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FALLING INTO
HEAVEN CONTENTS
Introduction
by William P Simmonds The fourth collection from published by Sarob Press in 200 Cover art by Gerald Gaubert ISBN 1 902309 50 2 (standard edition)
ISBN 1
902309 51 0 (limited edition) "Their best collection yet, with some subtly unnerving ghost stories." Ellen Datlow
Deluxe Signed Slipcased Limited Edition Hardcover that retailed at £50 / $90 Limited Edition Standard Hardcover that retailed at £25 / $45 Both editions issued without dustjacket. Pictorial boards, sewn signatures, coloured endpapers, munken bookwove in the standard edition ... the deluxe edition adds marbled endpapers, bound in signature sheet (signed by the authors, introducer and cover artist), bound in bookmark and hand made slipcase. |
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Steve Lockley review for The British Fantasy Society
Highlights of the collection are the stories ‘A Victorian Pot Dresser’ which first appeared in the John Pelan and Benjamin Adams edited anthology The Children of Cthulhu and Flour White and Spindle Thin with its echoes of the stories of Caitlin Kiernan. This is more than just a solid collection and I hope that it propels the pair to bigger and better things The sad thing is that the limited print run probably means that the book will be sold out before this review appears. I can only hope that an enterprising paperback publisher snatches up the rights”
"Primarily fictionists, but also editors, publishers, and critics, Maynard and Sims’s contributions to the supernatural tradition of literature are in no small way responsible for the continued survival, appreciation, and revision of supernatural horror fiction in general, and the modern ghost story in particular. Inviting a modern appreciation of ghost fiction by instilling classically constructed weird stories with a distinctly contemporary narrative style and approach, the fictional landscapes of Maynard and Sims are the secret desires of the soul. " from the introduction by William P Simmons. "After experimenting with different ways of producing shivers in their previous collection Incantations, the authors have reached a new equilibrium in their writing style, cleverly manipulating hard material with a delicate touch and effectively blending different shades of terror into a deliciously frightening potion. Drink up, dear reader, you won't regret it!" For more reviews follow the hyperlinks below http://www.thealienonline.net/ao_030.asp?tid=2&scid=16&iid=2758 |
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A Q&A session with Sandy Auden October 2004 |
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SA: How are the stories in Falling Into Heaven different from those in Incantations? S & M: There are fourteen stories in Falling Into Heaven, making up around 85000 words. The story lengths range from 3500 to 8000. That is different from previous collections as usually we include a novella. Incantations ranged from 1300 to 23300 words. Thematically the earlier book was quite diverse with no recognizable ebb and flow of ideas. As William Simmons said, “Several of the best stories in this collection explore ambiguities of self, emphasizing most particularly the theme of power transference between the weak and the powerful, the calculating and the naive, the living and the dead.” In Falling Into Heaven there is a thread of singular loneliness running through all the stories. Three stories feature couples in torment but the majority show a person alone, aside from society, struggling with their demons, real and imagined. Ten of the stories are original to this collection and we have done that deliberately so that the book has a freshness about it. There are a variety of activities described in the contents, from photography, to lapidary, all through a landscape of locations from Africa to Devon, and characters from possibly a witch to possibly a ghost. Being more recent stories they are possibly better written than earlier stories as we hope we grow and improve each year. Two of the published stories have gained Honourable Mentions from Ellen Datlow. Another is the subject of a film option that is extremely exciting. In total this is a much stronger book with some stories that require a second reading to fully appreciate what’s going on. SA: Are there any similarities between the two – besides the authors appearing to be the same! S & M: Oh, the authors are definitely the same, though as people we evolve and change every year. Our writing moves forward with us. With Incantations we moved on from the ghost stories of Echoes Of Darkness, which in turn had moved away from the traditional Shadows At Midnight. The similarities are that Falling Into Heaven continues the evolution into modern settings for classical supernatural story telling that began in Incantations. Falling Into Heaven is described by the publishers as “Fourteen Tales Of Terror”. The terrors though are subtle and relentless. Insanity is shown. Reality rubs shoulders with images of nightmare. The authors some people still believe us to be can now write “Some of the reason I was so conscious of my own arousal is the physical way my body is made. My clitoris is quite pronounced, standing out quite prominently from my vulva even when I am not excited. The vaginal lips are full, not hanging down because that sounds almost ugly, but apparent. The result is that they are constantly stimulated, my underwear moving sensuously against my sex throughout the day. I have tried going out without underwear but the sense of incompleteness is too much for my ordered mind to cope with. I tried it only last month, thinking I might have progressed enough to succeed, but after about ten minutes I had to run home. The whole day was spent speaking aloud the items in all the drawers of the house.” As well as “His renewed interest in sex was also a sign