
or “best of” anthologies and I’m very grateful to them for that. Benoît Domis selected one for translation into French, which was a huge thrill—merci—while Miroslaw Obarski translated another into Polish—dzięki. I still think that’s pretty cool.
A big “thank you” goes to Chizine’s Sandra Kasturi, Brett Savory, Klaudia Bednarczyk, and Courtney Kelly for helpful emails, persuasive prodding, and great editing, Dominik Parisien for proof-reading, and thanks to Erik Mohr as well for producing such gorgeous cover art—I love it. Adore it. Want it on my wall. Thanks also to anyone who provided positive comments about the book. I don’t know who you are yet (I hope someone said something nice) but I really do thank you. Especially if you’re really respected and have some persuasive pull on readers.
Of course, very special thanks go to Jess Jordan. She motivates me to finish the tasks I set myself, encourages me to dream the impossible, yet keeps me grounded enough to avoid any delusions of grandeur (usually via her uncanny ability to reduce any one of my stories to a single line—I’m not yet convinced this is a good thing but it does secretly amuse me). Your computer skills and dual-screen draft comparisons were also very much appreciated, as was that cup of tea you made that one time. I love you, Key Lime. The next book’s for you.
Finally, thanks go to you, reader. Thank you for choosing to spend your time with (and perhaps your money on) Probably Monsters. I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories.
About the Author
Ray Cluley has pretty much been writing stories ever since he could hold a pencil. His first successful story was about sharks and pirates and buried treasure and was broadcast on Australian radio when he was seven. Since then he has been published and re-published in various places, many of them dark places, including Black Static, Interzone, Crimewave, Shadows & Tall Trees, Icarus, This is Horror, and a fair few anthologies. His story “Shark! Shark!” won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. He wants another one now and is no doubt writing something else as you read this. His latest stories are “Water For Drowning” and “Within the Wind, Beneath the Snow,” available from This is Horror and Spectral Press, respectively.
For more precise details regarding his published work and current projects, you can visit www.probablymonsters.wordpress.com
Publication Dates
“All Change”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2012
“I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2011
“The Festering”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2013
“At Night, When the Demons Come”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2010
“Night Fishing”
Shadows & Tall Trees, Undertow Press, 2012
“Knock-Knock”
Previously unpublished
“The Death Drive of Rita, nee Carina”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2013
“The Man Who Was”
Where Thy Dark Eye Glances, Lethe Press, 2013
“Shark! Shark!”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2012
“Bloodcloth”
Interzone, TTA Press, 2012
“The Tilt”
Icarus, Lethe Press, 2013
“Bones of Crow”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2013
“Pins and Needles”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2011
“Gator Moon”
Crimewave, TTA Press, 2013
“Where the Salmon Run”
Previously unpublished
“Indian Giver”
Previously unpublished
“A Mother’s Blood”
This Is Horror, www.thisishorror.co.uk, 2012
“The Travellers Stay”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2011
“No More West”
How the West was Wicked, Pill Hill Press, 2011
“Beachcombing”
Black Static, TTA Press, 2010
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no more west
EMB
RACE
THE
ODD
available now
ISBN 978-1-77148-316-2
Something is rotten in the court of the faerie queen. A deadly spirit is killing off the faerie, and it has mysterious ties to Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. The only one who can stop it is the immortal Cross, a charming rogue who also happens to be a drunk, a thief, and an angel killer. He is no friend of the faerie since they stole his daughter and made her one of their own. When it appears she may be the next victim of the haunting, though, he must race against time to save her. He encounters an eccentric and deadly cast of characters along the way: the real Witches of Macbeth, the undead playwright/demon hunter Christopher Marlowe, an eerie Alice from the Alice in Wonderland books, a deranged and magical scholar—and a very supernatural William Shakespeare.
The Dead Hamlets
Peter Roman
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knife fight and other struggles
david nickle
A young man at loose ends finds he cannot look away from his new lover’s alien gaze. A young woman out of time seeks her old lover in the cold spaces between the stars. The fleeing worshippers of an ancient and jealous deity seek solace in an unsuspecting New World congregation. In a suburban nursery, a demon with a grudge and a lonely exorcist face off for what could be the last time.
In Knife Fight and Other Struggles, David Nickle follows his award-winning debut collection Monstrous Affections with a new set of dark tales that span space, time, and genre.
available now
ISBN 978-1-77148-304-9
chizinepub.com
available now
ISBN 978-1-77148-308-7
In these twelve sombre tales, ranging from baroque science fiction to bleak fantasy, Yves Meynard brings to life wonders and horrors. From space travellers who must rid themselves of the sins their souls accumulate in transit, to a young man whose love transcends time; from refugees in a frozen hold at the end of space, to a city drowning under the Qweight of its architectural prayer; from an alien Jerusalem that has corrupted the Earth, to a land still bleeding from the scars of a supernatural war; here are windows opened onto astonishing vistas, stories written with a scientist’s laser focus alloyed with a poet’s sensibilities.
Angels & Exiles
yves Meynard
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The Yellow Wood
Melanie Tem
For Alexandra Kove, the path of her life took her far from the claustrophobic forest where her father raised her. She believed that she had to escape, that her only road was away from the family and circumstances of her birth. Now, her road has turned back, converged with the paths of the family she thought was safely in her past.
available now
ISBN 978-1-77148-314-8
chizinepub.com
available APRIL 2015
ISBN 978-1-77148-318-6
A new novel from one of Canada’s most acclaimed and celebrated writers, Against a Darkening Sky is se
t in 7th century Northumbria and is the story of Wilona, a seeress and healer whose life and way of being in the world are threatened by the coming of Christianity; and Egan, a young monk from Eire whose visions may have brought him to Christ, but whose experience of the sacred puts him at odds with the Roman church. Full of magic and mystery, Davis’s new work explores what happens when one’s experience and beliefs clash with those of the people in power.
Against a Darkening Sky
Lauren B. Davis
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Point Hollow
Rio youers
Point Hollow, NY. A town with unspeakable secrets. To the tourists that visit each summer, it is quintessential America. They stroll through its picturesque streets and hike its stunning trails. No one sees the cracks in the town’s veneer. No one knows its terrible history: a secret that has been buried—forgotten. But Abraham’s Faith, the mountain that overshadows Point Hollow, doesn’t forget so easily. It booms, wicked and controlling. It is filled with the bones of children. Oliver Wray is Point Hollow’s favourite son, its most generous benefactor, admired by all. But Oliver, like the town, has a secret: Abraham’s Faith speaks to him, and he has spent a lifetime serving its cruel needs. He believes his secret is safe, but one person has glimpsed the darkness in his heart . . . Matthew Bridge hasn’t set foot in Point Hollow for twenty-six years. Something horrifying happened to him there. Memories of an ordeal that flicker and taunt, but cannot be recalled. Now, trying to find the answers to his failed marriage and failing life, Matthew is coming home. Back to Point Hollow. Back to Abraham’s Faith.