1993 / Ebook / 132 pages / UK
*
I wasn't going to enjoy the opera anyway, and it's not the commentator's fault that it's apparently difficult to comprehend even if you do speak Latin, but his approach to explaining the work to non-opera listeners by comparing it to a Verdi opera wasn't very illuminating.
Rosalie Parker, The Old Knowledge & Other Strange Tales
***
Inconclusive supernatural teases seeking refuge from the confusing modern world in haunted(?) country manors, cursed(?) paintings and the bones of ancestors. The co-founder of Tartarus Press, the author wears her influences on her book sleeves.
Fave: 'Chanctonbury Ring'
2014 / Ebook / 144 pages / UK
***
You can stand against the anti-populist snobs without being a tedious snob yourself, but I guess it's a defensive reflex. It's a shame, because I enjoyed his pretentious elemental framework otherwise.
2014 / Ebook / 160 pages / USA
**
Decrying tabloid fixations while simultaneously obsessing over the idolised recluse who just wants to be left alone, maybe because the story's not all that interesting without the mythmaking.
Rhys Hughes, Orpheus on the Underground and Other Stories
2007-15 (collected 2015) / Ebook / 179 pages / UK****
A reunion with the publishing house that gave him his first breaks, the early stories feel obediently compromised for the traditional tastes of the Tartarus Press audience. Once they've been sufficiently groomed, he introduces more outlandish protagonists like bicycle-centaurs and a maudlin bridge.
Fave: 'The Great Me'
