Review: At The Edge by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray, eds.

Jamie Marriage

Jamie Marriage is an internationally published Australian cyberpunk author with a taste for the dangerous and obscene aspects of life. His work ranges from the sarcastic to the satirical. Links to his work can be found atwww.JamieMarriage.com

rabarts-at the edgeAustralia and New Zealand are home to some of the greatest dark fiction writers the world has to offer — disturbed minds firing out shots of madness into the night. Maybe it’s our isolation from the rest of the world: island nations so far removed from the rest of society; mountainous landscapes; bone-dry deserts; and endless oceans the perfect breeding ground for horrors and monstrosities unknown.

Comprising of two dozen twisted tales, ranging from emotionally haunting pieces such as Martin Livings’ Boxing Day (a story that examines one Australian household’s traditional form of ensuring the hierarchy) to the purely creepy Carlington Black’s The Urge, where changes in the atmosphere start changing people, either physically, mentally, or both, At The Edge has something for every lover of the dark and macabre.

Every author in this collection has their own voice, their own story to tell, their own fright or ghast to let loose upon the reader. Some such as Jodi Cleghorn’s The Leaves No Longer Fall and AC Buchanan’s And Still The Forests Grow Though We Are Gone predict environmental catastrophes that we may already be facing, making these stories much harder to bear.

Others simply hold up a mirror, demonstrating that the things in our own heads are the things we should fear the most. The most eloquent of these is Joanne Anderton’s Labyrinth inspired tale of goblins and misplaced wishes, Street Furniture, and AJ Ponder’s corrupted story of the demons that hide within the stories we read, BlightSight.

At The Edge is an anthology that is best read in a well lit room, preferably during the day when sleep is far off. Each author has their own way of worming into your subconscious, nesting behind your eyes, and not letting you forget that while the things that scare you might not be real, that doesn’t mean they should be ignored.

At The Edge

Edited by Dan Rabarts & Lee Murray – Published by Paper Road Press

Awards

davitt-award  aurealis-award   logo-curtin-university

Peacemaker - Aurealis Award
Best Science Fiction Novel 2014

Curtin University Distinguished Alumni Award 2014

Transformation Space - Aurealis Award
 Best Science Fiction Novel 2010

Sharp Shooter - Davitt Award
Best Crime Novel 2009 (Sisters in Crime Australia) 

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