Conrad Williams (1) (1969–)

I'm not sure what to make of this.

I'm no stranger to apocalyptic fiction, and this one was a new path to venture down. It's gritty, unforgiving and brutal. What a nightmare.

But it isn't complete, I don't think. I understand that our 'hero' doesn't know what happened to cause the apocalypse, therefore we the reader don't know either, but there's more to it than that. We find out who the biggest threats are, and we're told how they came into being and what they're about. We're told what a struggle it is for humans to function and what makes things difficult to survive. We're even told how the rats have somehow thrived and taken on a new mantle of bold and fearless hive mentality. But there is a bit of cloak and dagger going on with the mysterious people with white scarfs and tattoo's and six fingers that seem to be lurking in the background. Who are they? Where did they come from? Are they good or bad? Why? What is their story? Should I pay them more attention. It's just doesn't add up.

At the conclusion I'm left wondering what actually happened. I sometimes like a bit of ambiguity at the end of a story, where you wonder if it will all come right in the end, beyond the final page - but with this tale I'm actually wondering what happened DURING the final pages. Was it the human survivors that ran to the rescue? Or the mysterious white scarfs? Or a combination? Seriously, if you know, please let me in on it because it's annoying the hell out of me.

So, in summary......I liked it enough to keep turning pages but I'd have liked it more if I wasn't asked to guess certain element's significance and role in the story.

Read it, it's quite good. But then come back and fill me in on all the missing bits. Please.… (meer)

The Fox is the third installment in a new, quarterly series of premium, signed, chapbooks from the UK website This Is Horror. The website is a great source of info for fans of both Horror writing and films and I figured I'd take a chance on a charter subscription and I'm glad I did. I've been more than pleased with each of the first three stories in the series, plus I've been exposed to some authors I've not read before.

The first two chapbooks were Joe & Me by David Moody, Thin Men with Yellow Faces by Gary McMahon and Simon Bestwick.

This time it's Conrad Williams, who's the author of seven novels, four novellas and a slew of short stories, and yet I'd never read any of his work before.

In The Fox, we find the protagonist and his family on a "staycation." Too busy for a real getaway, the father, his wife and two young daughters are camping out on a nearby farm where a series of events, involving a fox, lead to a genuinely scary moment. The moment, in some way related to something the father did in his youth.

I know, that's very vague, but any more and I'd likely give it all away. The ending was like a punch in the face you don't see coming and made the whole story well worth the read.

There actually may be a few subscriptions left, you can get all the details at the This is Horror website. Just Google "This Is Horror."… (meer)

"One" by Conrad Williams has a post-apocalyptic (due to gamma ray bursts) England as its backdrop. It is the story of a father (our protagonist, Richard Jane) who has survived the cataclysm in the opening chapter for being 600 feet deep in the ocean, a diver repairing pipes on an offshore oil platform. The opening chapter is brilliantly written. While I was reading it, I wondered why I haven't heard about this book being one of the best of the decade in the sub-genre alongside "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, "Oryx & Crake" by Margaret Atwood amongst others. But as I read further, it dawned on me that the reason behind it was that the first few chapters were the only upside of the book.

We follow Richard Jane who is on the quest to find and reunite with his son Stanley, in London, who Richard hoped against hope might have somehow survived the catastrophe. The book is mainly divided into two parts. The second part is 10 years further into the future than the first one and the most unbearable in my opinion. And Richard having frequent hallucinations (more frequently in the second part)about his son doesn't help much. Oh, and there is a tiger, in London, on the streets.

On the upside, the writing is very good although it might cure insomnia because of the lack of plot especially after the first part. And yeah, the book cover looks good too.

2.5 stars.… (meer)