Review: Cemetery Dance Select- Peter Atkins

Over the past year I’ve really become a fan of the short story format. They appeal to me because I love how a tale can be told in such a small amount of time and still be able to have the power and depth of a full length novel. It’s like a person recently told me, “If an author can leave an impression on his or her reader in one page or less then you’ve got a damn good writer on your hands.”

This brings me to author and Hellraiser scribe Peter Atkins, a writer that has the exceptional ability to tell a powerful story in a short amount of pages. Even though he would never admit to this (he’s a very humble person), Peter ranks up there as one of the best storytellers working in the horror literary world today. Not only can he get the hairs on the back of your neck to rise, he also can leave a lot of food for thought after the story is over. He loves to dig deep into his very imaginative world and take you on a journey that allows the reader to tap into their own imagination as well. I feel a strong connection to his work whenever I read a story by him. In some ways I’d compare him to Clive Barker.

Though I’ve enjoyed his novels immensely (Big Thunder being my personal favorite) I’ll go on record and say that a lot of his short story work is some of the best material he’s written. I highly recommended seeking out his short The King of Outer Space from the short story collection The Museum of Horrors.

This brings me to Cemetery Dance Select’s eBook mini collection of Peter Atkins most unsettling and heartfelt short stories that I’ve read to date. After reading them, I’d have to say that these are probably some of his most personal tales that he’s written. It comes across so strongly in the writing.

The first story is Between the Cold Moon and the Earth (which was also my favorite) and it’s the most romantic tale out of the collection. The story follows two young friends named Mike and “Carol” as they take a walk through the park on the way to Carol’s house. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, let’s just say Peter has some great surprises in store for the reader here. I’ll admit this story got me all misty eyed by the end.

Next up is The Mystery; an interesting little yarn about a “collector” that goes to check out a local haunted house because of the stories he’s heard about it. The story has a nice built in mythology that I enjoyed and the main character seemed like he could branch out into his own series of stories if Peter wanted to do so. There’s also a great sense of pathos here that really drove the story’s point home for me.

The creepiest story out of the group was The Intricate Green Figurines. A man named Joey Galligan has been killed and has left his girlfriend Sylvia an odd collection of green figurines which she doesn’t know what to do with. She asks a former band mate of Joey’s named Tony to find someone who might be interested in buying them from her. Strange and bizarre happenings take place and that’s all I’ll say on the matter. This story’s ending left me wishing that sleep was never part of the human condition, but I love stories that end with such a strong horrific image that makes you look over your shoulder as you slowly turn the next page.

And finally the last story titled Postcards from Abroad is about an elderly woman who keeps hearing loud banshee screams from her coal cellar. This one has the best twist ending out all of the stories, and Peter writes it in away that you never see it coming. But again it has a sweetness to it like most of the stories that I found very appealing.

To end the collection Peter has written a very entertaining and enlightening afterword.  He’s gives a brief history lesson on the Liverpool accent, or the “scouse” accent which it’s known as throughout the United Kingdom, that I thought was funny. He also talks about how he became involved with Cemetery Dance Select Publishing, and gives interesting little notes on each story and their inspirations.

I believe this small collection of stories is a great way for readers to get a feel for Peter’s work, and then I would recommend reading his novels. I’d start with Morningstar, then Big Thunder, and finally Moontown. He’s a writer that’s very underrated and I hope he has some more stories cooking up in that gentle, but warped brain of his to keep the literally world a more interesting place. Without him it would be a pretty boring place indeed.