That is, stories that manage to be both literary and visceral, stories that celebrates many of the horror genre's tropes and conventions while at the some time subverting them. If you've not heard of Barron, this collection is an excellent introduction to his brand of terror. In fact, I wanted to listen to the whole book again the moment it ended, something that I've not experienced in years.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?Ībsolutely. I did feel that some of the voices he does in 'The Broadswords' were a little over the top, but overall I loved his narration and I hope he continues to narrate Barron's works.

Drummond does an excellent job bringing the stories to life, he conveys the terror, confusion, anger, helplessness, and exasperation of the characters without becoming cartoonish or melodramatic. What does David Drummond bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book? It is even more surprising when you consider Barron's penchant for writing stories populated by 'Manley Men' that he writes sympathetic and believable female characters, and it really illustrates his versatility as a writer. In a story that's essentially about grief, it's all too easy to write a character that comes off as self-pitying or whiny, so I was pleasantly surprised that despite the story's overall bleak tone, the main character (who is a grieving widow) comes off as both strong and quite funny in places. It's hard to pick just one, but I really liked the protagonist of 'The Lagerstatte'.

The horror and suspense work so well because we actually care about the people, we feel that they have lives, and we watch with them in fascination and horror as their world slowly and inexorably unravels revealing the dark secret at the heart of things. What did you love best about Occultation and Other Stories?Įach of Barron's stories is a wonderful microcosm populated by believable, complex characters with rich back-stories.

Occultation and other stories