Review: Rare Exports (2010)

In Australia, like in the UK and the US, Santa Claus is the jolly old elf who brings presents at Christmas-time.

But Christmas has a dark side.

via horrorscope.com.au

Posted via email from garykemble's posterous

Review: Storage

Check out my review of Australian thriller Storage, at HorrorScope.

'Dead Air': out now in ADFaH3

Today I received my copies of Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror vol 3, which features my short story "Dead Air".

As usual, Brimstone Press has done an excellent job, and I'm not just saying that because Angela chose to reprint one of my stories!

In fact, it's a great reminder of some of the excellent tales I read while judging the Australian Shadows Award in 2007.

The following tales jump out at me when I scan the table of contents: Rick Kennett's creepy ghost story "The Dark and What it Said"; Matthew Chrulew's dystopic love story "Between the Memories"; Jason Nahrung's "Kadimakara and Curlew" and David Conyer's "Subtle Invasion".

A heap of great, if somewhat disturbing, memories there.

Meanwhile, Chuck McKenzie has given me a mention in his review of ADFaH3, over at HorrorScope...

Gary Kemble’s ‘Dead Air’ ... was really just a big, fun, Hollywood-style zombie flick in prose format

Yep, that's exactly what I was going for!

Review: 'All You Need is Love'

Issue 12 of Dark Tales, which features my short story "All You Need is Love", has been reviewed by Dark Scribe.

You can read the review here, and buy Dark Tales here.

Review: 'Feast or Famine'

Kathryn Linge has reviewed my short story, "Feast or Famine" (from The Writing Show's Seven Days of Halloween) for ASiF.

"Now, let me warn you about 'Day Three with Gary Kemble' and, specifically, Kemble's story 'Feast or Famine'. If horror is demonstrated by me, running from the room, squealing with my ears covered, then I guess Kemble has done his job. It wasn’t so much that I was scared by the story, it was the realistic and unrelenting gore that got me in the end. I'm not good with blood and Kemble's story does not come with an 'explicit' rating for nothing."

Kathryn says the ending is "anticlimactic", "unrealistic" and "possibly supernatural". Stubborn as I am, I probably wouldn't have admitted this to be true but, after seeing what Angela Challis and Marty Young helped me get out of the story for Macabre, I can see her point of view.

I'm happy to say the new version of "Feast or Famine" has a much stronger ending although, given Kathryn's aversion to gore, I don't recommend she read it!

Read the full review, of all the stories, here.

Review: 'Book of Shadows'

Over at ASiF Tim Kroenert has reviewed Book of Shadows Vol 1.

Here's what he had to say about my contribution, "Ad Infinitum".

Perhaps the most effective and memorable of these longer stories is Gary Kemble's "Ad Infinitum". With a heady mixture of empathy and sadism, Kemble has his narrator (and hence his reader) awaken into a succession of increasingly disturbing nightmares. Themes of infidelity and guilt, overseas business travel and fears of crime and terrorism haunt each dream, hinting at the nature of the narrator's waking life and his overarching psychological and emotional state. Kemble, however, takes a surreal, Lynchian approach by keeping the markers of solid reality shifting, so that it’s never entirely clear what’s "real" and what isn't. The overall effect is at once disturbing and strangely moving.

"Lynchian"... cool!

Read the whole review here.

Review: The Devil in Brisbane

Over at HorrorScope, Miranda Siemienowicz has reviewed The Devil in Brisbane (which features my "gritty and emotive" story "The Deal").

"The Devil in Brisbane is a charming and unique anthology. Using thirty stories all building on the same central premise, a portrayal of the art of writing, the character of the Devil in literature, and the colourful waterside city of Brisbane emerges that feels more rounded than it could in any one of the stories within. Images recur of writers' aspirations and dreams and the turbulent relationship they hold with writing. In some ways it is a self-indulgent anthology, written by and for writers. Reading it is a playful and warm experience, delightful for anyone who can relate to the angst and desire of the characters within; a perfect book for the dedicated wordsmith."