IAN DOWNUNDER VS. CLOSE TO THE BONE AND OTHER STRANGE CURATIONS

Ian follows a thief into C.S. Jones eerie gallery in Close to the Bone and Other Strange Curations and learns every stolen invitation comes with a price.

TITLE: Close to the Bone and Other Strange Curations

EDITOR: C.S. Jones

GENRE: Horror

PAGES: 268

FORMAT: eBook

PRICE: eBook $3.99, Paperback $15.99

G’day all, it’s your ARC reader from down under here. Is it the end of winter yet? My aching bones are over the chill and ready for some warmth. Speaking of bones, that’s the name of this new collection from C.S. Jones. Well, not exactly. Bones is just one word in the title. Errm… anyway… Close to the Bone and Other Strange Curations is what we’re diving into this week, and it’s safe to say I had a blast reading it. Read on to find out why.

Full disclosure: C.S. Jones is another author I’ve been keeping an eye on since coming across him in Patrick McNulty’s Flash of the Damned monthly flash fiction contest. It’s been a pleasure seeing him grow in his craft, and I eagerly await every one of his releases. Close to the Bone and Other Strange Curations is his latest — a collection of novelettes containing some of his previous releases (Colours, Baba Yaga, and Yuletide Offerings), as well as a couple of new stories, Devil Drive and Close to the Bone, which comes in two parts and cleverly ties the collection together.

The novelettes were all very entertaining, each one offering something vastly different from the others.

Close to the Bone Part 1 kicks off the collection, featuring a thief who has stolen an invitation to a prestigious art event with the aim of stealing some expensive pieces. When he arrives, however, the location is in a state of near dereliction. An elderly servant leads him to a room filled with prominent displays of old books — each one of them the novelettes in the rest of the collection, Colours being the first.

Colours tells the story of Bernie as he recounts his encounter with Colours the clown, an otherworldly, creepy IT-like entity that seemingly follows him throughout his life. Being a fan of creepy clowns, this one resonated with me and was my pick of the bunch.

Devil Drive is one heck of a creepy tale featuring a bank robber, Hector, who is escaping from a bank heist gone wrong when he spots the perfect getaway car — a red Mustang with the license plate, El Diablo, driven by an elderly man. He forces the man to drive and soon discovers something is very, very wrong with the situation.

Baba Yaga was close behind Colours as one of my favourites. Set during WW2, a group of Nazis are fleeing from battle into a forest when they encounter a supernatural being in the form of an old woman known locally as the Baba Yaga. They capture her and then stumble across a cabin deeper in the woods where two sisters live. They force their way inside for refuge, but things swiftly take a turn for the worse, and they find themselves in a life-or-death battle once more.

Yuletide Offerings is a tale of loss and the desperate acts of parents seeking a way to bring back their daughter, Clara, who passed away in a tragic accident. The story is told from the perspective of the drunken father of his own daughter, Hayley, who was with Clara at the time of the accident. It’s a chilling story and features everybody’s favourite Christmas villain, Krampus.

The collection is rounded out by Close to the Bone Part 2, which finishes off the wrap-around story of the thief with a satisfying conclusion, tying all the stories together in a neat bow.

If you’re after a collection of creepy stories, I can easily recommend this one. Each story is lengthy enough to give the characters and the settings room to breathe, while also keeping the creep factor high. Get your finger bones on this one, folks!

I give this 4.7 giant weird bony bird things out of 5.

Ian Gielen is a writer of all things spooky and a horror fanatic. Ian embraces his inner geek with pride, his dedication on display in the intimidating collection of horror novels and video games that threaten to take over his living space. He is mad for all things Alien, Star Wars, and cats; his furry companions are always there to keep him company as he scribbles down his latest ideas. With the sheer number of furry and human companions in his life, it’s a wonder he isn’t a little crazier than he already is.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing, nor do the views or opinions of Crystal Lake necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or its staff. Thank you for understanding.