Darren Speegle presents a literary quality collection of horror. He uses a variety of writing modes. His tales have high originality and, in the best sense, a 19th century depth of word selection.

Not everything that he writes is story. The volume's title, itself, refers to a poem.
In another work identifiable as poetry, "Lathered Spit in the Calloused Palms of the Demiurge" he reduces life to something rather onanistic - a wretched proposition. In a brilliantly worded litany, *Things that Tend to Disturb*, he presents exactly that, a listing of things briefly editorialized. When the reader finishes the lengthy tally, they might feel overcome by a sense of dread.

Of course most of the work is story. He has a deeply visceral ghost story in "Hexerei". A most unsettling, realistic, double murder transpires in another tale.

*Kiss of Chromium, Caress of Isolation* is a particularly disturbing story. In it, a man seeks out his mother living on a deserted island, perhaps to reconcile or resolve the troubles of a past life in which his mother was a paedophile. His name, Hadrian, makes a clear reference to isolation which permeates the story. His career as a photographer implies one who records but does not participate in the world at large. Speegle communicates through sexual symbolism through the story. It is a pleasurably challenging read.

Quite by chance, I read the adult graphic novella, *The Inferno in Bottles*, adapted from the story by Kyusaku Yomeno (1928), within days of reading Kiss of Chromium. Inferno is a classic pictorial work in Japan about a brother and sister also stranded from childhood on an island. Upon reaching the threshold of puberty, they, too, become horrified by their incestuous feelings, though they never commit a sin. The artwork within the piece is loaded with symbolism.

Anyone familiar with and liking TIB will definitely like Speegle's work and vice versa. Using text as a medium, Speegle naturally creates something more visceral than can be found in any drawings, but I really enjoyed seeing two perspectives side by side. People reading Speegle's story might like to see TIB similarly close in time.

In Stephen King's opinion, good horror writing generally avoids adjectives in preference to adverbs. Speegle's work boldly refutes this notion. He writes masterfully in a manner of Poe or Stoker relying on circumstance and description more than action to disturb the reader. For an adult reader, his style has a superior richness compared to most 20th century work.… (meer)

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Jeffrey_Hatcher | 2 andere besprekingen | Nov 6, 2018 |

Cries from the Static door Darren Speegle

Deze bespreking was geschreven voorLibraryThing lid Weggevers.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. That being said, I wish I had better things to say.

The book is a collection of scary/spooky/gothic/weird stories and some of them were really good. Unfortunately, I found some of them to not be for me. I like horror and scary stories, the gothic theme/aesthetic are 100% my speed, but this was hard to get through at times.

I tend to like my spooky stories a little more grounded in reality and some of these were just a little too abstract for me to follow. Mr. Speegle is clearly a talented writer, but I got sick of the same kind of character structure coupled with the same lack of story structure.… (meer)

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executivespooky | 2 andere besprekingen | Aug 27, 2018 |

Cries From the Static door Darren Speegle

Deze bespreking was geschreven voorLibraryThing lid Weggevers.

This book is not an easy read. In fact I read the first story then went back to the beginning and read it again. Not to be read with your kindle in one hand and a spoonful of cereal in the other. Concentration is required here. This collection of stories, and a few poems, tends towards the supernatural/horror. They are not happy stories but are dark and sometimes uncomfortable. Definitely worth reading as Mr. Speegle has a command of language that we don't often see in fiction today.

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scot2 | 2 andere besprekingen | Aug 15, 2018 |

A Puddle in the Wilderness: A Varying Distances… door Darren Speegle

This is an unusual story, but I just can't say I enjoyed it. It gradually becomes more and more twisted up and hard to follow. I can sort of see what the author was trying to do, but combined with a style I didn't click with, it wasn't for me.
Three stars due to it's uniqueness and complexity.

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AngelaJMaher | Jun 25, 2018 |

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