The Mediterranean. Sun-bleached ruins, azure seas, foaming wine. But history’s cruellest tyrants reigned here, delighting in blood and torture. Myths tell of snake-haired harridans and one-eyed giants, of humans cooked on spits, of curses, scourges, and devious deities who played with men’s souls like pawns in chess …
The poison apples of Aegle
The human sacrifice on Crete
The beautiful predator of Palermo
The damned souls on Poveglia
The evil artefact at Koyuluk
The blood-drinking baron of Emporda
The demon attack in Vatican City
Includes terrifying tales by Jasper Bark, Simon Clark, Steve Duffy, Paul Finch, Sean Hogan, Carly Holmes, David J Howe, Maxim Jakubowski, Gary McMahon, Mark Morris, Reggie Oliver, Peter Shilston, Don Tumasonis and Aliya Whiteley.
‘The best horror stories canonical horror can provide … Original, compelling, and edgy horror fiction can be had with style, beautiful background settings, and careful control of language and imagination. If you agree, then look no further. Terror Tales of the Mediterranean is the quality fiction you’ve been searching for!’ Milt Theo
PRAISE FOR THE TERROR TALES SERIES
‘Terror Tales Of The Home Counties is an excellent anthology, bringing together 15 stories of supernatural woe with 14 short articles about the mythology of the Home Counties that has inspired such storytelling. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. If you live in or visit on holiday, a part of the UK that has been covered by another in the Terror Tales series, I’d warmly encourage you to have a look.’ Patrick Mahon, SciFi Crow’s Nest
‘(Terror Tales Of The Scottish Lowlands is) by turns shocking, thrilling, poignant and maudlin, but with a pervading undercurrent of resilience and tenacity so typical of Scotland as a whole, all-in-all, this volume would be a great little addition to any Fortean library.’ C M Saunders, Phantasmagoria Magazine #20
‘In the Terror Tales series, the fiction is interspersed with “true” stories of real horrors written by editor Paul Finch so you get a lot for your money … As with any rich collection of stories not entirely dissimilar in nature, Terror Tales Of The Scottish Lowlands is best taken in small bites, like haggis.’ Eamonn Murphy, SF Crowsnest
‘A top-quality anthology … if you are a fan of short stories, especially the British variety, then this anthology is well worth closer inspection.’ Tony Jones, Gingernuts of Horror
‘Terror Tales of Cornwall, for me at least, has three levels as there are good stories, very good stories, and excellent ones.’ Joe X Young, Gingernuts of Horror
‘According to Finch, the mission of this anthology series is to “reclaim the dark heart of Britain’s literary legacy”. The best stories here do that. Befitting our present state of contagion anxiety, the creatures and dark forces that move through these tales are disturbingly indistinct and insidious.’ William Brown, Horrified
‘(Terror Tales of the Scottish Lowlands) is a smorgasbord of a book, a large spread of toothsome (in some cases toothy) stories all with their own particular flavours, and some are very stong meat indeed.’ Tina Rath, Ghosts & Scholars
367pp approx. B-format paperback original anthology.
ISBN: 978-1-84583-227-2
Published 31 October 2023
Cover by Neil Williams
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Former police officer and journalist Paul Finch was a script-writer on The Bill and now, as a best-selling crime novelist, is the author of the very popular DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg and DC Lucy Clayburn novels (the first one of which made the Sunday Times Top 10 list). He is also widely published in the horror and fantasy fields, having written Doctor Who scripts for Big Finish and winning the British Fantasy Award twice for his short stories and novellas. He has also now edited 15 volumes of the Terror Tales series.
Paul is a native of Wigan, Lancashire, where he still lives with his wife and business partner, Cathy.
Milt Theodossiou –
Allow me to start this review by stating that these fourteen stories – ghost tales, creature tales, archaeological horror, some macabre, others unsettling, most simply brilliant – are very close to what might count as the best horror stories canonical horror can provide. By “canonical” I just mean the kind of horror that gives you the chills and increases the thrill of reading, without any extreme gore, bloodbaths, sex-crazed maniacs or monstrous bloodthirsty demons. Not that these kinds of horror are inherently bad or inelegant as such – far from it! I myself love extreme horror and cannot have enough of it. But in this anthology, there’s no “gross-out factor,” just plain good storytelling, intense visuals probing our innermost fears, and absolutely awesome settings!
Merely checking out the author names brings excitement to anyone who’s been a horror fan long enough: Reggie Oliver, Jasper Bark, Simon Clark, Gary McMahon, Mark Morris, Paul Finch, and so many more masters of the craft. When you come to the stories themselves, though: WOW. Just that. The theme is the Mediterranean, its mythologies, the more recent histories, old monsters and knowledge-hungry archaeologists. As a Greek originally, I couldn’t help noticing that, beyond the high quality writing, the accuracy of the stories around Greece (the language, the settings, the history, the food and the drinks) was complete. Others will find the same, I’m certain, about Italy or Morocco. Again, as a Greek, I found found stories to be of special significance, though all are true gems – but these four stood out for me: Reggie Oliver’s “This Haunted Heaven,” about an English Professor of the Classics revisiting a Greek island where he had a strange experience in his youth; Jasper Bark’s “The Teeth of the Hesperides,” a perfect blend of old mythology with modern sensibilities, a story about carnivorous plants (and their traps!); “Gerassimos Flamotas: A Day in the Life” by Simon Clark, the only story that might have employed gore to shock the reader into submission, yet does not do so, preferring to heighten the suspense with a compelling narrative about a father-daughter relationship in the Greek island of Kefallonia (a reference to Calliga wines was especially welcome); and Paul Finch’s “Reign of Hell,” a tale of mythical Greek monsters, taking place in Greece during the WWII occupation, a story that manages to impress without any cheap tricks, such as making the Greek monsters our friends or lovers – it makes them gloriously scary again.
In my opinion, what the reader should take from this book is that horror does not need to use language or imagery for shock value. Original, compelling, and edgy horror fiction can be had with style, beautiful background settings, and careful control of language and imagination. If you agree, then look no further. Terror Tales of the Mediterranean is the quality fiction you’ve been searching for!