If I go back a few years (more than I'd care to mention) I used to read horror stories more than any other genre. However, after a while I got sick of stories that were nothing more than a series of gruesome images held together by a feeble plot so I stopped reading horror altogether.

Then, I got Tales of Devilry and Doom...

The first thing I have to say is that I read this collection of short stories from cover to cover in one sitting! Now that is always a good indication of my opinion of a book.

John B Ford has written a series of classical horror tales, rather reminiscent of the stories I loved as a child – Pit and the Pendulum, Portrait of Dorian Grey etc. For the first time in many years an author has succeeded in giving me the creeps. I just wish I had been able to read it the way I read many of my earlier favourites – in bed, at 1am, by candlelight.

If I had to select any of the tales as particular favourites it would be "To Dwell on Tainted Ground" for being different and never actually telling you the answer, "Grondak" for a different slant on a traditional idea and "Sad Communion" for making me think.

This is a form of horror that I found very much in the vein of the horror of past decades. When reading these I got the feeling I used to get reading 1950's horror black and white comics. These are tales that creep up on you without relying on excessive gore, and utilise supernatural elements without needing to explain the how - a good thing as I find that nothing drains the creepiness out of a story quite like three pages of an author showing off his/her research.

The first of the tales 'The Illusion of Life' is one of two in this book dealing with stage illusionist although neither of them is quite like David Copperfield. This story gets some of its unnerving quality from the first person viewpoint, it drags the reader into the tale, wondering along with the narrator exactly what is happening as the magicians act unfolds.

The second Illusionist tale (and third in the book) is told from the viewpoint of a member of 'The Council of Decency', an organisation investigation decency in entertainment who is attending a special preformace from 'The Doctor of Macabre Illusion', one he will probably not be glad he attended. Once again the tale will give you an unsettling feeling, somehow made more so by the supporting character of a mysterious surgeon.

The best story in the book is the next, 'To Dwell on Tainted Ground'. This is reminiscent of Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood, although the house in this story is altogether a much darker locale - chilling as Holdstock's story got, this takes you so much further. That the story is told as discovered memoirs from a previous occupant of the house, book-ended by coments from the author adds to the horror overtones. It may be a familiar writing technique but John Ford utilises it here to great effect.

The rest of the tales take in Robots, Dryads, Necromancers, Demons and Reincarnation, with each subject treated in the authors wonderfully bleak, black outlook. This is fine short horror, concise where the market seems enamoured with 2 inch thick tomes, and truly dark in content, creepy where some seem to be nothing more than thrillers with supernatural elements. This is an example of why you should try small press publishers, they are the people taking the risks and publishing fiction that you might not want to leave for the kids to read.