Incantations: The Maynard Sims Library. Vol. 3

The Maynard Sims Library presents the finest in traditional English ghost stories and unsettling tales of quiet fear. Incantations is a book of horror stories. Previously published more than twelve years ago it is now available in the digital age. “Economical nightmares of atmospheric subtlety and stark physical horror, Incantations is appropriately titled, suggesting a raw sense of occult power and the process of summoning demonic energies into another plane of existence. Maynard and Sims conjure horrors by first establishing the believability of natural, objective places and people. Their characters are people we know and see everyday: men and women struggling through bad relationships, going to work and plodding along the best they can until, quite suddenly, their worlds are invaded by suggestions of evil, manipulative powers just outside the rim of understanding, or worse, by evils answering the summons of their minds.” Incantations, by Maynard and Sims is an impressive collec¬tion of short stories with a variety of settings and characters: tales ranging from sin¬ister and disturb¬ing to the downright nasty. This is good modern gothic writing and the two authors achieve a graceful literary style with effective descriptions and a realistic sense of place, all written with an eloquent turn of phrase. BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY From the ambitiously menacing novella “The Business Of Barbarians,” to the calculating fright of “The Nice House,” Maynard and Sims revitalize the traditional thrills of haunted houses, ghosts, and witches by emphasizing the psychological turmoil of character’s minds. The result is a collection that works on several levels, appealing every bit as much to primal fears of the unknown as they do to our contemporary distrust of our neighbors, families, and ourselves. CEMETERY DANCE The promotional text on the back cover of the latest collection from the writing team of Maynard & Sims claims that “If you think of these two writers simply in terms of traditional ghost stories—then think again—these are nightmares from a cracked modern landscape.” The contents of the book tend to bear out this claim. Although many of the tales are about ghosts, they aren’t what you necessarily call “traditional”. GARRETT PECK One more thing. Varied as they may be, all the stories in this collection show a common under theme, loneliness. Some of the main characters are downright loners, others are just forsaken people, and all are lonesome individuals. This seems to be another lesson that Maynard & Sims want to impart: that loneliness is the true, scariest horror in our lives. HORRORWORLD Released in the wake of their gutsy novella The Hidden Language Of Demons, the latest collection of fifteen stories, many of which are previously unpublished, from this talented duo has a somewhat harder edge than the ‘quiet’ stories of supernatural terror on which their reputation has previously rested. The qualities you expect from Maynard & Sims are still in evidence; deft characterisation, the assured manipulation of atmosphere and mood, plots that slow burn to a chilling crescendo. Yet things have changed; the power of suggestion is no longer sufficient. The bad guys still want your soul; it’s just that they’re a lot more willing than previously to go through your flesh to get at it. THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE