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A review by wordsfromvictoria
Wyrd and Other Derelictions by Adam L.G. Nevill
5.0
This was a serendipitous find via my Kindle's recommendations, which had taken rather a strange turn recently, recommending me books on ethical polyamory despite me having no interest in the topic alongside endless books on kettlebell training because I bought one book three years ago during the pandemic. I've moved on Kindle and so should you.
In brief, a dereliction is a scene of abandonment or desertion following some great, unexplained calamity. There are no living humans so no characters or dialogue and what plot there is, is simply implied. The rich description and sometimes arcane literary vocabulary brings to mind Lovecraft, some of whose stories were light on character building and narrative. Certainly, reading these short stories rekindled some of the feelings I had when I first read Lovecraft (lingering horror, existential dread, and so on).
I enjoyed some of the recognisably British settings (one reminded me of family holidays in Devon and Cornwall when I was a child) and that they weren't the usual horror tropes (haunted houses on a wild moor, graveyards, asylums), which meant that the stories felt fresh and original.
There is a short essay at the end which explains the experimental concept behind the derelictions and Nevill mentions a photo he saw as a child of a foot still in its shoe, surrounded by a pile of ashes and how the image stuck with him. I'm pretty sure I know the exact photo he is referring to, which is that of John Bentley's foot, an alleged victim of spontaneous human combustion. Clearly, we were both reading the same things when we were growing up, so perhaps this is why these short stories particularly resonated with me.
It wasn't until after I finished the book that I found out the author is a distinguished, award-winning horror writer, with two film adaptations already to his name (The Ritual and No One Gets Out Alive). Sometimes the algorithm deals you a good hand. I am certainly going to be catching up on Nevill's previous work.
In brief, a dereliction is a scene of abandonment or desertion following some great, unexplained calamity. There are no living humans so no characters or dialogue and what plot there is, is simply implied. The rich description and sometimes arcane literary vocabulary brings to mind Lovecraft, some of whose stories were light on character building and narrative. Certainly, reading these short stories rekindled some of the feelings I had when I first read Lovecraft (lingering horror, existential dread, and so on).
I enjoyed some of the recognisably British settings (one reminded me of family holidays in Devon and Cornwall when I was a child) and that they weren't the usual horror tropes (haunted houses on a wild moor, graveyards, asylums), which meant that the stories felt fresh and original.
There is a short essay at the end which explains the experimental concept behind the derelictions and Nevill mentions a photo he saw as a child of a foot still in its shoe, surrounded by a pile of ashes and how the image stuck with him. I'm pretty sure I know the exact photo he is referring to, which is that of John Bentley's foot, an alleged victim of spontaneous human combustion. Clearly, we were both reading the same things when we were growing up, so perhaps this is why these short stories particularly resonated with me.
It wasn't until after I finished the book that I found out the author is a distinguished, award-winning horror writer, with two film adaptations already to his name (The Ritual and No One Gets Out Alive). Sometimes the algorithm deals you a good hand. I am certainly going to be catching up on Nevill's previous work.