Victor A Davis

Lost is lost, but there is nothing quite like being lost in the woods. This strong collection of short stories takes the bones of the fairytale and inverts the predominant effect. If bedtime stories and ageless myth persist in one sense to attempt to frame the fearful chaos of natural existence, these stories reclaim the unforgiving silence that comes back at us by bringing us full circle. If man be the modern monster then he steps forth here, out from the shadow, out from the trees. The rebranding of the classic is executed in a deft way, and this collection has craft written all over it. The standout stories read like a turn of the century slasher, the grounding of the writing style letting the tales unfold and breathe with urgent suspense.

Throughout there is a keen and engaging depth of character. As children face up to the excitements of pushing their limits, the limits push back hard. A couple trust themselves to the wild and it comes back to bite them in an unremittingly terrifying way. The blood of the untamed is unleashed in the form of a haunting canine. The power (some may say primitive but the natural world is out there and as vital and contemporary as anything else whether we engage with it or not) that underlies these stories rests in a deep understanding of nature, of the boundless tension that our interaction with it creates, about how easily pathways can fork in radically anarchic ways.

Inevitably there are stories that impress more than others. The best here are very good indeed, and every story included had enjoyable elements. The collection left me with the feeling that the author had taken considerable care to ensure that each story had been worked on until all that could be made of it had been. That’s a great way to leave any reading experience and one of the reasons why I look forward to sampling more from Victor A. Davis.… (meer)