TITLE: Parallel Hells
AUTHOR: Leon Craig
PUBLISHER: Sceptre Books
ISBN: 9781529371420
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club 24
REVIEWER: Carly Tremayne
“Horror is not dissimilar to love, in that all time gets folded in to meet it.”
In Parallel Hells, Leon Craig offers a compelling dive into themes of identity, sexuality and trauma through the lens of folklore and Gothic horror. This atmospheric collection contains tales of vampires, a golem, a dibbuk, a Viking murderess and more, as Craig makes use of different tropes and creatures from around the world.
The first story, 'Suckers', sets the general tone of the collection as we're thrown into a tale of an eerie vacation taken by a young woman and her father. As her father lays in bed with a mysterious illness, the woman befriends one half of a neighbouring couple, quickly learning that something sinister is afoot. Many questions are raised in this story without many answers given, leaving the bulk of the events up for interpretation. With an unlikeable viewpoint character, a lot of the narrative is uncomfortable to witness, which is a common theme throughout most of the short stories. While not favourable for everyone, the discordance the reader is made to feel gets under the skin, which is something any horror writer should be proud to achieve.
My personal favourites of the collection were 'Ingratitude', in which a girl inherits a serpentine bracelet that will sever the hand of those who fail to procreate, and 'Sapling', based on faerie lore, in which a young woman is tasked to battle a transphobic father and his Fae creditors to save the woman she loves. I found that 'Sapling' did a fantastic job of using this aspect of folklore as an allegory for identity struggles and what it means to love someone as they go through that, carrying a beautiful message of strength and acceptance. For 'Ingratitude', I loved the premise of the story and thought the ending held just the right level of shock and suspense, although again it did leave me with many unanswered questions. This is one in particular I would be interested to see in a longer format, perhaps with some more background to the heirloom.
My interpretation is that the collection appears to hold the aim of expressing that true horror lies in the injustices committed by humans to our peers and the world around us, rather than from any supernatural element. Some of the atrocities committed hold a lasting effect even as you step away from the page, sitting uncomfortably in the recesses of the mind. While I can't say that for me this was true for every story (there being thirteen in total), I did find that some characters and events stuck with me and there were elements I enjoyed pondering. I look forward to the release and hearing other readers' interpretations.
This book is one to be enjoyed by those who savour the squirm-inducing, and who enjoy a narrative with multiple layers to pick through. As I've expressed, it can be a tough read, and it rarely leaves a tale neatly tied up, instead offering the reader lots of difficult questions to chew over. If that's piqued your interest, make sure to pick up your copy upon its release in February 2022! I'm sure Leon Craig will be one to watch.
AUTHOR: Leon Craig
PUBLISHER: Sceptre Books
ISBN: 9781529371420
PODCAST EPISODE: Book Club 24
REVIEWER: Carly Tremayne
“Horror is not dissimilar to love, in that all time gets folded in to meet it.”
In Parallel Hells, Leon Craig offers a compelling dive into themes of identity, sexuality and trauma through the lens of folklore and Gothic horror. This atmospheric collection contains tales of vampires, a golem, a dibbuk, a Viking murderess and more, as Craig makes use of different tropes and creatures from around the world.
The first story, 'Suckers', sets the general tone of the collection as we're thrown into a tale of an eerie vacation taken by a young woman and her father. As her father lays in bed with a mysterious illness, the woman befriends one half of a neighbouring couple, quickly learning that something sinister is afoot. Many questions are raised in this story without many answers given, leaving the bulk of the events up for interpretation. With an unlikeable viewpoint character, a lot of the narrative is uncomfortable to witness, which is a common theme throughout most of the short stories. While not favourable for everyone, the discordance the reader is made to feel gets under the skin, which is something any horror writer should be proud to achieve.
My personal favourites of the collection were 'Ingratitude', in which a girl inherits a serpentine bracelet that will sever the hand of those who fail to procreate, and 'Sapling', based on faerie lore, in which a young woman is tasked to battle a transphobic father and his Fae creditors to save the woman she loves. I found that 'Sapling' did a fantastic job of using this aspect of folklore as an allegory for identity struggles and what it means to love someone as they go through that, carrying a beautiful message of strength and acceptance. For 'Ingratitude', I loved the premise of the story and thought the ending held just the right level of shock and suspense, although again it did leave me with many unanswered questions. This is one in particular I would be interested to see in a longer format, perhaps with some more background to the heirloom.
My interpretation is that the collection appears to hold the aim of expressing that true horror lies in the injustices committed by humans to our peers and the world around us, rather than from any supernatural element. Some of the atrocities committed hold a lasting effect even as you step away from the page, sitting uncomfortably in the recesses of the mind. While I can't say that for me this was true for every story (there being thirteen in total), I did find that some characters and events stuck with me and there were elements I enjoyed pondering. I look forward to the release and hearing other readers' interpretations.
This book is one to be enjoyed by those who savour the squirm-inducing, and who enjoy a narrative with multiple layers to pick through. As I've expressed, it can be a tough read, and it rarely leaves a tale neatly tied up, instead offering the reader lots of difficult questions to chew over. If that's piqued your interest, make sure to pick up your copy upon its release in February 2022! I'm sure Leon Craig will be one to watch.