Beasts of England

I have always been interested in horror. When I was younger, I was obsessed with creature features. My grandma would help me track down VHS tapes—because I am that old—of films I had read about in old horror magazines. Movies like Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob, Troll 2, and plenty of others. Troll 2 gave me nightmares for the longest time. Which is especially funny now, because I find it ridiculously cheesy.

Then there were the famous creatures that were not necessarily associated with horror, such as Bigfoot and Nessie. I found those just as interesting. I was also really into dinosaurs at the time, so perhaps some part of me genuinely thought a few prehistoric creatures might have survived somewhere.

Looking back at my childhood in southeastern Wisconsin, though, I realize we had a few local monsters of our own. Some were tied to a particular stretch of road, an abandoned house, a creek, or even fields near us. They were scary, certainly, but they were also fun. They belonged to us in a strange sort of way.

Beasts of England, an anthology edited by Nathan Connolly and published by Dead Ink, captures this idea perfectly. Connolly asked the contributing writers to begin with a place they knew intimately and create a monster story from it, either using existing folklore or inventing something entirely new. He uses the term “hyperlocal,” which I am absolutely going to have to start using in my own spiritual practices.

Beasts of England holds eleven stories within its pages, and each one is different from the others in both content and writing style. Some are traditional folk horror. Some lean more toward creature feature. Some are very strange. How could I not like this book?

I am not going to review each story individually because they are short stories, and I do not want to spoil any of the plots. I will say, however, that “Helminth” and “Clatterjack” were my personal favorites. See if you can figure out why.

While reading, I constantly found myself searching the web for the locations mentioned in the stories so I could better understand where each one was being crafted. Doing even a quick look at the history of an area added another layer to the story for me. I would also suggest looking at photographs of the landscapes, villages, and cities being described. Many of them are absolutely beautiful.

I also had to grab a dictionary a few times. Dang English words.

I give Beasts of England 5 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer: This book contains some sexual references and adult themes, so I would not recommend it for children or younger teenagers.