Jeffrey Ford’s Big Dark Hole is another collection by an acknowledged expert storyteller. It contains stories that range from the horrific to the whimsical, and gives a broad range of stories within a relatively small package.
“The Thousand Eyes” is a small piece about an artist visiting a particularly odd club with a legendary figure known as the “Voice of Death” to those around town. His performances were well known, and the old bar was somewhat legendary, featuring in a number of past songs. He experiences something strange in the place. specifically, he gets a chance to hear the “Voice of Death” perform, hiding a camera on his person and taking a picture, and is forced to run when singer and stage crew spot him. Months later the artist hears that the Thousand Eyes has been destroyed.
“The Bookcase Expedition” features an author who is in what some would call his golden years seeing strange things. It seems that every writer resorts to telling stories of their own kind at some point. The narrator is on medication, and professes his sanity as he describes in detail the fairies that he sees. While the initial encounter should have terrified him enough, he claims one of them left a postage stamp on a cat whisker embedded in his leg like a flag, and the incident which gets attention is a group of fairies climbing a bookshelf. This serves as an excuse for Ford to reference all manner of writers, books, and pop culture ephemera. Indeed even a foot-tall statuette or action figure of Ghost Rider is mentioned in the procession.
The description of the climb that the creatures undertake is detailed and arduous, recalling mountaintop journey as cliffside struggles. One small chotchke becomes a demon for a brief moment, and the narrator overhears names as he considers the strange struggle.
A special note should go to the use of Henstenberg’s “Vanitas Still Life” as the cover art. A ink splash on top of the image of a skull somehow sitting behind other parts of the picture. Contradictory, macabre, tasteful and given to further examination.
Overall this is another enjoyable collection, veering into weird fiction, horror, and other areas. The stories vary not only in content but also in tone. Because of that a reader may find more than they were expecting, and will almost certainly find something to appeal to them if they enjoy the author or similar genre fiction. Many of the pieces are short and to the point, wandering just enough to give the reader a true sense of a journey.
(Small Beer Press, 2021)
