Grotesquerie
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Welcome to Richard Gavin’s “grotesquerie,” where fear and faith converge in eerie and nightmarish tales of transcendent horror from a truly visionary writer. The highly anticipated new collection of macabre delights, that explores dark realms of the fevered, fecund mind, and visits strange landscapes and vistas. These are grim and grotesque tales of terror -- modern Mysterium Tremendums -- that open new doors of perception and reality.
“Gavin’s writing serves as a testament that great masters once crafted great stories .. .and as evidence that they shall do so again.”
— Thomas Ligotti
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR "grotesquerie"
“Richard Gavin is an important figure in the contemporary horror/weird fiction field. Influenced by masters such as Blackwood and Ligotti, Gavin is cerebral, yet empathetic. He reconfigures classical tropes to suit his own unique perspective. Grotesquerie is a major event.”
-Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase
“In grotesquerie, Richard Gavin summons ancient gods and vengeful ghosts. He nods knowingly to the horror/weird fiction greats, but forges a singularly unique vision.”
- Priya Sharma, author of Ormeshadow
Grotesquerie contains the latest records of Richard Gavin's continuing explorations of the intersection between the mundane and the numinous, the earthly and the spectral, the pastoral and the horrific. Drawing on and in dialogue with such writers of the visionary weird as Aickman, Ligotti, and Machen, Gavin's fictions extend the tradition into bold new territory. Original, idiosyncratic, Richard Gavin is like no one else.
-John Langan, author of The Fisherman and Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies.
"...richly articulated nightmares that will delight horror fans [...] will put readers in mind of both classic weird fiction and the supernatural mysteries of the 1970s."
-Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 16 dark tales in this collection from Gavin (Sylvan Dread) are distinctive and macabre but inconsistent. The strongest including "Neithernor," in which a man stumbles upon his cousin's uncanny art show at a strange gallery; "Scold's Bridle: A Cruelty," about a mask used as a torture device; and "Three Knocks on a Buried Door," about a man who discovers an elaborate residence occupied by a mysterious being just beneath his apartment building are richly articulated nightmares that will delight horror fans. Weaker stories, among them "Banishment" and "Fragile Masks," suffer from hollow dialogue and unremarkable conclusions. Gavin's ornate prose varies from artful to cumbersome and awkward ("To suggest that any sort of foreshadowing had taken place during that soporific feast day would be prevarication of the highest order") and may put off the casual reader. But the heady, transportive atmosphere of many of these stories somewhat makes up for the flaws and will put readers in mind of both classic weird fiction and the supernatural mysteries of the 1970s. Dedicated weird fiction readers will find this worth a look.
