Reviews for The Kipling Reader

The average rating for The Kipling Reader based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-05 00:00:00 Marco Debe Only thing of Lamsley's that I've read prior to acquiring this volume was the titular tale from his debut collection, "Under The Crust", reprinted in some anthology or other. It sort of stuck with me: Lamsley depicted its unpleasant setting so well that you felt the grime sticking on you afterwards. Then there was the depiction of its protagonist's mental state, or the way in which Lamsley blurred the line between SF and the supernatural (what was going on in that story was almost like the motifs from fairy lore, so morphed as to be the perfect fit for the story's dirty, oily, ruinous modern setting). Anyhow, this collection is just as good as I hoped it'd be based on that one story. It isn't more of the same, by any stretch of imagination, tho. It is surprisingly varied. Herein, one finds stories that draw on M.R. James-ish interest in history and antiquarian details, with tainted antiquities and ancient tragedies whose effects still echo: such are „Blade and Bone", featuring one remarkably terrifying haunt (I also appreciated the manner in which its lonely hiking protagonist's stumbling into abandoned village feels fittingly like a passage away from the ordinary world), or the relentlessly brutal, relentlessly tragic „The Toddler". Then we have the shorter pieces, like the tragic „Someone To Dump On", or the uncomfortable „Inheritance". Then there's "Walking The Dog", with its critter that may be alien, demonic, or something else altogether (as if the distinction matters, in cases such as this one) and its rather clever and layered, if at least partially predictable, twist (and, once again, memorable depicted passage from the everyday to the uncanny, with the protagonist's encounter with his employer - the gentleman in question, and his house, both leaving the sense of badly constructed masks). Best stories here, in my opinion, are „Screens" and „The Break". Both are, actually, based around certain common denizen(s) of horror fiction, tho Lamsley's take is nothing if not original and striking, as well as very different in each of these tales. I shan't spoil the exact identity, but it will be obvious by the end of each story (and I reckon that their readers will be equally impressed by how Lamley managed to depict them as terrifying and truly Other). Former story draws on more esoteric tradition concerned with the entity in question, while the latter employs more conventional imagery. „Screens" features slow and effective build-up, leaving you on your toes until the very end. In „The Break", things are simply slightly odd, slightly off, at the start. But, the odd incidents keep piling up, keep growing in their scope and effect, environments and characters becoming less solid, more ominous. Eerie dream transforms into this full-fledged nightmare. „Screens" uses the psychology of its protagonists, isolated outsider, to great effect, while „The Break" employs the trope of child perceiving what adults can't, while being unable to communicate it it and seek help from them. Latter also deals with transitions from one stage to another, even initiations of sort. Both of these are close to being small masterpieces and would, on their own, justify the price of admission.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-08-20 00:00:00 Gerald Huntley A friend loaned me this. An impressive horror collection I was never going to be able to afford owning.