Richard Gavin

An exquisite collection of horror and nightmarish fantasies. Gavin is gifted at twining myth and superstition into his tales, where urban legends, holy terrors, otherworldly horrors, and Halloween-masked devils frolic at the periphery of our vision. He accomplishes this with both style and restraint in perfect proportion. These are like Lovecraftian tales of outer darkness, but told in crisp and restrained prose of Robert Aickman, that chilling sense of quiet horror suffusing stories where the eldritch monstrosities are ever hinted at, but never awkwardly placed on full display to be gawked or laughed at. A highly recommended collection.… (mere)

I think the most articulate thing I could say bout this book came from a conversation I had with two people who also read it; "so the one thing I've realized from reading the Benighted Path, is that even not knowing the terms of left-hand path, it is basically the course my life has taken for as long as I can remember. I have always been drawn to the dark, the macabre, the sinister, and the primal. I have always understood and acknowledged the night as the eternal and first state of the universe, and the material and luminescent as both secondary and temporary." If that speaks to you, then I think this book would hold an appeal for you, even if you don't intend on following it as a philosophical or magical guidebook for future practices.… (mere)

PRIMEVAL WOOD, is a refreshing horror story that harkens back to the style of horror writers a hundred years ago; specifically, Gavin's style is very reminiscent of Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood. This is one of my preferred styles of horror. In lieu of gore or violence it expresses horror through a subtle and mystical sense of otherness. Usually the style is more suggestive than outright descriptive. The story masterfully deals with the concept of psychogeography or tapping into the "spirit of a place", a concept that interests me greatly. I've read all of Richard Gavin's books. This could very well be his best yet.

In brief, the story is about a man who rents a cabin in a remote area of England for a week get-away. While there he goes for a hike in the local legend-haunted woods and hills. While there he encounters something while in the woods. The incident is described as a quasi-mystical experience. Gavin also incorporates occult and folkloric concepts into the story's themes. It's really a strangely beautiful story.… (mere)