Speculative Fiction Junkie

Simon Strantzas

Up to this point, I've tried to ensure that the reviews featured here at Speculative Fiction Junkie adequately represent the full breadth of my love of genre fiction; works of fantasy, science fiction, and horror are all reviewed here. I'm afraid, however, that this is all about to change. You see, I've recently discovered what is perhaps the most consistently satisfying form of speculative fiction: strange fiction.

Now, I'm a bit fuzzy on what the proper label is for the sort of fiction I'm talking about. There is "weird fiction" and "strange fiction," which I believe are different terms for the same thing. Then there's the closely related, but possibly different, term "new weird," which I associate primarily with writers like the excellent China Miéville and Jeff VanderMeer. Then there are closely related, but again possibly different, terms like "macabre," "gothic," and "supernatural." Whatever the proper term is (and please people, help me understand the differences between these things), the chief characteristic of the fiction I'm talking about is perhaps best captured in the following excerpt from an answer that Peter Straub gave in a recent interview to the question of why people are attracted to horror:

Historically, people have enjoyed the Gothic for a long, long time, and it does give one a kind of surreptitious thrill, it's titillating, but at its best there is an undercurrent of unease. And unease is never not worth experiencing, I think. Unease is a genuinely perceptive, accurate response to the underlying structures of the universe. I don't think we're safe, I don't think the world cares about us...

This sense of unease is the defining characteristic of the strange fiction for which I've recently acquired such a penchant. It constitutes a whole new level at which one can experience fiction, and makes strange fiction the literary equivalent of polyphony. To put it differently, think of it like this: while a great work of standard science fiction, fantasy, or horror is like a great meal, a great work of strange fiction is like eating Kung Pao Chicken or some ultra-spicy Chicken Tikka Masala: it leaves one with something more than just satiety; it leaves a spicy, garlicky quasi-intoxication in its wake that makes the meal something more.

I first came across the name of Simon Strantzas while browsing the catalog of the fantastic Tartarus Press. I eventually wound up at Mr. Strantzas' website where I found a small selection of his short fiction. From the available choices, I picked "Behind Glass" and was completely blown away. It was everything I've come to love in strange fiction (I also think it is an excellent barometer of whether or not this sort of writing is for you or not). Almost immediately thereafter I ordered a copy of Cold to the Touch. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

Strantzas' characters are almost uniformly cast from the ranks of the socially and psychologically alienated and dispossessed. As a consequence of their isolation, the reader expects their perceptions to be slightly skewed. But when Mr. Strantzas places these already odd people into the bizarre situations he has concocted for them we find that the ground of normality is no longer beneath our feet and that we are instead floating completely free in a cloud of strangeness.

The setting and content of the thirteen stories in Cold to the Touch are extremely varied. The collection's first story "Under the Overpass," is the story of a terrible act committed by a group of children and the effect it has on one of them who is never really able to grow up as a result. It superficially reminded me a bit of Shirley Jackson's famous story "The Lottery" and in keeping with Mr. Strantzas' ability to write fiction that is strange on multiple levels, the identity and origins of the victim of the terrible act are itself left a mystery.

In "The Other Village," a woman is forced to vacation with an annoying travel companion as a result of plans that were made before their friendship deteriorated beyond a serviceable state. My favorite thing about this story is the way that the lighthearted awkwardness of their interactions gives way to a sinister, if vague, ending to their travels together.

In "The Uninvited Guest," a party attended by people who are fairly comfortable in life is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of one who is not. As a result, the guests are forced to confront the truth uttered by one of them that those who are comfortable really don't care about what happens to others.

"A Seed on Barren Ground" is a tale of broken lives seeking another chance. Only some of them get one and the price paid by the giver is great. This tale is as much about the lengths to which desperate people are willing to go as it is about the oddness of the story being told itself.

"The Sweetest Song" was one of my favorites in the collection and I can't tell you why. I can't really even tell you much about it other than to say that it concerns two marriages, one new and one old.

In "Pinholes in Black Muslin" (available in its entirety here), a socially awkward man for whom the center of the world is the stars and astronomy loses his bearings as the cold hungry emptiness of space literally consumes his world.

This should give you a basic idea of the variety of stories to be found in Cold to the Touch. They are, all of them, profoundly strange in the most wonderful way. Mr. Strantzas is an amazing writer, seemingly capable of writing about anything and of injecting the strange into every aspect of the tales he tells. The result is that while the reader is disoriented, she is also freed to a great extent from normal ways of thinking and consequently can look at the people and places that haunt the stories in this collection with fresh eyes. It is remarkably liberating and feels almost as if Mr. Strantzas is rewriting the laws of the universe. Cold to the Touch is easily one of the best books I have read this year.

Rating: 10/10

The True First

Cold to the Touch was first published by Tartarus Press in July of 2009. Only 300 copies were made.

[This review was not based on a review copy]