Parallel Hells

Product Information

I bought this debut of thirteen short stories after hearing the author speak at the Jewish Book Festival and I’m so glad I did. In 2006, he was a semi-finalist for BBC Radio Voice of Musical Theatre at the New Theatre in Cardiff.

Favorite stories from this collection included: “A Wolf in the Temple,” “Lipless Grin,” “Hags,” “No Dominion,” and “Saplings. By the time I read the truly awful final story 'Saplings' I was glad, no I was overjoyed, this relatively short, 205 pages, collection was finished. Is this a story in part about acting in other peoples' interests as YOU see them, and then making a choice not to do that?A collection of horror stories that explore queer identity through some emotional, disturbing, and gothic tales.

Raw Pork and Opium was a story in here I found particularly interesting, because I've never seen the format used before, and I'm all about experimental stuff, and collections with a range of styles in. Whenever I read short story collections and I see themes recurring again and again I always wonder whether that is a conscious choice by the author and something used to deliberately tie the collection together, or whether that cropping up in stories is just reflective of the authors' life experiences and who they are as a person. Probably shouldn’t have been reading this at 1:30am now I don’t wanna sleep hahaha full review to come!

One thing that drew me to this book as soon as I picked it up was reading in the blurb that it had a story in about golems, which are one of my favourite mythological creatures.

Lots of queer rep though, and a few stories really grabbed my attention, especially the longer ones where the characters and the story arc felt more fleshed out. This endeavour is echoed later in the prose when Tommy, disorientated in the throes of his abundant drug use, expounds to his Uber driver about cavers who “go down into the deep deep cave systems, tiny little tunnels barely the width of their bodies. They pull and push and bleed and then suddenly the tunnel bursts open into a huge and beautiful cavern like a train station, like a cathedral, like a city under the ground” – like a neighbour’s party. A particular highlight for me was ‘Hags’, a tale of an ancient (possibly demonic) entity currently in human form, enjoying the London party scene and navigating how to continue to feed on humans whilst also befriending them; and forming relationships destined to fail as they inevitably outlive any friends.Offering the reader multiple ways to experience the story tied in well with the content of the tale, so for me was an example of formal experimentation done absolutely right. It was a brilliant take on friendship and connection, found family, shame, and secrecy, all themes familiar to queer stories but twisted into a surprisingly tender demonic little package. The first story in the collection 'Unfinished and Unformed' promised much and left me excited to read the rest. Leon Craig confidently navigates real places and imaginary spaces most of us shy away from and leaves us deliciously teased, unsettled and hungry for more . I can't say anything else except to repeat that this collection was a tremendous disappointment though I have hopes that other writings by this author might not be.

Leon Craig has reinvigorated the Gothic genre, investing it with a witty and iconoclastic contemporary sensibility. This is a queer themed collection of fantasy horror stories that vary in length and creepy factor - and which I absolutely loved.While Craig has filled this book with recognizable horror elements, she seems to be telling us that the most spine-chilling thing is the everyday human experience. Horror has always been a genre that I have avoided, especially when fantasy is involved as I tend to get freaked out quite easily.