Justin A. Burnett

A small collection of horror stories, leaning towards the outer fringes of the genre. I was very impressed by this collection. Reason one, there is a cool story featuring worm mayhem. Secondly, and refreshingly, this author applies language and style to the individual needs of each and every single individual story (had to emphasise to annoyance - apologies). Hallelujah! My main complaint with most horror collections is that they don’t offer enough spice when it comes to approach. This leads inevitably to instant fatigue when reading, as the feeling that the next story after the next is merely going to be a variation of the same overtakes, and although there may be many strong stories, impactful in isolation, the grouping of them lessens the value through familiarity. True, there are few stories in this collection, but the problem is a common one, and not really dependent on the number of stories included.

Burnett’s Esoteric Sausage and Other Malformations brings together tales loosely under a banner of the edgier realms of horror of the thoughtful kind, the variety of theme and subject sitting very nicely (or nastily, if you’d prefer) as creepy bedfellows. The language is given great importance, evocative when need be, brittle with intellectualism at other times. Most importantly, I was motivated to read this short collection quickly, curious to get to the next story to experience the potential enjoyment of discovering what the next had in store for me. That is a gift, when so many horror collections are a chore to finish. I’d place this in the cosmic, metaphysical and psychological territories, but there is also some straight up creature feature insanity to be revelled in also. A truly pleasing surprise from a writer with a lot of potential.… (mehr)