the new position was having a restorative effect. At thirty-five she was beginning to feel that this aspect of her life was in suspended animation. His lack of enthusiasm for the physical side of their relationship almost caused her to look elsewhere. Almost, but not quite. She’d had the opportunity – an opportunity almost too tempting to resist, but was now grateful she hadn’t succumbed to the temptation. She loved Tom with a passion undimmed in the years since they’d got together at university, and now that carefree, sexy man was finally returning to her. She had few regrets in their marriage. The absence of children was one but, as she grew older, even that was beginning to fade. The miscarriages were now ancient history and she was beginning to accept the doctor’s prognosis that she would never be able to have children. It was painful at first, devastatingly painful, and difficult to deal with, and the strain it put on the marriage was intense, but gradually the pain eased, and the hormonal thrust that fuelled her desire to reproduce gradually dimmed, like a guttering candle using up the last of the oxygen in a sealed jar. Besides, she had nieces and nephews now, and her friends had children. There was plenty of opportunity to indulge the maternal side of her nature, if only by proxy – at least that’s what she told herself.” SA: Given that these stories have been written since INCANTATIONS was released, have any aspects of your writing changed with these new stories? Any evolution going on? S & M: Evolution is gradual, naturally, and we recognize it every now and again as a welcome push and prod to keep us writing. With Falling Into Heaven the themes are deeper than before, the characters a little darker, the fields they plough a little more rutted. The stories are better constructed than before, that is a consequence of continually refining our work. We still write in the same way only more so now than before. Most stories in the book are individually written with adjustments by the other after completion. Three stories were started by one of us and finished by the other. The rest are single author with friendly accompaniment. As we wrote many of these we were also working on our first novel. Shelter has been well received by a publisher and we are hopeful of them finding a slot in their schedule for it. Evolution has taken us away from short stories for the past few months, as we have worked on another novel. SA: Do you have any favourite stories in FIH and why have you chosen this/these particular one(s)? S & M: Through the years we have consistently failed to second-guess what people will like and dislike. Stories we love get passed over for ones we consider minor by comparison. So, we are poor judges of our own work, which is probably not unusual. Purely on a personal reason basis, Mick would plump for Sand Castles. Why? It is set in the South Hams area of Devon, which he loves. It is a story of loneliness but also of crowding in. too many people wanting too much of the character. Too many demands and a lack of focus on what is important to the central character. It was written in one sitting almost as a stream of consciousness, and tidied up afterwards. The settings and some of the scenes are based on real life. Len would go for Flour White and Spindle Thin. The story is a tragedy, brought about by one woman’s desire for something she cannot have. A child. It’s a topic close to our hearts and all the more poignant for that. The setting is resolutely bleak and barren which echoes the central theme of the story. SA: You've covered a wide range of topics in FIH. How far would you say your stories go to showing that horror is more versatile than the gore-fest most people think it is limited to? S & M: “The source of the smoke was what was left of Felix. The white-coated eyes were open and staring, though no longer alive. The head was hanging down on the chest, the throat and neck all but severed from the torso. Blood dribbled down the chest, mingling with the pink sacks of the lungs, which had been drawn out through the jagged and broken ribcage. Neither leg possessed a foot now, but the stumps were pushed back at an excruciating angle, forcing even wider the gaping wound at the groin. The fingers of each hand were severed at irregular points, the remains crushed and weeping.” (Caviso Gamo.) We can do gore. The secret is to do so much more than gore alone. All our stories are based on classical structure – beginning, middle, end. The stories are character crafted to give an illusion of reality so that the supernatural is all the more shocking for being found in such familiar surroundings. They take their time to build an atmosphere so that the reader’s suspension of disbelief is fully engaged before the threads of normality begin to unravel. There must be a central truth to the stories to give them depth and meaning. Writing a story just gross out the reader is pretty pointless, although it is an easier option. Equally, crafting a story around a supernatural event is also a fairly glib way of going about things We write to the best of our ability. That means, to us, that we use proper words, little swearing, little slang. We try to create a picture in the reader’s mind so that they enjoy the journey with us. Too many stories have a one-track idea and the ending is predictable from the first paragraph. Life is rarely like that so why should our fiction be like that? We have been writing a long time, but we have been living, and enjoying life, far longer. Those experiences seep into the stories and hopefully give them some credence, some ring of truth. With our subject matters and themes, as well as our settings, we try to be as versatile as possible, to expand what are often seen as the boundaries of horror.
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Copyright © 2008 L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims |
