Things that go bump in the daylight.

The
Soul That Screamed

Dan
Weatherer

(Horrified Press, 2013)

The debut collection from Staffordshire based horror Dan Weatherer is
something of a mixed bag. There are some disappointing aspects, but
rather more about his work that suggests he may be a writer worth
watching.

Several of the stories included are very good indeed, personal favourites
would include 'Florian' an atmospheric ghost story told from the
perspective of the titular spook and 'Exit' a chilling little tale
about a dystopian future where suicide is a state promoted means of
escape. Equally good are sci-fi influenced 'Fly Bad Butterfly Fly',
and 'Kleevar: The Prophets of Profanity', in which a bunch of Bill
and Ted style metal heads trade their souls for stardom with
predictably messy consequences.

Some of the lesser stories in the collection would have benefited from
tighter editing, but that shouldn't detract from the many good things
on offer. For example although stories like 'Voices from the Sky'
seem uncomfortably close to being first drafts, they do contain
enough original ideas to suggest they could be worked up into
something more impressive.

The spirit of H P Lovecraft hovers over a fair number of Weatherer's
stories and this isn't always a good thing since it constrains his
natural voice. When it works though, as it does in 'Siar's Rock' and
'The Legend of the Chained Oak', the latter is inspired by a
Staffordshire legend and has been turned into an award winning
screenplay, fan boy pastiche is pleasingly transformed into homage.

Even with its minor flaws this is a solid first collection in which a
significant talent sets out his stall. It would certainly be
interesting to see what Dan Weatherer could do given the larger
canvas of a novel to work with.